A newly opened recreation centre in Edmonton is featuring a revitalized space complete with a weather-shielding dome amid what the founder says is a rising interest in tennis and pickleball year-round. IQ Tennis and Pickleball Centre recently received the maximum provincial grant for sports and recreation – $1.5 million out of $7 million through the Active Communities Initiative. The club, which operates as a non-profit, also raised its own funding and received an almost matching grant from the City of Edmonton. It officially opened for business on Oct. 15. Located at 9230 163 St. NW, the space used to be six outdoor tennis courts, which were built and owned by the city. From 1960 until the space’s upgrades, the new club’s founder Ivan Quintero said the old courts saw no business during long winter months of snow and rain. The facility now features six tennis courts and seven pickleball courts, all neatly packed underneath a dome. “The conditions of the courts were not in good shape … I wouldn’t want to say unplayable, but it was not (good),” Quintero said on Wednesday. Alberta Minister of Sports and Tourism Andrew Boitchenko said the infrastructure investment came during a time of growing provincial populations and interest in sports outside of hockey. “What I like about this particular (centre) is that people have year-round opportunity … where they can come and play,” he said on Thursday. The courts are private, but not in the sense that an exorbitantly-priced membership is needed, Quintero said. “Anyone from the city or country can come here and say, ‘Hey, I want to book a court for an hour,’ pay for an hour, and then go home,” he said. One player at the centre on Thursday said it might make sense for the city to start investing in facilities like IQ as interest rises in pickleball. “I’m pretty old, so in the 1980s, there were lots of tennis courts being built in Edmonton, and over the past 30 years, a lot of them were neglected or shut down,” said Tony Jeong. “Then in the last 10 years, there’s been kind of a resurgence. “There are more people playing tennis, more people playing pickleball. So I think if those people want to continue with the sport, then I think facilities like this are really great.” This year’s Active Community Initiative money has already been decided, but a release from the province Wednesday said applications for 2026 project funding will open by spring of the new year. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Gates Guarin
