Racket Sports Tech-July 2026

Table of Contents

• Ashley’s Tech Blog

  • The Beginners Hiding in Your Empty Courts

• Baseline Vision Update

  • What’s New at Baseline Vision?

• VolleyBird Athletic Lifestyle

  • Tennis Strings Were Never Made From Cats

The Beginners Hiding in Your Empty Courts

Most public facilities think the path to growth runs through their best players. It doesn't. The fastest-growing clubs in racquet sports are building from the opposite end of the skill ladder, and they're not waiting for the next 4.0 to walk in.

We sat down with two operators who've figured this out: Matt Previdi, who runs the instructional business at Balboa Tennis Club in San Diego, and Alex Dorbyk, Director of Operations at Pickleplex across Canada. Different sports, different countries, same playbook.

The base is upside down

Picture a typical club by skill level, and you get a diamond: a few beginners, a big recreational middle, a handful of elites up top. But the real world looks nothing like that. A tiny number of people played college tennis. Billions have never picked up a paddle.

Build your programming around the diamond, and you're fighting over the smallest slice of the market. Build it around the people who've never played, and your base grows on its own. At Balboa, more than half of 500 weekly clinic spots are reserved for lower-level players by design. At Pickleplex, free intro sessions run at least four times a week at every location.

Beginners aren't the leftover market. They're the whole market.

Scarcity does the selling

When players think they might not get a spot, they register earlier, cancel less, and tell their friends. Balboa's Sunday night "Sip and Serve" sold out all 46 weeks in 2024, with a waitlist every time. When Matt tried to make sign-ups more "fair" by limiting them, demand dropped. Same program, same players, no urgency.

A waitlist isn't a problem to solve. It's proof the thing is working.

You're not in the court business

Ask either operator what business they're really in, and neither says instruction or court time. They say community. That's the difference between a club and a facility, and it's why the players who only ever book a court are the first to leave when something newer opens down the road. The players who run through your programs, leagues, and socials stay regardless of price.

So name programs for where players are headed ("Road to 3.5," not "skills and drills"). Charge for the experience, then earn the increase every year with something real. Build operations that run without you, so staff coach instead of chasing payments. Enforce the no-show policy every single time, because people will test it.

Public is the advantage, not the apology

Operators treat "public" like a disclaimer. It's the opposite. No board protecting its own court time. No membership resisting a schedule change. Just the freedom to build entirely around your community and pivot fast when something works.

In San Diego, one of the most competitive tennis markets in the country, players leave private clubs to take Balboa's clinics, because the programming was built for anyone who wants to play. "I wouldn't have it any other way," Matt says.

The real question for operators: when a new player walks in tomorrow, are you built to keep them, or just to book them?

Want to see how the right programs and operations turn first-time players into lifelong members? Read the full breakdown at CourtReserve.com/public 

A string bed only looks intact. Whether it can still do its job is decided long before it ever breaks.