Ella Harris Park will be the setting for pickleball games through October.
The Harrison Township Recreation Commission has set up nets on the tennis courts at Ella Harris Park to allow for open-play pickleball.
Players are required to bring their own paddles and balls, but the courts are open to all ages during the day each weekday.
“We’ve done it now for the last couple of years,” said recreation coordinator Sharon Chew. “We did our (pickleball) clinics and decided to just leave them up. We originally started doing it (open play) on just Tuesdays, but decided to leave them up all the time. You can get two pickleball courts from one tennis court.”
The nets are easy to take down and put up, according to Chew, to accommodate both pickleball and tennis.
Pickleball has steadily grown in popularity over the past few years since the recreation commission and a tennis instructor first introduced lessons to residents in 2021.
“He suggested that we add it in after other towns have had success with their programs,” Chew noted. “It is like tennis in a lot of ways. It’s kind of taken over tennis in recent years. It is not as strenuous as tennis, which I think is where the popularity comes from. We get people in their 60s participating in games.”
The recreation commission is also holding clinics for beginners, advanced beginners and intermediate players. Another clinic is set to take place during the week of Sept. 8.
The township is building pickleball courts whose completion has yet to be determined. Open-play pickleball will run from now until the middle of October.
