New 24-hour indoor pickleball court open in Franklin

The scattershot beat of paddles hitting plastic balls reverberated inside the converted warehouse.

Players had come out to the newly opened Drop Shot Pickleball to work on their games. On three separate courts, people dipped, ducked, swatted and stroked for point after point.

Despite it being a cold, rainy January day, they could still get in a few games of the growing phenomenon of pickleball, playing on one of the area’s only designated indoor pickleball facilities.

“It’s social. It’s exercise. People are excited they have another place to play,” said Jenny Deaton, owner of Drop Shot Pickleball. “What I love about it is, you can make it whatever you want. I always tell people, I’m not guaranteeing you that you’re going to be good, but you’ll have fun. You’ll laugh a lot.”

Drop Shot Pickleball, which opened to the public in early January, offers enthusiasts their own space to play, even when the Indiana weather intervenes. Deaton found that there was a need for pickleball courts that could be used year-round, and having just fallen in love with the sport this year, decided to meet that need.

With varying membership tiers, the facility offers something for players of all skill levels and obsessions. And because it is open 24 hours a day, people can sign up to play whenever is convenient for them, Deaton said.

The concept has resonated with the Johnson County community — Drop Shot already has about 250 members.

“I’ve been to a lot of tennis facilities across the country and Drop Shot ranks toward the top,” said Andrea Smith, who became a member of the facility in December. “It has great lighting and a restroom. The temperature is very comfortable. It has a quaint cozy feeling allowing you to interact with other people there and that’s what pickleball is all about. It is a community.”

At this time last year, Deaton had never even played pickleball. She had been a raquetball player, among other sports, but after the COVID-19 pandemic forced her to stop playing for years, she decided that the game had passed her by.

Then she discovered pickleball.

The increasingly popular game combines elements of tennis, badminton and ping-pong into a unique sport. People play with paddles, twice the size of a ping-pong paddle, and try to hit a plastic ball with holes in it across a modified net.

About 4.8 million people play the game in the United States, according to the 2022 Sports & Fitness Industry Association Single Sport Report. The sport has sustained an 11.5% annual growth rate over the past five years.

“I was walking past the courts at Craig Park in May, and someone was giving lessons. I asked if they could give me lessons, and started playing, and got hooked,” Deaton said.

Throughout Johnson County, a number of communities have installed permanent pickleball courts, including at Youngs Creek Park in Franklin and Craig Park in Greenwood. Other area community centers, churches and other indoor facilities cater to pickleball at designated times, laying down temporary court lines on gymnasium surfaces.

But with the surging popularity of pickleball, the available space has not caught up to demand, particularly during winter months, Deaton said.

“Everybody I talked to kept saying, there aren’t enough places to play indoors during the winter,” she said. “They wished there was somewhere to play. I was ready to do something new, so I thought, why not?”

Deaton worked with a commercial real estate agent to identify a facility that had the space for indoor pickleball courts. She found a perfect match with a former warehouse available on the north side of Franklin.

Once the lease was signed, much work had to be done to turn the space into a pickleball paradise. The floor had to be taken down to raw concrete, then installing court surface on top of it. Lines were painted to create three courts. New lighting helped illuminate all areas of the facility, so no players were stuck in a shadowy portion while playing, Deaton said.

“Lighting is very important when playing pickleball. You don’t realize how quick the ball is coming back, and poor lighting can make a big difference,” she said.

With the facility ready, the next step was reaching out to the pickleball community — what players say is the most unique aspect of the game.

“It is really a community. I didn’t grow up in this area, and I have met more nice people in the last six months playing pickleball than anything else,” Deaton said.

Smith came into the pickleball world in June. She grew up playing tennis and continued to enjoy the game as an adult, but a bicycle accident a few years ago forced her to take a break to have surgery.

When her doctor gave her the green light to continue physical activity, she looked into the best activities she could be involved with. Franklin was hosting a free beginner’s clinic at Youngs Creek Park, so she asked some friends if they wanted to go.

They’ve been playing ever since, Smith said. During a session at Craig Park, she met Deaton. They played together a few different times, and then in the fall, Deaton told her she was starting an indoor facility.

“News of Drop Shot Pickleball spread quickly by word of mouth and social media posts throughout the different local pickleball groups. Everyone was excited to have a local place to play with regulation size courts and a real court surface,” Smith said.

When Deaton reached out to a group of local players to be part of the trial members, Smith signed on.

“I can’t stress enough how great it is to be able to play pickleball on a real court surface,” she said. “And not only that, but you get to play on a regulation size court. Tennis facilities and community centers will tape or paint lines on the courts which works but sometimes all the different lines can be confusing.”

Drop Shot Pickleball opened officially on Jan. 8, and members have been signing on ever since.

Membership is broken into different tiers, depending on what you’d like to get out of Drop Shot, Deaton said. The standard membership is free and allows players to sign up for open play and reserve a court up to 48 hours in advance. Those members may play twice per week.

For people looking for more options, they can become VIP members for $25 per year. They can sign up for open play and reserve up to three courts per day, up to 14 days in advance. VIP membership also provides them with discounted rates on open play, leagues and clinics.

At the top level, players can become sustaining members. For $100 per year, they can sign up for open play and reserve an unlimited number of courts, up to 28 days in advance, in addition to taking advantage of discounted rates on open play, leagues and clinics.

To get started, people can go to Drop Shot’s website, dropshotpickleball.org, and create an account. They choose memberships levels, then can begin reserving courts where there are openings on the schedule.

As members, people are given an electronic code to enter the facility 15 minutes before their court time, so the courts can be open all day, every day, Deaton said.

“It makes me happy to come in here, in the middle of the winter when it’s gloomy outside, to see people having fun, laughing, getting exercise. That’s what I wanted to see,” she said.

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AT A GLANCE

Drop Shot Pickleball

What: A new indoor pickleball facility that offers members 24-hour-a-day access to courts, as well as ability to sign up for reserved times, leagues and special events.

Where: 172 Commerce Drive, Franklin

Owner: Jenny Deaton

Information and sign up: Go to dropshotpickleball.org to get started and learn more about memberships. For questions, email [email protected] or call 317-426-1566