APOPKA, Fla. – It’s been called the fastest-growing sport in the country.
We’re talking about pickleball and new numbers just released by USA Pickleball seem to back that up.
According to its 2025 annual report, more than 14,000 new pickleball courts opened last year, including a new state of the art facility in Central Florida called The Picklr.
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The Picklr in Apopka features a pickleball simulator, custom floors, fencing, even specialized lighting to reduce glare, as well as sound-baffling technology so pickleball players can take their game to the next level.
“I love the sport. I see this as the future,” said Mo Khalil, owner of the new Picklr location. “It’s the fastest-growing sport in the world for the fourth straight year now and the fastest segment is actually, believe it or not, 18 through 34 (year olds) and then under 18 as well.”
Khalil said he transformed a former kids trampoline park into the high-tech pickleball facility with eight courts, two of them qualifying as championship courts, featuring cameras to record your game and provide instant replay to resolve any line disputes.
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“We have some great AI tools,” Khalil said. “This is a simulator, very much like golf, where it is a full trainer. You can come in here, get pre-tested, and then it’ll assign some of the drills.”
Khalil said The Picklr also has an academy to teach people of all levels, with lessons and camps year round.
“So it’s really great to be able to record their training session and then sit there and analyze it so that we give them a full assessment of their skillset,” said Khalil.
For players like Rich Jacobson, who runs his own pickleball league, the new technology is taking their pastime to the next level.
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“I have over 60 active members and we moved them all over from another facility to this one,” Jacobson said.
Members in Jacobson’s league drive from all over Central Florida to play at The Picklr, including from Clermont, Lake Nona, Oviedo and beyond.
“People will drive an hour. I have one guy that drives from Polk County (just to play here),” Jacobson said. “Hour and a half it takes him to get here.”
With the sport continuing to grow, Khalil said he already has plans to open more Picklr locations in Winter Park and The Villages.