NORWICH — Recently appointed Youth Bureau Director Anthony Testani has discovered a new possibility for bringing pickleball courts to Norwich. His idea, which he presented at Tuesday’s joint committee meeting, is to use the Weiler Park ice skating rink, located on Borden Avenue, as pickleball courts in the summer.
“The plan is to talk with some other companies that do tennis courts and resurfacing and things like that and see if we can get something that will sustain the winter I guess, the ice and stuff. So we would paint it, we would prep it, paint it, and put the lines down for pickleball, and in the wintertime flood it with water so we can still skate on it,” said Testani. “We’re hoping if we can get the surface prepped and prepared at a reasonable cost, that’s what we’d like to do.”
According to Testani, there are two groups of residents who have been interested in establishing pickleball courts in the city for some time. He said he met with a group of them and had them check out the rink as a possible option.
“My understanding is there’s like maybe two groups of pickleball players. The first group came down and we met, we talked about- there were some concerns about the slope of the ice rink because it does drain to the middle for the water and that would be an issue,” Testani explained. “They rolled some balls around and stuff and they thought it would work great. They liked the idea of the boards around it so none of the balls would get outside, they wouldn’t have to chase them around.”
Currently, pickleball players use the tennis court on Conkey Avenue, according to Testani. But, the influx of tennis and pickleball players causes an overcrowded court. What’s more, each sport uses a different size court, further compounding the issue for pickleball players.
“Some of the issue is that tennis players and pickleball players, there’s just too many of each. So it’s become a problem,” said Testani. “There’s enough tennis courts I believe ... but the lines are different, it’s a smaller court [for pickleball].”
If all goes according to plan, Testani said the rink should easily accommodate six pickleball courts, which would allow for not only residents playing casual games, but also tournaments with surrounding areas.
“From my understanding the pickleball folks, if we have six courts, they can have tournaments. They can bring people from out of town and have tournaments. And with the lights we could do it at night, you know, so it would be a really neat atmosphere,” he said.
The idea is still in the early stages. Testani said he has reached out to a handful of vendors who could make the necessary changes to the rink, such as prepping and painting the lines, and is waiting for responses.
Testani added that transforming the ice rink would not impact skateboarders or others utilizing the skate park, as it is a separate facility. As far as the ice rink, Testani said it is not used much in the summer, so repurposing it would ensure it’s being used year round.
“It would be nice to get, you know, two purposes out of it, make it a dual use facility,” he said. “I think it’d be a wonderful use for that facility in the summertime. I don’t see anybody rollerblading on it anymore, and the skateboarders have their own facility. And if we could use the ice rink for something different in the summertime and bring people in here in the summertime, you know, for these tournaments these people think they could have, that would be great for Norwich.”