Sending what looks like a wiffle ball back and forth over a net by hitting it with solid paddles is the heart of the sport of pickleball.

It’s a little like tennis, or perhaps some oversized version of ping pong. And it is rapidly growing in popularity.

There is a growing number of pickleball players in Fort Dodge. They want a designated public place to play their game.

We think they should have one.

Right now, they play on the basketball courts at Dodger Court. Markings for a 22-by44-foot pickleball court have been painted on the ground there. But the basketball courts were made for playing basketball. People use them for that game often, which limits the pickleball games to the mornings. Anyone who works a day shift is automatically excluded from morning pickleball games.

The tennis courts at Butler Courts on the city’s south side and Hydro-Electric Park on the northwest side could potentially be used for pickleball. However, the playing surfaces in both places are in rough shape. Players wouldn’t get a good game in and in a worse case scenario, they could fall and get injured.

A group of pickleball players lobbied the City Council Monday night for construction of pickleball courts.

It turns out the Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department has a concept for four pickleball courts at the Rosedale Rapids Aquatics Center at 10th Avenue North and 32nd Street.

We urge the City Council to make that concept a priority and create the new courts as soon as it is financially possible to do so.

Doing so will give citizens of all ages a place to play a popular sport. And doing so will also create a new quality of life amenity that will help to make Fort Dodge even more attractive to people and businesses from other communities.