A trio of facilities expand their offerings and provide a variety of programming for every age group, ability level.

Club + Resort Business is highlighting clubs that provide top-level racquet programs: The Philadelphia Cricket Club in Philadelphia, Pa., BallenIsles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and Daniel Island Club in Charleston, S.C.

These clubs offer state-of-the art facilities, as well as a variety of programs and activities for members of all ages. Each site is also doing more to capitalize on the rising popularity of pickleball. Here is a look at what each of these clubs provides to members and guests.

The Philadelphia Cricket Club Keeps Members Engaged

The Philadelphia Cricket Club prides itself on staying ahead of the curve in the racquet sports world.

“We build facilities for the future and program for the present,” explains Boris Fetbroyt, the club’s Director of Racquets. “All our programming is designed to engage the members we have.”

Members have plenty of racquet sports to choose from. The club has 18 grass tennis courts, nine Har-Tru courts, two indoor hard courts, eight indoor pickleball courts and four outdoor ones, as well as seven paddle (platform tennis) courts, four padel courts, eight singles squash courts, and two doubles squash courts.

The club has five racquet professionals, four of whom are certified in tennis, pickleball and paddle, while the fifth has certification in tennis and pickleball. There are also seven squash professionals and four padel professionals.

“Our members like fun,” says Fetbroyt when asked why pickleball has developed such a large following. “We’re known for our social environment at every skill level. They like how easy it is to rally, which promotes play. The longer the points go, the more fun members have.”

Although the club has not added more pickleball courts since 2020, Fetbroyt notes the four padel courts opened in 2023.

“They were added because the sport began gathering interest locally during the pandemic, after we were aware of its quick growth in the international racquet community,” Fetbroyt says. “We are always one of the first in our area to invest in sports that will provide greater access, exciting challenges, and social opportunities to our membership. This was true when we built our pickleball courts and it’s been true of padel.”

Lila Smith, Philadelphia Cricket’s Director of Communications, says the club has 1,840 memberships totaling 4,597 members. Leagues, outings, tournaments, weekly clinics, and club trips to professional tournaments are available for both adult and junior members.

Fetbroyt notes the club creates and develops its programming by learning about members’ interests and needs through face-to-face conversations.

“We learn who they are, their other hobbies and interests, who they play with, what their goals are, their skill levels, and what drives them to spend time at the club,” Fetbroyt says. “Making member relationships a priority helps the racquets staff and creates the environment needed for our racquets program to succeed.”

Another dimension, according to Fetbroyt, is that the demographic make-up of each racquet sport is different and therefore requires a slightly different approach to programming.

“We don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach to programming across all racquet sports,” Fetbroyt says. “We also learn the dynamics of each group to best deliver on their wants and needs.”

In addition to regular social interactions with members, Philadelphia Cricket staffers generate and review data reports from ForeTees to help direct program growth.

“We look at court occupancy for each sport,” Fetbroyt says. “Understanding court usage by volume and popular booking times for each racquet sport really helps us with programming. We also look at lesson trends to monitor the type of lessons members prefer between private, semi-private, and group lessons.”

Philadelphia Cricket is the site of a couple signature racquet tournaments. The club hosted the Chestnut Hill Classic, a PSA Bronze event, in November 2023, and will stage the event again this year, according to Smith. The club will also host the 2025 APTA National Paddle Championship. Since they are hosting national-level racquet events, Smith notes club leaders take great pride in the quality of their facilities.

“Those same facilities are where our members play, elevating their experience no matter their sport,” Smith says. “When we built our padel courts before anyone else in the area, we built them with the same standards in mind: they needed to be ready to host the best in the world. Whether it’s being the first, being the best, or hosting the world’s finest athletes at our club, making history is what we do.”

BallenIsles CC Continues to Grow Racquet Offerings

Expansion is the name of the game at BallenIsles Country Club. The club offers 20 tennis courts (19 Har-Tru clay courts and one hard court), and nine pickleball courts, all set up outdoors, but club leaders are moving forward with plans to increase these numbers.

“We are converting our two original pickleball courts and one hard surface court into six pickleball courts,” says Ryan Walls, the club’s General Manager since 2017. “Now, we are rebuilding the hard surface in place of a clay surface next to our new 3,000-sq.-ft. racquet shop and we have built/are building two new Har-Tru courts to replace the ones lost from the hard surface and racquet shop. When all is done, we will have 13 pickleball courts, one hard surface and 20 or so Har-Tru.”

Gary Henderson, the club’s Director of Racquets, says two more racquet professionals will begin working at the club in August, giving BallenIsles 12 racquet professionals — eight who teach tennis and pickleball, and four who are exclusively tennis instructors. As this story was being finished, Henderson says the club was conducting interviews for one more pro who would specialize in pickleball, but could also teach tennis.

The club had 2,668 members from 1,533 memberships as of the end of June, according to Walls. BallenIsles offers private and group lessons in both tennis and pickleball for all ages and ability levels, as well as tennis and pickleball camps during school vacations. League play is offered for pickleball and tennis in local leagues, as well as in USTA for tennis.

