Pickleball players net funds to furnish outdoor courts

MARINETTE - Brian Swenson scored a set of tables and benches for the new outdoor pickleball courts at the Marinette Civic Center last week.

As president of Marinette-Menominee Pickleball Inc., an association of over 150 pickleball players, Swenson has spent a significant amount of time making the outdoor courts a reality.

“The beautiful thing about the outdoor courts is these courts are totally free to the public. Anyone can walk down there and use them,” Swenson said.
The organization has raised about $100,000 in donations, for four pickleball courts and two resurfaced tennis courts, by selling naming rights to the courts and asking for donations, he said.

Now, Swenson thinks they can raise more funds from companies and individuals willing to be sponsors for the 10 benches and eight matching tables he purchased from a university in Milwaukee interested in finding a new home for them. The epoxy-coated steel outdoor furniture will give members a place to congregate at the OSMS Court Complex at Higley Park, he said, noting Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Specialists (OSMS) in Marinette provided a $20,000 donation for the outdoor courts.

By raising more funds, the group could purchase lighting for the courts to extend the hours of play, he said. The group also is led by Swenson’s wife Kim, who is the organization’s vice president, and Rick Thill, a State Farm agent in Peshtigo serving as treasurer and secretary of the pickleball organization.

Thill said Swenson encouraged him to try pickleball and then to join the board to help raise money for the outdoor courts about a year and a half ago.

“Brian and his wife would run a ‘learn to play’ class where they taught us how to play the game and score,” Thill said. “I just really found it very interesting, a great workout and just a lot of fun,” he said.

Some have described pickleball as a cross between tennis and ping pong without the table. The rackets are smaller than tennis rackets, and the balls have holes much like wiffle balls. Pickleball courts are half the size of tennis courts, quickening the game even for novices.

“If you’re athletic or nonathletic, man or woman, young or old, pickleball can appeal and anyone can play,” Thill said. “We play mixed, men and women together. Some people are better than others, of course. You can tell who plays tennis or racquetball just based on their ability to handle the paddle and court presence but once you learn to play the game, it’s extremely fun,” he said.

Thill, a Marinette County Board member, said he wasn’t disappointed the Marinette Common Council didn’t pay for the outdoor courts’ resurfacing. “I understand budget constraints and tax dollars only go so far,” he said. “I don’t think our association had any problem raising the funds and helping out the city. It’s a group effort, and I think it worked well for everyone. I think everyone in the city will benefit from it.”

The pickleball association approached the Marinette Common Council with its plan to convert two tennis courts into four pickleball courts and resurface the remaining tennis courts. The council didn’t jump on funding the improvement, but it didn’t discourage the group from raising the funds for the project.

“After hounding the city, we realized the only way we could do this is to raise the money ourselves,” Swenson said. “In a perfect world, it would have been great if they had built the whole thing themselves, and we would have showed up and played. You always like free stuff, but if you wait for the city, they’re going to do it on their own time. We had more control over how it was built and the amenities. I’m sure the city wouldn’t have spent the money [we did],” he said.

The group has purchased windscreens and sunshades for the courts to improve the playing experience, Swenson added.

According to Swenson, the Common Council saw a Splashpad aquatic facility as a higher priority than the outdoor courts. The Spashpad aquatic playground was slated to be installed where the baby pool was near the Civic Center in time for next season, but the Common Council rejected the bid it received as too high, President of the Marinette Common Council Dorothy Kowalski said.

“We’re rebidding it.” A skate park at the Civic Center also needs improvements, she said.

With the pickleball courts open, Swenson hopes the city will pay for a sidewalk from the Civic Center so its members won’t have to walk on wet grass to get to the courts. “There are no sidewalks. They put them by the new playground, but they didn’t connect them to the courts,” he said.

The group first raised about $70,000 to repave outdoor tennis courts and construct pickleball courts, Swenson said. The next phase of fundraising will allow them to install lighting to extend the hours of play. They also plan to erect windscreens and sun shades.

Swenson said badly cracking asphalt tennis courts needed to be resurfaced and repaired. The group received a $20,000 donation from OSMS Surgeon Group in Marinette by offering to name the outdoor courts the “OSMS Court Complex at Higley Field.” Naming rights for the four pickleball courts went for $5,000 per court, while naming rights for each of the two tennis courts went for $7,500.

“We offered different levels of sponsorship. We took donations as small as a dollar,” Swenson said.

Once the group had raised $70,000, it presented the City of Marinette with a check for $68,000 to reimburse it for the asphalt repairs on the courts.

The next phase brought in $9,000 for windscreens and $13,000 for sunshades.

They’ve been purchased but won’t be installed until after the winter, Swenson said.