When it’s time to get to the courts, where do you go to play tennis or pickleball? It won’t be far for residents of Raymond when the Sheri Gagnon Memorial Park expansion becomes reality.
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| Plans are under way to install two tennis and two pickleball courts at Sheri Gagnon Memorial Park in Raymond. A meeting of the town's Planning Board will further discuss the project on July 10. SUBMITTED PHOTO |
“We did it, but the tough part is the implementation,” he said. “That’s what we’ve been working on for about year.”
Pickleball has grown in popularity as a racket sport, and so too has the town’s Parks and Recreation Department program. The sport’s outdoor program has been using the park’s basketball court to line for pickleball and players are bringing their own nets.
“I’ve never seen a sport grow so fast,” he said.
It may have a funny name, but pickleball is a serious sport and Raymond Town Clerk Sue Look said she had no idea it was that popular.
“When they told me how many people were playing pickleball, I couldn’t believe it,” Look said.
The site plan for the new courts was submitted on behalf of Raymond Parks and Recreation last March, by Sebago Technics of South Portland. The project was scheduled to appear before the Planning Board on June 12 but was postponed until July 10.
Crocker said there was “some confusion,” when exterior lighting was excluded from the building plans.
“We’re putting it in, but we need to make sure we have enough funds for the courts first,” he said.
The two 78-by-36-foot tennis courts and two 44-by-20-foot pickleball courts will be built on the southwest side of the basketball court. A connecting foot path from the parking lot will extend the existing basketball court path to the new fenced-in courts.
One of the park’s existing baseball fields will be removed to accommodate the design, but there’s no chance of a turf war, according to Crocker. He said the baseball field was used by middle schoolers and the numbers have “dwindled” in size recently. But apparently, the field always has had some issues with drainage.
“It’s a swamp,” Crocker said. “Last November the adults played flag football there and it was a mud pit.”
A neighbor of the park, Jennifer McCarthy, said she had heard about the new tennis and pickleball courts and she thinks “it’s great.” McCarthy frequents the new playground that the park installed last month with her young girls, Sloan, 2, and Lettie, 1.
“We love the playground,” she said.
Raymond resident Isaac Ormberg, 17, works in the park’s neighborhood at The Good Life Market. The new courts sound “awesome” to Ormberg.
“I might go to check it out,” he said. “I played pickleball before and it’s fun, it’s like tennis and Ping Pong.”
Pickleball is a combination of tennis, Ping-Pong and badminton. The nets are lower than tennis and the courts are about one-fourth the size. And, with less sprinting involved, it has become a favorite among adults. In 2023, the Sports & Fitness Industry Association deemed pickleball the fastest growing sport in America for the third consecutive year.
The project will be going out to bid soon, but Crocker said they have a local contractor in mind for the job who has built most of the courts in the area.
“Once the courts are put in, youth tennis will be the big new addition,” he said.
Crocker belongs to the United States Tennis Association (USTA) for the Tennis in the Parks Program, a foundation known for its dedication to player development. He said he would like to see youth players in Grades 1 through 8 become involved and have a chance to compete for a national tennis championship.
“That’s my next project,” he said.
Beginner/intermediate and intermediate/advanced outdoor pickleball runs from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and is for adult players only. Sessions for first-time players resume in the fall. Adult basketball runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and all players must register.
To register for any of the programs offered by Raymond Parks and Recreation, visit https://raymond.recdesk.com/Community/Home <
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