Two Rivers Pickleball Club in Bigfork, Montana is maximizing their facility both as a pickleball space and a local event center. Twin Rivers’ list of almost 2,000 members testifies to the excellent pickleball scene that the club provides, boasting an array of indoor and outdoor courts, pristine amenities, and a top-notch training program called “the Academy.” But, as the club owner Jim Lafferty says, “We’re not just a pure pickleball club, but we are designed for [non-pickleball] events as well.” As a community event center, Two Rivers hosts a variety of events like banquets, weddings, concerts, and more.
Lafferty first got the idea for Two Rivers back in May of 2020 during the COVID-19 outbreak. He was already an experienced, certified pickleball pro in Texas but wanted to bring the sport to the beautiful mountains of Montana, proudly called “the last best place on earth” by the locals. After five months of planning, Lafferty and his partners broke ground for their new club, and soon after they opened it in June of 2021.
Lafferty likens he and his partners’ efforts to those of the pioneers, and one look at the surrounding landscape would prove the comparison. Two Rivers is surrounded by two large, sprawling farms along with ranging foothills and piercing green forests. Lafferty compares the area to a resort or a retreat. There is very few other businesses in the area, let alone other competing pickleball clubs. The lack of competition factored heavily into the Two Rivers business model. Two Rivers is also only 45 minutes away from Glacier National Park which serves as another delightful attraction.
Before Two Rivers came to Montana, there were many different places to play pickleball, but there were very few places with a vibrant club culture. Lafferty says, “We wanted to bring a great pickleball club culture to a place that only had places to play.”
The folks at Two Rivers also wanted to provide an excellent event center for a community that had very little in terms of meeting places for large gatherings: “We designed it not only to bring about a great pickleball culture, but we also wanted a place for the community to come use the facilities that they don’t have anywhere else in our region.”
The facility itself is superb. Inside the main building are four indoor courts along with member lounges, changing rooms, showers, conference rooms, and a bar. The square footage is 8,500, and the ceilings are 22 feet high which allows the indoor space to host events with up to 600-700 people comfortably. On the north side of the building are two, huge hydraulic hanger doors controlled by wifi. When bands come to perform, the space under the large open doors serves as a stage. The six outdoor courts sink below the makeshift stage by three feet and serve as a space for spectators of non-pickleball events. The outdoor courts are great for playing pickleball. They have quality netting and court dividers along with pleasing coats of blue and red paint. When it’s concert time, the nets come down, the carpets come out, and the folks at Two Rivers put up canopies and invite food trucks.
The pickleball events at Two Rivers include open play, leagues, clinics, and tournaments like their annual “Crown of the Continent” tournament. The non-pickleball events include concerts, comedy shows, weddings, bachelor parties, banquets, high school reunions, and corporate team-building events.
The people at Twin Rivers also pride themselves in their Academy program which introduces new players to the game. Academy sessions occur once a month over the span of two evenings for two and a half hours each. New players are given a holistic introduction to all the basics of pickleball like “basic skill shots, core strategy, how to keep score, and the rules of the game.” Lafferty remarks that being with other beginner players helps to build up both community and the confidence of each player: “The beautiful thing is it always fills to a minimum of 16 players, and they’re an immediate affinity group. They all know each other as brand new players, so their confidence gets built to where they can go out and enter into open play the following week and not be embarrassed.”
Lafferty also emphasizes a couple of the amazing benefits of offering a training program like the Academy. First, they are “phenomenal” for player retention. Lafferty goes on to note that players who are given a solid base of pickleball training are far more likely to have fun playing the game and therefore stay on at a club. Second, beginner training programs are useful for teaching safety. Though pickleball is a sport for all ages, it is still a real sport and can bring about physical injuries. Beginner programs are a great way to show players how to stay safe and injury-free while playing.
According to Lafferty, having a “strong culture for helping beginners to learn the game” is one of the primary things for making a club successful. He also advises that clubs constantly listen to their members and adjust the programming according to the desires of the members. Lastly, club owners should aim to make the “onboarding” process of admitting new members as quick and easy as possible.
