A New Badminton Club at Margate Field House?
A report by Larry D.

I visited Margate fieldhouse (4921 N Marine Dr,
Chicago, 60640 - (312) 742-7522) on Thursday,
February 28 to check out the facilities (At the
time, the GLBT badminton league was playing.).
Margate is one of the Chicago Park District's
facilities very much like McKinley Fieldhouse.

Some things to note:
- there are 3 courts
- the ceiling height was about 30 - 35 feet
- the lights were direct halogen lights (not recessed.)
- the back walls were light-colored
- The floor is wood. Seemed to be slippery but I
wasn't wearing badminton shoes at the time.
- The area is by the lake roughly in the middle
of the city. It's North of McKinley Badminton
Club and South of Evanston Badminton club.
- The vicinity is well-lit and regularly
patrolled by the Chicago police.

Would it be a good place to form a new badminton
club? Possibly. The location is very convenient
to public transportation (Both by train and by
bus), parking is adequate and is very accessible
to cyclists and rollerbladers (It's beside the
bike path).

Badminton seems to be fairly new to Margate as
the courts seem to have been freshly taped. It
will however provide a good introduction to the
sport which is probably what badminton needs in
this area. And with a good program running, it's
likely that the facilities can be further
improved.

The question now would be: Would someone be
willing to help make a new Badminton club in
Margate? If there are any volunteers, please
contact clbp-owner@yahoogroups.com so we can
figure out what's needed to be done.

Respectfully submitted,

Larry D.

[Thanks to Larry for the report!]

-- CLBP Moderators