Flushing Meadows gets new volleyball courts

The largest park in Queens now has five new volleyball courts thanks to an assist from the borough president.

“Who would have thought that Flushing Meadows, once a swamp and an ash dump, is now a flagship park in Queens,” said Borough President Helen Marshall, who paid for the $450,000 project with capital discretionary funding.

The concrete courts, meant to keep players off the park’s grassy landscape, are the first of their kind on the eastern side of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, officials said. Benches and handicapped-accessible paths were also installed near the nets.

Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski joined Marshall, Parks officials and volunteers at a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday to play the inaugural game.

Nearly $89 million in capital improvements have been made to the park, the fourth largest in the city, since 2002, officials said. New additions include a dock, renovated boathouse and rain gardens.