Indoor courts, hosting regional tournaments, lessons to children and more are all aspects of Stinson’s million-dollar project
Eric Stinson and his wife, Kate, are two of the hundreds of Hendersonians who’ve caught on to the pickleball craze. They love playing together. They love the pickleball community that has sprung up in recent years. Simply, they love everything about it.
“We just fell in love with the sport,” Eric Stinson said.
So much so that they want to play in all seasons—including winter. But in Henderson, finding a court during the cold winter months is not always easy.
The city of Henderson has recently put down three courts on the John F. Kennedy Center gym, and that’s available three mornings a week.
And the YMCA has four courts set up on one of the indoor tennis courts. That’s not always available because it’s a shared space with tennis players.
Another option is to drive over to Evansville where there are more indoor options.
“I’m of the belief we shouldn’t have to do that,” Stinson said.
Local court availability is just one of several reasons Stinson decided to take matters into his own hands. Last year, he bought the Skateway USA building on Franklin Avenue in an auction. There had been hints that a deal was in place for a different entity to buy Skateway after it closed in May, but Stinson said that deal fell through, and when he heard the building was being auctioned—as the online auction was occurring—he immediately got involved. He ended up the highest bidder, making the purchase for $188,000.
And with all the passion he and Kate hold for pickleball, he knew what he wanted to do with the building.
One big roadblock greeted him in turning it into a pickleball center that will be called—as an ode to Skateway USA—“Pickleball USA.” The tagline to the title is “Home of the Pickleball Pit.”
The term “pit” may be one of the most interesting aspects of the future business because the pit was the roadblock.
After buying the building, Stinson learned its ceilings—at a height of 12 feet—weren’t high enough for competitive pickleball. That’s too low to make a lob or play a high shot, Stinson said. He said a good height, especially considering the caliber of players he wants to attract from around the region, is about 18 feet.
So, he consulted a structural engineer, who told him there was no way to raise the roof. But Stinson didn’t quit thinking.
“I needed to find a way to make the structure work,” he said.
One day he was looking at courts he’d lined out on the old skating rink floor when he got an idea—instead of going up, he’d go down. He consulted another professional, who told him that digging a pit straight down starting at a point at least ten feet inside the building’s walls would still protect the structure’s integrity.
He soon hired a company to perform a geo-survey to make sure there wasn’t water pooled beneath the surface. There wasn’t.
His idea verified, plans are in place to dig down seven feet, where when all is said and done, six regulation courts will be built. In the pit, players will have 19 feet of air space from court to ceiling, Stinson said.
The rest of the design, created by LA&D Design from Newburgh, includes a 40-feet by 80-feet new addition attached to the front of the existing building where a pro shop and health food eatery is planned, he said.
Around the indoor playing surface, a catwalk will circle the courts, so that spectators can look down on the action in the pit. On one end, there will be bleachers that step down from the catwalk. And staircases from the catwalk to the courts are planned to be placed every two courts so that players can step down onto the playing surface.
Also garage door-style openings will be placed on one side of the building and will face five outdoor courts. In warmer weather, those doors can be opened, allowing players and spectators to mingle between the indoor and outdoor matches. There’s also the possibility of building a sixth outdoor court, Stinson said.
All told, it’s going to be about a $1.4 million investment to create what Stinson calls a “top-notch, world-class facility.”
Eddie Minton, along with Charles Madden, started the Henderson Ky. Pickleball Club several years back. Since then, the now 130-member club—with city of Henderson funding—has scrapped, painted and striped their way to getting 14 outdoor courts to play on, Minton said.
“I think it’s fantastic,” Minton said of the planned facility and the opportunity it provides to play year-round. “We’re going to have a place to play indoors and outdoors.”
League play as well as group and private lessons will also be offered. Handling that—and all the tournament organization—will be husband and wife, Steven and Gena Burgess, who are pickleball certified pros and run 100% Pickled, an Evansville company they started about five years ago. They will run the day-to-day operations of Pickleball USA. (On a side note, their company also handles pickleball court surfacing all over the country.)
Steven Burgess said he and Stinson are planning to start off by hosting two regional tournaments per year.
Both believe local tournaments could serve as an economic boost, drawing as many people as a recent tournament in Owensboro when close to 400 participants from numerous states participated, Steven Burgess said.
“People will travel for a tournament at a really nice facility, and this one is going to be super nice,” Steven Burgess said, adding that a tournament at the new 16-court pickleball facility at Wesselman Park in Evansville hosted pickleballers from at least eight different states.
Minton agrees. “I think they will definitely pour in,” he said.
One of the final reasons for and benefit of the facility is the outreach planned. Currently, Steven Burgess said he teaches 12 kids pickleball at the Evansville YMCA and he expects similar programs to spring from the new pickleball facility here.
That’s a goal of Stinson, who grew up on the East End and says his father couldn’t buy him a set of golf clubs as a kid. But with pickleball, it’s different, he said. The only equipment needed is a wiffle ball and a $12 paddle, Stinson said. He wants children in the neighborhood and school system to participate and learn the game.
Both Burgess and Stinson are ex-military, a point of connection for them, and Burgess said he also has done some work at the Evansville National Guard Armory. He said he also plans to hold programs for veterans and first responders at Pickleball USA.
Finally, Stinson said he’ll get to work with his daughter, Latta Rose Justice, who will help with design work, and also to continue work with business partner, Alex Calhoun.
He hopes construction can begin soon, but is still unsure of a concrete start date. The goal, though, is to be playing indoors at Pickleball USA by next winter.
“I think we can be playing pickleball inside next winter,” Stinson said. “We got to have a place to play next winter.”
