Jumbo's Pickleball, shown here in an artist's rendering, will open at 16340 N.W. Bethany Court in early 2024.

If all goes as planned, Beaverton could see its first dedicated indoor pickleball court early next year.

Jumbo’s Pickleball plans to build a nine-court facility inside the former Indoor Goals soccer complex as part of an effort to meet the needs of those wanting to play one of the fastest growing sports in the country.

The building is located at 16340 N.W. Bethany Court.

The Indoor Goals complex is located inside an industrial park where its neighbors include Beaverton CrossFit, Oregon Gymnastics Academy and Aim High Academy of Martial Arts.

“We’re pretty excited,” Roshan Fernando, co-owner of Jumbo’s Pickleball, said of his plans to transform the facility into pickleball courts.

Indoor Goals closed its doors Oct. 9. Owners Meg and Todd Griswold had offered indoor soccer and roller hockey spaces for the last 25 years.

“I grew up playing there and going to birthday parties and things like that,” said Fernando, a West Linn resident, about the well-used soccer complex.

Because Todd Griswold “knows the facility like the back of his hand,” Fernando said the former owner is working with him to help transform the 27,000-square foot space into a pickleball court. Design and construction are already underway.

In August, Business Insider, a noted financial business news website, said a new report calls for the construction of 25,000 new pickleball courts across the United States if current and future player demands are to be met.

What has impressed Fernando is that people of all ages and skill levels are enjoying the sport.

The same Business Insider article reported that “the average player is 35 years old, but the sport is also a hit with Gen Z and seniors.”

“It’s just very, very cool, the amount of people of all ages of every skill level — the community isn’t just on the Westside of Portland, but communities all over the country are doing this on their own,” Fernando said about pickleball’s popularity.

In some places, including elsewhere on the Westside, pickleball has seen its share of vocal detractors. Earlier this year, Lake Oswego city officials shut down outdoor pickleball courts at George Rogers Park following noise complaints. But that’s not expected to be an issue at Jumbo’s indoor facility.

“There’s so much positivity around this, and I know people talk about the noise outdoors in their neighborhoods, and I respect that, certainly,” Fernando said, adding that his new pickleball courts will rely on Indoor Goals’ 6- to 8-inch-thick concrete walls to muffle sound. “No one’s going to hear things outside.”

For the uninitiated, said Fernando, pickleball players essentially use a “wiffle ball-like ball, so the ball’s not able to fly through the air like a tennis ball or a racquetball or a baseball. It’s just way lighter.”

He continued, “Because you can’t hit the ball that much harder, or with that much more spin, it won’t fly very far,”

While there’s a learning curve for most sports, that’s not the case for pickleball, where people can be “conversational” the first day they play, Fernando said.

“You and I could have a rally and be able to have fun on day one, and that’s not the case with a lot of other sports and not just sports, any activity,” he said.

In addition, he said he’s found the cost of taking up pickleball to be less than tennis or other sports.

For more information, visit jumbopickleball.com.