Two tennis courts become six pickleball courts: why Mizuno is growing the player base at a prefectural park

At Fukakita Ryokuchi, a prefectural park in Daito, Osaka, use is spreading of rental courts created by converting two tennis courts into six dedicated pickleball courts. Shukan Osaka Nichinichi Shimbun reported the story on July 3, 2026. The operator is Mizuno, which holds the designated management contract for the park. For the summer holidays it has even laid on free paddle rental for Club Mizuno members. A company that sells equipment is growing the playing population itself, not through advertising but through the right to operate a public space. The next model for spreading pickleball in Japan is taking shape in this flood-control park.

What is happening at Fukakita Ryokuchi — opened in April, free paddles for the summer

According to the report, rental courts for pickleball using the existing hard courts opened at Fukakita Ryokuchi in April 2026. Pickleball is a racket sport born in the United States in 1965 that combines elements of tennis, table tennis and badminton, played with a perforated plastic ball and a paddle. The article says that "because the rules are relatively simple, beginners can enjoy a game after about 30 minutes of instruction," and notes that since the court is smaller than a tennis court, it suits a wide range of ages from elementary school children to people in their 80s.

目を引くのが夏のキャンペーンです。8月末までの当時の予定として、クラブミズノ会員はパドル2本とボール2個のレンタルセット（通常500円）を1人1回無料で利用できるとされていました。新規登録者も対象で、「まず一度体験してもらう」ことに焦点を絞った設計です。深北緑地の大橋純二所長は「訪れた人に新しく面白い体験を提供したい」とコメントしています。

Why Mizuno runs a prefectural park

The premise is the designated manager system. Introduced by the 2003 amendment to the Local Autonomy Act, it lets local governments entrust the management and operation of their public facilities to private companies and organizations. Mizuno is a sporting goods maker, but it is also a facility operator that has handled designated management and outsourced operation of gymnasiums and parks across Japan for years, and Fukakita Ryokuchi is one of them.

Then, in October 2025, Mizuno signed a promotion partnership agreement with the Japan Pickleball Association (JPA). The term runs one year, from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026. Under it, Mizuno uses the 30 facilities it manages nationwide (as of October 2025) to run drop-in taster sessions, clinics by level and tournaments, and also works on equipment development. On December 20, 2025 it held the Mizuno Takatsuki Open 2025 at the Takatsuki Municipal General Sports Center. The permanent courts at Fukakita Ryokuchi sit on the same line as that agreement, positioned as what comes after the taster session: a standing place to play whenever you want.

The Fukakita Ryokuchi court conversion in numbers

Here are the facility specifications.

The interesting part is the arithmetic of court numbers. Two tennis courts become six pickleball courts. The rate per court, at 1,000 yen, is slightly below the park's tennis courts (1,050 to 1,270 yen per hour), but with three times as many courts, filling all six brings hourly revenue from the same piece of land to a maximum of 6,000 yen, more than double the 2,100 to 2,540 yen of two tennis courts. The designated manager has an incentive to grow usage revenue, and repainting existing hard courts keeps the upfront investment small. It adds up to promotion that pays.

The site, the manufacturer, and the verdict from overseas

Line up what the people involved have said and the shape of the project comes into view. On the ground, as noted, director Ohashi puts the emphasis on providing "a new and interesting experience," on building an entry point. At head office level, Mizuno's release on the JPA agreement positioned pickleball as a "lifelong sport" and a "three-generation sport," and spoke of contributing to growth in the playing population and to longer healthy lifespans. The language chosen belongs to public policy rather than the sales floor.

Then there is the US market. In the United States, where the sport was born, Mizuno has launched the AcroSpeed paddle series (254.95 dollars, about 39,000 yen at roughly 155 yen to the dollar) and the AcroStrike series (294.95 dollars, about 46,000 yen), both already approved by USA Pickleball. The US gear review outlet forwrd.co called the AcroSpeed "the most interesting paddle release of 2026." Armed with its carbon molding technology, Mizuno has priced both series to go head to head with the top models from Selkirk and JOOLA.

A manufacturer building the venue first — growing a market with operating rights, not ad budgets

This is the heart of it. For an equipment maker, the biggest problem in pickleball is neither paddle performance nor price; it is that there are still too few places and too few people to play. If the playing population does not grow, no paddle, however good, has anyone to sell to. In the United States, Selkirk and JOOLA have tilled the market with tournament sponsorships and facility investment, and tennis stalwart HEAD has gone as far ascalling itself a pickleball company. Manufacturers paying the cost of creating the market up front is the standard playbook for growth in this sport.

What makes Mizuno distinctive is that its means of paying up front is an asset found only in Japan: the right to operate public space under designated management. Rather than buying advertising to draw a crowd to a taster session, it places permanent courts inside a prefectural park that families already visit all year. A public-rate 1,000 yen an hour, and free rental as the entry point. The barrier to trying the sport is far lower than at an indoor facility downtown, and because free rental requires Club Mizuno registration, every contact with a first-timer accumulates in the company's own customer base. What someone who learns the game on those courts buys next is a paddle, and Mizuno products are on that shelf. The path from first experience to equipment purchase is completed inside a space the company itself operates.

The sequencing makes sense too. Paddles go first into the mature US market to test product strength and price positioning, while in Japan, where the playing population is still in the tens of thousands, the priority is not selling but adding places to play.Chigasaki building a pickleball plaza under the same framework it used for skateboardingwas public space put to use under municipal leadership; Fukakita Ryokuchi goes a step further in that a manufacturer is leading. In the United States,a shuttered craft store became eight courts, and conversion of existing stock has carried this sport's expansion. In Japan, though, the most plentiful convertible stock is not commercial real estate but the tennis courts and hard courts lying idle in parks around the country. Fukakita Ryokuchi is proving the point that the designated manager holds the key to them.

Ripple effects — to every park with an underused tennis court

This model is easy to replicate. Prefectural and municipal parks nationwide have plenty of tennis courts and multipurpose hard courts with uneven usage. Conversion is mostly line tape and nets, the construction is small in scale, and it is reversible: if it fails, the courts go back to tennis. Designated managers have a revenue motive, and local governments have an easy explanation in health for every generation. The 30 facilities Mizuno cited in its JPA agreement reflect only where it stands today with taster sessions, and there is room for that figure to jump if Fukakita-style permanent conversions spread. Whether other makers, Yonex among them after entering the Japanese paddle market in 2024, step into the same arena of facility operation is also worth watching.

From a player's point of view, this is also a practical answer to the shortage of courts in cities. Downtown indoor facilities built on memberships and monthly fees and an outdoor park court you can rent for 1,000 yen an hour are complements rather than competitors, and the more of the latter there are, the wider the base of the sport grows.

Fukakita Ryokuchi pickleball courts: visitor information

Takeaway — the free summer rental is the doorway to market building

深北緑地の事例は、単なる関西のコート開設ニュースではありません。用具メーカーが指定管理という運営権を使い、公共空間の中で体験から顧客化までの導線を組み立てた、日本型の市場創造モデルの実証です。関西圏の読者は、当時の8月末までの無料レンタル期間の実績について、施設の公式情報で確認することをお勧めします。施設運営や自治体に関わる読者なら、自分の地域の公園の指定管理者が誰で、稼働の落ちたハードコートがどこにあるかを調べることが次の一手になります。テニス2面が6面に化ける算数は、深北緑地だけのものではないはずです。

Sources

• Pickleball experiences spread at Fukakita Ryokuchi (Shukan Osaka Nichinichi Shimbun)
• Promotion partnership agreement signed with the Japan Pickleball Association (Mizuno Corporation)
• Pickleball | Mizuno Sports Service
• Fukakita Ryokuchi facility guide
• Fukakita Ryokuchi Pickleball Courts (Pickleball Navi)
• Fukakita Ryokuchi pickleball court booking (Tennis Bear Reserve)
• Mizuno AcroSpeed SX Pickleball Paddle（Mizuno USA）
• Mizuno Pickleball Paddle Review 2026（forwrd.co）