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Caught in a pickle, the city of Seguin finds a solution with new Pickleball courts

Seguin, TX, USA / Seguin Today
Caught in a pickle, the city of Seguin finds a solution with new Pickleball courts


Players serving up their thoughts on the new Seguin-Saegert complex

(Seguin) — Seguin has reportedly scored an ace with the debut of its new pickleball complex, located in the heart of the city.

The Seguin Parks and Recreation Department on Tuesday afternoon hosted the grand opening of the Seguin-Saegert Pickleball Complex. The complex is located near the corner Guadalupe and Mountain streets, across from the old Saegert campus and almost adjacent to the Seguin Police Department.

Serving up the first pickleballs over the net was a host of city leaders, who all celebrated the vision to bring the complex to fruition. With courts and LED lighting in place, the construction of the complex — on top of the old Saegert school tennis courts — already has city officials dreaming of plans to one day host state or even national tournaments for what is being described as the fastest growing sport in the United States.

For months, the city has been talking about plans and details for this project – a project that now has them scoring points with the dozens of players who all showed up to celebrate Tuesday’s grand opening.

Among those players was Eddy Wilson. Wilson was there to not only welcome the new courts, but to also provide a demonstration on how to play the game. 

“For me, this is phenomenal because it started out with just my family playing and it’s been able to grow to us actually having nine courts today so just to be able to have that – it’s the community, it’s the friendship, it’s not just a game for us, it’s a way of life so we’ve formed friends with people that we wouldn’t ever meet before,” said Wilson.

Wilson says the city didn’t just build pickleball courts. He says that they built an entire complex, that offers a one-of-a-kind experience for pickleball players. Wilson says he believes these courts will attract players from all around the area.

“Oh man, this is beautiful. This is top notch right here. I mean there’s not any complexes around that are compared to this right now. I mean you have to go to San Antonio or downtown or Austin to get these types of courts, so this is awesome,” said Wilson.

Also hitting the courts for a quick game with friends was Seguin native Jan Gordon, who is now a resident of Idaho. Gordon spends several months of the winter here in Seguin and says during those months, much of her time is spent on the pickleball court – a court, that until now, didn’t quite exist like it does now in Seguin.

“I love playing outdoors. I have an opportunity to play indoors in Schertz and Cibolo with the Y and there’s a great group of people there but having dedicated pickleball courts rather than pickleball courts that have been painted over basketball courts or tennis courts or volleyball is a lot different, and it just means it’s a recognized fun activity,” said Gordon.

In fact, Gordon, who welcomed friends to the court on Tuesday, said she is more than sure that these new courts will attract even more players to Seguin.

“Actually, many of them are here to celebrate the opening of the outdoor courts here and from what I understand, there are very few in the Schertz area, in the New Braunfels area — I think Seguin has done a really great job in supplying this for people in our whole area,” said Gordon. 

Gordon’s best friend was also among those in attendance. This week’s grand opening of the courts, however, may have been even more special for that friend. Not only does her friend love the game, but the city’s decision to name the courts — the Seguin-Saegert Pickleball Complex — holds special meaning for her and her family.

“I’m Joan Billnitzer Lackorn and my mom was Marie Jo Saegert and Joe F. Saegert is my grandfather and I live in Austin, grew up in Seguin and heard about the dedication of the courts from another friend of mine and my sister and I decided to drive down from Austin and see it and it’s really amazing,” said Lackorn.

Lackorn says the vision behind repurposing the old school tennis courts aligns perfectly with her family’s legacy.

“I think all of our family would love it that this space is being reutilized for the benefit of the public. I mean my whole family was very civic orientated and I wish I had a facility this nice close to me in Austin,” said Lackorn.

Lackorn’s sister, Jan Billnitzer Haas, of Austin, says she too is grateful for the courts and expects the city to become a leader in the sport. 

“I too wanted to come down and see the Seguin-Saegert complex and it is beautiful. I like the way the courts are spaced off and you won’t have to run far to get a ball and yet, you won’t have to interfere with others. It looks a very well-designed complex, and the lights will make it usable for many hours,” said Haas.

Seguin City Manager Steve Parker later continued to sing the praises of the pickleball complex during Tuesday night’s city council meeting. Parker says staff did a terrific job working with the contractor to get this initial phase up and running. He says this is a great new amenity in the city of Seguin.

“I just want to acknowledge Jack Jones and the parks and rec team for the pickleball court grand opening today. It was a phenomenal grand opening. I was really astounded by the number of people that came to the opening today and we are very eager – the mayor and I and I know the council members that I talk to – we always say that Seguin deserves nice things and I think it was a very nice project and just the phase one – just to see the excitement and the turf wars between the tennis players and the pickleballers are officially over. They’ve each got their own facility and so we are really excited about that but it’s a great project and we are really excited and I’m sure they are out there playing right now. So, thank ya’ll,” said Parker.

The construction of the pickleball courts completes only phase one of the project. The second phase is slated for completion in the summer and will include additional parking, a large, covered picnic pavilion and restrooms. The city last September purchased the property from the Seguin ISD with the hope of the building the courts. Again, city leaders say problems between tennis players and pickleball players who both wanted to utilize the tennis courts at Max Starcke Park has ultimately led to this solution, and this opportunity to build a first-rate pickleball complex in Seguin. The complex boasts nine pickleball courts and will be available for play through 10 o’clock each night.