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Pickleball's pickle: more courts needed?

From left: Malissa Ruffner, John Odell, Deb Benton and Jenny Wienckowski dominated a game of pickleball at the Druid Hill Park courts. Photo: Melissa Gerr
From left: Malissa Ruffner, John Odell, Deb Benton and Jenny Wienckowski dominated a game of pickleball at the Druid Hill Park courts. Photo: Melissa Gerr

Pickleball, the madly popular sport embraced by all ages, is not without growing pains. Tim Almaguer Division Chief for Community Engagement & Strategic Partnerships at Baltimore City Recreation & Parks tells about efforts to meet demand.

And Betsy Cunningham, pickleball devotee, shares her grand vision for the sport:

“It’s a way to bring peace to our neighborhoods. First thing you do when you get on the court is you find out who you’re playing with, and you say hello. And the goal of the game is not to win, the goal is to have a good time. And when you finish you congratulate the team for what a good game they played. So you win fairly, you lose fairly. I like that idea for peace, I think we could use that in Baltimore.”

Links: Baltimore Pickleball, Baltimore City Recreation and Parks, USA Pickleball, Baltimore City Pickleball info.

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'