Riyadh pickleball club grows from 10 players to 200 members

In Riyadh, pickleball did not wait for a federation, a ribbon-cutting or a perfect facility plan. It spread the way the sport often does in new markets: one player brought in another, families joined the mix, and a casual run became Kabayan Riyadh Pickleball, a club that has jumped from about 10 players to around 200 members in a single year.

The club’s base is the Filipino expatriate community in Riyadh, and that matters because it explains how the scene took hold before the infrastructure fully caught up. Raul Palenzuela Jr. and Wilson Loren helped build the group, while Junar Gunita has served as tournament director. What started as a small circle is now a functioning club with organized events and clear ambitions to keep expanding.

That growth has not erased the practical limits. Pickleball Plus lists just 11 pickleball courts in Riyadh, which is enough to signal momentum but not enough to make the sport feel fully settled. In a city where demand is rising through social networks and expatriate word of mouth, court access remains the pressure point. Regular play still depends on finding space, securing time and keeping enough players together to sustain games and tournaments.

The broader Saudi picture suggests the sport is no longer confined to one pocket of players. A Saudi pickleball listing says the country’s club for pickleball sits under the umbrella of the Saudi Sports for All Federation and includes more than 500 male and female amateur and professional players of all ages and nationalities. Sports For All says its mission is tied to Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 push toward healthier, more active lifestyles, which gives the game a policy backdrop even if the real engine is still grassroots.

The numbers across Asia show why Riyadh’s rise should not be read as a one-off. A 2024 study cited in pickleball coverage found 812 million people in surveyed Asian markets had tried pickleball at least once, while 282 million were playing at least monthly. That scale helps explain the pattern in Riyadh: the first wave comes from communities and social circles, then the courts, leagues and formal clubs begin to catch up. In that sequence, Kabayan Riyadh Pickleball is not just a local success story. It is a blueprint for how the sport is taking root.