There's a Nine-Year-Old Elephant on Your Tennis Courts

Season 26, Episode 17

There's a Nine-Year-Old Elephant on Your Tennis Courts

Shaun Boyce & Bobby Schindler with Dr. Rommie Maxey

Summary

Dr. Rommie Maxey didn't set out to become a pickleball entrepreneur. The sport found him — and he ran with it. Six-time national champion, co-owner of the Houston Hammers, trainer to 14,000 players across five continents, and now a member of the ARA National Advisory Board, Dr. Maxey joins Shaun and Bobby to talk about where pickleball actually is right now: the demographics shift nobody expected, why Houston went from 1 to 42 indoor facilities in four years, what the VAIR rating system changes, and why pickleball is basically a nine-year-old who just walked into a room full of adults and refused to leave.

Dr. Maxey recently joined the National Advisory Board of the American Racket Sports Association — the national organization uniting tennis, pickleball, and padel professionals. Learn more at americanracketsportsassociation.com.

Key Topics

• Dr. Maxey's path from collegiate athlete to pickleball influencer and entrepreneur
• The demographic surprise: average pickleball player age is now 34 and dropping
• Global expansion — Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, and why badminton culture fuels it
• Houston's indoor pickleball boom: 1 facility to 42 in four years
• Club conversions, court-sharing, and the monetization reality for facilities
• The VAIR rating system: recreational vs. certified ratings and why it matters
• Pickleball as "a nine-year-old" — what that means for the industry's future

Keywords

Pickleball, Dr. Rommie Maxey, Houston Hammers, VAIR Rating System, Pickleball Growth, Indoor Pickleball, Tennis to Pickleball, Racket Sports Industry, Entrepreneurship, Global Pickleball, ARA, American Racket Sports Association

Sound Bites

• "Pickleball found me."
• "Houston went from one indoor facility to 42 in four years."
• "Pickleball is basically a nine-year-old — it doesn't even know what it is yet."

Full YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/7aFSqMzkoxQ

Dr. Maxey's King of Pickleball Answer: https://youtube.com/shorts/nwuG9p-4qww

Short Clip: https://youtube.com/shorts/mwIxTt_VGbM

Learn more about Dr. Rommie Maxey: https://www.nomercypickleball.com

Contact Our Hosts

• Shaun Boyce | [email protected] | americanracketsportsassociation.com
• Bobby Schindler | [email protected] | letsgotennis.com/windermere
• Geovanna Boyce | [email protected] | regeovinate.com
• GoTennis! | letsgotennis.com

Award

The GoTennis! Podcast is a recipient of the Marc Kaplan Media Excellence Award from USTA Georgia. Learn more: