{"id":4422,"date":"2026-07-12T23:58:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T14:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/?post_type=news&p=4422"},"modified":"2026-10-13T23:38:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T14:38:24","slug":"negros-pickleball-hub","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/pickle-times.com\/en\/news\/negros-pickleball-hub\/","title":{"rendered":"\u30d5\u30a3\u30ea\u30d4\u30f3\u6700\u5927\u306e17\u9762\u30d4\u30c3\u30af\u30eb\u30dc\u30fc\u30eb\u65bd\u8a2d\u3001\u9996\u90fd\u3067\u306a\u304f\u30cd\u30b0\u30ed\u30b9\u5cf6\u306b\u958b\u696d"},"content":{"rendered":"

A pickleball facility billing itself as the largest in the Philippines opened in July 2026 not in the capital Manila or in Cebu, the second city, but in Sibulan, a small town in the southeast of Negros Island. With 17 tournament-grade courts, the site gives clear shape to how the sport's expansion in Southeast Asia is coming from the provinces rather than being led by the capital. A shortage of facilities is said to hold back growth in Japan as well, and a hint at how to solve it lies in this kind of regionally built hub. The development model in Southeast Asia, as seen inthe design of a Vietnamese development league that pushes beginners to a national final in nine months<\/a>, is thickening fast outside the cities.<\/p>\n\n

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Inside the country's largest facility, opened in Negros Oriental<\/h2>\n

The facility is PlayPro Active Courts, built by real estate developer PhilSouth Properties and Development. It stands on roughly one hectare along the bypass road in the town of Sibulan, Negros Oriental, as an indoor complex with 17 tournament-grade pickleball courts in its first phase. It also has three badminton courts and two half-courts for three-on-three basketball.<\/p>\n

Company president Louie Tijing said the facility will be \"a place where people can play, compete, connect and raise their own skills,\" and stated plainly that it aims to be one of the country's leading pickleball hubs. That a real estate company stepped beyond housing development into a sports facility also shows the sport is becoming an investment target in the provinces.<\/p>\n\n

Why a small provincial town rather than Manila<\/h2>\n

Pickleball in the Philippines has grown in about 10 years from the first clinic held in Cebu in 2016 to more than 200 registered clubs and 13,000 members. More than 100,000 Filipino players are registered on the court booking app Reclub, and the number actually playing is thought to be far higher. Growth started in Cebu and the Ortigas district of Metro Manila, but the increase in court numbers is sharpest outside the capital.<\/p>\n

The symbol of that is Dumaguete, the capital of Negros Oriental. Counting the surrounding towns there are already some 300 courts, enough for the city to call itself the pickleball capital of the Philippines. Numbers alone, though, do not make venues: very few meet the standard needed to host a tournament. Against 300 courts, the hubs that guarantee the quality of competition were missing, and a 17-court complex has filled that gap. While a pro league in the capital is being built from the top down,MPPT, the first pro league in the Philippines, launched by Pacquiao<\/a>draws attention as a show, yet the places where people can actually hit were built up in the provinces first, and that order shows through here.<\/p>\n\n

PlayPro's scale in numbers<\/h2>\n

Laying out the initial setup next to the expansion plans shows this is not a one-off facility but a staged investment.<\/p>\n
Item<\/th>Details<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Location<\/td>Along the bypass road, Sibulan, Negros Oriental<\/td><\/tr>
Site area<\/td>About 1 hectare (indoor multi-sport complex)<\/td><\/tr>
Pickleball<\/td>17 tournament-spec courts (initial)<\/td><\/tr>
Other sports on site<\/td>3 badminton courts \/ 2 half-courts for 3x3 basketball<\/td><\/tr>
Expansion plan<\/td>10 more pickleball courts (4 of them air-conditioned) \/ 3 table tennis tables \/ 2 tennis courts<\/td><\/tr>
Opening<\/td>July 2026<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n

After the expansion, pickleball alone will reach 27 courts, four of them fully air-conditioned. Air-conditioned courts carry real weight in a hot, humid island region, and preparing an environment that can run tournaments and practice year-round even through the rainy season is what sets this venue apart from the existing, mostly outdoor sites.<\/p>\n\n

A 2,300-player tournament landed right after opening<\/h2>\n

PlayPro is not letting the opening end as a celebratory one-off; from day one it is out to show what it can do as a competitive base.<\/p>\n