Submitted by John Busch

Judy Barniak and I have just returned from Ridgefield, Connecticut, where we conducted a clinic to introduce a new pickleball program.  We'd like to share what we learned, which may be useful to someone else who will undertake the same kind of challenge.

Janice Pauly, a personal friend whom we had introduced to pickleball, had organized a ten week program for the Ridgefield Parks and Recreation Center.  Her goal was to get about 15 to 20 people to register for a ten week session that would meet once a week for about an hour and a half.  She asked us to do the kick-off clinic for potential trainees to spark their interest.

We presented our introductory clinic twice over two days for about an hour and a half each day with great success.  We had 25-30 people in attendance each day.  As a result of this introduction, Jan had so many people sign up for the pickleball program that she had to expand the program sessions from one to two days a week.

1. STAY LOOSE AND FLEXIBLE.

It's always a good idea to have a plan or outline of what you want to do.  But be prepared to abandon some things and add others at the drop of a hat to meet the needs of the specific group that you end up working with.

Try to point out that a little warm-up and stretching is a good thing. The emphasis is on "a little", as in "not much". Some arm swinging and ski type knee flexing are all that is needed.  While we are doing that, I like to provide some safety advice. For instance, since serious injury can occur if people are hit in the eye, although it rarely happens, they might want to consider eye protection.  I also caution about potential strains to the Achilles tendon, lower back and falls, but point out that most of these situations occur when they're playing hard and trying to move faster than their level of conditioning and skill will allow.  I assure participants that the drills and progressions that they will be working on in the session will not approach that degree of intensity.

2.  LESS TALK, MORE ACTION.

Whether participants are adults or young people, they are here to do something, not stand around and listen to you explain the rules of the tournament game.  To engage their attention quickly, either we or a couple of proficient volunteers will be gently hitting a ball back and forth across the net as people are arriving.  It's a good idea to hand a paddle to participants as they arrive to let them familiarize themselves with its weight and balance. Letting them watch the ball being hit easily back and forth will speak volumes about what this sport is about.  Save your breath; let them just watch.  Do not let the demonstrators play hard.  Your purpose is to show how easy it is to play pickleball, meet new people and have some fun.

3. START SMALL, USE ONE BALL.

Start promptly at the scheduled time.  End the demonstration play.  Make a few, short introductions --- really short.  Take a little time to address any questions that people might have.  Explain that all questions concerning rules and technique will be covered as the play progresses, so just get started.

We like to start with a "dink" drill. We position everyone at the non-volley line.  We ask that they gently hit the ball over the net, trying to get it to bounce in the kitchen in front of the person returning the ball.

Strange things happen at this point if you are not prepared, so don't drop your guard.  Tennis players may feel compelled to show off their overhead smash or searing ground stroke.  Others will simply mis-hit the ball, sending it sailing in an unanticipated direction.  For these reasons, I recommend that you use only one ball per court.  Eventually we were able to impart the idea that the "dink" was more akin to flipping a pancake than hitting a home run.

4.  ALLOCATE PEOPLE TO COURTS.

We found ourselves working with 25+ people on 4 courts.  Our plan had been to work with four people to a court, like a standard doubles match.  The large enthusiastic turnout presented a dilemma:   do we proceed with a smaller group and rotate people in, or was there something we could do that involved everyone.  Remembering to be flexible as per No. 1 above, we decided to place six people to a court, three abreast at the kitchen line, on each side.

It worked great for the dink drill for two reasons. One, there was less gap for passed balls (although many made it through) and Two, people began to select which of the three "opponents" they wanted to hit to. Their control and accuracy improved dramatically while they learned to respect the kitchen with their footwork.  I believe they progressed faster than they would have if there had been only two to a court.

5.  PICK UP THE PACE.

As soon as the dink drill begins to show improved control, have everyone take a couple of steps back.  Ground strokes emerge and the kitchen is de-emphasized.  At this point we started to group the players according to ability and placed them on a court with more evenly matched players.  Keeping six to a court, we introduced the serve and the basic rules of the game.  On each side, the two players that were not serving moved as one, either up or back or left or right as necessary.  It seemed to work very well, because they helped each other remember where they were supposed to be.  Very quickly they were playing games, three on a side.

6.  PLAY BALL!   Invariably the crowd thins out toward the end of the session and standard doubles play begins to emerge.

Often at the end of the session there will be a few relatively more skilled, competitive players who will linger around hoping to get a good game in with the instructor. There is nothing more satisfying than delivering a good, fast-paced, advanced lesson to an appreciative student. Everyone will leave wanting to come back for more.

_________________________________________________________________________________________