Pickleball
Canada
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and upcoming clinics
Pickleball Boot Camp
Professional Training, Food,
Fun and Friendship!
BY KELLI McROBERT, MARKETING DIRECTOR,
PICKLEBALL CANADA
S
aturday morning and the parking lot slowly fills
with blurry-eyed players heading into the Royal
Kingston Curling Club (RKCC). Instead of brooms
and sweaters, we’re donning shorts and packing
paddles. It’s time for Pickleball Boot Camp! Two full days
of professional training, food, fun and friendship. For a
nominal $250 fee, we were granted access to three coaches
and hours of training, strategies and one-on-one feedback
to take our game to the next level.
As we entered the large, six-court complex, we were
introduced to our coaches for the camp:
Ryan Hanes is a sanctioned 4.5 player and a Certified
Pickleball Teaching Professional with the International
Professional Teaching Pickleball Association (IPTPA).
He experienced a great deal of tournament success in
2017 in and around Ontario, including Eastern Canadian
Championships-Gold Men’s 4.5+ open age, Gold Mixed
35+ open skill, Ontario Provincials-Bronze Men’s 19+ 4.5+,
Quebec Regional Repentigny-Gold Men’s 40+ 4.5, and
Plattsburgh-Silver Men’s 4.5+ open age. He has a passion
for pickleball, which is evident during his lessons and
clinics. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Matthew (Matt) Kawamoto started playing pickleball
about two years ago and immediately developed a passion
70
for the game. He currently resides in Hamilton, Ontario,
where he is a “pro” for the summer. During the school
year, he relocates to Ottawa, Ontario, where he plays
and instructs at local clubs and events. Matt has been
successful in many tournaments in the Ontario region
and has competed outside of the area—most recently
at the US Open in Naples, FL. During this event he
received his Pickleball Canada 5.0 rating. Last summer
he earned his IPTPA certification and has run numerous
lessons and clinics in southern Ontario and Ottawa. He
can be contacted at [email protected].
Cameron Taylor has been playing pickleball for
the past seven years and competing at the 4.5+ level
across Canada and the USA for the past five years. He
has been successful playing in both men’s and mixed
double categories. Cam has been coaching pickleball
for over two years now and is an IPTPA-certified
coach. Currently, he’s employed as the Club Pro for
the Georgian Triangle Pickleball Club based out of
Collingwood, Ontario. His background in coaching
volleyball has translated into coaching pickleball
for both adults and children. He can be contacted at
[email protected].
Once the warm-up was complete, we moved into a
fast-paced schedule of strokes, shot selection, strategy
and demonstrations. For two hours we drilled and fine-
tuned our skills until a buffet lunch was served. After
lunch we mo ved into the soft game, with third-shot
drops and dinking exercises that kept us on our toes
and squatting until our glutes burned.
TO SUBSCRIBE CALL 888.308.3720 OR GO TO THEPICKLEBALLMAG.COM