Wichita State will have pickleball courts again, as soon as this fall.

After the Student Government Association voted against allocating $137,000 for new pickleball courts last week, staff from Student Affairs and Campus Recreation “went back to the drawing board,” according to Teri Hall, vice president for Student Affairs.

Hall said project money was borrowed from another pool within Student Affairs, with plans to pay it back over time.

The $137,000 fills the gap in funding that Student Affairs said was due to a combination of costs, such as SGA requesting a sculpture be moved from the future site, as well as permitting and fee costs.

The new courts will be built on the lawn between Lindquist Hall, Hubbard Hall and Heskett Center.

According to the university’s master plan for its campus, the courts will likely expand in the future. The master plan details the university’s goals for the next 10 years, including new construction and the demolition of some older buildings.

Some students previously expressed concern about building courts where decades-old trees have grown on campus. As of right now, those trees will remain standing, but long-term, Hall said they will have to be removed as the courts expand.

“They’ll have to come down,” Hall said.  

Hall said construction will start as soon as possible. 

“The goal is to have it be done before it starts getting too cold because we can’t work in frozen ground,” she said.