Just a smooth operator: Inside Australia’s first indoor pickleball facility with Director of Ops Dylan Ventura-Ho

That’s exactly what I wanted to explore with Dylan at The Jar, Australia’s first (and arguably coolest) dedicated indoor pickleball facility. As Director of Operations for The Jar and the National Pickleball League (NPL) and with a role as player liaison, Dylan isn’t just running a venue — he’s facilitating a complete player pathway that’s transforming how pickleball grows in Victoria (and Australia)

“I describe The Jar as a very inspirational location because it is so bright. As soon as you walk in, you have a different feeling. It’s not just your regular venue.” And if you’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting The Jar… you’d know exactly what he’s talking about. Since opening its doors in November 2023, this lime green vibey South Melbourne facility has become more than just four dedicated indoor courts — it’s a key facet of Melbourne’s growing pickleball community.

It started with a meeting at “this terrible coffee shop in Chapel Street” – Ron’s recommendation, naturally. It was 2022, and Dylan was in what he describes as “almost like a quarter-life crisis” after closing his boxing gym of 10 years post-COVID.

“Life was pretty good, it was just me. I was a sole trader, started the gym in 2013 and it went to about 2022. After COVID, it was a bit hard to bring it back and I actually lost the passion for it and the fitness industry. I ended up closing it, which was one of the harder things that I did because I put so much into it.”

Dylan then went on to work for the government, running the corporate gym for employees at the Victorian government. He recounts, “I was just in no man’s land, really looking for something that I’d be passionate about.”

Ron, who had just moved back [to Australia] from the States, had an idea to share.

“He was like, ‘yeah, I’m trying to create this thing, this pickleball thing.’ I’m like, ‘what’s pickleball? I have no idea what you’re talking about.’ Then [Ron] goes, ‘it’s one of those games that sounds dumb, but when you start playing it, you get hooked really quickly.'” (Sounds familiar).

A few days later, they set up a makeshift pickle court on a basketball court, using plastic bottles to mark the kitchen line and some Franklin starter paddles. After an hour of singles, Dylan was hooked. “Ron is one of those guys that I’ll kind of follow into battle, you know? Because he believed in it so much, I believed in it so much.”

A conversation between friends would eventually become the National Pickleball League (NPL), though Dylan credits another of the NPL boys with the original concept. “From my understanding, they had the actual initial idea, like, ‘we should do this in Australia.’ Then Ron kind of started running with it,” he explains. “I’m going on record and I’m happy for Ron to get upset about that,” he says… without a smirk.

Since opening its doors in November 2023, The Jar has transformed from having just one lonely booking to being completely sold out days in advance. For Dylan, this growth validates what the team has known all along — pickleball is undeniable.

“As soon as you walk in, you have a different feeling. It’s not just your regular venue,” he explains. It’s a perfectly curated space that houses four dedicated indoor courts — the first of their kind in Australia. Everything from the colours, to the giant measurement wall, to the indoor umbrellas and white picket fence lining centre court, to the actual NAME of the place… like, a pickle jar, are you kidding me? creates an atmosphere everyone wants to be part of.

The decision to limit the facility to four courts was deliberate. “We wanted to offer a premium experience. We wanted event space, tables, chairs, places for people to hang out and not leave straight away.”

What many don’t realise is that behind the polished facade, The Jar is still a startup. “Just to save money, on Australia Day I worked 10 hours,” Dylan shares candidly. “We’re all sacrificing so much to try to make this thing work. People don’t see that, which is okay, but it is something that happens behind the scenes.”

The story of The Jar (and NPL as an entity) is fundamentally one of friendship. “The owners, we’re all friends. We all played footy together, went to school together,” Dylan shares.

“What makes it work is that we’re all so different and our strengths are so different,” he explains. “David with his operations and commercial stuff, Ron with his crazy marketing brain, and Lachie’s like almost the wise head amongst us.” It’s clear the mutual admiration runs deep. “Every day, I’m blown away. Ron, we all look at his work ethic… we’re all trying to match him but we’re never going to work as hard as him. And then David — the ability to have tough conversations with people — he’s like fearless almost.”

