One-day in-person forum scheduled for May 3 in Princeton, NJ aims to gather venue operators, investors, and equipment manufacturers to advance processes for nation’s fastest-growing sport
The pickleball industry is experiencing unprecedented popularity and explosive growth both nationally and internationally, but intense competition and growing pains have emerged as challenges that need to be navigated by the sport’s variety of stakeholders. With a primary objective of gathering like-minded professionals and businesses to uncover solutions to emerging issues and provide an open forum for discussion, New Jersey-based Rally Sports Venture has announced the “Pickleball Minds” forum, scheduled May 3 in Princeton, New Jersey.
According to Rally Sports Venture Partner Amitabh Jain, the pickleball industry is presently experiencing exponential growth similar to what impacted the sport of tennis in the 70s and 80s, with investors, pickleball venue operators, manufacturers and assorted audiences all “in a frenzy” to keep up with the unprecedented high demand for courts, equipment, related processes, and education. “It is appropriate to take a step back, survey the landscape, determine what is working and what is not, and gather groups representing different interests for an open conversation that can benefit everyone moving forward,” Jain said.
“As it happens with any fledgling and rapidly-growing industry, there are many unknowns leading to trial and error approaches. Pickleball Minds is formulated to bring business owners together to collaborate, determine best practices, learn from the mistakes made by others and provide a viable path to grow a new or nurture an existing pickleball venture,” he added.
The speaker roster includes pickleball industry thought leaders, manufacturing representatives, media experts, venue operators, and representatives from some of the sport’s leading federations and organizing bodies. The current list is:
- Dr. Kwabena Akufo, African Pickleball and Ghana Pickleball Association
- Christine Burrows, PickleBall Corporate (team) Building
- Vikram Chugh, Robertson Stephens
- Matt Farrell, PBX Pickleball
- Carl Foster, Inside WORLD Pickleball TV Show
- Gordon G.G. Gebert, Pickleball Television
- Bernadette Herward Davida, Polsinelli, PC
- Matt Gordon, The Pickleball Club
- David Johnson, The Business of Pickleball
- Kaitlyn Kerr, Pickleball Chick, Las Vegas Night Owls
- Claude Okin, Sportime Clubs
- Paul Olson, Selkirk TV
- Ashley Owens, CourtReserve and Old Coast Pickleball
- Richard Porter, InPickleball
- Rene Prats, Diadem Sports
- Will Richards, Dill Dinkers Pickleball
- Mike Rosenberg, The Pickleball Club at Monroe
- Ruth Rosenquist, Global Pickleball Federation and Veloz
- Carl Schmits, USA Pickleball
After playing badminton during his college career at the National Institute of Technology in India, Pickleball Minds founder Amitabh Jain spent decades working in various leadership positions in large organizations, and in startup companies in the technology industry.
Like many others, Jain leveraged his passion for racquet-based sports, segued into pickleball in early 2022 and immediately fell under its spell. Overtime, he recognized that pickleball lends itself exceptionally well as a business opportunity.
“Pickleball offers many traits that make people immediate embrace it and yearn for improvement, and it appeals to practically every age demographic and level of athletic prowess,” Jain said. “We are positioning Pickleball Minds to emerge as the DAVOS of pickleball, wherein whenever people would think about a business forum in Pickleball, they will think of Pickleball Minds. We are creating the perfect stage for business owners to gather, join forces and uncover the most efficient and effective ways to grow the sport and the industry.”
Future Pickleball Minds sessions will be held later this year in California, India, the United Kingdom and Dubai.
Pickleball Minds, NJ Chapter will be held at Conference Center, NJHA, 760 Alexander Rd, Princeton, New Jersey – 08543, from 10 am to 5 pm. The cost to attend is $179 per person if registration takes place prior to April 3, and $239 afterwards. For additional information, visit www.pickleballminds.com or contact Rally Sports at contact@rallysportsventure.com.
