History of Pickleball in Park Rapids

---

I have not played the sport for all that many years, but being a tennis teaching professional for many, many, years, I took to it like a duck to water!!

I did a little research, with the help of LuAnn Hanson (fellow pickleball addict) and Mark Lohmeier (former Hubbard Co. Land Commissioner) and this is what I learned:

Sue Fisher, who lives in Dorset (a hop skip and jump from Park Rapids) started a pickleball class through Community Education in Nevis, MN. This was in 2014 or 2015. Of course, people loved it!!

In the beginning, the players played on the old tennis courts at Heartland Park. The courts were pretty beat up but they were concrete, so a solid foundation!

In those days, they used gallon milk jugs filled with sand or water to pull the net down on the ends and a bungee cord to pull it down in the middle. You see the net height in pickleball is a bit lower than in tennis. “Where there is a will, there is a way”!

In the winter of 2017/2018 Larry Bexell, Don McNeece, and others approached the Park Board about converting the tennis courts into pickleball courts. Those folks were instrumental in getting a plan and an estimated cost. They went to Bemidji to look at their courts and talked with people to get ideas.

The two old tennis courts were converted into six newly surfaced pickleball courts in the spring of 2019. There were over a dozen volunteers doing the painting and final touches to the courts. A real group effort.

The project was funded through Parks and Recreation funds. The total cost to convert the courts was approximately $23,000. Last year we added new wind screens at a cost of $3,464.00 fully funded by the local pickleball players.

The newly formed Park Rapids Pickleball Club was established just last year. You can find us on Facebook and our website is prpickleballclub.com