A key component of Orchid Island Golf and Beach Club’s ongoing $20-million upgrade came online this summer when a brand-new racquet and lawn game center opened for the use of members.

“We opened in late May and even though it was already hot, the pickleball courts were immediately all taken in the mornings,” said Kainoa “Kai” Rosa, director of racquets at the club.

That says something about the almost fanatical enthusiasm for pickleball that continues to increase on the barrier island, since more than 80 percent of club members typically leave town for the summer.

“We have seen a huge surge in pickleball,” said Rosa. “More and more people are playing and there is a desire for more pro-run clinics and pickleball-themed social events.”

Club general manager Rob Tench told Vero Beach 32963 the 2.2-acre complex took a year to plan and build and cost $2.5 million.

The six new pickleball courts have high-tech cushioned surfaces that Rosa said are much easier on players’ knees and other joints stressed by the high-speed, highly social game.

“I think these are the first padded courts on the island,” he added. “There is no noticeable difference in ball bounce but if you take a tumble you are going to be a little better off.”

Besides the six pickleball courts, the complex includes a playground, a basketball court, two bocce lanes and a full-size croquet lawn, all gathered around a central pavilion with a bar, tables and chairs, a lounge area and plenty of room for small to medium-sized, sport-themed social events.

“The members who have seen it, love the new facility,” said Tench. “They are looking forward to bocce and croquet events in the fall.”

“It’s a cool time to be in this profession, with the explosion of different sports coming in and gaining popularity, offering more for our members,” said Rosa, who took over as director of racquets 20 months ago.

“When we had our opening day for bocce, 110 members came out for it,” an amazing showing in a club with only 375 memberships, Rosa added.

“The new facility is fantastic,” said Orchid Island Realty broker Anne Torline. “When we give our tours for prospective buyers, they are just blown away. It is great to have such a variety of sports and games that anyone can play.

“This is a golf club, first and foremost, and most of our members are golfers, but sometimes the spouses or partners are not, so it is nice to have all these other options for recreation.”

“It is an exciting time for me, because all the programing will be brand new. Any age can play bocce and croquet, and members are looking forward to Bocce and Brews and Wine and Wickets in the fall,” said Rosa, 30, who seems like just the right guy to oversee a new era in racquet sports at the club.

Currently a director at large for USTA Florida, Rosa started playing tennis in first grade and pickleball when he was “10 or 12” on a court in Seattle, near where the sport was invented.

“My uncle was a pickleball pioneer and he had a court poured at his home, so I have been playing for a long time,” said Rosa, flashing a big smile.

A native Hawaiian born on the island Oahu, Rosa moved to Seattle as a child and came up in a highly competitive junior circuit before returning to the islands to play four years at the University of Hawaii on a full tennis scholarship.

Post college, he tried his skills in smaller prize-money tournaments in the northwest, picking up some USTA ranking points, before deciding to go the coaching and country club route.

After coaching in college and corporate settings in Washington State, he and his wife, a fellow tennis player, moved to Tampa in 2017, working first at The Club at Cheval, where he was Director of Junior Tennis, and then at Apollo Beach Racquet & Fitness Club, where he worked his way up to Director of Tennis & Operations.

Rosa and his wife, who have three young children, moved to Vero in 2022, seeking career advancement and a home closer to the beach than where they lived in Tampa.

He landed the plum position at Orchid island in November 2022, bringing new energy and insight to the racquets program, according to Tench.

“We interviewed a number of excellent candidates, but immediately Kainoa stood out,” Tench told Citybiz.co at the time. “His energy and experience impressed us and he’s a great fit with the Club and our members. We are excited for the new initiatives he will be bringing to expand and enrich our racquet programs.”

“Kai is a great guy to have in that position,” said Torline. “He is so energetic, and the members really love him.”

Played with a kind of wiffle ball and small, squarish wooden, polymer or aluminum paddles on a court less than a third of the size of a tennis court, pickleball has great appeal for racquet lovers who can’t cover the ground they once could and people new to racquets who love the fast, fun pace and social side of the game.

Pickleball was invented In 1965 by politician and businessman Joel Pritchard, a World War II veteran who served in congress and as the lieutenant governor of the state of Washington.

During a social gathering at Pritchard’s Bainbridge Island summer home, he and friends William Bell and Barney McCallum decided to get a game of badminton going but couldn’t find the shuttlecock or rackets,” according to a history of the sport on pickleballrush.com.

With cocktail bravado, they cobbled together other items, including ping pong paddles and a wiffle ball, and played an unorthodox game on the badminton court.

The name originally was Pickles Ball, in honor of “the Pritchard’s family dog, a cocker spaniel named Pickles, who would get in on the game and often take the ball away as if it were playing a devious game of fetch.”

From that ad-hoc beginning, the game slowly gained regional popularity. Pritchard formed Pickleball, Inc. in 1972; in 1984 “the USA Pickleball Association was established, and an official rulebook developed.”

When Rosa first played the game at his uncle’s house in the early 2000s, the sport was still very much under the radar, but he said he saw it start to “explode” when he was 15 or 16.

It has been the fastest growing sport in the U.S. for the past five years and is a burgeoning professional sport, with well-funded leagues, including MLP, Major League Pickleball, and big-money tournaments.

Ben Johns, widely regarded as the top pickleball player, “known for his dominant presence in men’s doubles, singles, and mixed doubles,” will make $2.5 million in 2024 from tournaments, sponsorships and endorsements, according to CNBC.

That is a small fraction of the estimated $45 million earned over the past 12 months by top-earning tennis player Carlos Alcaraz, but a 1,000-percent increase over the money pickleball professionals could hope for just a few years ago.

“Tennis will always be king – and queen – but over the past few years we have seen pickleball really take off and become a major force in the racquets industry,” said Rosa. “It is super popular with our members.

Rosa said several former top-100 tennis players are among those who play in Vero.

“[Ivan] Lendl plays with us quite a bit, also Mikael Pernfors and Marco Osorio,” director of sports at Grand Harbor Golf and Beach Club, who in April won the silver medal in singles in the pro senior division at the U.S. Open Pickleball Championships in Naples, Florida, where 3,250 players from 31 countries competed in front of 50,000 spectators.

Orchid Island recently completed a major golf course renovation as part of its $20-million improvement program and is now renovating the golf clubhouse, with a new bar as part of the upgrade.

“I think all good clubs have a similar mindset,” said Tench. “Continuous improvements are essential to remaining competitive. We plan to complete many more projects over the next five years. We want to make sure we are serving both current and future members.”

“The new racquet center is a big part of the package that is attracting the prospects we are seeing this summer,” said Torline. “You see their reaction when we show it to them. They are excited.”