Henderson adds the club’s mission is to be inclusive for players of every ability level, and to provide “exceptional member experiences whether it’s learning, socializing, or competing, creating lasting memories.”

The club has experienced a lot of growth in the number of members playing pickleball. Henderson says he believes pickleball’s significant rise in popularity is due to the sport being “easy to learn” and “sociable.”

“It can be squeezed into a length of time that suits the player, [offers] good exercise and [it’s] very tactical,” adds Henderson, who has worked at BallenIsles since 2018.

The club offers weekly clinics throughout the course of the season, as well as a monthly calendar of tennis and pickleball events where members will have a chance to learn from some of the top professionals. Andrei Daescu, who is ranked in the top five in the world in pickleball, hosts events and clinics at the club throughout the year. Two members of the professional pickleball women’s circuit, Lauren Davis and Alycia Parks,  train at BallenIsles when they’re in the area.

“Our world-class facilities have beautiful landscaping with drink stations, iced towels, LED lighting and seating areas,” Henderson says. “[The club has] three high-quality ball machines and SwingVision technology video analysis.”

Walls notes there are an assortment of methods in which BallenIsles leaders work to determine the type of programming and events they should provide to members. A racquet committee made up of members provide feedback, staff members regularly converse with members, surveys are occasionally conducted, industry trends are regularly monitored, and usage reports are reviewed on a monthly basis.

“We lead with intuition and professional risk/knowledge,” Walls says. “…[We] use, borrow and improve upon great ideas from others. We create new ideas constantly.”

Becky Collison, the club’s Director of Marketing and Communications, notes the club’s app has a field labeled “Compliments and Concerns” where members can share their thoughts.

Daniel Island Club Offers ‘Something To Everyone’

“We just want to be able to offer something to everyone.”

That’s how Ben Cook, Director of Tennis at Daniel Island Club in Charleston, S.C., describes the philosophy of his facility that offers 16 tennis courts and six pickleball courts. The site has 10 racquet professionals — eight for tennis and two for pickleball — to serve the club’s 1,700 memberships.

The professional staff creates close to $1 million annually in on-court instruction. Meanwhile, the retail program has a retail manager who tracks an inventory that at times nears $100,000 with annual sales of more than $300,000.

At the halfway point of 2024, the club is experiencing a very successful year.

“Through the end of June, we are on track for 80,000 combined tennis and pickleball members and guests playing at our facility,” Cook says.

Daniel Island’s tennis professionals work with hundreds of USTA Adult League players at the 2.5 to 5.0 levels, with junior players ranging from novices to national level and college players.

The club has close to 1,500 examples of members playing USTA league tennis at a wide range of age and skill levels, and in mixed and combo leagues.

To coordinate this, Cook says, “We have staff that serve as [non-playing] captains for all of our league teams. Those staffers publicize sign-ups, do the sign-ups, do the USTA registrations, make weekly line-ups, make playing decisions, [send] e-mails [about] where we’re playing.”

Cook himself manages some of the men’s USTA league teams at Daniel Island, while another tennis professional, Ann Harrah, coordinates the majority of the women’s USTA league teams.

“We want to make our league tennis experience as easy, as pain-free as possible,” Cook says.

At the same time, Cook notes that some members want to take charge of their leagues. Staffers learn about league members’ needs through surveys they conduct.

The club offers members weekly round robins, club championships, holiday mixers, a USTA Level II national adult event, year-round USTA leagues, and year-round lessons/clinics/camps.

Daniel Island has hosted charity fundraisers for the Lowcountry Autism Foundation, underprivileged youth tennis programs, and breast cancer groups.

The club also provided assistance to the Credit One Charleston Open WTA event and the USTA Girls 18’s National Clay Courts, and typically hosts an annual USTA Level II Women’s National for competitive senior ladies each March. This age group event attracts players in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s age categories.

Like other clubs around the country, Daniel Island has expanded its pickleball offerings during the last few years to cash in on the sport’s skyrocketing popularity. All six of the club’s pickleball courts were installed during the “COVID era,” according to Cook, and members have access to instruction from two accomplished pickleballers. Pickleball professionals Olivia McMillan and Garrett Singletary are “very active on the national pickleball tours,” Cook says.

Pickleball is enjoyed by members of all ability levels who may have differing reasons for taking up the sport.

“[Pickleball] is giving people of less skill sets an opportunity to find the racquet sport that is beginner-friendly,” Cook adds. “I think everyone will admit that [pickleball] is easier to pick up than tennis is.”

At the other end of the spectrum, pickleball offers a new opportunity to veteran and top-level tennis players.

“For players of higher skill sets and [ones] that may be life-long tennis players, it’s something new and refreshing,” Cook observes. “…Maybe if a player feels like their better tennis days are behind them, it’s fun to go pick up a new activity [where] you feel like you could still improve.”

Looking ahead, club leaders are hoping to add a third racquet sport.

“Padel is definitely on the horizon for us,” Cook says. “That would fall in line with our mission to offer something for everyone…We are studying the possibility of adding two padel courts [in 2025].” C+RB