WPH Handball Destination Series Showcases CT’s Charter Oak Park
WPH Showcase, Manchester, CT
The WPH is excited to introduce the WPH Handball Destination Series to showcase the world’s greatest handball venues. On this edition of the WPH Handball Destination Series, we will feature the newly refurbished 3-Wall courts at Charter Oak Park in Manchester, CT, twenty minutes east of Hartford.
Charter Oak Park 3-Wall Courts
Number of courts: 2
Number of handball players: 15
Popular handball days/hours: Monday, Wednesday, Saturday from 9-11 am
Biggest event: Dan Gebben Memorial Doubles Tournament (July)
Address: 50 Charter Oak Street, Manchester, CT 06040
Season: May-September
Contact: Tom Marzilli (617) 308-8683/t_marz@hotmail.com
Historical Note: These courts are where world champ John Bike, Jr. first learned how to play 3-wall from his father, John Bike Sr.
“Thanks to considerable funding from the State of Connecticut and the Town of Manchester governments, we were able to complete a major overhaul of the courts this year,” stated Manchester 3-Wall ambassador Michael Sullivan. “The renovation involved putting on a new ceiling, modeled after the 3-wall courts in Fort Collins, Colorado, LaGrange in Chicago, and Kansas City. Anticipating the impact of the ceiling on play, we doubled the length of the apron so no one would be running back into the fence to retrieve a ball. We also had new lights installed, the walls patched and repaired, as had the walls and floors repainted.”
“The leadership of the town of Manchester has been incredibly supportive of this project, especially with the expertise and dedication of their public works department. We hope to be working with them again soon in our efforts to add a new 1-Wall court on the other side of the 3-wall court. Our goal is to add the 1-Wall court by next year’s annual Dan Gebben Memorial Doubles Tournament next July
Dan Gebben Memorial Doubles Tournament
“The annual Dan Gebben tournament is run by Tom Marzilli, who has done a fantastic job attracting top players to come and play,” continued Sullivan. “This year, we had about fifty players, including Killian Carroll, Danielle Daskalakis, Victor Lopierre, Allan Sanchez, Joe Kaplan, and Jai Ragoo.”
Thank you to Manchester 3-Wall ambassador Michael Sullivan for info on CT’s Manchester 3-Wall courts. .
Would you like to see your handball community featured on an upcoming edition of WPH Handball Destination Series? Please contact David Fink at David.fink@wphlive.tv to showcase your community
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer