Team-Building With Pickleball | Why It's Ideal for Corporate Training

The background of why pickleball is drawing attention in corporate training

With changes in how people work, a growing number of companies feel that internal communication has thinned.

With the spread of telework and free-address seating, opportunities for cross-department interaction and small talk have decreased. Building relationships between new and existing employees has also become difficult. This "thinning of person-to-person connection" is a factor that leads to a decline in organizational strength and psychological safety.

Amid this, quietly drawing attention is a sport called "pickleball."

Born in the U.S. in 1965, this sport is a new-sensation racket sport that combines elements of tennis, badminton, and table tennis. In the U.S., the playing population has expanded about fivefold over the past five years, with about 24.3 million people playing in 2025 (per SFIA). It has been named the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. for four consecutive years.

Its biggest feature is that anyone can enjoy it regardless of age or fitness level. Even a beginner can acquire the basic skills with 30 minutes of play, reaching the point of being able to play a game with experienced players. This ease is the reason it's chosen in settings for corporate training and team building.

Three reasons it's ideal for corporate training

The reasons pickleball is chosen for training and team building can be broadly organized into three. First, grasp the big picture with the at-a-glance table.

Reason 1: A level playing field forms naturally

Pickleball is played mainly as doubles (two against two).

Rather than winning or losing, the game rewards keeping the rally going, calling out to teammates, and offering support, so conversation and smiles come naturally even among people meeting for the first time. Because it does not demand power or speed, anyone can take part on equal footing regardless of gender or generation. It becomes a chance to flatten the seniority and rank differences within a company and rebuild horizontal relationships.

In a post from someone who introduced pickleball at a company event, taking on a challenge from scratch was described as bringing the team together naturally. Precisely because everyone is a beginner, there is no wall of good versus bad players, and people start calling out to one another. Sharing skills becomes purely enjoyable time, because it happens in play rather than in work.

Reason 2: High cost and time efficiency

A single round of golf can cost tens of thousands of yen, and with travel it is not unusual to spend more than half a day.

Pickleball, by contrast, wraps up in one or two hours with a small group, and court fees are far cheaper. According to a comparison by U.S. media, two hours of pickleball runs about 80 dollars while a round of golf costs 600 to 700 dollars, a difference of roughly seven to eight times. Preparing gear and attire is simple, and there is no need for a membership club or costly entertainment expenses. If a company uses a nearby gymnasium or a rooftop court, it can hold sessions casually during lunch or after work.

Editor's Note

For the first session, the go-to format is 30 minutes of rules explanation plus one hour of match play. Building teams across departments and mixing ranks gets employees who rarely talk chatting naturally. Adding a get-together afterward deepens those connections another notch.

Reason 3: Health promotion and team building in one

Pickleball combines light aerobic exercise with reflex training. The distances you run are short and the ball is light, so even employees with no exercise habit can enjoy it without strain. You can work up a sweat even in a short time, so it is also expected to refresh employees who spend most of their day at a desk.

Because players naturally call out to one another during short matches, it also fosters communication and team building. For companies, the benefits are large from a ”health management” standpoint too, bringing employees closer, easing lack of exercise and stress, and energizing the whole team, and it is drawing attention as a ”next-generation workplace sport” that delivers health promotion and team building at once.

Source

The Dink Pickleball「Has Pickleball Overtaken Golf as the Preferable Business Activity in Corporate America?」

Created from

Real-world corporate case studies

Examples of pickleball used within companies are still few, but the companies that have adopted it give it high marks.

In 2025, the Corporate Pickleball &BIZ CUP was held at six locations, and out of 139 applying teams, 84 teams and roughly 550 people who won a spot took part. Participants ranged widely, from beginners to those with years of tennis experience, yet every match turned into a heated contest, with many close games decided only at the very end. After matches, players were seen exchanging paddle taps with their own team and their opponents, and the way they praised one another reportedly left a strong impression.

A get-together was also held after the tournament, where conversation flowed across company boundaries. For the organizers, watching connections form among people who work in the same building or area through pickleball was a heartwarming sight.

