Southern Alberta’s first, purpose-built indoor pickleball facility opens in Lethbridge

In an effort to increase access to the fastest-growing sport around, a new purpose-built indoor pickleball facility has opened in Lethbridge -- the first-of-its-kind in southern Alberta.

Spread over 20,000 square feet, Pickle Point consists of eight permanent courts open to members and drop-ins year-round.

“Facilities like this, they have a waitlist in Calgary and Edmonton, but in Lethbridge we're a little bit behind the curve but it's definitely growing,” said Adriana Mercader, owner and founder of Pickle Point.

“It's growing in youth and the average age is like 45-years-old in Lethbridge.”

With nearly 1.4 million people playing pickleball at least once a month in Canada, the rise in popularity in recent years sparked the need for a purpose-built facility in the city.

“This is a lovely opportunity to like develop my skills and be able to help other people increase their skill levels and even just introducing pickleball to them,” said Julian Sanchez, who’s been playing competitive pickleball for two years and recently took up coaching at the new centre.

First southern Alberta courts

The centre opened on Dec. 7 and is the first one south of Calgary to be designed solely for pickleball.

“We’re targeting also southern Alberta,” said Mercader. “Which is like Raymond, Magrath and other communities coming here and doing this, it's great.”

“We have round robins and we have intermediate to medium to advanced clinics, we have full nights and full mornings. “

While the sport, which is a cross between table tennis, badminton and tennis, has gained popularity over the recent years, it's actually been around since 1965.

Legacy Park on the north side had six outdoor courts, with the City of Lethbridge opening an additional six last year to keep up with the demand.

“We’re an indoor facility but we have outdoor courts, so the bounce is different, the grade is different and we're professionally built so permanent nets and everything,” Mercader said.

“People are used to playing outside on official courts and the rest are kind of adapted to the need.”

Those that play the sport nearly every day say it's begun to attract players of all ages to keep active.

“This is a very low impact sport so if you're worried about an injury or anything like that,” said Sanchez. “I feel like this would be a good sport to ease back into physical activity, it doesn't require too much and you can play for fun or you can play competitively.”

Pickle Point operates seven days a week in the industrial site on the city’s northside.