T-L Photo/JOSIE BURKHART
St. Clairsville Middle School students play basketball on the new basketball and pickleball court at Central Park in St. Clairsville. Pictured are Brody Clifford and Savannah Cisar.
ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Central Park in St. Clairsville has a new basketball and pickleball court for residents of the city to play on.
St. Clairsville Parks & Recreation expanded its park with a new basketball court, which is also a pickleball court, Recreation Director Eric Gay said. Central Park is located at 102 Fair St.
Workers finished painting the court in the middle of August. It is now ready for players to take on basketball and/or pickleball challenges on it.
Gulfport Energy paid for the court after Gay reached out to the company because he and the Parks & Recreation staff were looking to expand the park.
“We were looking to upgrade the park down there and put some things in, “ Gay said. “And the conversation started back in 2023 when I reached out to Gulfport Energy. … I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done along with all the other businesses that believed in the vision that we have here, as far as building this entire area up.”
Zastudil Concrete from Toronto did all of the excavation and court work in May, and the concrete needed to set before The Final Floor from Sugar Grove could paint the lines in August.
Mega Slam Hoops gave direction to Gay on which hoops to get after he reached out to that firm, which is where the hoops come from, too.
The court is now open to the public for anyone who is looking for a new place to play basketball or pickleball.
“Pickleball is an exploding sport,” Gay said. “So, I don’t want to just reference it as just a basketball court because the pickleball people want it to be known it’s that, too.”
Gay said the nets for pickleball are still not set up but will be in the near future. He is figuring out a schedule for the multipurpose court.
Parks & Recreation is not done with the court and plans to keep the project going into a second phase by building a fence around it with lights, so it will be open after dark and enclosed.
“I’m very pleased,” he said. “Gulfport’s very pleased. The city’s very pleased with how that finished product looks.”
Gay said the support from the city administration with Mayor Kathryn Thalman, Service Director Scott Harvey and all the members of council has been important and a big part of being able to build the new court.
“It is such a valuable piece to any city,” Gay said. “And with all the members that I just mentioned believing in that vision as well, I couldn’t be happier with the support we have received to this department.”
Gay said this court adds to Parks & Recreation’s project of an indoor facility of 7,000 square feet of artificial turf, batting cages and golf bays along with the outdoor volleyball court.
He also mentioned how he lives in St. Clairsville, used to be a teacher at the elementary school and coaches football and sees children playing on the court all the time, so it’s nice to see a central location that’s easily accessible to the schools.
“It just gives the kids in St. Clairsville and the parents in St. Clairsville a much closer place to home to have things for their kids to do,” Gay said, “instead of always having to travel somewhere else to get those kinds of things.”
