Surrey pickleball players head indoors for dink shots, doubles and more
Published 1:30 pm Tuesday, June 9, 2026
Pickleball is no longer just an outdoor sport in Surrey.
The popular game is growing indoors, too, as Surrey Pickleball Club operates indoor courts at Peace Portal Alliance Church, and Westcoast Pickleball has a club-like facility in Newton.
New to Central City Shopping Centre is IPOP (“Inclusive Place of Pickleball”), home to 12 courts opened May 30 in the former Best Buy/Spirit Halloween space at the corner of King George Boulevard and Old Yale Road.
“We are a hybrid public/membership-based facility, where our players and members have all day, everyday access to drop-in play, events, court rentals and more,” the IPOP website says.
On 130 Street in Newton, Westcoast Pickleball is more intimate with two courts and a third to be built, along with a skinny “half court” and lounge — a place advertised as Surrey’s first private indoor pickleball facility.
“People join, book in, they get an access code, they come in, they play and they leave,” explained Shaida Nanji, who opened the facility two years ago and now boasts 671 active members.
“I’m trying to build up this boutique style of pickleball facility where we have the courts, a massage bed if you have a sore back or something, more of a spa-like pickleball facility,” Nanji added.
“We’re putting money into this because we want it to be different than anything else. The women come to play and visit, guys come in at six in the morning, they have the music blaring and coffee. That’s what I want, a community. I don’t want 12 courts where nobody knows who you are. Here, everybody knows each other, everybody talks to each other.”
On the pickleball beat today checking out WestCoast’s boutique indoor club in Newton. Expansion soon to add third court at 2-year-old facility off 130 Street. Owner Shaida Nanji, who lives in White Rock and owns the entire complex, discovered the paddle sport during COVID. pic.twitter.com/HaQAfhsQOJ
— Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) June 2, 2026
Nanji, a White Rock resident who owns the complex that houses Westcoast Pickleball, began playing the game when COVID-19 hit.
“I’m on the board of Surrey Pickleball Club, an event planner for them over the past five years,” she noted. “Then I became a ref, a level-two coach, then I started competing. I’ve got about 52 medals, I do tournaments all over. I had a lot of time after COVID because my daughter was growing up. I thought, what do I want to do? I progressively got better (at pickleball), getting very good at it now.”
Meantime, IPOP has locations in Burnaby and now Surrey, with more coming to Kelowna, Victoria, Penticton and Nanaimo. Chris White, founder and “Chief Paddle Officer,” is a self-described pickleball superfan and coach.
“Recognizing the threat of losing outdoor courts due to harsh winters and limited indoor facilities, I realized the urgent need to expand Canadian pickleball communities,” White writes on the IPOP website. “To address this, I’ve been actively involved in building, renovating, and repurposing dedicated pickleball facilities throughout the country.”
Surrey’s newest indoor pickleball facility is IPOP, nine courts in the former Best Buy/Spirit Halloween building at Central City mall. Opened Saturday
as second site in chain of IPOP (“Inclusive Place of Pickleball”) pic.twitter.com/i2lLxmvxRN
— Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) June 2, 2026
The City of Surrey’s dozens of outdoor pickleball courts are listed on surrey.ca. Most at one site are 18 courts at South Surrey Athletic Park, where Surrey Pickleball Club members play from mid-April to mid-September, then indoors in fall and winter.