Several camps have opened in Turin: from Cus to Green Park and the DLF. Affiliated clubs are increasing
We cannot yet define it as a phenomenon, as happens in America where over 40 million people practice it, but another racket sport with great potential can. We’re talking about pickleball and its relationship with Italy, specifically with Piedmont.
The data emerged from a sector analysis carried out by New York Times they say that in the USA on average in 2024 14 pickleball courts will be built per day. There are professional leagues, similar to basketball with a draft and there are many excellent testimonials, some former tennis players of the caliber of Andrè Agassi and Jack Sock, former ATP top ten.
Born in 1965 in the United States, the Pickleball is a hybrid sport between tennis, padel and badminton which is played on a rectangular court of 6.10 × 13.4, identical for singles and doubles. On each side of the court there is the non-volley zone (the “kitchen” or “kitchen”), where volleying is prohibited. A rigid paddle (without strings) and a perforated plastic ball are used; the service is performed from below, from the back of the courtwith impact below the waist and sent diagonally into the opposite square beyond the “kitchen” line. The score resembles that of ping pong.
The advisor of FITP Piedmont outlines a regional picture of the specialty Matteo Godizzi: «The affiliated clubs went from 25 in 2025 to 34 in 2026, just a few days before the start of the year. Instead, 47 fields will be declared in 2025with two active schools. There are currently 2254 total members, of which 1366 come from the federal project «Racchette in Classe». There are 888 athletes of which 149 are competitive and 739 are non-competitive. Let’s talk about competitive and amateur events: «There were ten competitive tournaments held last year in Piedmont, with 30 overall races and 221 participants. As many as 136 amateur tournaments (TPRA) with 1260 registered players.”
Some fields are permanent, others are traced on pre-existing surfaces.
In Piedmont, distribution is already underway today widespread in the various provinceswith that of Turin leading the list but being followed by that of Cuneo.
Among the first centers to believe in pickleball stands out Club Green Park in Rivoli: «I discovered it and I liked it – says the CEO Luca Politi — so we decided to invest by building four covered and dedicated fields. We now have a hard core that has formed a sector “community” and the numbers are increasing. We regularly organize tournaments in different categories and we are in constant contact with the FITP (Italian Tennis and Padel Federation) and the PPR (Professional Pickleball Registry). We also hosted training and refresher courses and internships with leading figures on the world scene.
The watchword must be the promotion of this very fun and easy to learn sport. The margins for growth in this respect are important.” Other Piedmontese clubs have also focused on pickleball, such as TC Seventh, Cus Torinoboth of which are close to the courts, the CH4, the Sandigliano (Bi), the Michelin of Cuneo, the Tennis Club Alba, confirming the potential of this sport: «We believe a lot in the development of pickleball – underlines Matteo Godizzi — and in this regard, in a recent call with the leaders of the Roberto Lombardi Higher Training Institute of FITP, the 2026 «Road to Rome» and «Road to Bologna» circuits were announced, as well as the Open team championship, the Over 50 one and the individual Italian championships.
In Piedmont we will organize as already done in 2025 the regional championships and we would like to create a regional circuit open to all Italian agonists”.
Piedmont is therefore among the leading regions but this is only the beginning.
Go to all the news from Turin
