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Croquet, pickleball and lawn bowls.
They're all sports that rely on strategy and skill, with a strong focus on social connection rather than muscle power.
But two of these sports are being reinvigorated and enjoying growing popularity, while the other struggles to draw younger members.
The Headland-Buderim Croquet Club currently has about 50 members but is trying to recruit new players. (Supplied: Helen Rillie)
Keeping club alive
Originating in England in the 1850s, croquet — or ''snooker on grass'' — is a sport that involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded in a grass playing court.
The Headland-Buderim Croquet Club on Queensland's Sunshine Coast currently has about 50 members with four playing courts.
A decade ago membership numbers were closer to 70.
But it's now at the point where the club is weighing up its future.
"We are quite concerned about our long-term prospects," member Christine Walker said.
"Unless we can get an injection of capital — and that basically means new members, new opportunities — we're probably going to be in trouble in a few years' time," Ms Walker said.
Croquet has a reputation as a game for "oldies". (ABC News: Elise Pianegonda)
While she acknowledges croquet attracts an older demographic, she believes increased publicity could help it survive.
Dick Byres organised the National Croquet Championships that have been held on the Sunshine Coast over the past week.
He was more positive about the sport's future, and said across the country the sport was growing, and that despite its reputation as an "oldies" game, young people were joining.
Mr Byres said Australia had two world champions, each in either their 20s or 30s.
"It's probably got an image of an oldies game historically, but the youth are sort of starting to come into it now, with a great deal of keenness," he said.
Finding new members
Maintaining community prominence is something lawn bowls is currently finding success in, with members crediting a number of strategies to lure in budding bowlers.
Club Maroochy president Mark Payne said social media ads were critical.
President of Maroochy Bowls Club Mark Payne says advertising is key. (ABC Sunshine Coast: Tim Wong-See)
"We advertise, we get out," Mr Payne said.
Beyond that, they fit into people's increasingly busy lives, now offering weekend coaching sessions.
The sport is even putting itself forward as an alternative to contact sports to encourage families onto the greens.
"This thing called CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), which causes a lot of head injuries sport — you don't get that in bowls," Mr Payne said.
CTE is a degenerative brain disease associated with repeated mild traumatic brain injuries — like suffering a head knock in a footy match.
"Mum and dad are moving them [the kids] away from the contact environment," he said.
Mr Payne said club members were going into schools and educating students on the benefits of the non-contact alternative.
On top of that, corporate functions were proving a success.
"Out of work parties, we get half a dozen to a dozen players who want to learn, so it's the way to get the sport out and about," Mr Payne said.
'Just keeps multiplying'
Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in Australia.
As of January 2023, there were around 20,000 people playing pickleball in the country.
The sport is a mix of tennis, table tennis and badminton played on a badminton-size court with a paddle and a small perforated plastic ball.
Adon Kronk has witnessed the growth of pickleball at the Mooloolaba Tennis Club. (ABC Sunshine Coast: Tim Wong-See)
The game was invented in the US in 1965 by three friends with bored families one summer afternoon — legend has it the name comes from the family dog, Pickles, which would retrieve the errant ball.
KT Academy manages the Mooloolaba Tennis Club on the Sunshine Coast — which also hosts pickleball — and its director Adon Kronk said membership was growing fast.
"It just grows organically almost year on year, it just keeps multiplying," he said.
Mr Kronk said its accessibility was key to its success.
"There's a few things around the game that make it easy to have success early," he said.
Pickleball started in the US and has since found a growing following in Australia. (Getty Images: Ronald Martinez)
"The ball is one-third the speed, so it's a lot easier to have the reflexes and reactions to have a rally.
"In tennis when you hit the ball, it'll fly off your racquet. In pickleball … it's very hard to hit out."
The club recently received a $250,000 state government grant to build eight pickleball courts.
"So I guess this is just another progression in the sport creating its identity," he said.
Overcoming challenges
As the Headland-Buderim Croquet Club finds ways to survive, members can be encouraged by other thriving clubs.
Membership at Coolangatta Croquet Club on the Gold Coast has climbed from nine in 2012 to 35 today.
Long-time member Robert Smiley said most players were on the green regularly, paying their fees and keeping the club ticking over.
"Financially, we're doing extremely well and it's important you get a club that looks successful from the outside," Mr Smiley said.
The club relies on word-of-mouth to build its membership, as well as running free "come and try" days a few times a year.
They also sporadically put small advertisements in the local newspaper and do letterbox drops.
Members' average age is in the mid-60s, but Mr Smiley wants to recruit more young people to the club.
"People think of old people with walking frames knocking things with large hoops but it's not, it's a very clever game for people who are smart," he said.
"As an older person myself, it keeps the mind going and it's better than watching daytime television."
The participation rate for Australian adults aged over 15 years in croquet/mallet sports is 0.1 per cent of the total population.
This represents approximately 26,400 players nationally, of which only approximately 10,000 are affiliated with Croquet Australia.
Marketing techniques
Off the courts, ensuring croquet's survival is also down to what else is on offer for players.
Katharina Wolf is an associate professor in the school of management and marketing at Curtin University.
Katharina Wolf from Curtin University's School of Marketing. (ABC News: Keane Bourke.)
She said croquet clubs would need to offer non-sport events to attract new members.
"You might not be the best bowler in the world but, 'Hey, I can give a quiz night a go'. So it gets people through the door," Dr Wolf said.
"It's about the local connection more so at a grassroots sports level than talking about the sports itself.
"Discover that setting, discover your local club and you might just hang around later on."