In a LinkedIn post, someone reflected on planning an in-house event and shared thoughts such as that it is ”play” that lets you step completely away from work, that a challenge from scratch brings the team together naturally, and that the ”meal” afterward is the greatest reward of all. Dinner after moving at full effort is exactly that feeling of finishing a club activity. Because they had shared the same experience, private conversations came naturally, and there were many moments of thinking ”this person has a side like that too”.

Above all, precisely because it is a new sport, the experience of everyone starting from zero and reskilling toward the same goal also tied into team building and worked out very well.

Source

&BIZ, Corporate Pickleball &BIZ CUP 2025 Event Report

(2025)

How to introduce it and what you need to prepare

Gear and venue you need

You might think that doing a sport at a company event sounds like a lot of preparation, but with pickleball there is very little to get ready.

The gear you need is two to four paddles and a few pickleballs. Paddles and balls can be bought as a set at sporting goods stores or on Amazon. As for the venue, a space about the size of a badminton court is enough. It can be held in a gymnasium, a warehouse space, or a rental studio, and because it is unaffected by weather and needs minimal setup, it is an easy sport to bring into corporate training.

How to structure the program

If you are introducing it for the first time, starting with a trial session is recommended.

Doing about 30 minutes of rules explanation and basic practice, then playing about an hour of match-format games, lets everyone enjoy it. Since doubles is the basis, building teams across departments or mixing ranks makes it easier for communication to spring up among employees who rarely interact. Holding a get-together after the matches will deepen the connections born through the sport even further.

Making use of outside support

If holding it entirely on your own is difficult, you can also make use of outside support.

Organizations such as Tokyo Pickleball Management plan and run pickleball training and team-building events for companies. The Pickleball Japan Federation (PJF) and the Japan Pickleball Association (JPA) also offer programs that support corporate adoption, such as dispatching instructors, renting equipment, and setting up discount purchase schemes. If you feel uneasy about a first-time rollout, it is a good idea to consult these specialist bodies.

How it differs from other team-building measures

There are many team-building options: drinking parties, escape games, training workshops, golf, and more. What sets pickleball apart from these is that everyone starts as a beginner. Because experienced players rarely gain an advantage, people can enjoy it on equal footing regardless of rank or years of service.

At drinking parties the people you talk to tend to be fixed, and golf has the barriers of experience gaps and cost. Classroom-style training offers plenty of learning, but its power to loosen relationships themselves is limited. In pickleball, players call out to one another naturally while moving their bodies, so tension eases and sides you never see at work come to the surface. The ease of holding it repeatedly at short duration and low cost is another big difference from other measures that tend to be one-off.

Cost guidelines and budget planning

Initial costs and running costs

The cost of introducing pickleball varies with scale and content, but you can start relatively inexpensively.

As an initial cost, a paddle-and-ball set runs about 10,000 to 20,000 yen. For the venue, using a public gymnasium costs only a few thousand yen per hour. If you invite an outside instructor, labor and travel costs are added, but even so a single event often stays within 100,000 yen. Compared with golf entertaining, the cost is dramatically lower.

If you plan to run it regularly, keeping paddles and balls on hand at the office is convenient. Holding events periodically can be expected to promote employee health and energize communication, so the return on investment is well worth it.

Summary: Energize your organization with pickleball

Pickleball is an ideal sport for corporate training and team building.

Anyone can enjoy it regardless of age or fitness level, and a level playing field forms naturally. It is high in cost and time efficiency, and it delivers health promotion and team building at once. These traits help solve the challenge that modern companies face: the thinning of human connections.

Companies that have adopted it give it high marks, with comments such as the experience of everyone starting from zero toward the same goal tied into team building, and being able to see sides of others you never usually see. Preparation is relatively easy and outside support is well developed, so even a first-time company can adopt it with confidence.

Consider pickleball as an option for interaction that crosses departmental walls within the company and for raising psychological safety within teams.

Precisely because it is a new sport, everyone can enjoy it on equal footing. That experience should tie into energizing the whole organization.

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