PHOTOS: Northville Residents Get Excercise Playing Pickleball

Between the and the at , Northville offers daily pickleball playing opportunities. The games are currently geared to 50 years of age and over, but are open to all ages.

"On Saturday night, we've gotten to be the pickleball area, so people will come from all over," said Joe Barberio, Athletic Program Supervisor for the Northville Parks and Recreation department. He describes the game as a mix between ping pong and tennis on a badminton sized court.

Barberio explained that he started the open pickleball games in Northville in 2007 after being introduced to the game in Florida.

Richard Johnson lives in Belleville and comes regularly to the Northville Community Senior Center to play pickleball. He said, "I used to play golf five days a week. Now, I don't want to play golf; I want to play pickleball."

"It's very good for people over 50 because the tennis courts are so big and the (tennis) ball bounces so high, and you have to chase the ball around," said Barberio. "Here the ball doesn't bounce much, but you still get all of the exercise."

The Community Senior Center usually has beginner to intermediate players, where the Recreation Center at Hillside hosts intermediate to advanced players according to Barberio.

Four women played for the first time Tuesday at the Community Senior Center. One of the women was Marcia Cromas who said, "They were very helpful, very nice to us. (They made) sure that they told us the rules." The four said that they would all come back to play again.

Times and pricing for Northville pickleball are shown below.

Community Senior Center - 303 W. Main Street:
Monday 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., Tuesday 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., Wednesday through Friday 9:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. (All days are $2/person).

Recreation Center at Hillside - 700 W. Baseline Road:
Wednesday 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ($3/person), Saturday 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ($4/person), Sunday 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ($3/person).