Where to start?

[00:00:00] Speaker A: I'm ready to take notes. [00:00:01] Speaker B: Are you? [00:00:02] Speaker A: I am. [00:00:03] Speaker B: Good, because we're here recording for you. [00:00:05] Speaker A: Awesome. [00:00:06] Speaker B: You know tonight's topic, which is how. [00:00:08] Speaker A: To teach someone how to play pickleball. [00:00:10] Speaker B: Yeah. That's tonight's topic, how to teach a new person how to play pickleball. [00:00:17] Speaker A: Ta da. [00:00:18] Speaker B: Which might be very boring to some other people listening, but I think the way we started to teach people a long time ago was ahead of the game. Even back then, I did, too. Do you now? [00:00:31] Speaker A: I'm ahead of the game. [00:00:35] Speaker B: When I first started teaching beginners, which was six years ago. Oh, gosh. We're coming up on seven in February. [00:00:41] Speaker A: Wow. [00:00:42] Speaker B: Yeah. I did not know that it wasn't just tennis. We all just stood back at the bass line. [00:00:53] Speaker A: I know. [00:00:54] Speaker B: Oh, and then I went to Seattle. We've talked about this before. I played pickleball. People that knew what they were doing, and we're hitting third shot drops and coming to the net and dinking. And I was like, you know what? This is brilliant way to teach beginners. And I don't mean serving, returning, dropping, dinking. I mean start [email protected] and then move them backwards. So here is our patent pending process for how to teach a new person to play pickleball. A new person. Sounds weird. Like a baby. How to teach a person who is new to pickleball. [00:01:29] Speaker A: There you go. [00:01:29] Speaker B: How to play. We start them at the non volley zone, which is the kitchen line. We just get them used to the feel of the paddle and the feel of the ball. And there's actually some really important psychological, physiological reasons for it. First and foremost, I do think it just gets, it gets. Gets them in the mindset quicker or earlier of not taking full swings. Because what happens is a lot of people get up there in the kitchen, they'll just whack the ball and it flies over the partners on the other side of the net, right by the kitchen's online. Kitchen volleys online. And I'm like, no, no, no. Like, you barely have to move your paddle. And it gets them used to the touch, right? I don't expect my newbies to be dropping and getting into big dink rallies. I do want them to get used to the field of the ball before a game starts. So that's where we do. We just get them dinking straight. I don't worry about cross court, man. Those balls go everywhere. We tried that once. I just get them dinking straight after they've dinked for probably five or six minutes. And you can see that they've got much more control over it. And look, they're still beginners, right? I'm not expecting perfection, but, you know, much more control over it. I then go and start to teach them the game. So I do start with the non volley zone and tell them what it is. I tell them why I want them to dink there in terms of swing and getting used to the ball. But I also teach them what the non volley zone is like when you can and can't cross that line, which they learn early. That's one of the first things we teach them because to me that was one of the hardest things to remember to learn. Like, it's just a. Sometimes it's a brick wall and sometimes it's not there. Right. And just getting used to that is important. So after that, then we move them back to the service line. We begin to teach them gameplay, starting with the most important shot. And I'll defend that statement by saying this. It's the one shot that is in every single rally. There are no rallies without serves, but there are rallies without every other shot. [00:03:32] Speaker A: True. [00:03:33] Speaker B: So we wanted to learn the serve. I teach both a traditional serve, underhanded serve, and I teach the new drop serve. And I find that some people can do one better than the other. And it helps to have both. So we have them when I teach them to serve. This is so funny because this always happens. I have people on both ends of the court, I say, serve it, and I tell the other person, catch it and serve it back. [00:03:57] Speaker A: Yep. And you tell them every time. [00:03:59] Speaker B: And what do they do? [00:04:00] Speaker A: They hit it. [00:04:00] Speaker B: They hit it back. They just want to play. And I