Pickleball Player Development and the Players Who Make It Happen

Sharon Hadley and Mimi Blythe

Our new Player Development initiative is already 1 year old. There have been many people who have gone before us who laid an excellent foundation for player development at our club. However, over the past 12 months, the Player Development offerings have grown and gained the structure we need to continue to grow the skills and pickleball acumen for everyone.

It starts with Intro to Pickleball, formerly Novice Training, with Doug Brajcich. For several years he and others have guided residents new to pickleball through the basics of how to hold a paddle, where to stand, keeping score, and basic stroke mechanics. Then they move either to 1.0 or 2.0 skill building.

1.0 Skills focuses on eye-hand coordination and footwork. A person can take the 1.0 class as many times as needed.

2.0 Skills with Coaching along with 2.0 Play with Coaching is the next stop for most of our members new to pickleball. Beth Kelly has been helping players get ready for the club-level events like round robins and ladders that come with a 2.5 rating. In the 2.0 Skills with Coaching, players learn more about each skill, the footwork, and basic court strategies needed to play. We use the 2.0 Play with Coaching to introduce players to round robin-style play and continue to help them improve their skills, court awareness, and scoring. Players are likely to spend the most time here, as this level focuses on all the skills needed to be successful at all levels.

Skills and Strategies 2.5, 3.0, and 3.5+, formerly Focused Skills and Drills, is a series of training sessions focusing on complementary aspects of the game each week. Steven Schaefer took on the responsibility to bring structure to our upper-level player development program. Steven led every first round of training sessions, wrote the training agendas, found over 100 training videos to put on our website, and recruited coaches for each session. It was a herculean effort that our club will benefit from for years to come. For the second round of training, Steven recruited Kevin Hillstrom, Jeff Gauvin, and Jonathan Coulter to coordinate the 2.5, 3.0, and 3.5 sessions, respectively, and in just one year they have developed a superb program that can be passed on to future leaders. The topics include serving and return of serve, ground strokes—forehand and backhand, dinking (a pickleball term), drop shots and 4th shots, blocking and volleying, overheads, and lobs. Each session includes instruction and demonstration, drills, and in-play coaching on how to use strategy while applying these skills during a game.

All this could not have been possible without more than 100 volunteer coaches who graciously make themselves available and give so much value by sharing their knowledge, skills, and love of the game. Thank you all.