Pickleball Growth Trend Thoughts

Graphic courtesy USAPA "Places To Play" http://www.usapa.org/places-to-play-pickleball/

"Can Pickleball keep growing?"  This is a common question we hear often.   Our answer is always a uniform and emphatic "YES!"

Let's use a recent news article and some personal speculation to discuss the question and answer.

First and foremost, Pickleball participation is predominantly fueled by Baby Boomer Retirees (BBR).  The BBRs have time, money and enough physical fitness left to provide the core of pickleball's explosive and continuing growth.  At least 10,000 Baby Boomers are retiring each and every day.  This 10,000 figure is well documented and a truly rock-solid number.  If only a small fraction of those 10,000 catch "pickleball fever" there will easily be enough incoming fresh faces to keep the pickleball rolling.

There are essentially three categories of pickleball courts: private HOA courts; private club/church courts and municipal courts of all stripes.  All three categories appear to be experiencing continued robust growth as evidenced by the USAPA chart shown below.

 This type of trendline growth in court numbers can only be underpinned by a corresponding growth in the actual number of players.  Courts typically aren't converted or constructed on the "build it and they will come".  If anything, an arguable case could be made that growth in court numbers is actually lagging growth in player numbers.

On May 26, we found an article about a private HOA converting courts in a Knoxville, Tennessee suburb.  Although purely anecdotal, some of the quotes in this article are instructive with regards to the growth of pickleball.

Here's the article: http://www.farragutpress.com/articles/2017/05/6233.php

“It will build camaraderie in the neighborhood and competitiveness,” Fox said. “People are already asking if we’re going to have a league or a guy’s night and these people are getting excited about it and have yet to pick up a paddle.

“We already have people from Fairfield Glade wanting to come down with eight to 10 people to challenge our neighborhood, and the same thing in Tellico Village, Chattanooga and Nashville,” he added.

Note those words, "these people are getting excited about it and have yet to pick up a paddle."  This is a very telltale phenomena taking place in real time with pickleball.  Interest in the sport is growing just as much in the periphery as it is on the courts.

It could very well be a classic symbiotic relationship.  As more courts are converted or built, more players will appear just as those baseball players came out of the cornfield in"Field Of Dreams".

Ultimately, the growth of pickleball WILL slow down.  No sport grows unabated forever on the steep trendline pickleball is now experiencing.  However, we feel certain the explosive growth curve has quite a long run left in it.  It shows no signs of stagnating or tapering off.  As long as potential players continue to see, understand and embrace the physical, mental and social benefits of pickleball, the sport will grow.

While there is absolutely no way to know what the future holds, America's retiree demographics coupled with growing youth interest in pickleball virtually guarantees a bright future for the sport.