Golfers have been given the green light to get back on the course and two Prince George courses have opened, but tennis season is still on hold.
Directly behind the clubhouse at Prince George Golf and Curling Club, where golfers are now into their second week of swinging for the pins, the courts of the Prince George Tennis and Pickleball Club remain off-limits, closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“The city has put up signs saying we’re temporarily closed and they haven’t been in communication when we can open up,” said PGTPC president Tyler Foxcroft. “Hopefully it’s soon.
“We’re slated to open May 30. That is subject to change, of course. Could be earlier of we might be extended. I think the civic (authorities) are taking their notes from (the provincial health officer). We’re shut down until notified and I’m thinking at least until June.”
The pandemic restriction has also delayed installation of the nets at the city tennis courts throughout the community.
The PGTPC is building six permanent courts for pickleball and construction is expected to start Tuesday or Wednesday. The $80,000 project, paid for by grants from Northern Development Initiative Trust and New Horizons for Seniors, will convert two of the existing tennis courts for pickleball users, who last year made up about half of the club’s 120-player membership. Construction crews will be erecting fences for each of the six courts, which will allow the club to stage Pickleball Canada-sanctioned tournament events.
“We’re losing (tennis) courts 1 and 2 and temporarily might lose court 3,” said Foxcroft. “We’re somewhere between 50 or 60 pickleball players and some of them are dual-sport, so they’re signing up for pickleball and tennis.”
Pickleball is widely recognized as one of the fastest-growing sports in North America. Many of the local players play it throughout the winter months in gymnasiums.
The club has yet to decide on what to charge its members for use of the city-owned facility and pricing will depend on when the season begins. In any other year, players begin using the courts as soon as the snow/ice melts. Those courts have clear and dry for the past three weeks.
The club usually has three tournaments every year and the two spring icebreaker events won’t happen, but Foxcroft says there’s still a chance the Prince George Citizen Open in early in July and the Fall Wrap-Up tournament in September will go ahead as planned. None of the club events draw a large spectator base and each has usually only a few dozen participants, which will limit crowd sizes.
“The pickleball courts will be six segregated courts so there won’t be a group of people sitting together like they usually are, so we’ll be able to control that,” said Foxcroft. “If we get those courts done in June we absolutely want to have a pickleball tournament.
“Hopefully things change here and the restrictions get lifted and we can get out there and play.”