“The beauty of the sport and why it’s so attractive is that you can take it as serious or as unserious as you want. The barrier to entry is so low in this sport — anyone can just pick up a paddle and have a crack.”

The Jar’s programming reflects this philosophy, offering something for everyone, and their offerings are a pickleball lover’s dream: $15 learn-to-play sessions, pre-work pickle sessions, Ladies Night (complete with complimentary drinks), a failed Saxophone Sundays, (sorry Ron), and their newly launched NPL Academy.

“The Academy is a pathways thing, but it’s also an opportunity. It’s not cheap to come to a tournament and pay for accommodation, travel, and tournament fees. So we’re eliminating one of those things which is paying for the tournament. These kids enter our tournament for free — every tournament that we run this year — and get coaching at the start of the tournament with one of our pros. It helps keep them progressing and levelling up. They all have a lot of ambition and we want to help them realise that. It’s a bit of a passion piece for me.”

While still new, the Academy is just another one of NPL’s offerings to progress interested players through the pickleball pipeline.

“We’ve seen people come into a learn-to-play, play our social leagues and then work their way up into our pro league.” There’s been success stories through players like Gabby May, Chris Turvey, and Bee Horsley, who have grown from social players to drafted athletes and even an NPL captaincy for Gabby.

Managing the balance between social and competitive is one of their biggest challenges. “One of the challenges I face in operations is people in pickleball. It’s an interesting sport because to get better you need to play with better players, but you also need to protect certain levels,” Dylan explains. “The advanced level, for instance, we protect it. You can’t book in unless you’re assessed by myself or David.” This gatekeeping isn’t about exclusivity — it’s about ensuring everyone gets the most out of their time on court.

“There are almost three levels within intermediate, so keeping that level strong is hard. You have beginner intermediate, advanced intermediate, and then someone smack bang in the middle intermediate.”

The quick evolution of the sport adds another layer of complexity. “What I called advanced this time last year is now like intermediate. The overall level has increased so much that intermediate players are doing ernies now, they’re doing ATPs (around the posts). It’s insane.”

As a result, education is a crucial part of their operation. “Because the sport is so new, we’re constantly having to educate. You almost have a spiel in your head that you run through with new people,” Dylan shares. “You have to be passionate about it, because you have to share that passion with other people. But it’s a good challenge and we love it.”

They run three learn-to-play days per week, all consistently booked out, reflecting both the growing interest in the sport and The Jar’s commitment to developing new players the right way.

Dylan has a personal challenge he’d like to note as well. “Because I’m a bit of a chocolate fiend… not having six chocolate bars a day. Not eating the merch. And I’m happy to pay for it but it’s more the consumption and restricting said consumption of chocolate bars. It’s a weakness that I’ll be honest… I’m not really working on at all.” But we don’t judge here.

While managing different skill levels is crucial, The Jar’s commitment to inclusivity runs even deeper. “Sometimes when [pickleball] gets so serious, you can lose the fun element of it,” Dylan reflects. “I just hope that we keep it a really good inclusive sport. It might be a bit of leftover tennis stuff, but it can be quite cliquey. We don’t like that here. We are trying to make everyone friends.”

This philosophy extends to how they handle players who might be struggling at a particular level. Rather than turning people away, the approach is supportive: “Instead of being upset with them, we go ‘hey, let’s finish off the session, but let’s work on and let’s try to level you up’ rather than saying ‘no, you shouldn’t be here.'”

A particular focus for The Jar is building the female playing pool. Their women-only Ladies Night is consistently booked out (and I asked, there are no plans for a guys night — as it should be!!)

“Building the female playing pool is crucial because female depth in the sport is still not where it needs to be and where I think it’s going to go,” Dylan explains. He lights up when discussing the women’s talent emerging in the sport: “I was watching Summer Dalla-Bona pelting balls at Harry Brown and he just couldn’t get them back. She was hitting it so hard that he couldn’t get it back.”

“It’s one of the only sports where women have the opportunity to earn as much, if not more, than their male counterparts.”

When asked about his hot take, Dylan used the air time to continue shining a light on the female talent (what a guy).

