More than 200 pickleball players on the Hill will finally have courts where all that’s at stake is the score of their game, not their safety. A long-time abandoned road off Garfield Park at 3rd and South Carolina, SE is being transformed into a recreation space that will include Capitol Hill’s first outdoor pickleball courts.
This past summer, the DC Public Space Committee approved an application to reclaim the 100 block of Virginia Avenue SE and convert it into a safe community space. The Robert M. Krughoff Pickleball Center at Garfield Park with five state-of-the-art courts will become a reality next year.
The courts are one element of the Garfield Park/Canal Connector Project for which construction began this past August. Plans include providing a safe pathway under the 295 overpass and a usable recreation space for the Capitol Hill community. When the first phase of the project is finished, the city will mill and repave Virginia Avenue to become the surface of the new pickleball courts. 
Piggybacking onto the Connector Project makes the pickleball court construction much more financially viable. DC Councilmember Charles Allen (Ward 6-D) sponsored the Connector Project. He said, “I’m grateful we were able to work with neighbors and DDOT to transform the old access road into something much more useful – a fun place to get together and meet some new neighbors over a game of pickleball. This doesn’t happen without the determination of a group of neighbors who love pickleball. It’s been a pleasure to work together with them to make these courts happen.”
“We wanted full community buy-in,” said Ann Goodwin, an avid pickleball player who is also the chair of the project’s fundraising committee. The organizing group made sure all major stakeholders of this project are on the advisory committee including Garfield players, Washington DC Pickleball (WDCP), Friends of Garfield Park, Capitol Hill Village, the Capitol Riverfront BID, Councilmember Charles Allen’s office and ANC6B. The committee will offer community input and oversee all legal and operational aspects of the Center.
Playing and Connecting
Since 2018 devoted CH pickleball players have been dinking shots on make-shift courts at the dead-end of Virginia Ave. SE that were rough, uneven and unsafe. The original pickleball group, led by Hill residents Margaret Crenshaw and the late Robert Krughoff (Consumers Checkbook founder), constructed the two courts between the Interstate 295 overpass and New Jersey Avenue. Players became familiar with the “Garfield bounce,” referring to the crazy way a pickleball bounces on the coarse, worn-out, cracked road.
“Margaret was the one who discovered the game of pickleball and had nowhere to play,” said Eileen Dougherty, chair of the advisory committee and member of the board of Washington DC Pickleball. “She was friends with Robert, who took her down to what became known as the Garfield courts. From July 2018 and through the pandemic, it was the only place to play.”
“We were playing there on January 6, 2020. The social part of pickleball essentially saved my life during COVID and, with what’s going on now, it helps keep me sane,” said Goodwin.
Bringing people together is a great benefit of the game. Dougherty said she met and played with strangers who became friends. “You meet people from different parts of the city, which is a beautiful way of connecting and bonding. I met people I never would have met otherwise.”
Goodwin, who has had a career in professional fundraising, including with both the Old Naval Hospital foundation and the Capitol Hill Community Foundation, is confident that their goal to raise $75,000 by March is doable. “We will cover the cost of court surfacing and painting/lining, nets, barriers, a storage container and ongoing maintenance,” stated Goodwin. These courts will be the only outdoor courts on Capitol Hill, available all year. She said they will reflect the Krughoff Pickleball Center’s foundational principle – free play for the Capitol Hill community and beyond in an attractive, safe and partially-shaded space.
For more information or to offer support, contact Ann Goodwin (manngoodwin@gmail.com; 202.669.1290) or Eileen Dougherty (ecd3030@gmail.com).
Pattie Cinelli, an avid pickleball player, is looking forward to trying out the new courts. She has been writing for the Hill Rag since the 1980s. Please email her with any story ideas or comments: fitmiss44@aol.com.
