BOULDER — Scott Fliegelman, a professional pickleball player, former NCAA Division 1 collegiate tennis player and endurance sports coach, hopes to ride pickleball’s wave of popularity to business success.

Along with wife and business partner, Kari Holden Fliegelman, Fliegelman plans to open Boulder Pickleball  in a 19,000-square-foot warehouse space at 3550 Frontier Ave. The facility, which has five full-sized pickleball courts and several smaller practice courts, will have soft launch in mid-May, with a grand opening tentatively set for June 1.

Boulder Pickleball will offer court rentals, classes, clinics, private lessons, exhibitions and leagues — “lots of cool things for existing and aspiring players to do,” Fliegelman told BizWest.

Fliegelman moved to Boulder in the 1990s, and “fell in love with the endurance-sports culture here,” he said. That love spawned his prior sports-related business venture: FastForward Sports, an endurance athletics training and coaching company.

After getting hooked on pickleball in the late 2010s, Fliegelman has spent the last few years playing in pro seniors tournaments and coaching at clinics around the country.

“Over the last four years, I’ve been doing everything in the sport shy of owning my own facility,” he said.

Pickleball, which is similar to tennis but with a smaller court and different rackets and balls, has taken the country by storm, with live events on television and venues sprouting up like weeds. In addition to outdoor courts at many public parks, there are several indoor pickleball facilities in the region, including the Pickleball Food Pub in Westminster. 

Boulder Pickleball hopes to differentiate itself from its competitors by focusing more on the competitive and athletic aspects of the game, rather than the social aspects.