The Beginning

Jacque Young and Sally Prickett played table tennis and regular tennis for numerous years in Glenwood, Iowa. During a visit to Arizona, Sally introduced Jacque to pickleball. It was love at first sight! Later, in the spring back in Iowa, Sally said, “We should build pickleball courts at Vine Street”, where the city owned tennis courts had become unusable. Much to Sally’s surprise, Jacque said, “Let’s do it.” Little did they know…

The Southwest Iowa Pickleball Committee was formed in 2016 and launched a fundraising drive in 2017. Terri Winum joined the effort, but it was a slow go. Fundraising for a new aquatic center and a new high school stadium combined with a 500-year flood made efforts difficult to say the least. Extensive time was spent researching the best construction practices and companies. Roger and Gena Craig entered the group, spending countless hours grant writing, formulating construction plans, sending thank you notes to donors, and enlisting assistance from others. Everyone agreed that our courts would be of the highest quality available or not be done at all.

By the summer of 2020, fundraising was completed and included private donors, businesses, the city of Glenwood, Mills County and grants. Wellmark, Iowa West, MidAmerican Energy, and the Schildberg Foundation were major donors, along with Glenwood State Bank and Jim Hughes Realty.

Finally, in early September of 2020, Mid-American Courtworks from Topeka, Kansas began construction on six state-of-the-art pickleball courts. They have received national attention and won numerous awards from the American Sports Builders Association for their court construction expertise. Due to inclement weather, construction was not finalized until the first week in November of 2020. Our Grand Opening was held June 27th of 2021.