Reservations coming at Wulf this fall
Brian Tucker, left, and Logan Bashford
When the fall schedule for Wulf gym comes out, pickleball reservations are set to be part of the mix. This is not the same plan that flamed out last winter, when immediate and vocal objections doomed the idea before it launched.
The new reservation plan was discussed Friday at a meeting between EPRD staff and EPC board members at the EPRD Administrative Office at Buchanan Park. EPRD board member and pickleball player Don Rosenthal also attended.
The rec district is planning to introduce the new reservation system in October. This go-round, there will be “ample” drop-in time every day except Saturday during the annual CARA volleyball season. Reservable 85-minute slots will be split evenly between Advanced and Intermediate.
You will need an EPRD Active Network account, which you most likely already have if you have participated in any rec district activities. There will be no additional charge for a reservation vs. drop-in. Reservations will open 72 hours ahead of the playing time.
Reservations will be made by individuals, not groups. For each 85-minute slot, 24 to 26 players will be allowed. Names will not be available to others registering because software required for other reasons doesn’t allow it. Play will proceed as it does now, with paddles placed in the rack as you arrive and the next four people taking the floor as a foursome comes off.
You may reserve only one session per day and may play only one session per day—reserved or not. We know that some people basically want to play all day, every day, but that’s just not realistic at a public facility like Wulf that is in such high demand.
“Ten years ago the gym was sitting empty,” EPRD director of operations Brian Tucker said, pointing out that pickleball rapidly took care of that situation. Now the challenge is how to accommodate hordes of local people who want a place to play when weather prohibits outdoor court use. Players may not have the time or inclination to drive down the hill to public or private courts.
Under consideration is a plan to utilize the scoreboard in the Wulf gym when each 85-minute session expires. The buzzer means last point, not finish the game and mosey off. This is in recognition of the fact that the rec district doesn’t have the personnel to police the situation and most pickleball players don’t want to.
The reservation system will be implemented and evaluated, and is “not set in stone.”
In a positive development Friday, it was decided that Logan Bashford, EPRD guest experience manager, will attend Evergreen Pickleball Club quarterly board meetings to receive and provide input on the reservation system and other issues of concern to pickleball players. The next one is in October.
While there are pickleball gripes about the gym not being utilized to its maximum capacity, a situation where one basketball player occupies an otherwise empty gym will not be changing. “We have an obligation to keep the times and we will keep those times,” EPRD Executive Director Cory Vander Veen said. He mentioned that basketball and volleyball players as well as camp kids need a gym option.
The new schedule has been tweaked to make it more efficient and has actually added pickleball hours, staff said Friday. The schedule may be posted to the EPRD website as soon as next week.
Clockwise from Bob Kerr at end of table: EPRD Executive Director Cory Vander Veen, Cherie Peterson, Don Rosenthal, Brian Tucker, Logan Bashford, Monte Poague and John Dunlop.
What happened to more indoor courts?
It was made very clear at Friday’s meeting that a new field house at Buchanan Park is not in our immediate future. In fact, “The field house is at the end of the line in major projects (at Buchanan),” EPRD board member Don Rosenthal said. It will happen “when we feel fiscally confident we can do it.”
It will be “a whole different park in three years,” he added. “Hopefully you’ll see a field house.”
A major renovation of the pool area at Buchanan must be funded as needed before a field house is given the go-ahead, Don said. Other Buchanan projects apparently earlier in the pipeline are a skate park, play area and music pavilion.
A major EPC effort to raise up to $450,000 toward a field house with at least some dedicated pickleball courts was well underway earlier this year when the elected EPRD board doused any hopes of indoor dedicated pickleball courts being put on the fast track.
The 5,000-square-foot pool area at Wulf will be decommissioned once the new aquatic center opens at Buchanan. Rumors aside, nothing has been decided about how that space will be used or how other existing lower or upper level areas will be utilized.
Labor Day brought everybody and and their uncle to Marshdale for socializing, and a little pickleball.
Snow is coming for Marshdale at some point
Over at Marshdale, a reservation system is not planned at this time, except for the current paid reservations of individual courts or the whole set of courts. EPC pays $500 to reserve all eight courts for a tournament plus $150 for the pavilion.
However, the courts definitely are very crowded on some mornings, like Labor Day. EPRD’s Don Rosenthal got a look at the situation when he played that day.
Of more immediate concern is the policy surrounding the outdoor courts’ use when snow arrives. Small amounts, perhaps up to 4 inches, with a forecast of sunny weather may not cause the courts to be locked up. The policy will be most flexible in October and November, but once December arrives it’s likely snow will cause closures from time to time.
“If there’s a foot pf snow we’re going to lock it down,” Brian Tucker said. The concern, as many of us are aware, is that someone with show up with inappropriate heavy equipment and punch holes in the surface or worse, although it’s hard to imagine what that may be.
Plans are being developed to move the shed EPRD built to a location near the pavilion that will not cast shade and cause parts of three courts plus the sidewalk to develop ice. EPC President Bob Kerr said the club would pay for the new pad and provide other assistance if requested. The shed is much appreciated by the club as we store some nets, our banners and other equipment there.
