Pickleball players ask Peru council to paint lines at Washington Park for more courts

The future of the Washington Park courts is in the hands of the Peru City Council, after it heard pleas from pickleball players to paint the tennis courts with pickleball lines.

Nearly 50 pickleball players flooded the council chambers Monday to show their support during the Illinois Valley Pickleball Club’s presentation requesting the paint job to go from four to 10 pickleball courts at Washington Park, allowing the courts to be utilized as both tennis and pickleball courts.

Peru Mayor Ken Kolowski said he was proud of the courts and having so many people wanting to utilize the playing space is a good problem to have.

“We will get our heads together,” the mayor said. “We’ll talk with Adam (Thorson, director of parks). We’ll talk about this at a committee level … And we’ll see what we can do with this.”

Tom Shinnick, a member of the Illinois Valley Pickleball Club and Peru resident, said Peru was the leader of the Illinois Valley and has the best pickleball courts in the area

“Peru has led on the pickleball courts,” he said. “This is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because we are bringing people of all walks of life together to play recreationally outside and it’s a curse because we have all these people and not enough courts.”

There are four courts at Washington Park. Shinnick said those courts are in constant use during the day.

“There are not enough courts on certain occasions for the huge increases in the number of pickleball players and the popularity of the sport,” he said.

Shinnick said there are often long waits between games, causing anger and frustration among the players – this remark caused the players in the audience to laugh.

He said the club has 203 active members, which does not include grade school, high school or college age players.

“We have increased membership 300% since 2021,” he said. “We have players coming from La Salle, Oglesby, Spring Valley, Utica, Rochelle, Tiskilwa, Princeton, Mendota, Toluca, Streator, Dixon, Sublette and Marseilles, as well as travelers stopping on occasion for one time play.”

He said as the retail center of the region, the visitors that come to play pickleball also shop in the area increasing Peru’s tax revenue.

Keith Pearse, a member of Illinois Valley Pickleball Club and Peru resident, said while there are courts all over the region it’s a social sport so they enjoy coming together in one location.

“We play a very social format where we switch our partners and there’s a nice routine going out there that you could create at Washington Park,” he said.

Pearse said the players really want to build on to the camaraderie moving forward. He mentioned there are different groups, even ones not associated with the club, that are often waiting to play at the park.

“So, you’ll get families in small groups, the young people coming out,” Pearse said. “It is really getting some critical mass out there.”

Pearse also brought up some people may have stopped coming out to play in the evening because of the difficulty to find playing time.

The solution the club proposed is to have the courts at Washington Park painted, as it wants to keep the park as the center for pickleball.

“We do believe the solution for painting lines on the courts will provide the best low cost solution for the community,” Pearse said.

Pearse said painting lines doesn’t cost more than building courts elsewhere, and of the courts on the ice rink, one of them is functional because of the sides.

Pearse added as a social community it would be amicable to put up some etiquette rules by the pickleball courts for new people.

Sue McKnight, a former tennis instructor and pickleball player, said she didn’t believe painting lines on the tennis court would interfere with the tennis courts.

“I’ve played on several tennis courts that have other pickleball lines or basketball lines like your indoor ones like at the YMCA,” she said. “And you get used to it.”

Alderman Jason Edgcomb said the city has schools that play competitive tennis on the courts at Washington Park and he was told by some of those coaches that they will not be able to play on those courts for competitive school sports. He asked McKnight if that was correct. She said, according to her research, she believed it was incorrect.

Shinnick said if the club could get the three tennis courts lined, the park would go from four to 10 pickleball courts.

“Now, we’re cooking,” he said. “Now we can have tournaments. Now we can bring in people from outside of the area. It’s an opportunity for Peru to be pickleball capital of the valley, but also there’s economic opportunity there.”

Alderman Mike Sapienza said he was concerned about the tennis players being dominated by the pickleball players if the council acted on the proposal. Shinnick said the pickleball players hardly see any tennis players there.

McKnight said tennis would take priority, because tennis was there first. She said if there are three courts needed to be filled with tennis, the pickleball players would move on.

Pearse said the club could potentially add something to the rules of etiquette if it wished.

Director of Parks, Recreation and Special Events Adam Thorson said the city will be reaching out to St. Bede Academy as well as the tennis community for their input on the potential project. He said he hopes to present his findings in about a week.