Pickleball smashes its way to Yuma Proving Ground’s Fitness Center

By Ana HendersonMarch 20, 2024

Yuma Proving Ground’s Fitness Center has a pickleball court and paddles and balls to loan. The court which can be used as a tennis and volleyball court as well is available during Fitness Center hours, which are Monday-Thursday 6 a.m.-7 p.m. and...
Yuma Proving Ground’s Fitness Center has a pickleball court and paddles and balls to loan. The court which can be used as a tennis and volleyball court as well is available during Fitness Center hours, which are Monday-Thursday 6 a.m.-7 p.m. and Friday-Sunday 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. (Photo Credit: Ana Henderson) VIEW ORIGINAL

Pickleball kamikazed on to the sports scene and is here to stay.

Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) brought the popular sport to the installation at the urging of its residents.

“A lot of people in the community were really interested in it,” explained YPG’s Supervisory Recreation Specialist Dylan Black, adding that both year-round and winter residents asked about the sport.

One pickleball enthusiast and YPG community member, Joel Holsinger went so far as using his precise measuring skills to mark the current multi-use court at YPG with the pickleball court measurements.

Black recounts, “He came out on his own time. He put some duck-tape down, he had all the measurements. It was about a two-to-three-day process for him.”

Now, with an official size court and paddles and balls to loan, YPG’s Fitness Center has a tournament planned for mid-March.

The court which can be used as a tennis and volleyball court as well is available during Fitness Center hours, which are Monday-Thursday 6 a.m.-7 p.m. and Friday-Sunday 10 a.m.- 6 p.m.

The YPG community can expect more of these types of tournaments. Supervisory Recreation Assistant Dani Compton, says the Fitness Center team wants to “provide more options and more variety” so they will be offering more unconventional sports like cornhole and archery tournaments in the upcoming months.

For more information on the sports or what the Fitness Center offers call extension 928-328-2400.