Kings Point Pickleball Clinic

On Saturday June 20th, the Kings Point Pickleball League hosted a training clinic for their members. League leader and event coordinator Louann Dubendorf encouraged both the novice and the advanced players who wanted to improve or take their game to the next level to participate. She posted the information to her website as well as in the display case that everyone passed on the way to the courts each day.

When you live in Florida, summer time weather can play havoc with your pickelball schedule. You do what you can to play between the sweltering heat and the afternoon thunderstorms. Today, despite the forecast for temperatures soaring into the high 90's with the heat index well over 100 the serious pickleball lovers showed up for their training!

A few players showed up early and took to the courts for a few games before the clinic started, but just shortly after 8:00 am, the instructor Rich Donald, USAPA Ambassador, New Tampa, Fl, took the group to the courts. Rich did a great job adjusting his material to make sure everyone could benfit, as the group was very diverse as far as skill levels.

Here, Rich talks to the group about the importance of the "ready position" and the benefits of making a habit of returning to this position after every play.

Rich talked about the differences in hitting ground strokes and volleying at the the non-volley line. After covering the proper stance and proper paddle position he showed them how to return the ball when volleying at the non-volley line showing them how to "punch" the ball instead of "swinging" at the ball as in a groundstroke. After working with each one individually, the group took to the courts for a little practice.

Another area that the group spent a good deal of time on was the "dink" shot. Rich made his way down the line, coaching individuals , demonstrating the proper arm movement to achieve the ideal height and drop of the ball close to the net.

Rich also spent some time on both the defensive and offensive lob and " the third shot", or the return of the return of serve. He also stressed that to improve your level of play it was important to set up a schedule to practice and not just play games. He shared with them drills for practicing dinks, offensive lobs and "the third shots" that they could do either before or after daily game play.

Here's the Kings Point crew with Rich (front row, white shirt) posing for a group picture after finishing their training session. What a great goup. They worked hard today......but I think they had a good time too!

And as a "Thank You", Rich went home with a new T-shirt!

For more information on the Kings Point Pickleball League go to http://www.gotpickleball.com/

and for this T-shirt and more visit http://www.thepickleballbug.com/

Click Here for more great Pictures of The Kings Point Pickleball Clinic

Sometimes it's better to read about the success of a pickleball clinic when it's written by the people who attended.......Read this article on the Kings Point Website

Kings Pointe Pickleball League Clinic