MONCLOVA TOWNSHIP – When Rally Point Social Club opens next spring, it will not only provide much-desired indoor and outdoor pickleball courts for Monclova Township and surrounding communities, but a community gathering spot where all ages and abilities can gather to play no-skill games, eat, drink and get to know one another.
“It ultimately comes down to community,” said Rally Point Founder Ron DeLeeuw. “The community needs to feel it belongs to them. Rally Point is a social club built around activity, competition and connection. We want to give people a place to play, eat, drink and spend time together.”
On Aug. 31, DeLeeuw and his family, investors and local leaders gathered on the 8.6-acre property on the northeast corner of Jerome and Monclova roads for a ceremonial ground breaking – although site work has been under way for the past few weeks. He expects the frame for the 48,000-square-foot steel structure to be up within the next few weeks.
When finished, Rally Point Social Club will have five outdoor and 10 indoor pickleball courts, four golf simulators and spaces for playing games like bocce, cornhole, shuffleboard and virtual reality darts. The indoor courts will have rounded corners to allow for a walking track around the perimeter, and a nearby space with stationary bikes and exercise bands will give pickleball players an opportunity to warm up. A mezzanine overlooking the first floor will include spaces for groups to meet for euchre, trivia nights and reunions – or to just watch the pickleball games below.
“Every activity is based on what is working around the country,” said DeLeeuw, noting that shuffleboard bars and restaurants are gaining in popularity. “People are just looking for something to do together. Shuffleboard is not only good for the younger generation but the senior population. It’s a traditional sport that you can do even with limitations.”
While food trucks will be on site in warmer months, serving customers using the outdoor patio and its many activities, an indoor kitchen will serve up breakfast, lunch and dinner year-round, with everything from pizza, wings and pretzels to salads and wraps. An indoor and outdoor self-serve tap wall will provide dozens of brews – many of them local – for tasting by the ounce.
“We hope to team up with local breweries, to bring as much of Toledo as we can into this building,” DeLeeuw said.
Technology will be used throughout the customer experience, with an app for reserving a lane or court, or paying for food and drinks, but ambassadors will be on site to help through that process and to check IDs for alcohol sales. That self-serve model works well for those who don’t want to be tied down to a table or a waitstaff member, but instead roam through the building while on a date, a family night out or a morning gathering, he noted.
Memberships will be offered for pickleball, giving members the ability to book courts a few weeks out, but are not necessary for booking a lane or just hanging out. DeLeeuw envisions Rally Point Social Club as a place where people can come in at 7 a.m. and play a game and use one of the two showers on site before heading into work. Retirees like those he met in Waterside community might take the next shift, playing pickleball mid-morning and staying for lunch. Parents might meet up with other families while kids play with balls in an open-turf area throughout the morning. And he expects that the two conference rooms with AV capabilities will be used for corporate retreats or social gatherings.
Typically in the afternoon is when sports venues see a lull, but DeLeeuw plans to offer an after-school rate of $1 per game for students to play pickleball from 3 to 5 p.m.
“Our No. 1 focus is value. We want to keep the prices at a value level so that we keep the building busy all day,” DeLeeuw said, explaining that his goal is to keep lane rental under $10 an hour. “If the price is right, people will come all day and the building will have great energy from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.”
During the groundbreaking, several Waterside residents who play pickleball regularly came to show their support.
“It will be a lot of fun. There will be a lot of us out here. We’re all looking forward to it,” said Dianne Stroshine. “I’m so excited to have something close. We just need to hop on the bike path and come here.”
Rally Point Social Club’s pickleball courts are lined just for the sport, which makes a difference. Other courts often have lines for other sports like tennis, Stroshine said.
Lori Schroeder, who organizes the Waterside pickleball group, said about 105 residents of the 602-home senior community play pickleball. DeLeeuw came to visit the group last week to get feedback.
“The community itself will be using this to come down for easy dinner or the games that the kids have. It seems like a real family oriented place. He’ll have a lot of us here in the winter playing,” Schroeder said.
While the new structure will utilize just an acre of the property, plus space for the outdoor patio and parking, DeLeeuw is keeping his options option for future facilities on site, based on feedback.
For DeLeeuw, the groundbreaking represents more than two years of planning. In October 2024, Monclova Township turned down his initial request to build an inflatable dome for pickleball, volleyball and baseball/softball, because such structures are not permitted in the Monclova-Maumee-Toledo Joint Economic Development Zone – of which his property is an anchor. But going back to the drawing board just gave him more time to research and come up with a plan that will appeal to more than just pickleball enthusiasts, he said.
The facility is expected to employ directors for pickleball, operations and food and beverage, as well as a marketing/promotions manager, kitchen staff and ambassadors. DeLeeuw did not receive any tax incentives or abatements for the project, but did work with Superior Credit Union and the Port Authority to obtain a loan.
