Why pickleball suits indoor courts, and why we backed it

Pickleball was invented in the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, by Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell and Barney McCallum, as a game their families could play together. Sixty years later it is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States and is growing quickly in Australia, and our first investment, House of Pickle Botany, will be a seven court indoor club built around it. This article sets out what we found when we looked at the sport as investors: how quickly it is growing, why it suits indoor venues, and what decides whether a venue succeeds.

Americans who played pickleball in 2025

24.3 million

SFIA

Growth in American players between 2019 and 2025

7 times

SFIA

Australians aged 15 and over who played in the year to mid 2024

90,000+

Australian Sports Commission

A simple game that travels well

Pickleball is played with solid paddles and a light, perforated plastic ball on a court of 6.1 by 13.4 metres, the size of a doubles badminton court and less than a third of the area of a doubles tennis court. The net is a little lower than a tennis net, the serve is played underarm or off a bounce, and players cannot volley from the area closest to the net, known as the kitchen. The result is a game built on placement and patience rather than power.

Those rules explain much of its appeal. The game is easy to learn, which is why venues can run sessions for first timers, and players of different ages and abilities can share a court without the game falling apart. It is often played as doubles, which makes it social by design: four people on a small court, close enough to talk.

The numbers in the United States

The United States is where the sport has grown furthest. Its numbers are a useful reference for where the game can go, although they are not a forecast for Australia.

Pickleball players in the United States have grown sevenfold since 2019

Americans aged six and over who played at least once in the year, millions

Show the figures

Period	Players
2019	3.5m
2020	4.2m
2021	4.8m
2022	8.9m
2023	13.6m
2024	19.8m
2025	24.3m

The age profile is changing too. Pickleball was long seen as a game for older adults, but the SFIA's 2026 report found that teenagers and young adults aged 13 to 24 now have the highest participation rates of any age group.

Australia is growing too, from a smaller base

Australia's figures are smaller and less complete, but the direction is similar. The Australian Sports Commission's AusPlay survey found more than 90,000 Australians aged 15 and over had played pickleball in the previous year when it reported in October 2024. In November 2025 it listed pickleball and padel, which it reports as one category, among the fastest growing physical activities for adults.

Membership of the national body shows the pace.

Pickleball Australia's membership grew more than fivefold in under three years

Members of Pickleball Australia at the dates the association reported them. The dates are not evenly spaced

Show the figures

Period	Members
Jan 2023	4,000
Dec 2023	8,000
Feb 2024	10,000
Nov 2025	23,000

How far could it go? The United States has about 12 times Australia's population, with 341.8 million people in July 2025 against 27.9 million in Australia in March 2026. Yet the SFIA counted about 270 times as many American players in 2025 as AusPlay counted Australian adults in the year to June 2024. The two surveys cover different ages and years, so the comparison is rough, but the gap is far too large to be explained by method alone. In our view, Australia is unlikely to reach American levels of participation soon, and its sporting habits are different. But even a fifth of the American rate would mean around 400,000 Australians playing.

How large could it become? Three cases to 2030

To give these numbers a shape, we built a simple model of Pickleball Australia's membership to 2030. It shows what different rates of growth would mean; it is not a forecast. It starts from the 23,000 members reported in November 2025 and assumes, as both the Australian and the American figures suggest, that growth keeps slowing as the sport gets bigger. The three cases differ in how quickly it slows, measured against the recent average of about 60% a year.

Three cases for Pickleball Australia's membership to 2030

Members, thousands: the 23,000 reported in November 2025, then the end of each year. An illustrative model, not a forecast

• Central
• Strong
• Weak

Show the figures

Period	Central	Strong	Weak
2025	23.0	23.0	23.0
2026	30.4	32.2	26.5
2027	36.2	41.9	27.8
2028	40.4	51.3	26.4
2029	43.1	59.9	25.1
2030	44.9	67.5	23.8

Members are only part of the market. If there were still about four regular players for every member, as Pickleball Australia reports today, the weak case would mean about 100,000 regular players in 2030, the central case about 190,000 and the strong case about 280,000. The ratio will change as the sport matures, so these are orders of magnitude rather than estimates.

