Indoor sports like pickleball and futsal are seeing a spike in popularity, especially during the blistering summer heat. The sports center booking app CatchCorner, powered by Sports Illustrated, enables users to seamlessly secure a spot for a quick game without membership fees. It soft launched in Houston this spring and, according to co-founder and chief operating officer Maya Azouri, has been a huge success.

"The Houston expansion has been jaw-dropping," she says. "Up until now, CatchCorner’s launch in New York City had been our most successful market, but Houston has launched on par with it. Over the last 30 days, we’ve already seen over 30,000 users join the app. There are more than 70 venues in the process of launching, meaning we’ll have around 700 unique recreational spaces users can choose from in the city. There’s a real sports culture here, with athletes of all levels from casual weekend players to competitive amateurs and even pros. The diversity of the sports community, combined with the number of high-quality facilities across the city, makes it a perfect fit for CatchCorner."

Currently, CatchCorner in Houston offers bookings for basketball, volleyball, soccer, pickleball, padel, baseball, and badminton, with plans to include tennis, golf simulators, and ice rink sports soon. So far, the most popular sports are basketball, soccer, volleyball and pickleball. The Zone Sports, Toros HTX, PAC Gym and Houston Pickleball Center are among the most popular venues.

Using the app is a snap. Once you pick your sport, venues with available slots are listed including distance from you with the booking schedules in the results so there are no surprises. The slots can go fast, so occasional error messages pop up when trying to book, but it's otherwise a three-click process. CatchCorner also helpfully includes a picture of the facilities while booking in case you want to get the vibes.

CatchCorner announced Google integration in June that lets users book through the app directly from searches when they look up specific venues. This is slightly less intuitive to use than the app, but does ultimately work in both mobile and desktops versions. Either way, it greatly streamlines the booking process for people who just want to schedule a quick pickup game somewhere.

"It’s especially useful for casual players or people who want to organize something on short notice," says Azouri. "Whether it’s a weekend basketball run, a weekday futsal match, or a spontaneous pickleball game with friends, CatchCorner makes it easy to coordinate without the usual logistical headaches. Some feedback here has been that we’re like 'Expedia for sports.' It’s because booking a flight online is that easy, booking your next game or workout should be just as simple."