Pickleball Club at Hope College: Serving Up Fun and Inclusivity for Students

Hope College, located in Holland, Michigan, has a long list of student clubs and organizations from fly fishing, to outdoor adventure clubs, and more. Over the past year, the newly added pickleball club has gained traction within the student body, boasting an average of 50 students showing up weekly to participate in practices. Club President Nate Jobson says, “We encourage students to join through campus advertisements, like putting meetings in the weekly campus emails or on the TVs around the school. We also use Instagram to post events, and those will often get put up on other campus accounts.” 

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Mix and Match: Pickleball Mixers at Sunriver Resort

Located just minutes from Bend, Oregon, Sunriver Resort spans over 3,300 acres in the Pacific Northwest. Its unique wilderness setting offers a variety of recreational activities from golf, kayaking, horseback riding, and more. In August of 2023, ten outdoor Pickleball courts were added, and eight more indoor courts followed a month later. Director of Sales and Marketing Lindsay Borkowski says, “In the past, pickleball at the resort was played on temporary courts, and there was organized play just two afternoons a week.” At the time, members of the fitness center had access to the courts, but now players can opt for the new pickleball membership offered by the resort.

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Successful Tennis Club Converts to Pickleball : Santa Monica Pickleball Center

The Santa Monica Pickleball Center initially started as a robust tennis business. In October 2022, the facility began experimenting with a hybrid approach to incorporate the fast-growing sport of pickleball. Then in December of that same year, the business took over the retail property next to the Pro Shop, multiplying it five times over. Expanding their Pro Shop inventory was extremely successful and encouraged the team to move more towards pickleball. Owner Jon Neeter, says, “transitioning completely to pickleball was a tough decision for us. We had many great tennis clients that we wanted to accommodate as much as possible. At a certain point the numbers were just undeniable.” Fortunately, the facility attained the opportunity to rent courts hourly from the city of Santa Monica, which allowed them to keep a significant portion of their tennis programming going. 

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