What could cause a downturn

Every fast growing sport faces the question of whether its growth will last. These are the risks we see, and we would rather name them than pretend they do not exist.

• Novelty fading. Many people try pickleball once or twice. If fewer of them come back, the number of players can fall even while club membership holds up.
• Competition from other sports. Padel, which the Australian Sports Commission reports in the same category as pickleball, competes for some of the same players, sites and spending.
• Too many courts. If venues open faster than local demand grows, prices fall and the weakest venues close.
• Household budgets. With interest rates and fuel prices up, people may play less often or choose cheaper outdoor courts.
• Fixed costs. Like any venue, a pickleball club carries costs that do not fall when bookings do, which makes a quiet period expensive.

The signs we watch

• Membership. Pickleball Australia's membership reports, and whether growth keeps pace with the central case, which needs about a third more members in 2026.
• Participation. The Australian Sports Commission's AusPlay surveys, for the number of adults playing at least once a year.
• Off peak bookings. Whether demand reaches beyond the evening rush into mornings and afternoons.
• Leagues and tournaments. Entries show players committing for a season rather than a session.
• New venues. Openings for padel as well as pickleball show where competition for players will come from.

Why indoor courts suit the game

Pickleball can be played anywhere with a flat surface and a net, and many players start on outdoor courts shared with other sports. Indoor venues solve the problems that hold outdoor play back.

• Weather and daylight. Sydney's summer heat, winter evenings and wet days can cancel or cut short outdoor games. Indoors, a session booked is a session played, from early morning to late evening.
• A consistent game. A purpose built court has the right surface, even lighting and room to run. House of Pickle describes its Botany courts as having high ceilings and generous run-offs, which matter for a game built on lobs and quick movement.
• Neighbours. The sound of paddle on ball carries. Outdoor courts close to homes can attract complaints, and an indoor venue largely avoids the problem.
• More to sell. A dedicated venue can run beginner sessions, open play, leagues, coaching, court hire and functions on the same courts across the week, and a licensed area gives players a reason to stay after the game.

For a business, the most important of these is the first. An indoor venue that opens from 7am to 10pm, seven days a week, has a known number of court hours to sell every week of the year. That is what makes careful planning possible.

What makes a pickleball venue work

The economics of a venue come down to selling as many court hours as possible, at a fair price, with a cost base that is largely fixed. We explain that arithmetic in the economics of an indoor sports venue. In our view, five things decide whether a club succeeds.

1. Location and access. Regular players may come several times a week, so travel time and parking matter more than they do for an occasional outing.
2. A pathway for new players. Sessions for first timers turn curious visitors into regulars, and regulars into members and league players.
3. Quality. Courts, lighting, run-off space and booking systems all show in how often people come back.
4. Programming the quiet hours. Mornings and early afternoons have to be filled by different groups, such as retirees, schools, corporate teams and coaching, rather than by the same demand as evenings.
5. Community. We believe the clubs that last are the ones people think of as their club, with familiar faces at the front desk and a reason to stay after the game.

Why we backed House of Pickle Botany

House of Pickle Botany brings these pieces together. It will have seven purpose built indoor courts on a floor of about 2,000 square metres, planned opening hours of 7am to 10pm every day, a licensed venue subject to liquor licensing, and parking on site. House of Pickle provides the brand and the systems the club will run on, and our directors take an active part: Mehul Sejwal is responsible for managing the club and its day to day decisions, Rohan Pandit for bringing in events, and Shivam Rathi for overseeing operations and working with House of Pickle. The club is targeting an opening in the first week of December 2026, subject to the fit out and the necessary approvals.

Conclusion

Pickleball in Australia has moved past its earliest stage but is still small. Membership of the national body has grown more than fivefold since the start of 2023, and in all three of our cases it keeps growing through 2027. Beyond that the range is wide, from roughly today's level to nearly three times it, and nobody can yet say which path the sport will take.

In our view, that range points to a clear way to build and run a venue. Design it for the regular player, give casual players reasons to come back, earn from more than court hire, and plan the business so that it works even if growth stalls. A club built that way would benefit from the strong case without depending on it. We will report on House of Pickle Botany's progress, including the numbers we can share, in the Newsroom.