INSTRUCTION
CONTROL FACTOR
By PPR’s Sarah Ansboury
& Nicole Hobson
Safety First!
A
s professional coaches, we must work
within the limitations of our students’
bodies and PPR helps teach this to potential
coaches.
In the past several months, we’ve seen people on the
forum who’ve been injured playing pickleball. Several
posted that they know orthopedists and other specialists
who are glad pickleball is the fastest-growing sport,
because they are seeing more people come in with
injuries and therefore it’s good for business. Tennis
players who mainly play on clay say the hard pickleball
court hurts their joints—hips, knees and ankles.
As we read and hear about these posts, we realize
just how important education is to the growth of our
sport, not only to grow in numbers, but also to ensure
the safety of players, both new and those who’ve been
playing a while.
First, the movement and muscle memory of so many
sports will correlate to pickleball. If you play a striking
sport—softball, tennis, baseball, golf, badminton, table
tennis (that’s ping-pong for most of us), etc., you’ll have
better-than-average hand-eye coordination. If you
play football, hockey, lacrosse, field hockey, etc., you
understand tracking a ball, either to block it, catch it,
kick it or throw it.
If you’re a runner, hiker, cyclist
or swimmer, your body
understands how to move
forward, stay balanced
and stay in control
while moving quickly.
If you’re a dancer,
gymnast or yogi,
you understand
balance and are
very aware of
both sides of your
body and how they
work together—
our terminology
is dominant and
non-dominant sides of
the body.
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The key is to find a coach/instructor who can help
develop your personal style based on your specific
muscle memory and, yes, this is a mission of PPR
instructors.
Second, what if you’re not naturally athletic? For
example, maybe you’re musically and artistically
inclined. Well, that parlays into pickleball, too. You
understand rhythm, cadence, progressions, patience—
these serve you well at the NVZ. You can learn to hit a
plastic ball with a larger paddle over the net. It may take
a little longer, but you can do it. And the right instructor
will be able to help you develop muscle memory and
your own style.
Have you noticed that age isn’t a factor? Because age
doesn’t really matter. Pickleball is a sport for all ages,
preferably playing together.
So why all the injuries? We believe there are two
predominant answers: coaches and others introducing
the sport and teaching their own personal style; and new
pickleball addicts who watch videos and want to play like
the pros.
We’ve lost track of all of the places we’ve been to
conduct training workshops, but we remember the
people, the stories, that a-ha moment when students
finally understand the uniqueness of our sport.
The injuries come from people who are teaching
(as volunteers or for money) with absolutely no
understanding of the fundamentals and foundations
of pickleball. Nor do they understand that not
everyone’s body is made the same or has the
same muscle memory.
Many people who are teaching and
not yet certified have expressed that
they have a hard time with their
students lunging for the ball—some
of the students just can’t do it, so
how are they supposed to teach
someone to dink or stretch
out for a wide shot? Well,
as professional
coaches, we