“Pickleball” was a word — and a concept — that few people knew six years ago. Since then, the hybrid paddle sport — some tennis, some badminton, a little table tennis — has exploded.
A new pickleball facility is coming to Center City this year. It’s the first indoor pickleball space in this area, but one of many new facilities planned for the region as the sport continues to grow in popularity.
For a sport that is apparently popular, it was surprising to hear how Talen Singer, an operating partner of the facility, explained the project’s goals.
“We’re trying to produce dedicated spaces for pickleballers so we don’t get kicked out, so we’re not yelled at, and so that nobody’s annoyed at the noise,” he said.
Let’s dig a bit into this new pickleball location, as well as the background on why the sport is a tension point in communities.
New facility
The Bounce facility in Center City is being built in the former Di Bruno Brothers warehouse at 913 Wallace Street in the city’s Poplar neighborhood. It’s expected to open on August 1.
The facility will be popular due to pickleball’s easy play and opportunities for socializing, said Singer, an operating partner of Bounce Pickleball.
“The ease of entry, the challenge that it provides once you know how to play, and its ability to connect people is unlike any other game,” Singer said. “It’s why I fell in love with it.”
Singer has an extended background in fitness, having owned fitness studios and coached track and field at Villanova University. In his role, he oversees all Bounce Pickleball locations in the region, including one in Malvern, one opening in Wilmington, Del., and the one that will open later this year in Center City.
The Center City space will feature 13 indoor courts, as well as a pro shop and seating areas. The facility will focus on open play, which allows people to come in and find play partners. Beyond this, Singer said there are big plans for the educational component to the facility.
“So, we’re going to be offering clinics, and different ‘play a pros’ and all different kinds of events where you can actually improve your pickleball knowledge and get better at the game,” he said. “And we’re looking for different types of partners down there for our corporate events, fundraisers, and we also really want to start pulling in the youth.”
Bounce’s Malvern facility has brought pickleball to the suburbs and to students at area universities, including West Chester and Villanova. Singer said he hopes the new facility can be a place for students from Temple and other city schools to play.
The club will have various membership options, from annual memberships to daily passes. Singer said prices will be set based on the market, but the club’s goal is to keep things affordable.
“We really want to try to keep it affordable and make sure that everybody has access to courts,” he said. “We try to find different ways to support everybody’s play — high-level play, social play and competitive play.”
Overall, Singer said this facility will offer an intentional place for all pickleballers. Games in public spaces have caused tension with everyone from tennis players to neighbors annoyed by noise.
“We need dedicated spaces,” he said. “Most of the time all of our parks and recreation spaces are really designed for children with their parents. When you have 50 or 60 people or 100 people show up at a park, that’s not what the park was designed for.”
Which is a good time to say, if you’ve ever found yourself curious about the sport and its pros and cons, we spoke to Singer and some experts to give you a sense if it’s worth checking out.
The rise and popularity of pickleball
Pickleball is a mix of tennis, badminton and table tennis – involving balls (the game-referenced pickleball, similar to a wiffle ball) and paddles (without strings, and generally made of wood or composite materials). Joel Pritchard is considered the inventor of pickleball. In the 1960s, Pritchard combined rules from various racket sports while playing on a badminton court with friends. Eventually he decided this new activity had potential and formalized it as a sport.
The game existed for decades after, but has exploded in popularity only recently. According to 2024 statistics, pickleball participation has grown by 311 percent over the past three years and has been the fastest-growing sport in America for the past four years.
Singer said part of the appeal of pickleball spaces is as a place of social connection.
“Pickleball is one of the most frictionless ways to meet people in a digital world,” he said. “It’s so hard nowadays to even find reasons to go meet up with people in person. We all want the connection, but it’s tough because once you’re there, what do you do?”
Pickleball’s low barrier for entry is another reason it has risen in popularity, according to Dr. Joel Fish, a licensed psychologist who specializes in sports psychology.
“It’s hard to be a beginner,” he said. “And the beauty of pickleball is that the culture of pickleball is very inclusive. And so you can be a beginner in it and fit right in.”
