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The following profile looks at one of several Chamber members featured in the summer edition of our INSIGHT Magazine promoting health and wellness

When Joel Pritchard and some friends invented a backyard game in Washington state back in 1965 to entertain their families using a badminton court, ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball, little did they know it would spark a worldwide phenomenon.

Fast forward just over 60 years later, and pickleball continues to gain in popularity as an attractive alternative to other high-impact racquet sports such as tennis or squash.

“I think this is the most inclusive sport I have ever seen,” says Ramit Raj, owner of Pickleplex Cambridge. “I say inclusive because it doesn’t matter your fitness level perspective, your age range perspective or gender perspective; everyone can play.”

His facility, located in a former Peavey Mart on Dundas Street North in Cambridge and featuring 12 courts as well as two comfortable lounge areas, has become a hub of activity since it opened its doors in February of this year attracting players of all ages and ability.

“During our grand opening I had my four-year-old daughter holding a paddle for the first time and there was a 75 to 80-year-old lady playing also and I thought it was so interesting we had people with such an age gap picking up the sport on the same day,” says Ramit, noting the ease in which people take to the game. “It’s so easy to learn and you can choose how professional you want to be.”

A squash player himself, Ramit says his interest in pickleball became piqued while vacationing in the U.S. and found himself playing it for the first time on an outdoor court, along with his wife and young son. Marvelled by the ease in which they learned the sport, he wasn’t surprised to discover how quickly it was gaining momentum, especially in Canada where it’s estimated there are now between 7,800 to 8,000 pickleball courts – approximately 3,300 of those in Ontario alone.

Community the core mission

“It’s such a social sport, and so inclusive, that’s definitely why it’s growing so fast,” he says. “So, when I came back to Canada, I started doing research.”

Using his experience in the financial sector – he holds an MBA and is currently Head of Digital Process Automation at Scotiabank – Ramit decided to take the plunge and open his own business and began looking at various cities to establish a pickleball site, including communities in Waterloo Region.

“There are a lot of great facilities out there, but the one thing I observed is there has to be a balance on how many courts you want in the club,” he says, adding having just five or six courts wasn’t enough for his vision. “The programming that you can do is very limited. So, that was the first thing on my mind that I would need 10 or 12 courts minimum. I wanted to build a club that caters to everybody.” 

Ramit says having 12 courts provides greater flexibility for not only attracting a wide assortment of players of various age and skill levels, but pro players as well.

“We are actually tied up with the Canadian National Pickleball League (CNPL) and one of their feeder programs for pro players who practice here,” he says, adding the Pickleplex brand is expanding fast in Canada. The company currently operates 15 locations, with six more opening soon and has long-term plans for 23 additional sites nationwide.

Despite any ongoing expansion, Ramit says creating a community remains the core mission of any Pickleplex complex, especially when it comes to welcoming new players who’ve never picked up a paddle before and may feel a little hesitant.

Mental health benefits

“When I started working on this, I had a lot of people reach out asking me questions like, ‘I’m interested in learning the sport, but I don’t have any friends or someone to play it with’,” he says, adding some may be retired or lost a spouse and are looking to meet new people.

To ensure people can make those important connections, Pickleplex Cambridge offers a wide variety of options and court times to accommodate players, including ‘matching’ players based on their skill level and having them rotate courts to ensure they can connect with others.

“We’re trying to build this as a community and use channels where we bring people together. For many people, the driver is not that they want to be an extremely good player,” he says. “The real driver is they want to come to a place where they feel welcomed and comfortable and have that social connection since this sport is structured in a very social way. It helps many people from a mental health standpoint which is a very crucial aspect that isn’t talked about very much.”

From his own standpoint, Ramit says the idea of starting a business surfaced during the pandemic when, like so many others, he took a moment to re-evaluate his own priorities.

“I think everybody got the chance to sit back and cut back on the fast lives we all were living and to think about where we are at and where we were going,” he says. “I actually didn’t have pickleball in mind. I had a very blank sheet in terms of a business idea but then it just happened to turn out to be pickleball.”

He now follows a very tight schedule, driving to Cambridge after taking the GO Train home to Oakville from his work in downtown Toronto. His wife, who works as a consultant for PwC Canada (PricewaterhouseCoopers), is one of his biggest supporters.

Avoiding ‘analysis paralysis’

“It’s been a big sacrifice for her as well. We did discuss that if I was going to step into this, it would probably be a very drastic year for all of us,” says Ramit, who credits his parents for helping with the children when needed but still manages to ensure they don’t miss out on things, noting his son, now nine, often plays rep hockey and baseball in Cambridge. 

“I am now kind of an Uber driver for my kids,” he laughs.

Despite juggling these pressures, Ramit has no regrets about becoming an entrepreneur and encourages others thinking about starting a business not to wait too long to take that chance.

“You can easily get into that ‘analysis paralysis’,” he says, something he understands being a ‘numbers guy’. “And somewhere you start feeling that everything needs to feel correct, but it’s never going to happen. Once you have a good idea you can sit on it and keep crunching all the number scenarios. Of course, you must do your due diligence, but after that you’ve to got to jump in.”

As for his own future, Ramit says he has no immediate expansion plans but hints additional locations, perhaps in Kitchener or Waterloo, are on the roadmap.

“But I don’t want to get too ahead of myself,” he says. “I just want to live in the current situation since there’s still a lot to do here because we are still fairly new.”

Visit pickleplexclub.ca/cambridge to learn more.