In a landscape where most pickleball clubs are barely a few years old, Palatine Picklers occupies a rare position. Founded in 2015, it represents one of the earliest organized pickleball communities in suburban Chicago, long before the sport’s explosion into the mainstream. For club owners studying longevity, sustainability, and community loyalty, the story of founder…
Starting a pickleball club can be a whirlwind between promotion, membership decisions, opening celebrations, etc. Eventually, it all evens out, and the club begins to hum along nicely and get into a sustainable rhythm. As the club and membership grow, new decisions arise, including how to handle scheduling issues, financial decisions, maintenance costs and determining…
Keeping members happy and engaged is the goal of every pickleball club, and Grass Valley Pickleball Club in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, in California, is no different. When GVPC President Mary DeLeon and her husband joined the club in 2018, they didn’t know anything about ratings, saying everyone essentially started playing pickleball at…
Click here to view this issue: https://www.bluetoad.com/publication/?i=860502 Dear Club Owners and Operators, If there’s one theme that kept surfacing as we put this issue together, it’s this: growth in pickleball isn’t slowing down—it’s getting more complex. The easy wins are behind us. What separates durable clubs from short-lived ones now is how well operators manage scale,…
