The YMCA of Reading & Berks County has been awarded a capital grant from YMCA of the USA to expand and improve its pickleball program at the Sinking Spring YMCA in response to a growing community demand.<\/p>\n
The investment will allow the organization to create a dedicated racquet sports wing through the addition of one tennis court and four pickleball courts.<\/p>\n
At the Sinking Spring YMCA, officials said court time and programs are consistently full.\u00a0 Expanding capacity will help reduce wait times, support additional leagues and create more access for new and returning players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis expansion will be a game-changer for accommodating our avid, competitive pickleball players and newcomers learning or improving their game,\u201d said Jesse Whiteman, the executive director at the Sinking Spring YMCA. \u201cIt also gives us the launchpad for making additional capital improvements we need.\u201d<\/p>\n
Planned improvements will focus on increasing the number of playable courts and upgrading court spaces to improve play, accessibility and overall experience. The expansion will benefit pickleball and tennis participants and allow the facility to better serve a wide range of skill levels, from beginners to experienced players.<\/p>\n
Upon completion, Whiteman said the facility will have a total of four tennis courts and 10 pickleball courts designed to provide a professional-level environment for both sports. The equipment upgrades and improvements planned for all existing and new courts include new sturdy, portable nets for the pickleball courts and new benches.<\/p>\n
As part of the grant agreement, the YMCA of Reading & Berks County will launch a fundraising effort to match the YMCA of the USA investment and to improve the facility. Additional details about the campaign will be shared in the coming months as planning continues and renovation costs are finalized.<\/p>\n
\u201cPickleball is bringing people together across generations,\u201d said Phillip Borup, president and CEO of the YMCA of Reading & Berks County. \u201cThis grant will let us grow that connection \u2014 more courts and better amenities mean more opportunities for families, seniors, youth and everyone in between to be active, social and healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the expansion is another step toward creating inclusive spaces that support physical activity, social connection and lifelong wellness.<\/p>\n
Open house night<\/p>\n
To celebrate the growing racquet sports community and invite the public to get involved, the YMCA will host an open house and racquet sports membership night on Jan. 9 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Sinking Spring YMCA.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur open house is a perfect chance for people to try something new, meet our team and see what\u2019s coming for racquet sports,\u201d Whiteman said.<\/p>\n
The event is open to anyone interested in learning to play pickleball and for junior tennis players ages 11-18 interested in improving their skills. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet staff, connect with other players, enjoy light refreshments and take part in open play pickleball and tennis throughout the evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The YMCA of Reading & Berks County has been awarded a capital grant from YMCA of the USA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,182,139,28,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-68770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}