The Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce had a ribbon-cutting for the new pickleball and tennis courts, called K21 Courts, at Bixler Park in Warsaw on Friday, Oct. 14. They received their moniker due to the K21 Health Foundation giving the Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department a $53,000 grant to help install them. From left: Chamber Ambassadors Shawn Brown and Denise Beno, Warsaw Parks and Recreation Maintenance Director Shaun Gardner, Warsaw Parks and Recreation Board Member Larry Ladd, Warsaw City Councilwoman and Parks and Recreation Board Member Diane Quance and dog Oakley, Chamber Ambassador Chad Hummel, Warsaw Parks and Recreation Superintendent Larry Plummer, Chamber Board Member Josh Silveus, K21 Marketing and Community Manager Jennifer Stewart, K21 Board Member Jill Gross, Chamber Ambassador Kaleb Schneidewent, Chamber Ambassador and K21 Board Member Sandra Parra and Chamber Member Relations Manager Scott Wiley. InkFreeNews photo by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — There’s a new spot in Warsaw for pickleball players to enjoy the sport.

The Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce celebrated the opening of K21 Courts at Bixler Park, 503 N. Detroit St., with a ribbon-cutting on Friday, Oct. 14. People have been able to use the facility since Oct. 1.

The courts bear the name of the K21 Health Foundation due to the organization providing the Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department with a $53,000 grant to complete the project, which involved re-doing the old tennis courts to put in four pickleball courts plus two tennis courts.

It took around a year from K21 awarding the grant for the courts to being finished, said Warsaw Parks and Recreation Superintendent Larry Plummer. The parks department paid the remaining a little more than $29,000.

Plummer said that K21 also donated previously to put in pickleball courts at Kelly Park.

“So between the two projects, K21 is well over the $80,000 mark in helping us fund recreational opportunities for the (area) citizens,” he said.

Both Plummer and K21 Marketing and Community Manager Jennifer Stewart talked about the popularity of pickleball.

“We at the health foundation gets calls all the time (regarding pickleball),” said Stewart. “It’s just exploding recreationally because so many people at all ages can play this sport. … Tennis is a longer, wider space, and so pickleball, it seems like it’s easier.”

“People like to play it,” said Plummer. “The seniors like to play it because of the mobility. You don’t have to be as mobile as tennis, but yet it improves your reflexes and keeps them with you and I think that’s why it’s popular.”

There are lights at the courts, so people may play at night as well.

“We’re just thrilled to see them being used,” said Plummer of the courts. “I just hope we continue to have some good weather until Nov. 1 when we take the nets down, and they can get a few more days of playing in and then in the spring, I hope everybody just comes and plays. We’re fortunate as a community to have these courts and have them accessible to everybody.”

The nets are to be up at the courts each year from April to November. Plummer said the parks and recreation department is planning pickleball and tennis clinics for the K21 Courts next year.