Get Your Pickle On

3rd Shot Pickleball presents a new place to play

Pickleballโ€™s popularity continues to soar, with people of all ages grabbing a paddle and getting in on the action. Places to play remain in demand, and Evansville has added another โ€” an indoor, eight-court pickleball paradise.

3rd Shot Pickleball โ€” located on the North Side between Green River, Burkhardt, Lynch roads and Morgan Avenue โ€” is the cityโ€™s first indoor facility dedicated to the burgeoning sport. Itโ€™s designed to be a destination, with a pro shop with all sorts of pickleball supplies, plus a bar with a small food menu.

You donโ€™t have to be a 3rd Shot member to visit and play, but the $38 monthly membership has perks. Members enjoy reduced court fees, plus the ability to book a court two weeks in advance, discounts on leagues, lessons, and drop-in visits. You can even set up a permanent court time.

Evansvilleโ€™s 3rd Shot Pickleball is the companyโ€™s fourth such facility nationally โ€“ there are two in Colorado and one in Nevada โ€“ but donโ€™t call it a franchise. Each location is privately owned and operated.

Gina Adams, managing partner of Evansvilleโ€™s 3rd Shot, connected at a National Pickleball League tryout event in Texas with Adam Kahn, co-owner of the two 3rd Shot Pickleball facilities in Colorado, and plans for the Evansville location took off from there. Adams also is acquainted with Rick Witsken of Indianapolis, co-founder of the National Pickleball League.

Kahn and Witsken were both at the Oct. 10 grand opening of 3rd Shot Pickleball in Evansville, where Adams stressed that all interested in learning the sport are welcome. Donโ€™t have a paddle? Demonstration paddles are available, and lessons for newcomers are offered regularly.

Pickleball coaches are on staff at 3rd Shot, and Adams says they can help beginners as well as advanced players who want to hone a particular skill.

League play is available, and open-court times are on the calendar.

Local pickleball enthusiasts also have several outdoor courts to choose from at Wesselman Tennis Center, Rivertown Pickleball Courts, Burdette Park, and in Scott Township. Evansville Tennis Center, C.K. Newsome Community Center, and YMCA of Southwestern Indiana also make room for pickleball play at their facilities.

Adams says she enjoys pickleball so much because of the people who play it, and thatโ€™s the type of environment visitors to 3rd Shot Pickleball can expect. She says the sports strikes a balance of being both competitive and social.

Pickleball players โ€œare so welcoming to everybody no matter who you are, including beginners,โ€ Adams says. โ€œThey want to teach people how to play.โ€

3rd Shot Pickleballย 

2800 Kotter Ave.ย 

812-940-2800

Open 8 a.m.-9 p.m. daily

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Maggie Valenti
Maggie Valenti
Maggie Valenti joined Tucker Publishing Group in September 2022 as a staff writer. She graduated from Gettysburg College in 2020 with a bachelors degree in English. A Connecticut native, Maggie has ridden horses for 15 years and has hunt seat competition experience on the East Coast.

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