A community effort to bring a certain sport to Jefferson currently underway.

Jefferson Parks and Recreation Director Denny Hammen says there is a group of residents that are fundraising to build a pickleball court at Russell Park. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio engineer firm Bolton and Menk has been hired to conduct surveys and other studies of the location for the courts, which is directly north of the existing tennis courts. Hammen points out the major cost of the $220,000 project is the court material which is post-tension concrete.

“It’s very similar to what the tennis courts have, in fact it would be the same process that they used. Post-tensioning concrete stands up very well to resisting cracking. In fact, that’s where we got the idea was looking at the tennis courts that were put in Jefferson 20-plus years ago, and there’s no crack in them at this point.” 

Hammen shares his thoughts on the growing trend of pickleball.

“I’ve been amazed at the amount of interest, I guess, from the people we’ve had in the Jefferson area. In fact, they have played on the tennis courts (at Russell Park) for most of the summer, and they’ve moved into the community center here to play in our racquetball court.”     

Hammen says about $95,000 has been raised so far through a $40,000 contribution by the city and the rest is through donations and pledges. He adds the third fundraising component is through applying for grants. However, Hammen explains that they are continuing to accept donations at this time, which can be dropped off at Jefferson City Hall. He anticipates this project to start later this summer and be completed by the end of this year.