love that about the beginners, but I'm like, catch the freaking ball and hit it back. I'm nice to them, but I want them to learn to serve. [00:04:09] Speaker A: Yes. [00:04:10] Speaker B: So I get them in a rhythm of serving and then I flip them sides and make them serve from the other side of the court. And like, wait a minute, will you serve on the other side of the court too? Which is great. So we get them serving from both sides of the court, get them used to it. After they're getting most of their serves in, or certainly understand the mechanics of getting a serve in, then we teach them a second shot. So now I still have a group working on the serve on one side of the court. And on the other side of the court they're working on a return, which we teach them to hit deep. [00:04:37] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:04:39] Speaker B: Here's some of the language I use on teaching the serve. I say, look, most of you are trying to hit the ball way up in the air way over and trying to like, drop it into that rectangle back there. [00:04:50] Speaker A: Right. [00:04:50] Speaker B: I go, this court is 44ft long, 22ft are on your side, and seven more on their side that you got to clear. So 29ft, you have to go in the forward direction or parallel to the ground or horizontal, wherever you want to call it. And then that's only 34 to 36 inches high, depending on where you're at on that net. So you have to hit it 3ft high, but you got to hit it 29ft forward. You know, quit hitting it high. [00:05:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:16] Speaker B: And they go, oh, that makes total sense. And then they start hitting him lower and lower and lower. [00:05:21] Speaker A: Yeah, I think they, they look at the core and it seems small. [00:05:26] Speaker B: Right. [00:05:27] Speaker A: And so they're just trying to hit. [00:05:29] Speaker B: That ball into that rectangle back there. [00:05:31] Speaker A: Yep. [00:05:31] Speaker B: No, just hit it. Just head diagonally across the net, 4ft high and you're gonna be just fine. [00:05:36] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:05:37] Speaker B: Yeah. So we teach them that then when we teach them the return, we teach them that we want to have it in sort of that five, 6ft, 7ft in from the back line at the most. Right. So, so now you're hitting it not just 29ft of, but, you know, another 8ft. So 37ft on the return. 37, 39, whatever. Anywhere between 37 and 44. We want it. We want it bouncing in the back part of the court. And then I teach to my slower folks, hit that one higher. Why? Well, they have to let it bounce. And this is where they learn that part of the game. They have to let that second shot bounce. And when they let that second shot bounce, if you've hit it higher, you know you're learning. It gets you time to understand how to move around the court a bit and to work yourself toward that non volley zone. [00:06:23] Speaker A: Yep. [00:06:24] Speaker B: Okay. So now they've learned the serve. They've learned that they have to serve from both sides. They've learned to return it deep because it gives them more time to get on their way to the kitchen. I don't tell them they need to get all the way to the kitchen because that would be stupid. We start teaching them mechanics at this point in time, in terms of movement. So if they've hit that second shot, we teach them, work your way toward the kitchen, but as soon as you see the other player on the other side swinging, you need to be stopped. Split step. If you know, if you're talking about here as a test player, otherwise, but just stopped on the balls or feet, ready to move sideways, forward, wherever you need to go. We don't want them still running when the other team is heading exactly right. [00:07:07] Speaker A: Then they'll probably hit it out of. [00:07:08] Speaker B: Yeah, and I don't care that they're beginners. Like, we teach this stuff first week. But, sky, we're only 15 or 20 minutes in here, and they're now ready to play a game, right? I teach them one more thing, third shot. And we teach them a third shot drop. Now, we know that third shot drives are very common, but these are newbies, and they need to learn how to hit that drop shot at some point. Whether it's a reset on the 19th shot, or whether it's a fifth shot drop or 7th shot drop, we don't care. But they do need to learn how to hit that shot. Almost all of them understand