New 28,000-square-foot indoor pickleball facility opens in Richmond

Zero Zero Pickleball is opening its second and largest flagship indoor facility Sunday on Minoru Boulevard near Alderbridge Way in Richmond. The 28,000-square-foot venue is intended to help beginners take up the sport.

The facility has 12 standard courts and one oversized tournament court, along with shower rooms, a pickleball shop, lounge and party spaces. An on-site pilates studio is also planned. The flagship location at 5400 Minoru Blvd. is open daily from 6 a.m. to midnight.

The company’s first facility opened in December at Westminster Highway and No. 2 Road. A third Richmond location, with seven courts, is under construction on Elmbridge Way.

Owner Keke Sun said two locations in Burnaby and one in Edmonton are also planned by the end of the year. The company is considering further expansion to Victoria, Surrey, Kelowna and the United States.

Sun comes from a family of athletes: her father is a handball coach and her mother is a swimming coach, and her family owned sports facilities in China. After her parents moved to Canada, the family considered running a similar business here.

The group considered badminton facilities but chose pickleball because there were already concentrated numbers of badminton spaces and pickleball had drawn little attention until recent years. Sun, who plays tennis and pickleball, said she saw a serious need for pickleball courts across the Lower Mainland.

Zero Zero is launching a “new to pickleball” platform that lets beginners sign up for a free one-hour lesson. Sun said starting a sport that requires playing with three other people can be intimidating, particularly when newcomers struggle to find players at the same level.

Sun said knee-friendly flooring is one of the facility’s main features. Each court has 14 layers of acrylic flooring designed to absorb shock and provide consistent ball bounce. She said knee injuries are the most common injuries in pickleball, and the flooring can reduce the impact on joints during lateral movement.

Zero Zero is partnering with Active Pilates to offer 30-minute classes, including knee-protection training and stretching, to help players prevent knee injuries. Sun said the company aims to build a pickleball community platform and network that will grow to 100 franchise stores across North America.