Pickleball is growing in North America, yes. But I love seeing the sport grow globally. That’s why I was so excited when I was invited to travel to Shenzhen, China, to spend a week working with some of that country’s up-and-coming pickleball coaches.
I learned a lot from working with those instructors. Here I want to share three things that stood out as differences between coaches in North America and the coaches I worked with in China.
In China, teachers are held in very high esteem. They are treated with incredible amounts of respect and deference. That feels really good as a coach, but it also comes with pressure. The instructors called me the Lao Shi — Mandarin for teacher. It was a sign of respect. Don’t get me wrong, people in North America, generally speaking, treat coaches well, but what I experienced in China was next level. They wouldn’t let me carry my own bag. They always insisted I walked through the door first. Nobody ate until I ate. It was kind of overwhelming. It made me want to give them my best and not disappoint them.
A second difference that stood out to me had to do with coaching methodology. I use an approach that is rather collaborative: asking players and instructors to think through different problems and how they might solve them. I find this kind of interactive style keeps people engaged and makes them feel like they are here to problem solve rather than simply retain information that I dispense.
But it seems that this approach is rather uncommon in China. I would often ask questions of the coaches, and nobody would offer an answer. Instead, they appear to be waiting for me to follow up, to give the answer to them. When I push back and ask the question again, they appeared slightly confused, as though to ask “Why isn’t Lao Shi telling us the answer?”.
I had to learn that direct instruction was something they were more comfortable with. And when possible, I tried to accommodate. But I do think there is value in teasing out an answer. In working together to try to solve a problem, rather than simply have the solution handed to you. So they had to adapt as well. I think it was interesting and challenging for all of us.
Finally, the initial overall feeling of the seven-day course was rather stuffy. As a sign of respect, the coaches acted in a way that I would consider surprisingly formal and buttoned up. At first, everyone had a serious look. There is very little laughter. And since there was a language barrier (I don’t speak Mandarin, they didn’t speak English), I couldn’t easily just tell a joke to set them at ease or make things a little less formal. But one of the things I appreciate is being able to spend over 50 hours with these coaches. And even with the language barrier, those walls eventually start to come down. We started to joke with each other. We started to take ourselves a little bit less seriously. The respect and effort were still there, of course, but it was done in a way that was far more comfortable to be in.
I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to work with these coaches, and this is just the start of what will be an ongoing relationship between them and Pickleball Coaching International. I derive a lot of pleasure from being part of other people’s learning. It’s why I do what I do. But I also love the opportunity to learn new things myself. This weeklong coaching trip in China scratched that itch for me. It was a chance for me to reflect on my own coaching practices to remember how important it is to meet your students where they are. I can’t wait to go back for round two!
Written By: Mark Renneson