what whacking the ball is like, driving it. And we. We've learned that there's a lot more to that process of teaching them that than there is in the process of teaching them. Just hit this little, like, semi lob shot that drops into the kitchen. A push. Here's how. We're in Indiana, so here's how we always say it. I go, y'all played cornhole? [00:08:00] Speaker A: You don't say it like that. Y'all play cornhole around here, unless you're teasing us. [00:08:04] Speaker B: And then they go, yeah, we play cornhole Kansas. Yeah, we don't play cornhole there, like do now, but not when I grew up. So I go, y'all play cornhole? They go, yeah. I go, look, it's the same shot. And they go, what? I go, watch this. I'm on my feet. I step forward, my left foot or my opposite foot of my. Whatever hand I'm swinging with, and I swing my underarm hand like this, and it's just like I'm tossing that bean bag right over there into the kitchen. They're always like, oh, I got that. [00:08:33] Speaker A: Yeah, they do. [00:08:34] Speaker B: Yeah, it's very easy for them. [00:08:35] Speaker A: Yep. [00:08:36] Speaker B: And then the three or four that go, I don't ever play cornhole. I go, you ever gone bowling? Same. You ever played volleyball and you learned how to serve in junior high? Same like, everyone's done something like that motion, right? [00:08:48] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:08:49] Speaker B: Softball, pitching. I mean, there's just so many different things that mimic that movement. [00:08:54] Speaker A: So how many people do you think you've. You've taught? [00:08:59] Speaker B: I always say that we have. How do I phrase it? Literally? Over a thousand people in less than seven years. [00:09:10] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a lot. [00:09:12] Speaker B: I know, but I'm so I'm gonna back off of it for a minute. And I'm saying this publicly. I don't actually know how many. We have 1100 plus waivers signed at our church. [00:09:23] Speaker A: Right. [00:09:24] Speaker B: And in my mind, I'm like, have there been a hundred that weren't new? Because we have. Everyone signed a waiver, you know, so Joe drown comes and plays. He's, he's played before. Hannah Carpenter comes and plays. She's played before. You know, I think about all those people that. [00:09:36] Speaker A: Yep. [00:09:36] Speaker B: You know, that have come through over the years. Christy and Kevin Pasman. And there's a lot of them, but. [00:09:42] Speaker A: Then there are people that stop you. Even at league two nights ago, they'll be, they'll stop you and they'll say, what am I doing wrong? [00:09:50] Speaker B: Yeah, I get a lot of that. And it's fun. I love, I love the coaching aspect of it, but I know I say literally a thousand people, but it may not be. Maybe it's 900 to 900. 900 to 900 to a thousand. Thousand 50 somewhere in that ballpark. Yeah, I know we don't have waivers on everybody either, but it's a lot of people. [00:10:09] Speaker A: And you obviously have taught people through community emotion. [00:10:14] Speaker B: Yeah. Also done that. Some of those have been at the same facility. I mean, I've taught people in a lot of different states, too. I've taught people in Colorado, I've taught people in Kansas. Taught people in Missouri. Taught people in Minnesota. Yeah, definitely just did that last week. So. Done that before too, there. So anyway, yeah, I've taught a lot of people how to play pokeball. It's probably around a thousand. [00:10:33] Speaker A: So the reason I ask this question is so that people understand that you have a proven system, whether you, I. [00:10:43] Speaker B: Mean, if all thousand were still playing, that'd be awesome. But some people just drop out. Oh, no, a heck ton are still playing. [00:10:48] Speaker A: Absolutely. I mean, I hear all the time I'm around town, they'll be like, are you Kevin's wife? And I'll be like, yep. And they're like, he taught me how to play pickleball. And I'll be like, okay. [00:10:56] Speaker B: It's so funny because seven years ago I was known as, as Mister sky huff. [00:11:00] Speaker A: I know, because the coffee business. [00:11:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:03] Speaker A: So mister coffee, if you don't mind, I'm going to repeat what I've had. Yeah, do it. So when we first start teaching and we start [email protected]. [00:11:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:12] Speaker