By MADDY VITALE
Shuffleboard players are serious about their game. The Ocean City Shuffleboard Club has been a fixture in the resort since 1941.
During all of that time, the shuffleboard players have been using the same building, which over the years has become deteriorated.
But there is some good news for the club members and other shuffleboard players.
The old building at the shuffleboard courts at Sixth Street will be replaced with a new shuffleboard building in 2023 as part of Ocean City’s new capital plan unveiled by Mayor Jay Gillian’s administration at a City Council meeting Dec. 1.
“It is falling apart,” Gillian noted of the old shuffleboard building during the meeting.
While initially the proposed project called for a two-story building, it has been scaled back to one to save money.
“The two stories were too much,” Gillian said of the added expense.
The shuffleboard project is part of a larger plan for improvements to the public facilities at the Sports & Civic Center complex for a total of $2 million. There will also be a new entryway into Carey Stadium and a playground.
The existing Shuffleboard Club building will be replaced in 2023.
John Herrington, president of the Ocean City Shuffleboard Club, and his wife, Carol, also a member, were ecstatic about the plan for a new building.
“This is wonderful news,” John Herrington said in an interview Saturday. “We really need it, and it will be a great addition to the whole recreation complex down there. It will be a nice facility.”
The building will be used primarily by shuffleboard players.
“We really need the room because our club has grown a bit. We have all of our equipment in there and we use it for our meetings,” Herrington said.
There will also be public access for anyone who uses Carey Stadium. In addition, there will be family bathrooms at the back of the building, Gillian noted.
A rendering of the new building reflects two stories, but it was later decided that it would be one.
In September 2021, Herrington told
OCNJDaily.com that the club members were hopeful that repairs would be done to the old building -- or better still -- that a new building would replace it.
“The roof leaks. The windows leak,” Herrington pointed out in 2021.
Herrington explained that shuffleboard is a growing sport. Currently, there are 60-plus members in the club. The season runs from June to September, but players use the courts whenever the weather is nice.
Herrington added that shuffleboard rivals pickleball in popularity in Ocean City and is a bit easier on the body.
“It is a challenging game. It is a two-person game and four-person game. The thing about it is, you are not killing yourself,” he said. “You are moving, but not killing yourself like on a pickleball court or tennis court.”
The club holds singles and doubles tournaments and Mondays are often the busiest on the courts.
“It’s a game of skill and a mental game,” Herrington said. “It is a great sport, and we really have a good time.”
For more information or to join the Ocean City Shuffleboard Club, call John Herrington at 609-457-9784.
In 2021, some of the shuffleboard courts were resurfaced.
