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Brooking Park
Active Assisted Living
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At Brooking Park we take the stress out of understanding your options because we offer a full continuum of personalized, quality care, all under one roof. Within our community, we offer: •
This makes a move to Brooking Park your best choice in many ways. It’s a smart financial decision as we offer an all-inclusive rate with no worrisome level of care fees. Our personalized assistance is offered in a beautiful, bright, comfortable setting that you can enjoy for days to come. All this while lowering your stress level knowing you or your loved one will never have to make another move.
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WHEN MICHAEL CHAPIN STARTED playing pickleball in 2014, the game had a limited presence in St. Louis. He recalls about 10 community centers offering indoor courts and less than 150 St. Louisans were on the email list for the U.S. Pickleball Association. Today, pickleball is big business in the Lou with more than 250 permanent courts in the metro—including the largest indoor facility in the country, the Missouri Pickleball Club—and around 5,000 locals playing regularly.
Chapin, who offers pickleball lessons and operates the stlouispickleball. com website, says the recent boom in popularity is partially thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. “When we were in lockdown, people were looking for things to do,” he says. “The New York Times published a list of activities ranked in terms of safety, and right at the top was tennis. Pickleball is a more accessible option.” That accessibility skyrocketed with the introduction of portable net systems. In minutes, people could turn their basements, cul-de-sacs or driveways into courts.
While pickleball was the sport of the pandemic, Chapin believes its popularity would have grown regardless. “I’ve been teaching the game professionally for around eight years, and it’s very easy to learn, he notes. “There also aren’t barriers to entry. It doesn’t have to cost a lot to play, and you don’t need to be super athletic to win. There are very few sports that a grandparent and grandchild can play together and still be competitive. Pickleball is one of them.”