A: We explain the non volley zone and we want them to feel the, you know, get used to the paddle and feel the ball. They start dinking straight, usually for five to six minutes because dinking to an angle is, it can be tricky. And there's a lot of ball chasing if that happens with nobies. Yeah, yeah. I mean, they're picking it up quickly. We can always try it. Start teaching them the game after that. [00:11:36] Speaker B: Well, the reason, it's just so we know the reason is [email protected]. it's, it's such a short swing. [00:11:42] Speaker A: Yes. [00:11:42] Speaker B: Just a couple inches. [00:11:45] Speaker A: And so you start teaching them at the game. Yeah, you start teaching the game after that. So. And explain to them what the non volley zone is. [00:11:53] Speaker B: Yep. [00:11:54] Speaker A: And it's nice to start [email protected]. because like you said, they're not gonna sit there and smash and crash and slam the ball as if they're trying to play tennis or racquetball, for that matter. They're going to try to learn how to play pickleball instead. [00:12:10] Speaker B: Right. And I say to them things along the way, I encourage them. I go, look, you're here to learn. I'm sure that most of you want to get better. I'm sure you're not here to just always be a beginner. So we are very much a stickler about the rules. We make sure they understand the rules all along the way. And if they miss their serve, well, we're not to that point part yet. You keep, you keep, keep covering, keep going through your list, and I'll step back in when we're ready. [00:12:33] Speaker A: So then you take them to the service line and teach them how to serve. You teach them the traditional way. And then now the new drop serve. [00:12:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:12:42] Speaker A: And then you have them work from both sides. [00:12:44] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:12:45] Speaker A: And, you know, and once you get two people on one side of the net, then they can practice serving back and forth to each other after that happens for a while, then you start teaching them how to return the ball and you explain to them that, you know how big the core is, how high the net is, and they don't have to hit it high. Nope. Mostly because you gotta hit it out, not up. Yes. Because then you want them to actually start thinking about strategy. [00:13:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:13:15] Speaker A: Now, if they are returning the second hit, you can service return. You can hit higher because that's the. [00:13:26] Speaker B: That'S the one shot you can have a lot of fun and freedom with because you can put a lot of pressure on them. But they have to. What? [00:13:32] Speaker A: Yeah. They have to let it bounce. Yeah. And then you teach them how to work their way from the back line to the kitchen line. [00:13:39] Speaker B: Yep. [00:13:40] Speaker A: And you wanted to make sure that they understand that once they've hit the ball over the net and they can work their way toward the net. But if as soon as they see their opponent swinging, they should stop and get ready to return. [00:13:52] Speaker B: Should get ready to move to the ball. [00:13:54] Speaker A: Move to the ball. Yeah, that's a good point. And then, of course, you left off with teaching them the third shot drop. And that's when you use the analogy of cornhole or bowling. [00:14:05] Speaker B: Yep, exactly. Cornhole, bowling, or any other one. Softball, volleyball, you name it. Yeah. Um, we also are stickler for the rules. [00:14:14] Speaker A: Yes. [00:14:16] Speaker B: So we're at the point now where we're ready to start a game. After they've practiced a few third shot drops, I go, you got the first three hits down. We're probably not gonna get past that on too many rallies. Let's get started. They just look at me like I'm weird, but it's true, right? And I go, let's play a game. So we get them going. Now, the one thing I do not teach them during all of this is the scoring. I teach the scoring while they're playing, and it's fun to watch them figure it out. I help them, I answer any questions they have, I tell them about it, but I go, look, the game starts at a really weird score, zero to zero. We can all agree with that, right? But there's this third number that has to do with which server you are. This time you have the ball. I go, and that's the third number. And so I'm just