4/5/2022

Good evening Pickleball Players of Catawba County!  I hope everyone is doing well and getting to spend a lot of time on the pickleball courts!

I just wanted to give you an update on some of the happenings going on with the Westmont Pickleball Facility.

If you haven't been to that location in a while, there is now a portable toilet there for our pickleball family members to use while playing at those courts.  It's grey, very clean, and is in the parking lot across the street from the courts.  I think this is something that was desperately needed and I'm thankful, and appreciative, to the City of Hickory (who I assume is picking up the tab for it) for answering our pleas for a restroom at that location!

Yesterday I emailed Mr. Seaman (Recreation and Sports Tourism Director for the City of Hickory) concerning a couple items at the Westmont Pickleball Facility:
- The net posts on court #2 and court #3 are slightly lower than regulation height (they appear to be 35 inches when regulation height is 36 inches) - so I asked what could be done to remedy this situation
- At the back of court #1, the bottom of the fence is slightly loose and somewhat bent so we've had several players have their feet slide under the fence and get stuck - so I asked if this could be repaired
- The gates won't stay shut - so I asked if a latch could be put on them to help keep them shut

- I also asked him if it would be possible for the pickleball community and the City of Hickory to enter into a public/private partnership (like we did to get the additional four courts at Westmont, where they had originally planned to have only two courts) in order to get windscreens for the fencing at Westmont and a couple of weatherproof benches for inside the fence.  

A public/private partnership basically means that our pickleball community comes up with part of the necessary funds for these amenities and the City of Hickory will supply the rest of the funds.  It's great for our (the pickleball family) relationship with the City of Hickory because it shows we are willing to work together to help build our pickleball community and facilities.

I realize that many of us, myself included, would like to have lights at the Westmont Pickleball Facility.  Luckily it is now staying lighter much later in the day and lights at that facility aren't an immediate need.  In looking at the possibility of lights for pickleball facilities in the future, I believe that the City of Hickory will put lights up at the Optimist location first.  The two main reasons I feel this way are because electricity is already located at that facility and the fact that there are four courts there instead of six.  Both of these reasons mean it would be cheaper for the City of Hickory to put lights there instead of Westmont.  In what year is this likely to occur? I honestly have no idea!

I know that the City of Hickory has put a good amount of money and effort into pickleball in the past year - 9 new pickleball courts and all the work being performed at Optimist right now which includes four brand new, built from the ground up, courts there.  From all the discussions and emails I've had with Mr. Seaman, I truly believe he is a tremendous advocate for our pickleball community and will continue to look for opportunities to bring needed amenities to our pickleball facilities! 

UPDATE! This afternoon I received a reply to the email I sent Mr. Seaman yesterday, so I can now give you an update on some of the items I mentioned above:
- He is going to have the contractor take a look at the net posts on court #2 and court #3 to see what can be done to bring those posts up to regulation height
- He is going to have public works look at the fencing issue and the gate issue...he said we should see an improvement with both in the next couple of weeks
- Within the next couple of weeks he plans to put a couple of metal benches inside the fence at Westmont so we will have a place to sit down
- They are currently working on a couple things to try and get windscreens on the fences at Westmont.  He did say it might take a little bit of time to pull something together in order to make those windscreens a reality, but he is working on it.

I think him emailing me back in one day, the fact that he has already been thinking about several of the items I mentioned to him concerning Westmont, and that he hopes to take care of some of our needs/wants/requests within the next couple weeks, just reiterates what I said above about him being an amazing advocate for our pickleball community!

I guess that's all I have for now.  I hope everyone has a fantastic week and I look forward to seeing you out on the courts soon!