In this episode of the Joy of Pickleball series, host Caitlin Kerr (Pickleball Chick) visits Pickleball Kingdom in Hamilton, New Jersey, guided by owner Sam Sood. The tour showcases the facility’s 14 dedicated courts within a 40,000‑square‑foot space, engineered lighting that eliminates glare, high ceilings, and generous court spacing that accommodates ATPs and provides ample room behind baselines. Every court is equipped with a Pod Play monitor offering instant video replay, scoring, and analysis, which coaches and players use for skill development. The venue features a second‑story mezzanine for spectators, a community room for events, a hydration station, and a unique dink‑and‑drive wall. Membership options include unlimited open play, private‑court reservations at no extra cost, and discounts for police, military, and firefighters. Sam shares his personal journey from badminton player to pickleball enthusiast, describing the sport’s community‑building power and his vision of an inclusive, technology‑enhanced club. The episode highlights the club’s programming, coaching approach, and the overall vibrant, welcoming atmosphere.
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What's up guys, it's Caitlin Kerr, AKA Pickleball Chick, and I am here at Pickleball Kingdom in Hamilton, New Jersey, shooting Joy of Pickleball episode 3. Sam, I'm so excited to be here at Pickleball Kingdom.
Thank you, you're welcome, you're welcome.
Nice to have you.
Old state of New Jersey. Yes. One of the biggest facilities in the state. How you feeling?
I'm loving it. It's every moment of it. It's a dream come true for me, me, myself, being a pickleball player, you know. I think I may have answered a few questions that people complain about most of the time when I'm a pickleball coach.
Let's get an overview of this beautiful place. We got 14 dedicated pickleball courts. The lighting looks amazing. Every single court has a Pod Play monitor on it, which is fantastic for video replays. We're going to walk around this place to get a look at it with the owner, Sam Sood. You can see that we have 6 beautiful courts this way.
Yep.
We got the Pod Play team absolutely crushing it out there. As you can see, it's absolutely packed here in the middle of the day. Hard to do, but Sam Sood's doing it here in Jersey. All of these courts have very wide spacing. Yes, perfect for ATPs. Now if you're a pickleball player, this is a huge detail. If you're not a pickleball player, you might not understand it, but there is ample space for ATPs. And what I also love is there's ample space behind the baseline, so you're never worried about running into anything. You're never worried about the spacing on these courts. Sam, did you take that into consideration when building?
Absolutely, that was number one thing on our mind. We didn't want to skimp out on smaller courts. This is a 40,000 square feet plus facility and we put only 14 courts in here with the caveat in mind that it is made for people who love pickleball. I'm very cognizant of the time that people have, so if they want to spend a couple of hours here, I want to give them the best experience. If you look up at the lights, these lights were actually done by engineers where they came out with their meters to make sure that the courts are evenly lit. They're on the sidelines and not right in the middle of when you're doing a lob or whatever.
Lighting is extremely critical, and most pickleball facilities do not take that into account. Some people have a poor playing experience indoors in pickleball because the lighting is not done correctly. So it's awesome to hear that Pickleball Kingdom here in Hamilton, New Jersey is taking that into account. Another thing to check out is the absolutely high ceilings here. We have very high ceilings. So when we're on the court later on and you see me lob Sam, he's going to be running for days because that ball is going to be up in the air. Another staple here in Pickleball Kingdom is they always have an American flag. It's one of my favorite parts about the Kingdom.
Pickleball Kingdom has always been proud of our American flags. We always, you know, display it with pride and also our police, military, and firefighters. We are grateful for the service. They actually get 10% discount on membership pricing too. I feel proud about it.
One of the coolest parts about this facility is they actually built a second story up here. So when you are coming to watch or just hanging out with your friends pre or post-match or during tournaments, you can actually see from a bird's eye view all 14 courts. You can also call your friends' balls out because you can see the lines perfectly. They probably won't like that too much. We got the pod play team playing over here. David with the serve on the back line. Oh, we have to teach them to hit out balls. We have to teach Ben not to hit out balls. There's also a community room over there. So if you want to have some parties, birthdays, anything that you want, you know, corporate events.
We've had a bunch of those and You know, people are really enjoying it. We make it, make it fun for them, you know, even for people who've never picked up a paddle. Yeah. So our coaches, you know, they jump on the courts with them and, you know, give them a little bit of a background so they can have fun little games and tournaments and all of that.
