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Pickleball players excited to potentially return to courts

Macon Pickleball challenges its members every week to keep their skills sharp during the shelter-in-place orders.

MACON, Ga. — Local tennis and pickleball courts are still locked up for now, but that could change soon. The pickleball community is ready to take steps to make sure their members are safe in the event they can get back out to play.

It's been a long six weeks for the pickleball community since local courts closed due to the coronavirus. Macon Pickleball organizer, Paul Midkiff, knew he had to do something to keep the groups members engaged.

"We put together a challenge, a daily challenge where we would try to stay connected in some way," Midkiff said.

Each day Midkiff and his team of organizers issue a new challenge on the organization's YouTube page so local pickleball players can work on their skills. On Fridays, they give away a sponsored prize to participants.

"We've had people all the way from Oklahoma find out about it, participate and actually win some prizes," Midkiff said.

It's done the trick so far for a group that is used to seeing each other nearly everyday.

"Half the time you're playing but the other half you're talking and catching up with each other so this allows  for people to still feel ... it's not as good as being there, but we're still feeling connected," Midkiff said.

There is light at end of the tunnel though. With Governor Brian Kemp opting to re-open places like gyms and fitness centers, Macon Parks and Recreation is considering opening courts in the near future.

When courts do open up, Midkiff said there will be some precautions taken to keep people safe. They will follow U.S. Tennis association guidelines that include doubles pairs having set partners, each doubles pair using an assigned ball to play, and not switching sides of court like you would in a traditional pickleball game.

Midkiff says steps will be taken to properly social distance competitors waiting to hop on a court and enthusiasm for competition may have to be tempered just a bit.

"You know I'm a hugger and I'm gonna have to stop doing that, you know and fist-bumping and shaking hands and things like that, so we're gonna have to put that in front of everybody and be more mindful about that," Midkiff said.

Chris Floore with Macon-Bibb Public Affairs said the county government is looking into how soon they could safely open up open outdoor recreational facilities and other government departments.

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