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Perplexing pickleball vandalism will cost district thousands to repair

An unauthorized pickleball court was painted on the Grand Rapids School District's tennis courts at Robert J Elkington Middle School sometime in July.
Contributed
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Grand Rapids Superintendent Matt Grose
An unauthorized pickleball court was painted on the Grand Rapids School District's tennis courts at Robert J Elkington Middle School sometime in July.

The unauthorized painting of a pickleball court on the Grand Rapids School District's tennis courts is frustrating the girl's tennis team and may impact the school's ability to host tournaments.

GRAND RAPIDS — A baffling act of vandalism on Grand Rapids School District grounds has the tennis program in a bit of a pickle.

Superintendent Matt Grose said it started in late July when a buildings and grounds employee asked if anyone in the district had okayed the painting of a pickleball court on the tennis courts.

“Everybody was like 'No, did you?' 'No, did you?' 'No, did you?'" Grose said. "And we were all sort of in a state of disbelief that this would have happened without anybody from the school district being consulted, and we all I think assumed that we’d eventually find the person that gave the okay.”

An unauthorized pickleball court was painted on the Grand Rapids School District's tennis courts at Robert J Elkington Middle School sometime in July 2024.
Contributed
/
Grand Rapids Superintendent Matt Grose
An unauthorized pickleball court was painted on the Grand Rapids School District's tennis courts at Robert J Elkington Middle School sometime in July 2024.

This wasn’t just a few new lines. The vandals filled in part of the pickleball court with thick brown paint. Grose said they left their portable net behind, and he’s not sure that they’ve come back since. He described the whole situation as "baffling" to everyone.

The incident comes at a challenging time for the program. Earlier this year, tennis was nearly axed as part of the district’s budget cuts.

Grose said the girl's tennis team — whose season is in the fall — is frustrated, and the vandalism impacts the integrity of play on the court and possibly the school’s ability to host tournaments.

"It affects either how many games can be playing at the same time, or it affects the quality and integrity of play on that court," he explained.

The tennis coach has repainted enough that the affected court can be used in practice, but fixing the issue is not as simple as a quick paint job.

Grose said the repair will likely cost north of $10,000.

"You have to sand the whole surface down, resurface it, reline it, and this person comes from out of state or wherever they're coming from, it adds up," he said. "And they're coming out here just to do one court."

That funding will come from the district’s capital improvement budget, money that could have gone toward classrooms and buildings.

The district has some footage from when they think the vandalism occurred and has filed a police report. People with information about the incident should contact the Grand Rapids Police Department.

This vandalism is no different than someone spray painting the side of the school, Grose said.

“And it’s really affecting more kids than that, cause this is affecting those tennis’ kids experience, making the coach’s job harder,” he said.

Megan Buffington joined the KAXE newsroom in 2024 after graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Originally from Pequot Lakes, she is passionate about educating and empowering communities through local reporting.