October 31, 2024 (Brisbane, AUS) – Announced last month, Pickleball Australia has partnered with eLearning company, etrainu, to support its growing popularity and standardized learning pathway.
For over 15 years, etrainu has worked across a variety of different sectors that include health and aged care, as well as the disability sector. The company also features a growing sports portfolio that now includes Pickleball Australia.
“We currently work across 26 different types of sports globally,” said Cameron O’Riordan, VP of Sales at etrainu. “We have over 1300 customers…our company’s mission and vision is to build exceptional communities through education, and everything we do falls back to that.”
Since 2020, pickleball has quickly become Australia’s fastest-growing sport, with Pickleball Australia’s governance expanding from two states and territories to seven. The organization now supports 226 affiliate clubs, venues, and businesses, and represents approximately 13,000 paid members across the country.
”For a sport which has been played on Australian shores for less than a decade, we have seen exponential growth like no other and commercial interest due to our burgeoning community,” said Brendan Lee, Executive Officer of Pickleball Australia in a release.
etrainu and Pickleball Australia’s partnership centres around building a comprehensible training and certification process for coaching and refereeing, beginning with the implementation of a Level 1 accredited certification course. etrainu is also assisting Pickleball Australia in the building and curating of educational courses.
“We’re really passionate about building a learning culture,” added O’Riordan. “This ends up building exceptional communities, where we like to think around accreditations being an important piece, and that’s where we usually start with a lot of our sport partners.”
O’Riordan stressed the key benefits of the online education component for Pickleball Australia, citing the time it saves the increasingly large demographic of volunteers seeking to achieve coaching certification.
“If they’re commuting to and from work, they can watch a couple online education modules or complete a couple of online education modules in a really timely and efficient way,” concluded O’Riordan. “It sort of decentralizes that process and then provides the ability for more people to be educated, no matter where they’re located.”
Looking ahead, Pickleball Australia’s Level 1 Course will be supplemented through integration with revolutioniseSPORT, an online sports management system, to strengthen their technical ecosystem.
The Pickleball Australia Education Hub launched to coaches and referees in August 2024.
About Pickleball Australia
Launched in 2020 Pickleball Australia has nurtured and guided the development of pickleball nationwide. The establishment of 7 state and territory associations, supportive sub-committees and a range of affiliates, has advanced the Australian pickleball footprint with continuous strong growth in membership, playing opportunities and program development.
A not-for-profit organisation, Pickleball Australia is committed to furthering playing opportunities both within Australia and internationally while progressing the accreditation and training of administrators, coaches and referees to foster the advancement of State members, affiliates and individuals of all ages and ability levels.
About etrainu
etrainu are leaders in community education solutions. Through a sophisticated learning management system and engaging online courses, etrainu is changing the way we learn. Founded in 2007, etrainu has grown to over two million learners benefitting from hundreds of industry-tailored courses.
etrainu has partnered with some of the largest sports organisations in the world, including US Youth Soccer (USYS), American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO), PGA Tour, Hockey Australia, Gymnastics Australia, and Surf Life Saving Australia.