BREAKING NEWS
Plans for New $200,000 Tennis & Pickleball Courts at Sport Pugwash
Northumberland Tennis & Pickleball Association [NTPA] plans to build a “State-of-the-Art Tennis & Pickleball Facility” at Sport Pugwash – the home of the fastest growing Recreational Complex in Cumberland County. Sport Pugwash located at 349 Miller Road within 2 km of the Village limits makes this an ideal location for sport enthusiasts.
“We are excited about this new Partnership between NTPA and Sport Pugwash. Tennis is now rated the 6th fastest growing sports in Canada and Pickleball is # 1 in North America. These sports are a great addition to our existing facilities that include horse racing, baseball, softball, disc golf and walking trails” says Sport Pugwash Chairman Rocky Irons.
We [NTPA] believe this project is timely and, in the spring of 2021, we will be reaching out to the local schools and people of all ages with our focus on growing these sports through youth and adult programs that include coaching, training, clinics, and periodic learn-to-play events. Tennis and Pickleball, similarly to golf and curling, promote bringing people together, provide opportunities for social networking, help to prevent cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, and reduce obesity. Moreover, they are sports mostly played outside that can be readily accommodated to physical distancing requirement in this time of Covid- 19. As racquet sports that do not involve expensive equipment, both are also readily accessible across income groups when public courts are available.
“NTPA has done its homework” says Rod Young Chairman of NTPA’s “Courts & Communities in Action” committee. Competitive estimates obtained by NTPA indicate a new facility including washrooms and outdoor lighting for night-time play will cost $200,000. We will be applying for grants from the Village of Pugwash; Municipality of Cumberland; the Province of Nova Scotia and the Federal Government for roughly 60% of the costs, with the balance to be raised by our association through fund-raising initiatives and community outreach. NTPA hopes to begin construction in June 2022 for a grand opening on July 15, 2022.
On a final note, you may be asking why build new courts?
“For each of the past 4 years, we have been repairing a multitude of cracks of up to 1” on both courts within the Village on Prince Albert Street. These cracks and uneven playing surfaces result in unsafe playing conditions that interfere with fair, competitive play. After much investigation, it was determined that building new courts on the existing site would be more costly than building on a new site at Sport Pugwash. The playing surface on the old courts also falls short of the required playing area for both sports,” says NTPA Chair Diane Burnham.
Pickleball Nova Scotia 