MANKATO — If all goes as planned, the large gravel rectangle behind The Picklebarn on North Victory Drive should be a pair of clay tennis courts by Fourth of July weekend.
Outdoor tennis, on the area’s only courts of their kind, will join the action inside the facility, run by Mitch and Sidney Elofson. The $200,000 project is happening pretty much as the St. Peter couple planned, but only with the help of various grants and continuing support from users.
“I still love teaching and I still love coaching, so these courts will allow me to do a ton of that, which I’m really excited about,” said Mitch Elofson as enthusiastic cries from a pickleball league came from the courts below. He also teaches there.
“It’ll be a great outlet for me to get back out on the tennis court on a pretty consistent basis, obviously during the nice months.”
The Picklebarn opened in February 2023, with those who had discovered the popular sport applauding its addition to outdoor courts already at Tourtellotte Park. Ironically, those were converted tennis courts. The city has added more pickleball courts there and plans to renovate the original ones.
The sport has grown locally among everyone from retirees to high schoolers. Now the Elofsons hope the addition of outdoor tennis courts keeps the rally going.
They are working with the same Twin Cities company that built their indoor courts, he said, choosing clay courts for their uniqueness to the area and less damaging effects to the body. Whereas hard courts have a base of gravel and either concrete or asphalt, clay courts have neither.
“It’s a gravel base, and then on top of that is where the clay will go,” he said of the process. “Water just sinks into the courts when it rains. The water seeps down in, and you have to keep the courts very wet or very moisturized, I guess.”
The clay surface slows down the play and helps the ball bounce higher — think of the Wimbledon Championships — making them especially helpful when learning the sport.
“So that’s one of the many reasons that it’s really effective for kids to learn on. A slower surface means more time to construct a point and develop strategy,” he said. “On a hard tennis court, it moves faster, and so there’s less point construction.” It’s also easier on the joints for all.
Elofson said financial assistance has come through several U.S. Tennis Association grants, the city, Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation and user support, with people still able to become founding members. That includes a few years of free play. They’re already thinking about a future addition of indoor tennis courts; those would be built along the west side of the facility.
Like with the pickleball courts, people will be able to reserve the tennis courts and pay online. They will be asked to check in at the front desk upon arrival, then travel down the center walkway to the door at the back of the building. He said because they will know who is scheduled, he and his wife will be able to monitor play.
“We’re staying optimistic about it, potentially,” he said of what could be a fabric structure similar to what he is used to at Gustavus Adolphus College. “Mankato needs indoor tennis. There’s a lot of people that want to play during the winter that are not able to.”