Pickleball’s Plot Twist

Tennis was aspirational, yes. Accessible? Rarely. Between 3-month waitlists and ₹1.5 lakh coaching fees: plastic paddle maybe winning.

Enter pickleball.

🚀 The Hype Is Real

Pickleball is booming in the U.S. -

• LeBron James owns a team.

• Tom Brady plays it.

• Over $250M has poured into U.S. pickleball startups.

India's response? Investor FOMO at full throttle.

Startups are springing up like monsoon mushrooms:

• App-based court booking platforms

• Coaching marketplaces

• Paddle and gear D2C brands

• "Uber for pickleball coaches" models

• And of course, leagues

And yes, the numbers sound promising:

• Between 2019 and 2022, pickleball players in India grew 159%.

• By end of 2024, ~60,000 active players, and 100,000+ casuals.

• The All India Pickleball Association (AIPA) projects one million active players by 2028. Yea that’s a real thing.

  So what’s the issue?

❌ It's All Hype. No Habit.

Most of these ventures are built for investors, not players.
They’re trying to go full IPL before the gully cricket even exists.

That’s what’s happening.

🧩 What Everyone's Missing

1. 🏘️ No One’s Building the Local Community

Pickleball isn’t just a sport. It’s a neighbourhood ritual.
It thrives in:

• Apartment complexes with after-dinner matches

• WhatsApp groups coordinating 6 AM slots

• Retired uncles becoming self-taught coaches

Startups are skipping the basics and going straight to: “Let’s launch a premium league with ₹10 lakh prize pool.”

Spoiler: No one asked.

2. 🎭 Culture > Capital

You can’t throw ads and discounts at a new sport and expect it to “go viral.”
You need to:

• Sponsor paddles for first-timers

• Understand city-specific quirks (Delhi’s heat, Mumbai’s parking, Bangalore’s rain)

• Create events that are less “elitist club,” more “park cricket”

For example, in Laguna Beach, LA, the city had to ban loud paddles due to resident complaints. Yes, the sport got so big it became a noise problem.

Meanwhile in India, we still don’t have enough courts.

🏁 Final Serve

Right now, most Indian pickleball startups are building juice bars in the desert. They are glossy, funded, and catering to corporate team building events.