Green-Dickson Park to get new pickle ball court, disc golf course

Green-Dickson Park in Shiner is poised for several new amenities in coming weeks, not least of which is a new pickle ball court.
Pickle ball is a paddle sport that is akin to tennis, badminton, and ping-pong. It uses a paddle and a plastic ball with holes and is a game for all ages. Council member Alois “Louis” Herman was the one who signed off on this project.
“It started when somebody called me asking about pickle ball,” Herman said. “I had no idea what it was, but I ended up seeing it on TV. They had a pickle ball tournament on one of those sports channels and I thought this would be perfect for Shiner. 
I think this is a good addition to the park and it’s something that will be great for adults. Everyone in the city has been supportive. When I told the council about pickle ball, they all had a smile on their face. It doesn’t cost that much, and it will be a great activity. People will surely get their tax dollars back from this.”
The new court will be in sooner than later.
“As of right now, we’re waiting on the contractor from CourTex,” Herman said. “We talked to him about the later part of last year and he said they will be here in the later part of March or the early part of April. These are the same contractors that re-did the tennis courts last year. They built a new basketball court in the park as well. They made a new concrete pad out there and took the basketballs off the old court.”
CourTex will be putting the pickle ball court where the old basketball court was.
“The old basketball court was made out of asphalt, and it was pretty smooth and a little bigger than a pickle ball court,” Herman said. “So, CourTex will be leveling off the court to make it a pickle ball court.”
They will be putting in new court surfacing by high pressure washing the court, removing mold, and repairing cracks. They will also apply one coat of acrylic resurfacer to the entire court to address any imperfections in the court and ensure a secure seal and smooth surface.
Afterwards, they will apply two coats of standard color surfacing and stripe the court in standard striping for pickle ball. CourTex will then furnish and install plated pickle ball net posts and a net system.
Initially, the cost for a new court was going to be around $20,000. However, since they are installing the pickle ball court on the existing basketball court, the total cost is now $10,500.
“I think this is good to have activities for the young and the old, so we don’t have to go out of town to have a good time,” City Secretary Natalie Fric said.
Shiner should also be getting its own disc golf course installed at the park as well with the raised a chain-link goals fort players to aim for. And the goals set around several of the park’s natural obstacles.
Talks on that course have been on-going for more than two years now.
“If you go to Gonzales or other towns around here, they have this already,” Herman said. “We have a map on this already. The people putting it up are from Team Justice Golf, and they were supposed to be here by now, but it hasn’t happened yet. They will be paying for this, so it wouldn’t cost the city anything.”
Recently, the council also heard from a member of the Shiner Pilot Club regarding adding new accessible wheelchairs for the park and handicapped swings.
The cost for the wheelchair amenities would be $1,500 and the handicapped swing would be $800.
They also brought up potentially adding a splash pad to the park, but the council is still awaiting more information on that. This will be a costly project totaling up to $300,000. Out of that money, $150,000 would be used for the installation of the water system.