Not All Pickleball Coaching is Created Equal
In the exploding sport of pickleball, not all coaching is created equal. Consider these five qualities to look for in—or develop as—a pickleball coach.
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The playing and people watching at pickleball tournaments is a treat—there is no shortage of things to watch. While finding my bearings at the Portland, Maine UPA pickleball tournament, I started watching the nearest game—a hilarious one between obvious beginners. And when I say it was hilarious, I’m not being critical; there were multiple moments at which all four women and the volunteer referee were laughing.
But then a serious game started up on the court behind theirs. My attention quickly shifted to that game, and to their cheering squad. One of the cheerleaders, Denise, and I got to chatting and she shared that she was cheering on her coach, Anne Aldridgge-Peacock. When I asked Denise what she liked about her coach, she didn’t just like things about her coach—she loved things about her coach.
She loved Anne’s passion for the game. Anne loves pickleball and her passion for helping others love the game has increased Denise’s love for it. She shared that Coach Anne is way more interested in “adding to” her student’s existing game instead of “fixing” their game. We could say Anne compliments and complements and this is much appreciated by her students.
As pickleball continues to explode in popularity, it’s only logical that pickleball coaching is also on the rise. (Per the coaching platform TeachMe.To, some cities have seen more than a 300% increase in pickleball coaching from 2023 to 2024!) The niche of pickleball coaching is interesting for multiple reasons.
For one, you have seasoned younger players, like 14-year-old Jada Minnefield, teaching adults how to play the game at which she’s become a pro. Certainly there are older, seasoned players teaching this sport to younger players, but this sport uniquely crosses generation gaps.
Second, people seek coaching for some interesting reasons. These include trying to preempt unsolicited coaching on the court, get better drill practice than one can get with a peer, and easing into the social logistics of the game—working with a coach gives a player dedicated places and times to play this game, meet others to play with, and learn how local court availability works.
Lastly, with the game being so relatively new as a national and global sport, people come to it brand new. And this means they may not even know what they’re looking for in coaching.
With all this in mind, here are some thoughts on what makes for a great pickleball coach. These are heavily influenced by my own experiences traveling the country with pickleball and participating in a variety of coaching opportunities. I’ve been part of multiple signed-pro-player clinics, 1:1 signed-pro coaching, had multiple experiences with traditional 1:1 coaching, and participated in group clinics at pickleball centers and non-profit booster associations.
These first-hand coaching experiences from around the country as well as input from others highlights the following traits as important to consider in a pickleball coach:
Humility
One key element in a great coach of any kind is humility. They are more interested in helping the student progress than they are in sharing their own prowess with the sport. At a library in Raleigh, North Carolina, I overheard a tutor droning on with an explanation of something chemistry-related to his student client. From my seat, 15 feet away, I could see the overwhelmed expression on the student’s face and heard her response—a very unconvincing “Okay…” The tutor took that as comprehension and marched right on as if she got it, when it was apparent to me and her that she didn’t.
Coaching is working with human potential, and boy, what a privilege that is. You don’t necessarily need to be the best player—or have your student know/think you are—to be the best coach for a student. At an APP tournament this summer, a USA-P head referee and coach shared with me that in his opinion some of the best coaches are actually average, humble players who have a knack for teaching and helping others.
Flexible
A great coach is willing and able to customize their teaching for each student. I had the good fortune to participate in a clinic held by Kyle Koszuta (ThatPickleballGuy on YouTube, creator of ThatPickleballSchool) at the inaugural PickleCon 2024. Besides my dumb court shoe decision leading to an unglamorous fall, it remains one of my most impactful pickleball experiences.
Much of that was because Kyle and team—gifted coaches all of them—were flexible in their teaching style. When they could tell from glazed-over expressions or faulty implementation that one of us wasn’t understanding, they would explain the technique patiently and differently, as many times as it took and often with some self-deprecating humor.
