The strategy behind the fastest growing sport in America

How pickleball is taking over among all age groups and the strategic insights for all organizations.

Hello everyone 👋

This week we are talking about pickleball, the fastest growing sport in America, three years running. How did a sport that was created in a backyard become so dominant? Let’s uncover the strategic lessons for all organizations.

I. How did pickleball get here?

I played pickleball last week (my second or third time) and I was astounded at how fast the sport is being adopted. My friend and I played in brand new courts, constructed next to existing tennis courts, in the heart of Vancouver. There were twice as many people playing pickleball than tennis, even though there were twice as many tennis courts. 

In a span of two hours, we played eight games and had tons of fun. After I went home, I had to dive deeper into this whole pickleball craze.

Here are some stats to set the context for this newsletter, focused on the U.S. since pickleball was created in Bainbridge Island, Washington (about three hours from Vancouver).

• In 2023, there was an estimated 36.5 million pickleball players (tennis had around 23 million)

• Pickleball participation has grown 223.5% from 2020 - 2023

• There are 13,969 pickleball courts (tennis has around 270,000 courts) and over 70% of courts are temporary in nature

• Average age of a pickleball player was 38.1 in 2021 and is dropping by around two years, every year

• Players 18-34 make up the largest percentage

The temporary court is even more amazing than what it sounds. Most players set up their own courts (it is quite easy) and only a few are playing in dedicated courts (like me).

Pretty impressive stuff. Pickleball is growing like crazy, especially among young people. 

You now have professional pickleball players, investors like Lebron James and the sport is going global.

So what makes pickleball so popular? Let’s look at three reasons. 

II. The three A’s of pickleball’s success: accessible, affordable and amusing

I grew up playing multiple racket sports. I loved tennis as a child, competed in tournaments and even considered attending a tennis-focused high school in Florida. As a teenager, I moved into badminton and competed all throughout high school. I also played table tennis along the way and dabbled with squash and racketball.

When I first played pickleball, it didn’t feel like a “real” sport to me. The initial difficulty was clearly lower than tennis or badminton and the sport looks funny from the outside. You have these huge paddles and a hollow plastic ball. The courts are quite small and don’t require significant running, especially compared to tennis.

And yet, these are the reasons why pickleball is so popular.

First, the skill level needed to play a game is much lower than tennis. To rally multiple times in tennis, you need a good amount of practice. It might take weeks or months to achieve the skill level needed. In pickleball, you can get that skill in minutes or hours. 

Second, pickleball equipment is cheaper than tennis. I’m sure we will see more expensive rackets in the future but the cost of entry is likely a big factor, especially for those individuals who just want to try the sport for fun. I would imagine pickleballs last longer than tennis balls too.

Third, pickleball is optimized for fun. Since you can start playing with a lower skill level, you can play more games and the games themselves can be fun. If you have ever played tennis as a beginner player, you know that it is quite frustrating as you try to figure out how to hit the ball over the net.

Fourth, pickleball is an inherently social sport. Tennis is quite clannish. You only play the people you came with and you don’t tend to mix among groups. Public courts have a time limit e.g. one hour and then you leave. Waiting for people to finish their one hour is sometimes excruciating. There’s no actual countdown and you have to trust that people will vacate promptly. 

Pickleball courts, at least some of them, have this ingenious system for determining court ownership. 

There’s a rack where paddles can be placed for the next game. You can play singles or doubles and you can play with your friends or join others. Players who only want to play other high skill players have special tokens so others can skip them.

This rack system ensures that players don’t hog a court beyond their game, which tends to last around 15 minutes (compared to 30 minutes or more for tennis). I wish tennis courts had the same system!

Pickleball is not without flaws. When the paddle hits the plastic ball, it makes an annoying sound that has divided neighbourhoods wherever pickleball courts are considered. There’s also some friction between pickleball and tennis and the allocation of existing tennis courts.

In the end, the market has clearly decided in favor of pickleball. People love it and cities are rushing to construct new courts to make it easier for people to play.

All that being said, what are the strategic lessons for your organization? 

III. Strategy lessons from pickleball

Three lessons stand out to me from the pickleball craze.

First, there’s always underserved markets. The sport started with individuals over 55 years of age and provided an activity that wasn’t strenuous but still fun. It turns out that younger people also want similar things. Not every young person is seeking a tough workout, some just want to do something fun.

Underserved markets are created all the time, especially as demographic and consumer preferences change. Organizations should be striving to find new and unexpected audiences for their products.

Second, ease of use makes a huge difference. Tennis players may scoff at the lack of initial difficulty but there’s a large number of people who consider that a feature. Removing friction from your products is a constant challenge and it requires letting go of assumptions.

Third, community matters. I suspect the social element of pickleball is a major factor in driving growth. People want to connect with others and simple things like the paddle rack system make it easier to do that. Tennis is not dying (it is also growing) but if I was in charge of Tennis Associations, I would be rushing to implement this rack system or something similar in courts.

Organizations that create communities will continue to dominate. Plenty has been said about loneliness, isolation and our technology-driven society and some organizations have clearly realized the value in bringing people together.

Pickleball is a great case study in everything that makes strategy fascinating. It takes advantage of societal trends, it created a product that is derided by some people but loved by others and it is growing mostly by word of mouth. We should all strive for the same outcomes.

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That’s all I have for this week!

If you get a chance, go check out your local pickleball courts and you can see strategy unfold right before your eyes.

Ruben

P.S. If you’re wondering how to find underserved markets, increase ease of use for your products or build communities within your strategy, get in touch. Many of these elements are questions all organizations should be debating internally as they explore how to deal with the future.