CALEB NICKERSON

SHAWVILLE June 16, 2020

The outdoor rink in Shawville has some new lines, as a local sporting group with a silly name has . . .

adopted it for their purposes.

The Shawville Pickleball Pals, as they refer to themselves, is hoping to take to the court several nights a week, though member Mary Ann Abrams said that they were still working out a schedule. The group typically plays in the Shawville United Church hall, but they were forced to seek out other venues after it closed to the public in mid-March.

“Something we’ve wanted to do for a while is play outdoors, especially in the summer,” Abrams said. “We were at the church [and] it’s now closed so that wasn’t an option. We came over and looked at this, saw it was big enough and in pretty good shape.”

Pickleball is a combination of badminton, tennis and ping pong, as participants swat a perforated plastic ball (similar to a whiffle ball) back and forth with paddles over a short net placed at the ground level.

The low-impact play style has made it a fast growing sport in recent years.

In order to set up the court, they checked with the town to get the green light to paint the lines. To ensure they were following public health guidelines, the ball is disinfected after every match and each

player has their own paddles.

The Shawville group had the court set up on Monday and Tuesday this week and were also planning a Friday outing as well. Abrams said that it is tradition for the group to head to Brooklyn Place for ice cream after their matches, but with the Pontiac High School graduation parade taking place this Friday, they might have to reverse the order.

“They’ll be coming through Main Street, so we figure we’ll have our ice cream then come over here and work it off,” she said with a laugh.

Abrams said that they would be aiming to play in the evenings and that anyone interested in playing could contact her for more information.