We got the hydration station, we got the dink and drive wall. Most people just have a dink wall. And I love that you can actually drive the ball from the back of the baseline, get in some real drives before your tournament. I love that when you walk through here, there is a ton of space. You're not squeezing through to get by other members. I think that makes this space feel very light and roomy and airy, and it's just like a delightful place to be in. Pickleball Kingdom actually does a fantastic job with their programming, so they always have different open play events for people to come in, meet new members.
People pay once a month or they get on an annual plan and they have unlimited open play, which is up to 10 hours every day. So they could choose to come any time of that time slot and do an open play.
That's amazing.
And they also are able to, within that membership, reserve a private court for no extra fee.
If you are a Siko member and you want to play daily, yes, this is the spot to be. So over on this court, we have some members that reserved a court on their own through the Pod Play app, which is amazing. They came out here, just the 4 of them, to play with their friends, get some games in. Obviously, they want to be super active but also super social. Every single court in this facility also has a Pod Play monitor. So whether you're just starting out or whether you're a seasoned pro, you can come here, you can actually check out your replays, you can use the monitors to actually get better so you can have feedback right away about your technique. It's just an amazing way to enhance your pickleball experience here at Pickleball Kingdom. Okay, so So when you are using the Pod Play monitors, you can actually come back here. They have a button on the back of each baseline, so you're able to just click it to keep track of the score and get your replays. So it's literally an all-in-one inclusive button, so easy to click, and you're coming back to the baseline anyway. So it's just extremely convenient.
Typically, if it's like a really good point, you know, just hit the replay button. If there's a questionable call, we'll hit it.
For me, as one of the lead instructors, of course, the biggest, one of the biggest things is that I can play it back. Yeah. So the visual playback for, you know, my students is invaluable. I can communicate all I want to them on what they're doing, but the second they see it, you know, it just opens their eyes. And again, a lot of people are visual learners. They're not auditory learners. So I can talk all day, all day, all day, all day, and it doesn't mean anything. But when they see it themselves, when they see themselves doing it, they say things that I can't say on online.
I just connected my duper, so I'm ready to play a duper challenge match. I'm on a 5.06, so whoever is my partner has major pressure. If I lose, I'm going to kill them. I'm not going to be your partner. So fun to hit the pause play button when you score. You hear that little ding. It's definitely reassuring. And it was awesome to see when you hit a good point or when you have a good point with your teammate to get the replay right away. You even have your own pickleball court and you still come here like every day?
Try, yeah, especially if the weather's a little off. Um, you know, the conditions in here with the lighting, the size, uh, everybody's friendly, the staff is great, and, and you can't really beat the deal here either. So we're having a lot of fun here. And the replays.
Why pickleball? Where'd you find it? How did you get so invested in it to want to make it a business opportunity and not just recreationally?
Sports has always been a part of my life. You know, I used to be a badminton player before this, and I've always been toying with the idea of owning a sports club. I never never found the right model. I just fell in love with it, right? I mean, half an hour into the game, I called my wife. I said, I think we found a purpose. And I said the word we because that's how much I liked it. And then, you know, I got her involved playing pickleball. This is about 4 years ago. And then we liked it, both of us liked it so much, we went out and we played some tournaments. We won a couple of medals here and there. Okay. And, uh, you know, And then she got into it, and then, you know, we started playing together socially, and I never understood. It just grew on us, right? And I became so obsessed with it. I was like, this is my calling. I always thought about sports and freedom. I never thought about sports being restrictive. So when I saw the model that, hey, you know, if I wanted to play 2 hours today, I could, and if I wanted to get on the court and stay there for 4 4 hours, I should be able to without thinking about, hey, do I have to pay another $10 for it? Yeah, right. And I think community is the biggest aspect that drives the game. I've never seen any sport bring people together like pickleball, right? I mean, it's just mind-boggling. I mean, I've played different sports in my game, then it's at the most it's like 2 people, maybe 3 or 4 people coming in. Here I see groups of 20s, 30s, 30s, 40s, right? They play pickleball for a couple of hours, they hang around like our mezzanines or whatever, you know, they plan some drinks, they go out for dinners.
Yeah.
And it's just become such a big part of their lives. I haven't seen any other game change lives for common people, like for everyday individuals, like it has done for us.
You've done a fantastic job integrating Pod Play. Yes, you have monitors on every court. Every court you step on here is a pro-tier court, from like we talked about before, the spacing, the lighting, the monitors.
That's the whole part of being in the community, is that everyone should get to experience it. Yeah, there is no reason why only a couple of folks, right? It should be for everyone. And our members have nothing but great things to say about it.
That's a wrap. What a day here at Pickleball Kingdom in Hamilton, New Jersey. We played pickleball, we used the Pot Play technology, and we had so much fun. Thanks for watching.
