Woodbury seems to be doing its part to help accelerate the pace of one of America’s  fastest growing sports.

At any given time on any given day, there could be more than 100 people dinking and smashing their way to exuberant fun, playing pickleball indoors this winter in the Woodbury area.

The sport is often described as a cross between ping-pong and tennis played on a badminton court with a tennis-like net. All you need to play are paddles, a kind of wiffle-ball and court shoes.

Two new facilities in the Woodbury area together offer 25 dedicated indoor pickleball courts, adding to several other existing places to play. With typically four players playing per court per hour and with some courts available from 12 to 24 hours per day, seven days a week, that’s the potential for thousands of people to be playing each week.

Almost without exception, those who play say the ease of beginning and learning to play, the sport’s fast pace and its seemingly built-in social aspect are keys to its explosive growth in popularity. According to the “TeachMe.To” blog, pickleball in the U.S. grew at a rate of 223.5% over the past three years. Minnesota is no exception, with at least 347 courts and counting fast.

Erik Edin is so enthusiastic about pickleball’s future in Woodbury that he’s prone to a bit of hyperbole: “I think Woodbury could be the pickleball capital of the world.” Of course, you might expect such a thing from the guy who owns All World Pickleball, the Woodbury area’s newest indoor pickleball facility.

“Pickleball changed my life!” Edin says unabashedly.  Though he was an athlete, he says that until a few years ago he was more of an introvert, playing the occasional pick-up basketball or tennis game with a few friends. But then he discovered pickleball.  “Now, I have friends all over the Twin Cities. My life is so much richer. I love people more,” he said.

While Edin’s outlook on the potential for pickleball in Woodbury might be hyperbole at the moment, it is likely safe to say that Woodbury is the current leader in indoor pickleball offerings in the east metro, if not the Twin Cities area.

Less than a year ago, there were few full-time, dedicated indoor pickleball facilities in this area that offered court time without memberships.  Lifetime Fitness has three courts, for which membership is required.  Legacy offers 12 courts, but they use portable nets on gym floors also used for basketball and other sports.  The Woodbury YMCA offers pickleball in its gym at certain hours on certain days of the week. Oakdale has eight multi-use courts at SmashHub and four dedicated courts at The Burrows.

Then, Pickle in the Middle opened with 10 courts on June 1, 2024. Technically in Lake Elmo, at 11160 Hudson Blvd N, on the north side of I-94, owner Linda Deconinck says they are members of the Woodbury Chamber of Commerce and consider their main service area to be Woodbury, along with Hudson, Stillwater, St. Paul and other area cities.

On Oct. 1, All World Pickleball opened with 15 courts at 1650 Hudson Road, Suite #200. Edin said people would come by while the place was still under construction and ask if they could play, such is the demand for indoor pickleball. He said his reservation system inadvertently went live a few hours early and, without any advertising, he had people calling within minutes to reserve courts. It’s been like that ever since.

“I haven’t even had my grand opening yet!” Edin exclaimed. He and his manager, Julia Cobb, have been too busy putting the finishing touches on the facility while helping people get into the sport to worry about a grand opening. But it’s coming soon, they said.

Those two facilities’ 25 indoor courts now put the Woodbury-Lake Elmo area well ahead of almost any other Twin Cities suburban area, according to listings on Pickelheads.com.  Together with the other indoor courts and its outdoor courts,  Woodbury now boasts 60 pickleball courts, well ahead of Eagan’s 37.

Why Woodbury?

Both Edin and Deconinck said that when they started thinking about where to locate an indoor pickleball club it was clear that the east metro area had the need and that the Woodbury area was an ideal location demographically and geographically.  Woodbury seems to be an active community, with a broad range of ages and incomes, Edin observed. People of all ages like to be active in various sports.  People are well off enough to have the leisure time for sports, but not so well off that everyone leaves for warmer climates in winter or can afford their own private courts.

The main transportation  arteries of I-94, I-494-694, Highway 95 and other routes, like Hudson Road, make the area highly accessible from all over, Deconick noted.  The availability of large warehouse-type spaces was also a big factor for both owners’ decisions to locate here.

“If you had asked me (a year ago) where the best place to open a club is, I’d have said Woodbury,” Edin said.  The Twin Cities in general is a good market for indoor pickleball, Edin said, because Minnesotans like to stay active in the winter and it’s a long indoor season here.

But both owners acknowledged that other areas in the metro could see similar growth in indoor courts, challenging Woodbury’s current preeminence. Pickleball’s popularity, with its resultant demand for court time, is growing so fast that almost as soon as an underserved community is identified, a new indoor facility pops up to fill the void, they said. And the players rush in to fill the spaces. For example, Deconinck, who also owns Pickle in the Middle in Brooklyn Park, cited Lakeville and the White Bear Lake-northeast metro as two areas that currently seem underserved.

What they offer Each of the new clubs offers something different for different kinds of players.

Here’s how they compare:

Pickle in the Middle
The club is open 24 hours a day.  Each person who registers to play receives a four-digit entrance code. Staff are on site for about half the time.  No membership fee is required to play.
The basic level fee is $35 per court per hour during peak times (4-10 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. weekends) and $25/hr. for off-peak hours (10-4 p.m. weekdays and 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. weekends). However, a Gold or Platinum membership for $100 or $200 per year, respectively, lowers the cost of court time, especially for off-peak hours, as does the Unlimited Open Play membership for $100 per month. The memberships also allow you to book further in advance or cancel with shorter notice. During open play times, players can get in a game for as little as $5.

The courts are “professional outdoor courts” in both surface and size, Deconinck said.  They have a specially mixed sand and asphalt-like hard surface, painted and striped with professional-grade material. There’s plenty of room to run behind the baseline and  to the sides. Fencing between courts is regulation coated chain link. The aisles between the court clusters offer room to gather with friends between games or watch others play.

Lighting is bright and simulates outdoors, but without the moving shadows of the sun.  Restrooms and vending machines available.  Lessons and coaching are available.

All World Pickleball
The club is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily with staff on site.  No membership fee is required to play, but free memberships allow booking and reservation advantages.  The cost to play is generally per player, and can vary from $6 to $12 for a two or three-hour session depending on the day of the week, time of day, level of play, etc.  Private court rental is $35/hr and that can be for four players or more if they want to rotate in. More common is an open play where an individual can pay $8-12 depending on the time and the day for 2 or 3 hours and play in with other players at their level.

The courts are “built to championship specifications” in size, surrounding area, color (blues and grays) and surface, etc. The court surface is cushioned to help reduce fatigue and injury risk. Fencing between courts is regulation coated chain link. The aisles between the court clusters offer ample room to gather with friends between games or watch others play.

The lighting is tridirectional stadium lighting, similar to that at Baseline Tennis Center at the University of Minnesota, so there are no shadows or glare. The ceiling and walls have been acoustically treated to reduce noise.

Each court is equipped with PV Vision, a video recording system that provides instant replay (just for fun or for checking line calls) and video of all games. Players can send copies of the video to their emails for later analysis. The system uses stop and slow motion, diagramming of shot placement, ball trajectories and speeds, etc. so players can collect and analyze their own stats. Each court has a large TV monitor above it that shows the time of play when it’s not showing instant replay or live play.

Restrooms and vending machines are available.  Coaching and lessons available.

Just try it

If the lack of snow this winter is beating you at your usual winter game, consider heading indoors to give pickleball a try. “Part of the beauty of it is, anybody can play against anybody, and it’s still fun,” Edin said. “It’s a very easy sport to get into. You don’t need too much effort to start,” Deconinck said. “Grandkids and grandparents can play together and have fun.”