Curious
A great coach seeks to understand first, and is careful with the assumptions they make. They don’t assume someone is more of a beginner than they really are, a mistake which leads to over-explaining basic rules of the game without taking the time to understand the student’s level of comprehension. It can alienate an otherwise receptive student when a coach assumes the student doesn’t know something they very much do. I’ve learned in my “Getting into Pickleball” clinics or lessons to make a point of sincerely asking my student if they know why we do certain things before I proceed with any explanation.
In order to understand, it’s important to do more asking before telling. One woman I helped in one of my clinics had been through a couple weeks of coaching with a local coach. Said coach had done a lot of good, I’m sure. But her student didn’t understand the reason why we do certain things in the game, like get to the kitchen, or how server position works. She’d been talked at a lot, and not had her questions drawn out much.
Positive
Great coaches celebrate the good. Remember how Coach Anne in Maine focuses on building on the good things her students are already doing? A pickleball coach friend, Emily Wong, coaches in the Seattle area. Her focus is on building up her students—most of whom come to her as absolute beginners.
She teaches them to trust their bodies and reactions instead of trying to memorize techniques or “get it right.” Emily says about this, “There are so many places you feel judged, cut down. [The pickleball court] should be a place of empowerment.”
A stand-out coaching experience I’ve had was drilling one-on-one with a pro teacher and player, Allie Davis. Working with her in this way was the result of either an error in the booking system, or my own booking error—we’ll never know. What we do know is that she was able to observe patterns as we drilled, distill feedback into simple recommendations, and did a lot of praising my existing abilities as well as incremental improvements.
Organized
Great coaches are organized about their coaching. I’ve been surprised by the amount of back-and-forth that’s gone into some of the coaching I’ve requested. It’s involved multiple texts sent back-and-forth about payment, availability, location, and with one platform, actual haggling over price.
Friction in scheduling is a barrier to students receiving help, and could easily be addressed with basic business systems. Coaches might consider implementing a calendar booking system with payment collection incorporated, as well as creating a simple website or even PDF outlining basic information and expectations. This layer of up-front organization should then be matched on the court with coherent, structured coaching.
A quick word on approaches to group or ad hoc community court coaching that seem not to work:
Unsolicited and unwelcome coaching from other players. “Unwelcome” is the operative word here. I’ve been grateful for much of the coaching I’ve received from other players who are definitively better than me and who give their advice collegially. It’s just that we’ll all enjoy the game more if we’re careful with the unsolicited coaching we give others.
Extrapolating from a single mistake that a player doesn’t know anything about strategy or the game. It may have just been one of the hundreds of mistakes any player—even those who know better—will inevitably make on the road of progress.
In especially group situations, a player’s poor demonstration of a skill may be due to them just learning an unfamiliar or poorly-explained drill. You may also be observing them play with a poorly-matched partner, and making assumptions that this is how they always play.
Finding coaching
For players looking for coaching, first identify what you are even hoping to achieve with coaching. Are you looking for a skilled drill partner? Does your serve need work? Maybe you are actually looking for someone to observe how you play and identify your weak spots.
Once you’ve clarified what you’re looking for, try the following:
Ask other players for recommendations.
Attend clinics at pickleball facilities.
Ask the local non-profit pickleball association for recommendations or inquire about clinics.
Notice who’s teaching at local courts and ask them if they’re accepting students.
If you’re primarily hoping for game-play observation and feedback, consider solutions like Bounce (remote coaching) or Pickleball Game Stats (thorough game-play analysis). You may also get benefit out of watching pickleball game pick-a-parts, like those surfaced on this YouTube channel.
For players, what have your experiences been receiving pickleball coaching, and what would you add to the thoughts shared in this column? For existing pickleball coaches, how has your coaching practice evolved in the past couple years given the growth of the game, and how have you navigated court availability for your lessons? All thoughts or experiences are welcome in the comments!
Thank you, Emily,
This won’t be a sixth point or item for your list - my best coaches used what you wrote plus were demanding in my form and attention. Maybe it is a point: Stern
Then again some will respond poorly to that so it may depend on the coach’s Curiosity to identify just what the student really wants. As you said some want a court, someone to drill with.
For me the best coach will demand that the student care about improving and their “being too social” can be cause for being dropped. Yes, inactions can have a consequence.