Westfield Pickleball Players, Rejoice: More Courts at Available at Tamaques Park

WESTFIELD, NJ — Pickleballers have more room to play after new lines were painted on the Tamaques Park tennis courts recently.

“I want to say it was two more pickleball courts than we had previously,” Town Administrator Jim Gildea said at Tuesday’s town council conference meeting.

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The painting of the newly re-surfaced Tamaques courts preserves the existing space for tennis and allows for several of the back courts to be modified with temporary nets for pickleball, according to Gildea.

Newly appointed Council member James Hely , who noted that he was a tennis player, attested to the changes in the conference session.

“I was there this Monday morning at 6 a.m. and it’s painted. It’s beautiful. The courts closest to the parking lot are all for tennis and the further away ones are for pickleball,” Hely said.

“It’s going to be a little bit of a nuisance for the tennis players to remove the pickleball nets,” Hely added, noting the possibility that some pickleball players may neglect to remove the temporary setup after playing.

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Mayor Shelley Brindle and Councilman Michael Armento both asked about the temporary net availability and usage. Gildea said that the recreation department had purchased the nets and would store them.

“We have a new thing on the website for signing up for court time , for pickleball particularly, so they can actually schedule time to put the nets out there and then pull it back off,” Gildea said.

If the courts work out well, other town courts may soon follow suit, he said.

“They’re looking at Memorial Park to do the same kind of thing,” said Gildea. The Elm Street courts are managed by the school board, he said.

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