going to say that third number for a while until we all get used to it. Okay? So the score is zero, zero, two. Now, I've said the score, but I'm not playing. I tell them, you have to say the score. [00:15:13] Speaker A: Mm hmm. [00:15:14] Speaker B: You're saying the score to notify the other team. Here comes the serve. They go, oh, okay. Then they say the score and they go, what is it again? And they go, it's three numbers. Like we can all remember that zero. [00:15:24] Speaker A: Zero, two are better at remembering than others. I'm just gonna say that out now. [00:15:28] Speaker B: So they go, zero, zero, two. They whack the ball. If it's in, great. The next ball comes back, I'm yelling, let it bounce. Because almost always they want to hit. [00:15:37] Speaker A: So excited. [00:15:38] Speaker B: I sometimes stand behind them and hold their shirts to keep them from going forward. Literally have done that. [00:15:43] Speaker A: Really? [00:15:44] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:15:44] Speaker A: I've never seen that. [00:15:46] Speaker B: Ask Bethany. Well, you saw me how I coached Bethany this summer. She kept coming back from the kitchen line when she shouldn't so I stood behind her so she couldn't come back. [00:15:52] Speaker A: Oh, I did. [00:15:53] Speaker B: See, you kept pushing her back towards the kitchen line. I'm like, stop it, girl. [00:15:58] Speaker A: It did help, I'm sure. [00:15:59] Speaker B: Yeah, she said a couple weeks later, she was like, I can feel you back there when you're not even there. And I was like, perfect. That's the point. All right, so. So they're now in a game mode, and this is where I teach them that when you score, you switch sides. [00:16:16] Speaker A: Right? [00:16:17] Speaker B: And this is where I teach them how to keep track of ones and twos. And we go ahead and tell them from the very beginning a couple important things we teach them. If you're the first server and you're on the right, you're what we call the even server, meaning your score will always be even. When you're on the right and you're serving, we look at the other person, we just go, you're odd, but it's harder to remember all that stuff. It's one person can remember. One person can remember I started the game serving. I'm even. We don't need everybody to remember everything else from there. [00:16:49] Speaker A: True. [00:16:50] Speaker B: Okay, so we get them playing, and then about seven or eight points in, they'll be like, hey, what do we play to? And I'll say, you play to eleven, win by two. And then we keep them going until they get to eleven. One by two. [00:17:02] Speaker A: Mm hmm. [00:17:03] Speaker B: And then we teach them the last rule of pickleball. [00:17:06] Speaker A: There's no set. There's no sorry in pickleball. [00:17:08] Speaker B: No, that happens when the game's over. [00:17:10] Speaker A: You come to the net. [00:17:11] Speaker B: You come to the net and everyone says hi. Taps paddles, clicks their heels three times, says, one more game. [00:17:19] Speaker A: Exactly. We have time for one more game. [00:17:23] Speaker B: We teach them the paddle tap at the end of the game. And you know some places that you tap the butt end of your hand, of your handle, on your paddle instead of your paddle, face some paces, you give knuckles, whatever, I don't care. [00:17:33] Speaker A: But you always end with sportsmanship. [00:17:35] Speaker B: Yeah. This game was designed to be a good sportsmanship game. [00:17:40] Speaker A: Love it. [00:17:41] Speaker B: They've played a game and they're so excited. Yeah. And usually someone of the four figures out the scoring pretty early. And I let them help because it just solidifies it with them, and that's one less person I have to help figure out the score. [00:17:55] Speaker A: True. [00:17:56] Speaker B: And as they get it figured out, they'd be like, honey, here's how we do it. But there's a guy or gal saying it to the person. It's often a spouse that we're teaching or a married couple we're teaching. [00:18:05] Speaker A: Yep. [00:18:05] Speaker B: And one spouse will get the other one won't. Like, the husband will be looking at the wife like, what? She's like, it's three, two, one, let's go. And he'll be like, I don't know what the score is. She's like, it's three two, and you're the first server. Let's go. It's fun to watch. [00:18:17] Speaker A: It is fun to watch. [00:18:18] Speaker B: That's