Fish emphasized that those playing sports or participating in exercise are more likely to continue with the sports if they have someone to do it with. He said this is likely why many people stick with pickleball.
“It’s a culture where it’s easy to go up to somebody you don’t know and say, ‘Can we do this together?’ ” he said.
It’s “rare” to find a place in sports where people feel excited and comfortable psychologically with fitness, recreation and exercise, Fish explained, even though there are tremendous benefits to playing the sport.
“I think that it’s not an accident that you’ve had the opening of so many of these facilities because it meets a need — physical, mental, social,” Fish said. “There is a connection between the mind and the body. It’s a great form of stress release. It addresses needs that we all have for competition. It’s healthy competition versus unhealthy competition.”
The nature of pickleball also eliminates some of the competitiveness and pressure that other sports may bring, he added.
“You don’t have people dropping out of pickleball as much, and I think the reason why, once they start, if they stay healthy is it’s a culture which emphasizes healthy competition, and it’s fun,” he said. “And the number one reason people drop out of sport is that it’s not fun, or there are too many eggs in the results basket.”
Singer agreed with these sentiments, echoing that the sport provides a place for those who want a more relaxing experience and those who want to be more competitive.
“Whether you’re older or younger, pickleball has a relatively low entry barrier, but the high end is very high,” he said. “The game gets very complex and it’s a chess game when you get very good at it, but you’re able to have a rally within 10 or 15 minutes of picking up a paddle.”
The “hate” in the love-hate relationship
Pickleballers aren’t the only people who are passionate about their sport. The game has its detractors.
One of the biggest downsides to pickleball is the potential for injury. According to the American Medical Association, there are several concerns, the sport can lead to overuse injuries, as well as sprained ankles and knees, broken bones, back issues, the effects of falls, and dehydration.
Many people underestimate pickleball’s rigor and intensity, said Samir Mehta, the chief of the Division of Orthopedic Trauma and Fracture Service at the University of Pennsylvania.
“When you combine the typical age group that’s playing pickleball in conjunction with the amount that people are playing, how conditioned or lack of conditioned that they are before picking up the sport, and then the rigor or vigor that they play with, and the surface that they’re playing on, it’s a potential recipe for injury,” he said.
Metha explains there are possibilities for lower-body injuries, especially, when playing the sport.
“I’ve seen over the course of the last several years, a number of injuries that range from things like tearing of hamstring tendons, patellar [knee] tendons, Achilles tendons and quad tendons,” he said. “No different than you’d hear a professional football player, basketball player tearing those tendons. So, you have the soft tissue injuries that happen, but then you have the fractures that happen.”
Singer says he has seen many players experience these things throughout his playing experience
“When you pick up pickleball and you haven’t done anything for 10 or 15 years, you get very excited,” he said. “And it’s not that pickleball has any inherent danger to it. It’s that people get too excited and people jump right in to thinking they can run fast, stop fast, swing hard, do all of those things, and they’re not ready for it.”
Metha explains that appropriate pre- and postgame practices are important to avoiding injury.
“Before you play, make sure that you’re appropriately warmed up and appropriately cooled down,” he said. “I think people forget that the cooldown period after vigorous activity is almost as important as the warmup period.”
He said it is important to rest and not play too many days in a row. For older adult players, Metha encourages they use good judgment in the shots they attempt.
“Being thoughtful about diving for the ball, and the spirit of competition is great, but if you are a little bit older, you have some frailty to your bones or osteopenia or osteoporosis, you know, the risk of getting a wrist fracture, is it worth it to make that shot?” he said.
Bringing the noise
Another concern with pickleball is noise levels. Singer said this is a concern, especially for outdoor courts.
“If they lay down 15 or 20 pickleball courts, or a lot of pickleball courts, and you’re the next street to it? Yeah, you’re going to hear the noise that’s there, no doubt,” he said.
There are several proposed solutions to these issues, including spaced out playing times, play time regulations, sound barriers and noise-quieting equipment.
Another solution is indoor courts, like Bounce’s new facility in Center City.
