When Christy Howden first set foot on a pickleball court back in 2017, she was told she was too young to play. Christy had to buy a “senior-in-training” card just to get on the court.
Fast forward to 2025, and her business Wolverine Pickleball has multiple locations, including a new spot in Northville that opened in September.
Christy built her pickleball empire because she identified a gap in the market and went full-force into filling it. It’s what small business owners do best.
Crossing the Generational Divide
While everyone was stuck at home during the pandemic, people discovered pickleball in their driveways. It didn’t stop there. The sport grew by 223.5% in three years, with nearly 20 million people playing in 2024. With over 68,000 courts across the U.S., pickleball is officially the fastest-growing sport in the world.
While you might not believe it, most of those 20 million players are actually Gen Zs and Millennials. That’s why Christy was drawn to pickleball in the first place—it’s not just a one-generational game.
“It’s super inclusive,” Christy explains. “You can have kids, 12-year-olds playing with their grandparents in their late seventies and having a great time. There aren’t many sports where you can have multi-generations playing together.”
Christy and her co-founder saw this growth coming and seized the moment. They started with what they affectionately called “fight club pickleball”—a warehouse where you basically had to know someone to get in. Four courts became eight. The warehouse became a premier facility. And suddenly, they were one of the first in the country doing what they’re doing now.
An Adult Playground
When building Wolverine Pickleball, Christy and her co-founder were able to tap into something that many people wanted—a community.
“My favorite testimonials are when people come to me and say, ‘I’ve never had this many friends in my life,'” Christy shares. “And they’re across the spectrum of society. That’s what we need more of right now.”
In a world where most people have hundreds of social media followers but can’t name three people they’d call in an emergency, Wolverine gives people a place to create a real connection. You show up, you play, you meet people who aren’t exactly like you, and somehow you become friends.
Wolverine gets this. They’ve built a community hub. They’ve hosted goat yoga (yes, you read that right). They partner with local flower farms for pickups. They’ve got a self-serve tap wall, beach volleyball, trivia nights, and winter curling. Christy calls it an adult playground.
“We’re so much more than pickleball,” she explains. And that’s the whole point.
If you want to learn more about Wolverine Pickleball and Christy’s small business journey, make sure to check out our Happy Hour Hustle episode.
Responses