On a warm December evening in 2020, Frank Lawrence was headed to a Christmas Party. As he was making his way, he heard a familiar dink, dink, dink, and looked over to see people playing pickleball. It was in that moment Lawrence knew they had to find a way to build a dedicated facility for pickleball at Little Rock Athletic Club (LRAC).
“Our tennis program is our No. 1 business, and at that moment, I believed pickleball had the ability to be as big as tennis for the club,” said Lawrence, the CEO of LRAC.
Like many facilities, the club began introducing pickleball in late 2020 by sharing the tennis courts. By early 2021, LRAC began programming leagues, lessons and activities for the fastest growing sport in America.
“The demand for pickleball by our members was obvious, and once the city and country clubs began investing in outdoor courts, I became committed to build an indoor facility to support the growing demand of pickleball in the region,” explained Lawrence. “The indoor courts are the secret sauce that make the program go because you can play the sport 365 days and have additional ways to monetize the sport.”
In early 2024 LRAC’s state-of-the-art indoor pickleball facility opened as a testament to its dedication to providing members with diverse and engaging fitness options.
The indoor pickleball facility offers eight climate-controlled courts and four outdoor courts, ensuring optimal playing conditions year-round. Both members and non-members can elevate their pickleball skills with access to certified coaches who provide personalized training sessions and clinics, and the facility boasts modern amenities such as comfortable indoor and outdoor viewing areas, food and beverage options, and a pro shop stocked with top-of-the-line pickleball equipment.
“At LRAC, we emphasize four main pillars in our business — tennis, swimming, fitness and family — because they’re the framework in which our vibrant and robust membership thrives and excels,” said Lawrence. “The introduction of pickleball holds the potential to become a significant fifth pillar — the first in over 40 years. The addition of this first-class facility is a source of great excitement. Not only does it enhance our array of amenities and offerings but, more importantly, fosters the growth of community and relationship which is what we value most.”
LRAC worked with Grundfest Construction for specific aspects of the facility from courts to product selection and J. Lawrence Design to manage all things from flow to design details. In addition, Fennell Purifoy Architects worked with both companies to make sure the building was architecturally significant.
Creating the state-of-the-art facility didn’t come without challenges. Beyond the normal construction issues, the main obstacles were having a brand-new business unit and new market. Lawrence emphasized he had to paint the vision to their partners and staff to get them onboard.
“Additionally, we wanted to build without taking on new debt or writing new capital checks, so we really had to manage the main club operations and scrape the money together to make this large investment,” said Lawrence. “That was a real financial feat as we had just managed the COVID-19 pandemic, being closed and then recovering from being closed, all while still serving our members and investing in the club in other areas.”
Despite the challenges, Lawrence had a gut feeling the pickleball investment would pay off. Since pickleball has gained popularity nationally, with 14% of the adult population playing the sport, Lawrence started offering the program and has gained strong buy-in from members.
“When we looked at our tennis model, the secret to the success is our indoor tennis,” said Lawrence. “There’s great tennis around us, but all of that tennis, for the most part, is outdoors. By having indoor tennis, we have a very, very strong program. And when I saw the data point nationally of pickleball being strong, the data point of us having a strong community building on pickleball, and then I saw the city and the country clubs investing in pickleball — all outdoor courts — that gave me plenty of confidence in my gut and basically reassurance.”
Luckily for Lawrence, he had a team behind him confident and bought-in to making the facility thrive. This is because throughout the organization’s history, founder Pat Riley Jr. had a vision of “constantly reinventing yourself to be relevant.” And the pickleball facility is just one of few strategies LRAC has invested in recently to help members thrive.
In December 2020, LRAC purchased new strength equipment for a large part of its main facility, long before the recent strength wave moved across the country. Lawrence said they felt strength was going to be very popular going forward. The club also expanded a key pool area at one of its locations to serve the increasing needs of young families. This proved to grow that club by over 10% in one year.
In adddition, the club originally stopped offering Pilates around 2017. However as the popularity and demand returned, they added it back.
“We had a great Pilates instructor but when she moved away, we couldn’t find a replacement,” explained Lawrence. “Pilates at that time wasn’t really hot so we repurposed the space. We’ve just added Pilates back at the club this year, but one of the things we did is include it in our membership. That’s been very successful and has gained us some new membership.”
But the club isn’t stopping there. Lawrence said they’re constantly looking for what’s next. Currently, the club has its eyes on investing more in recovery, making youth programming great so the kids are dragging their parents to the clubs and updating and improving spaces.
Mary Olson, the club manager at LRAC, said their commitment to always improving is their most repeated feedback from members. “The members appreciate we reinvest in the club and look to provide new programming and amenities,” she said. “I try to keep in mind to not become complacent that there’s no room or a need for improvement. We can always be better.”
As a club built on “playing on,” LRAC will stop at little to nothing to go above and beyond for its members. The club was created to show the Little Rock community that fun and fitness can co-exist and team members are committed to helping everyone play often, play hard and play on. “Hospitality and integrity are two of our guiding values,” said Olson. “Southern hospitality is hard to beat when it comes from the heart.”
While LRAC members may be playing on in the new pickleball facility, they can trust the club will continue to evolve to fit their every need.
“This is the fun part — you never stop searching for what’s next, could be next or even imagined,” said Lawrence. “This is why we go to Club Solutions events and interact with peers, study the hospitality industry at the resorts, etc. We look at all types of businesses and industries outside of us and constantly see what might apply to us in some form or fashion. You can make a vision a reality if you focus on it, and have a vision to get where you want to be.”
