Kevin Richards built RECS around a belief that people are starving for in-person connection — and that pickleball is the perfect vehicle to help them recreate, exercise, compete and socialize, face to face.
Kevin Richards has a name for what he believes is one of the defining crises of modern life: the slow erosion of analog connectivity. It’s what happens when people stop showing up for each other in person — when sports go unplayed, communities go unbuilt, and screens fill the space that used to belong to other human beings.
RECS — short for Recreate, Exercise, Compete, Socialize — is his answer to it. The Portland, Oregon-based pickleball club Richards founded is built around a simple but urgent premise: that people need physical spaces designed to help them move, compete, and connect with each other, face to face.
“Connecting in ways that we used to connect before we were all staring at screens — playing games, being social — that’s so critical for human development,” said Richards. “It doesn’t matter how old you are. Playing games and moving your body is really, really critical to human health.”
Pickleball, Richards found, is uniquely suited to deliver on all four pillars of that mission — recreation, exercise, competition and socialization — at once. RECS opened its first location in early 2022, with a second following in late 2025. But Richards’s path to club ownership started with a problem far less philosophical: pickleball had no algorithm-based rating system.
A decade ago, Richards joined a local Portland club and heard a retired mathematician make that observation. He launched PickleballRatings.com and within a few years was processing the first iteration of the UTPR for USA Pickleball. It was never the end goal.
“I was only ever doing that to try to raise money to do what I really wanted to do, which was open a club built around a social sporting experience,” said Richards. “That’s what RECS is.”
The Third Place — or First
From day one, Richards knew that hospitality would be the cornerstone of RECS’s success. By that, he meant creating an environment that makes people feel like they belong.
“We could screw things up, but people would be more willing to forgive us if we were really good at the hospitality side of things — making sure that people felt like this was their third place,” Richards said. “If you have home and you have work, then you have your third place.”
He recounted a recent exchange with a member that illustrated the point better than any metric could. “She said, ‘Screw that, Kevin, this is my first place.'”
That kind of loyalty, Richards believes, is only possible when employee culture is genuine. “You cannot fake that,” he said. “If your employees are unhappy, that energy is immediately apparent and you cannot convince people to give great customer service when they’re unhappy.”
Being a good employer isn’t just a value — it’s a strategy. Richards is working toward B Corp certification and said the investment pays off in retention, both of staff and members.
Programming for Every Player
Hospitality keeps members coming back, but programming is what keeps them engaged. Richards says successful clubs must be able to serve everyone — from first-time players who need to be shown how to properly hold a paddle, to touring professionals who make a living on the court.
“Some people are just looking for a recreational experience, a social experience,” explained Richards. “Other people want high, competitive experiences. And to be a successful club, I think you really have to be able to provide all of that.”
Instruction is a key pillar. Richards describes it as part of the club’s sales funnel — not just for acquiring new members, but for retaining them over the long haul. “You want to show people how they can improve and provide good clinics and lessons,” he said. “The instructional piece is a big part of it.”
Physical space matters too. Beyond the courts, RECS provides areas where members can linger — snacks, beverages and enough room to transition from transactional to social. “If you can have opportunities for people to stick around, I think that is really, really critical,” said Richards.
The Business of Running a Club
Richards is candid about the hard lessons of club ownership, and he’s eager to share them. The most important? Get your lease terms right before you sign anything.
“Be really, really careful on the front end with your lease negotiations and make sure that you’re not stuck with something you’re just not going to be able to pay,” said Richards. “It’s not field of dreams. If you build it, some people will come — but will it be enough people to pay your fixed costs and your variable costs?”
His benchmark: aim for roughly 60% court utilization across the full calendar year, accounting for seasonal swings whether the club is in a warm or cold climate.
On membership structure, Richards advocates a phased approach. Start with monthly options to lower the barrier to entry, then migrate to annual memberships once demand is strong enough to weather the slow season. “When you’re full enough, flip to annual memberships to help mitigate that seasonality,” he said.
RECS also uses a hybrid access model — members and non-members are both welcome, but members receive perks like advance court booking. Richards considers this the gold standard.
“The hybrid model of yes, you can be a member to play here, you don’t have to be a member, but members get better advanced booking access and other perks — that really is, I think, the gold standard of a model for clubs around the country,” said Richards.
To fill daytime hours, RECS accepts Silver & Fit and Renew Active insurance for members 65 and older — a move Richards says is both mission-driven and operationally smart. “That’s what’s going to help you keep your club busy 16 hours a day, filling those hours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with people who are maybe retired,” he said.
The club also offers buy-now-pay-later financing through Affirm for members who prefer to spread out the cost of an annual membership.
Bringing Analog Connectivity to the Next Generation
That mission of analog connectivity becomes most urgent, Richards says, when you look at what’s happening to kids. Traditional youth sports have grown so competitive that children who don’t make the cut are left without a physical, social outlet — and increasingly, they fill that void with screens.
That ethos extends to youth programming, which Richards sees as both a community responsibility and an underserved market. RECS runs summer camps for kids and is exploring after-school programming, though transportation logistics remain a challenge. To support accessibility, the club has established a nonprofit arm that rents courts at a discounted rate and raises money through grants and donations.
“I just look at those traditional sports and how competitive they’ve become — so many kids, if they don’t make the soccer team or the basketball team, what are they doing instead?” asked Richards. “They’re probably on their screen. It is going to be more and more important that clubs like ours find ways to get kids in.”
The sport’s range, he says, is one of its most powerful assets. At RECS, the youngest campers are six years old. The oldest regular is Norm Davis — a pickleball Hall of Famer who recently celebrated his 92nd birthday at the club, watching great-grandchildren play on the same courts he does.
“Six to 92 — it really is incredible that this sport is so accessible to so many people,” said Richards. “You can keep getting better, but there’s always someone better than you. That makes it addictive.”
Editorial note: Richards made special note to shout out Pickleball Fountain of Youth — a podcast hosted by Hall of Famer Steve Peronto, who has been playing since the mid-1970s and whose father, a Boeing engineer, invented the first composite paddle. Peronto now teaches at RECS, and his show is built around using pickleball as a foundation for staying active and connected as you age. Search Pickleball Fountain of Youth wherever you listen to podcasts.
Prefer to listen? The full interview can be found on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Gain a competitive advantage
Subscribe to Pickleball Innovators for insider tips, expert insight and the latest trends to help your pickleball business thrive.
With over a decade spent covering the business side of sports and fitness, Rachel Chonko brings a wealth of experience and a true passion for active communities to Peake Media. As Editor-in-Chief, she’s focused on helping pickleball clubs and fitness facilities thrive, from guiding growth strategies to showcasing the latest industry trends. Rachel also hosts the Club Solutions Magazine Podcast, where she interviews leaders in fitness and pickleball to share insights and success stories with the wider community to give her listeners a competitive edge.
After taking up pickleball herself, Rachel has come to appreciate the sport’s unique blend of social connection and active living — a mix that’s perfectly in line with her editorial philosophy. Connect with her on LinkedIn, or check out her articles below for a deep dive into the energy and culture driving pickleball’s rapid rise.
