Kiama’s pickleball craze leads to launch of its first-ever competition event

A year after starting pickleball in Kiama, the popularity of the booming sport has prompted its organiser to launch the first Kiama Pickleball Club Social Competition.

Jones Co Tennis owner Daniel Jones said the idea for the 11 January event came as a way of running a summer program for its pickleball participants in Kiama.

“Over the last 12 months from when we started pickleball on 23 December [2023], we have seen a massive interest in the sport and have been overwhelmed with the interest from the local community,” Daniel said.

“It has been fantastic to see so many people enjoying it, especially adults, as from our experience it can be hard to get adults involved in organised activities due to life commitments.”

Jones Co Tennis had already been running tennis classes in Kiama, Oak Flats and Albion Park, when it decided to start running pickleball after demand from the public.

Describing pickleball as being “somewhere between table tennis and tennis”, he said it was played on a smaller court with two or four players using a paddle and perforated hollow plastic ball.

He said for the competition event, there would be a maximum of 50 competitors due to the size of the hall.

“Our goal is to have at least six teams playing and we are getting very close to that goal,” he said.

“This will be a fun family friendly event and we encourage all our players to participate even if they are new to pickleball and only played a few sessions,” he said.

“During our weekly sessions, we often have kids come along and play with their parents and we have just loved seeing how families have come together to play this sport.

“So we would absolutely encourage families to enter as a team.”

Daniel said the competition would run as a doubles round robin, with participants in teams of two to four players. Those not already in a team would be placed into one.

A winner of the round robin will be chosen based on final point scores and there will be other prizes awarded that are not skill based.

“If all goes well, we would love to run it again as a quarterly competition,” he said.

Daniel said he encouraged friends, families or even people who were just curious to see what pickleball was all about to come and watch.

“Our sessions always have a great atmosphere – we play music and people gather and cheer each other on,” he said.

He said for those who weren’t able to make the social event but were keen to try out pickleball, he also ran weekly sessions at Kiama High.

During the term, sessions run on Tuesdays from 5:30 to 7 pm, and Thursdays from 6 to 7:30 pm.

For the summer holidays, sessions run Thursdays from 6 to 7:30 pm, with equipment provided and no experience necessary.

Kiama Pickleball Club Social Competition will be held on 11 January from 2 to 4 pm at Kiama Leisure Centre indoors on the basketball courts.

Each member of the team must register, with the cost $20 per person. There is no registration required for spectators, and drinks and light refreshments will be available.