Pickleball at your tennis club: sharing courts between sports

More and more tennis clubs add pickleball or padel. It brings new members and fills courts at quiet times. But it also raises questions: who may book which court, how long does a match last, and how do you keep it clear for everyone?

Each sport its own rules

Tennis, padel and pickleball differ in playing time and number of players. A common setup:

• Tennis: playing time depends on the number of players, for example 15 minutes per player, so a double gets an hour.
• Padel: a fixed 90 minutes with four players.
• Pickleball: a fixed 60 minutes, with two or four players.

Set those rules per court, not per club. A members board then shows automatically how long a booking on that court lasts.

One board for all courts

Separate systems for each sport quickly lead to confusion. Show all courts side by side on one board, with the sport clearly marked. A member who plays tennis on Tuesday and pickleball on Saturday then only needs one place to book.

Sharing a court between sports

Some clubs paint pickleball lines on a tennis court. Then decide per time block what the court is used for. Reserve the court for pickleball at fixed times, for example on weekday mornings, and leave it open for tennis the rest of the week. Recurring bookings make that easy to manage.

Communicate clearly

• Give courts recognisable names, such as Court 1, Padel 1 and Pickleball 1.
• Explain the playing time per sport in a short article on the club website.
• Ask the new sport’s players for feedback after the first months.

Done well, a multi-sport club feels like one club, with more life on the courts and more members who stay.