Private clubs are still able to provide larger experiences for their pickleball-playing members. All it takes is interested players and some collaboration, as The Stirling Club in Las Vegas, Nevada, can attest.
“Since offering pickleball five years ago, our members have really embraced it,” Marty Hennessy, director of tennis and pickleball, says. “We have three dedicated pickleball courts and at least 50 regular members who play.”
Once the courts became available, the club informed members through its newsletter and word of mouth. A benefit to being a private club is the level of comfort members have with each other. With that, The Stirling Club doesn’t schedule too much. Members take the lead with that through What’s App messaging service to see who is available at a certain time to play. With the membership mixed between year-round residents and those with second homes in the area, this method has proven to be a reliable way to keep members dinking.
When asked about the popularity of pickleball, Marty says he thinks the ease of entry into the game is appealing, noting most people can have some success instantly. With only three courts and no room to expand, the club does not offer tournaments or round robin competitive play. That’s where collaboration comes in.
The idea for a pickleball league similar to USTA tennis started in 2020 with Laurie Lambert, Executive Director of Utah Tennis Association. In 2023, the UTA partnered with USTA offices around the United States, including USTA Nevada, to start a co-ed version of team pickleball play. The league provided an opportunity for private clubs in the area to compete against each other, similar to USTA tennis leagues. Thanks to a structured format, pickleball teams compete at regional and state levels to represent their club at the Triple Team Pickleball League National Championships.
That October, 18 teams came to Las Vegas for the first co-ed division National Team Pickleball Championships tournament. The tournament was a success and single gender formats were added for 2024. The next year 86 teams and over 750 players competed in Las Vegas and Hilton Head for the NTPL Championship title.
Pickleball Coordinator for USTA Nevada, Sheryl Bon, says their league has grown from seven clubs in 2023 to twenty-two leagues around the area. “A big draw of the league is to visit different facilities and play with your friends and teammates,” says Sheryl “It provides another way to compete and the teams really enjoy vying for a national-level competition.”
Through the interclub competitions, players are able to build their DUPR rating, experience other clubs, and play with teammates to win points for their team to compete to be the best team from Nevada to bring home the gold.
The teams meet weekly in men’s, women’s and mixed groups with ratings from 3.0 – 4.5 and age groups 18+ and 50+.
These leagues are a great way to let country club members to get the tournament experience they want without having to join a larger club. And also allow private clubs to still offer the sport to their members without taxing a smaller facility with a larger group.
Thanks to vision and collaboration, pickleball is giving clubs big and small the experience they and their members want. Whether that is playing on the weekends with friends to playing as much as possible and competing at a national level, the sport is growing and organizations are growing along with it to facilitate its success.
