Athletic Club fundraisers help create opportunity to build two pickleball courts in Payson

PAYSON, Ill. — People in Payson are passionate about playing pickleball, but they’ve grown tired of driving to Quincy to find a court.

Now Payson can expect to have its own courts by the end of the summer.

The Payson Seymour Athletic Club conducted a gun raffle and “chuck a duck” contests at home basketball games this past winter to raise money for the courts. Club members finished removing an old tennis court to the east of the high school baseball field in early June, and concrete was poured by Hagerbaumer Construction on June 19 for two pickleball courts.

Athletic Club representative Lucas Brass says the concrete needs a month to cure before a coat of paint is slapped on it. He says it has been about a year since the club announced its plans to build the new courts, and he hopes they are playable by the first week of August.

“We’ve raised somewhere around $13,000 or $14,000 since we started, and we’ve still got some things we want to do, but we’ve had a really good response from the community,” Brass said.

He said the club’s goal is to raise approximately $20,000, and sponsorship levels still are available from $250 to $1,000. 

“If there’s a fencing company out there that would be willing to help us out on fencing materials, we don’t mind doing the labor,” Brass said. “We’re going to make sure we get all the sponsors’ logos and recognize them on the pickleball courts when we get that done to show our appreciation.”

The courts will belong to the Payson School District once they are complete, but Brass says they are intended for community use. Some people have created their own courts because of the sport’s popularity in a village of approximately 1,100 people.

“We have a gentleman at the bank who bought a net to put it on this fairly flat concrete deal next to the elementary school,” Brass said. “Just him and his family play there, and some retired ladies play like three or four days a week. There’s a gentleman outside of town and his wife, and they have a pickleball court painted in their shop. They play in there two or three days a week.

“It just shows the popularity of the sport, and it shows age really doesn’t matter. Folks still talk about how they played pickleball in junior high and high school with (long-time teacher) Rita Speckhart, and they’ve kind of seen the resurgence of (the sport). We have that 60-to-70-year-old crowd who’s playing quite a bit, and they’re looking for a place to not have to drive into Quincy. They can play right here in town, so that’s exciting for them to save a little gas and be able to play right here.”

How quickly has the sport of pickleball grown?

The Sports, Fitness, and Leisure Activities Topline Participation Report for 2025 says 19.8 million people played pickleball in the United States in 2024 — a 45.8 percent increase from the 2023 numbers and an average increase of 311 percent in three years.