By Alicia Tyler on September 11, 2026 Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

The new networking: Run clubs, pickleball, and the end of awkward small talk

By Alicia Tyler on September 11, 2026 Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Run clubs, pickleball leagues, and hobby groups are changing how young professionals network. Here’s why making friends first can lead to career opportunities later.

There was a time when networking meant name tags, business cards, and a room full of strangers making small talk over drinks. For a generation that has spent much of its life online, the next era of career-building is looking less formal: a Wednesday night run club, a pickleball league, a group fitness class, or a creator community.

In other words, you might meet the person who helps you land your next job while doing something that has nothing to do with finding one.

Kristi Herold, founder and CEO of adult recreational sports company JAM and author of It Pays to Play, has watched relationships form this way for 30 years. JAM began as the Toronto Sport & Social Club in 1996 and has grown into one of the world’s largest adult recreational sports league providers.

Herold says the appeal of activity-based communities is partly that they remove the pressure that comes with conventional networking.

“It’s like a low-stakes, low-pressure way to meet new people because you’ve got a distraction,” she says. Instead of “standing in a conference room with a drink in your hand, trying to force small talk,” you’re playing a game, learning a sport, or talking about the thing you just did together.

That distinction........

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