our process for teaching pickleball. But I said we're a stickler on the rules, and so I want to kind of give some more insight into that before we wrap up today. [00:18:26] Speaker A: Yes, please. [00:18:27] Speaker B: When they start the game at zero zero two, if that server misses the serve, everyone's like, oh, try again. And I'm like, no, you did not make your serve. And the rules say you don't get a second serve. Give the ball to the other team. If they step over the line while they're serving, I call it. I don't care if they've been playing for seven minutes. If they step over the kitchen line, I go, fault. Like, I just step in fault loud as I can. I want them to know. Almost like, ah, trying to scare them. And they learn. [00:18:59] Speaker A: They do. [00:19:00] Speaker B: They learn. [00:19:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:02] Speaker B: This whole not knowing the score and babying somebody for four years on what the heck the score is. [00:19:07] Speaker A: Or are you speaking from experience, sir? [00:19:11] Speaker B: I'm not looking straight at you, am I? [00:19:14] Speaker A: Now? Let me. Let me just say some people are just recreational. They don't even care if they're. [00:19:20] Speaker B: It's a problem. [00:19:22] Speaker A: There's people like that out there. [00:19:23] Speaker B: There are. And you know what's interesting? They can all keep score when they are focused on it. [00:19:28] Speaker A: That's true. [00:19:28] Speaker B: But they're like, la, la, la. It's my turn to serve. What's the score? Or they stand, like, they stand in the kitchen line. They spin around a circle, like, looking for people who have their hands up to, and no one has their hand up, and they still don't realize that that means it must be their serve. [00:19:44] Speaker A: He's winking at me. [00:19:45] Speaker B: She's cute. [00:19:46] Speaker A: That's not. I usually know it as my serve. [00:19:49] Speaker B: I have seen you throw the ball back to the other team multiple times, and they throw it right back at you. [00:19:53] Speaker A: I always know the serve is mine. I always said that. I usually know when the serve is mine. [00:19:59] Speaker B: When you pay attention, you seem to know. [00:20:01] Speaker A: Yeah, that's usually when I want to win. Yeah, if I'm not paying attention, I don't care. [00:20:06] Speaker B: So again, stick along the rules, whether it's, you know, non volley zone errors or faults or. [00:20:14] Speaker A: Funny that you focus on the rules. Yeah, because you're like the maverick of the family. [00:20:24] Speaker B: On this one. I only break rules that should be. [00:20:27] Speaker A: Broken, which is most of them rules. Oh dear. [00:20:31] Speaker B: Only break dumb rules. Well, no, you know, I respect very much the game. I've always been a rule follower in games. [00:20:40] Speaker A: That is true. [00:20:41] Speaker B: Yeah. All right, so do you have any questions? [00:20:45] Speaker A: I don't think so, because I have experienced this process with you, not just as a student, but also as a fellow instructor, and unfortunate enough that I get to instruct soon. So I'm pretty fun. It's pretty fun to have a refresher and I'm all set for tomorrow. [00:21:03] Speaker B: I've had some great instructors with me in the past. Paul McKinney and Joe drown were just fantastic, and I say were. Paul has been pretty busy and I havent had him around for probably three or four years of the newbie stuff. Joe has been a great help, steps in when he can, but he also lives in Florida half the year, so, you know, hes not always here either. Do you have anyone helping you tomorrow? [00:21:23] Speaker A: Nope. [00:21:23] Speaker B: Yeah, itll be too late for people to take advantage of tomorrow by listening to this podcast, because this one will come out a few days after your being in our class. [00:21:30] Speaker A: Yep. [00:21:31] Speaker B: But we were sitting at home and said, hey, you gotta begin our class tomorrow. Let's just go through this one more time together. We've been committing to do this podcast at some point in time. [00:21:39] Speaker A: We have. We even mentioned it last week. [00:21:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I might have bored the heck out of some of our listeners, but that's okay if you, if you got this far. Thank you. That means that you need to tell your friends that we're ahead of the game and so are.