A new pickleball facility in Lexington is helping people learn how to serve up dinks in their opponents’ kitchens.
The Pickleball Paddock, on Enterprise Court just off Alexandria Drive, is the only pickleball-dedicated sports club in town, Redmon said. Its goal is to provide pickleball players in Central Kentucky and beyond with a place to enjoy the facility’s nine courts, along with tennis club-like perks.
Travis Redmon co-owns the Paddock with his father. The two built the warehouse-like structure specifically for pickleball. A pickleball player since 2017, Redmon said he wanted to create a place where people could learn about and enjoy the increasingly popular sport.
Pickleball is, at its core, a paddle sport that incorporates aspects of badminton, tennis, and table tennis. In matches, two or four players use paddles to strike a Wiffle-like ball over a net. Its simple rules and ease of play have made it an attractive alternative to tennis, increasing the sport’s popularity.
Pickleball Paddock, located on Enterprise Court, is the region’s first indoor Pickleball facility.
According to the Association of Pickleball Professionals (APP), pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in America, with participation increasing more than 220 percent over the past three years. The APP reports that 14 percent of Americans have played pickleball at least once, and an estimated 8.5 million Americans have played the game eight times or more. Of those, 45 percent plan to play more pickleball in the next six months than they did in the previous six months.
That growth has proven to be good business, analysts said. Currently, there are 13,969 pickleball courts in the United States, according to Business Research Insights. The global pickleball paddles market alone was estimated to be around $148.5 million in 2021 and is expected to reach $317.9 million by 2031.
Redmon said it was this growth that inspired him to create the Pickleball Paddock. “I was seeing the growth of pickleball,” he said. “Around COVID and post-COVID, a lot of folks were getting outside and getting exposure to the sport, and we saw the demand in Lexington was growing.”
While some tennis facilities had temporarily adjusted their court lines to accommodate pickleball, there were few options for playing in bad weather or for lessons, he said. The Pickleball Paddock rents courts and offers lessons from its three pickleball pros. The club also sells memberships ranging from $40 per month for individuals to $105 per month for families. Members receive discounts on court time and lessons, as well as the ability to reserve courts in advance.
The Pickleball Paddock features nine cushioned courts available for public and member court rental.
“We run a lot of members-only programming like leagues and tournaments,” Redmon said. “The response has been great. We’re not quite at capacity yet, but we’re projecting that we’ll most likely be there by the end of winter. We don’t want to oversell our memberships and risk making our customers unhappy by not having the opportunity to book when they want to. We want to make sure that the experience for [members] is a good one.”
While the club’s membership spans various groups, two of the largest demographics are middle-aged men and women looking to stay active but in a less-intensive sport.
“We do have a lot of people in their 20s and 30s, but I would say the biggest demographic is that middle-aged group. There’s a good amount of older players, too,” he said.
The facility is designed specifically for pickleball play, Redmon explained, with special lighting and a court surface that makes play easier on the knees. And because it’s a dedicated pickleball facility, the lines for the courts are permanent, which helps with play.
“With a dedicated facility like ours, you’re not dealing with taped lines over tennis or basketball courts. That can get a little confusing,” he said. “And the color scheme we picked is conducive to being able to see the balls, as is just the way we built the structure. We have perforated metal that helps to absorb the sound. We also have higher nets here, which makes a difference.”
The facility features an area that can be rented for events and serves as an observation area for tournaments. Although the facility, which opened in October, hasn’t hosted a large-scale tournament yet, Redmon anticipates doing so in the near future.
If membership and interest in the sport continue to grow, he said, there’s room to add two outdoor courts. If demand warrants, he is also open to building another warehouse-sized Pickleball Paddock in the area.
For now, however, Redmon is focused on providing current pickleball players with a place to enjoy the sport and giving newcomers a chance to learn.
“It really is kind of an addicting thing to do,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of people who, once they get exposed to it, stick with it. It wasn’t a huge community in Lexington when I first started playing, but now you’re starting to see apartment communities and parks take down their tennis courts to convert them to pickleball. That just shows you how big it has gotten locally.”