“People are going to be really surprised by the level of some of the females we have in Victoria,” he mentions, calling out a few names in particular. “The Kats are playing together. Westbury, a former pro tennis player ranked 800 in the world – she’s a monster, she’s so good. Kat Valos, not pro, but she’s the captain and has such a good tennis pedigree.”

“I see these people train every day and how hard they’re working. In Queensland, they don’t really know these people, but I see them every day and they’re so good.” With players like Isabelle Papazyan and Nerea Guerra in the mix, his conviction is clear: “People are going to be blown away by how good these girls are, and that’s going to be showcased in our league.”

From 6am until 11pm (with demand occasionally pushing for 5am starts), The Jar is buzzing with activity. It’s a testament to Melbourne’s growing appetite for pickleball. Running an indoor pickleball facility comes with its unique set of challenges, and Dylan’s typical day reveals the complexity behind the operation.

After walking his dog and dropping his son off at daycare, he arrives at The Jar for the morning handover. His day might include anything from managing court bookings and equipment hire to organising and running events and until 11pm.

The Monday leadership meeting sets the tone for the week. Dylan describes it as a deliberate space for mental health and team connection. “We’re all working so hard that we’re quite cognisant of the stress we’re under. We use this meeting to check in with each other and celebrate little wins, talk about our weekends a little bit, and get away from pickleball for a moment.”

The role demands constant adaptation, especially as he balances family life with the all-encompassing nature of the job. “At 11pm I’m thinking about how something’s going to run and I’ll jump on the laptop and quickly nut it out,” he admits. “Balancing the work-life thing is by far the most challenging part. But I don’t want to complain because I’m very blessed for the spot that I’m in at the moment.”

“It’s very high paced here and you have to be able to adjust on the fly,” Dylan explains. “Not getting too frazzled is probably something you kind of need to get used to if you’re working at The Jar.”

For Dylan personally, he talks about how he has never worked in a corporate environment ever and hasn’t been in a team environment for over a decade. Adapting to this has been a bit of a challenge, “but a great challenge, I’d say.”

Even so, you can just feel his love and passion for this work as he talks about it. “I love dealing with the players… that’s a bit of a thing where I think to myself ‘how am I getting paid for this?'”

The NPL boys’ vision for pickleball in Australia is ambitious, but grounded in reality. “We need between a million and 2 million players in Australia to make it a sport,” Dylan says. “To get those participation rates up, we need more facilities.”

The commercial opportunities are expanding rapidly. “We’ve already seen so many different paddle brands come into the market. I think there’s room for pretty much everything except paddles right now. There’s room for venues, there’s room for branding.”

Dylan’s biggest dream for pickleball in Australia includes a national competition, something akin to the AFL. As well, having professional players on guaranteed salaries rather than relying on winning tournaments and eventually, a pickleball Grand Slam equivalent to the Australian Open. “I feel like pickleball can get there because it’s so accessible and so fun.” Selfishly, he’d also like to see a Jar pickleball club in each state.

Seeing Dyl in action and being amongst the energy at The Jar throughout our chat affirms to me that this is exactly what growing pickleball in Australia needs to look like. Sure, the professional scene is exciting and it will always get well deserved attention, but the real magic happens in these everyday moments: people picking up a paddle for the first time, social players moving up to competitive leagues, and communities forming around a sport they’d barely heard of a year ago.

And for the NPL boys, it’s clear they’re creating exactly the kind of pathway that will get us there.

This is just another feature on our collection of the clubs, leagues, and legends building Australian pickleball from the ground up. There are more stories to tell, more communities to spotlight, and definitely more pickle to be played. Stay tuned — this is just the beginning.

For those looking to get involved with pickleball in Melbourne or stay up to date with NPL events and tournaments…

• Follow @thejar_pickleballclub on Instagram
• Visit nplpickleball.com.au
• Book a court, program or coaching here
• Download The Jar venue app for Google & Apple
• Email thejar@nplpickleball.com.au

The Jar operating hours: 6am-11pm weekdays // 7am-8pm Saturdays // 7am-11pm Sundays

xo,

Tati