Dinks & Dingers: Pickleball social club planned for Kentwood
KENTWOOD, Mich. (WOOD) — A pickleball enthusiast is working to turn an empty field in Kentwood into an amenity-filled facility.
Beer City Open pickleball tournament winner Andy Anderson is working on bringing Dinks & Dingers Social Club to 5080 Broadmoor Ave. near 52nd Street in Kentwood. The club will offer six indoor pickleball courts and four covered and heated outdoor courts, so pickleball fans can play outside all year long.
Along with pickleball, there will also be a restaurant and bar, a wiffle ball field, ping pong, shuffleboard and cornhole.
The restaurant will serve craft beer, specialty cocktails and American fare. It will be able to seat 60 to 70 people and will include outdoor seating. Players can stop in after a game and grab a table, or they can have food delivered to the cabanas surrounding the courts.
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Dinks & Dingers will host monthly tournaments and nightly leagues, along with things like birthday parties and corporate events. The club will be open to the public, and pickleball players can also become members: right now players can join the Founding Member’s Club.
Anderson picked the property along Broadmoor Avenue, just five miles from his house, as he noticed there’s not a lot of food options in the area. There’s several industrial buildings nearby, he explained, and those employees typically have to bring their own food or have food delivered.
One nearby business owner told Anderson he envisions bringing clients to the facility’s restaurant.
“A few months ago he had 10 people from China come to his business and he had nowhere to take them that was close by,” Anderson explained.
The location is also close to M-6, making it easy for out-of-town pickleball fans who want to stop by the facility.
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Anderson says he is “addicted” to playing pickleball, and has played at almost every court in the Grand Rapids area. He said he enjoys the social nature of the game, adding he could be playing with a 90-year-old woman or a 10-year-old boy and all be on the same level.
“It’s a very inclusive sport,” he said. “I think nowadays with our country, it’s very divided with politics and whatnot. I think pickleball is a place where you can go and you don’t find that. Everyone … loves pickleball and that’s all we talk about.”
One thing he thought was missing in the local pickleball community was good opportunities to socialize with other players after playing. He noticed some venues opening up down South that had pickleball courts and a restaurant.
It inspired him to open up Dinks & Dingers, which he said is a “first of its kind” in the state. He set out to put the plan in motion around a year and a half ago.
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Anderson had worked in the engineering industry for over a decade, before retiring to be a stay-at-home dad with his two boys. He also went back to school part-time and got a master’s degree in divinity and a master’s degree in social work, eventually becoming an associate pastor and a school social worker.
“I was transitioning to looking for a job in social work at Spectrum, when my wife … she got cancer,” Anderson said, tearing up.
He stopped looking for another job so he could focus taking care of his wife. He also started working on Dinks & Dingers.
“My wife is now cancer free,” he said. “And we’re moving forward with this project.”
The career shift won’t change his passions.
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“One of my passions is building better communities. I have a passion for those that have needs,” he said. “Being a former school social worker, I worked with kids in the special ed department, so I have love for them and I plan on … including some events that are geared for them.”
He and his wife also donate to the The Hope-Western Prison Education Program, he said, which works to educate inmates at the Muskegon Correctional Facility. He plans to hire some of the students who went through that program.
Anderson hopes to break ground on the project in May. It is expected to open in late winter or January of 2025.
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