After a speech by Mayor Josh Nathan and a ribbon-cutting by city councilmember Amy Kesavan, Rye’s new pickleball courts were officially opened to the public Friday morning at Rye Recreation.
Holding a jar of pickles in one hand and a paddle and microphone in the other, Nathan thanked Sportech for its work on the courts and the Rye Recreation Commission, particularly Rick McCabe and David Olarsch, for initiating the project.
Shortly after taking office in January, Nathan said he asked Olarsch to serve on the commission, chaired by McCabe.
“I think, ‘Good, I don’t have to worry about the Rec Commission,’” Nathan said. “Then (City Manager) Brian Shea comes up to me a few weeks later and says, ‘We need $150,000 for pickleball courts, and it was your guy, so it’s your fault.’ I thought, ‘So much for oversight. I’ve just gone and put a pickleball spender on the Rec Commission.’”
Pickleball, often called the nation’s fastest-growing sport, has reached a new level of popularity recently in Rye. Olarsch also just starred in a pickleball-themed comedic murder mystery, “Killer in the Kitchen,” directed by Mamaroneck resident Dana Calderwood, a filmmaker and recreational pickleball player.
“You have done my favorite thing: you have combined sports and the arts,” Nathan said. “I think that’s really cool, and I know we have some future Oscar winners in the crowd here.”
Kesavan, the city council’s liaison to the Rec Commission, cut the ribbon, with Nathan proclaiming, “Let there be pickles!”
Nathan, Olarsch, and other Rye residents then took to the courts to play the first points on the city’s new courts.
