Multi-court indoor sports facility with 22 pickleball courts holds soft launch in St. Albert

Raise Athletics, a new indoor sporting facility in St. Albert, Alta., holds a soft opening for pickleball players on Nov. 17, 2024. (Brandon Lynch/CTV News Edmonton)

A new sports recreation facility held a soft opening on Sunday.

Raise Athletics, located on Richardson Drive in St. Albert, is a 170,000 sq. ft. indoor sporting facility that operators say is among the largest in Canada.

Safina Nanji, the director of operations and marketing communications for Raise Athletics, told CTV News Edmonton during the launch on Sunday how opening the doors was a special moment for her family.

"My family's been wanting to open for many years. My dad tried to open something like this in 1993, (but) it didn't pan out at the time," Nanji said.

The facility boasts 22 standard pickleball courts using Laykold, the same court surface material used in the US Open, six basketball courts, six volleyball courts, four badminton courts that can couple up as pickleball courts, 12,000 sq. ft. of versatile training turf and Shoot 360, a virtual basketball training booth.

Nanji said they focused on pickleball for the opening since the sport has grown in popularity in recent years and it has a massive appeal to all age groups.

She said with colder days ahead, opening a massive indoor sporting facility will help cater to those looking to get a game in during the winter.

"There's not a lot of room to play in the winter indoors, especially for pickleball … in St. Albert, they end up playing in school gyms with (not-so-great) facilities," she said.

Other amenities coming to the building are a physiotherapy clinic, a gym, a restaurant, a juice bar and a cocktail bar, a cafe and a pro shop.

According to Nanji, there are talks to organize pickleball tournaments in the near future.

Raise Athletics is located at 9 Richardson Drive in St. Albert and court reservations are available on their website.