This is the second in six part series where we are exploring the Quality Standards. This framework is used as part of Canada’s pickleball instructor certification course delivered collaboratively between Pickleball Canada and Tennis Canada. The concept of Quality Standards was developed by Wayne Elderton, one of Canada’s foremost coaching experts. I would argue that no matter what sport you teach — or even if you teach in a classroom setting — thinking about Quality Standards can be helpful. 

Definition of Active Participation: The proportion of time a player is engaged in meaningful activity.

People take part in pickleball clinics for a wide range of reasons: some are there for the social interaction that comes with group training. Others are sincerely interested in improving their skills. Some people want exercise and others are there to learn something new. While the motivation that draws people to group training can change, one things is certain — nobody is signing up for pickleball lessons so they can stand around!

What are we waiting for?

A few years ago I was in a resort town in Florida on a family trip. As it happened, a well-known pickleball coach was running a camp for about 30 players on the courts at the resort. I was on adjacent courts with my kids, close enough to see the camp but not to hear everything being said. It was the very beginning of the day and the coach and his assistants were standing on the court, and all of his campers were standing against the fence, paddles in hand, and listening to him speak.

I’m always curious what coaches do with their players but since this appeared to be just a welcome/meet and greet session, I didn’t pay much attention. I instead went back to playing with my kids and figured I’d check back later.

About 15 minutes passed and I looked back over at the camp to see what warm-up activities they were doing. To my surprise, everyone was still in the exact same position (except a few of the players were now sitting on the court instead of standing). The coach was still talking! I thought: “You know what? It’s the first day of the camp, there is probably a lot of house-keeping to get through”. I went back to my kids.

Fifteen minutes later my kids needed some water — Florida is humid in April! — and when I turned to check out the camp, THE COACH WAS STILL TALKING! Thirty minutes had passed and now everyone was sitting, and about a dozen campers had literally pulled up chairs onto the courts. Some were on their phones. Some were talking to each other. All of them looked annoyed.

At this point, I was dying to know what the coach was talking about. So I casually walked close enough to the courts so I could hear what was being said. It was not, as you might have guessed, words of wisdom about pickleball tactics or technique. It was not even a detailed explanation of the themes of the camp or the shape of each day. Instead, the coach was talking about another camp that he had worked at with a famous pro player! He was literally pumping his own tires and making his paying students sit and take it.

I’m not here just to rag on this coach. But I do think that it is important that we as instructors respect the time of our players and this story can be cautionary tale. We all like to hear ourselves speak. We all think that what have important things to say and experiences to share. But your players aren’t there to hear your stories or biographical history. They are there to work. To play. To participate. And this includes getting things going quickly.

3 Keys to maximizing active participation in a lesson.

Say less — do more. Coaches who are good at keeping people active recognize that every second they spend talking to their players, is a second that those players aren’t physically active. That doesn’t mean coaches shouldn’t talk — they are there to teach, after all — but it does mean that they should be selective about what they say and how quickly they say it.

One of the biggest time traps is when introducing a new topic. Less experienced coaches will spend several minutes talking about a new skill and why it matters. More experienced coaches are laser focused and make their point quickly. Below are some good audio examples of succinct introductions to skills:

Using rotations effectively. In group settings, you don’t always have four people per court. And when you don’t have really friendly numbers, it is important you can use smart rotations so nobody is sitting out for very long. Make sure you plan for not only how the rotations will work (small circles; big circles; anchor rotation; triangles; etc.) but also when they will happen. Will you switch players after a certain length of time? After a certain number of balls hit? Something else? Clarity matters here.

Focus. Sometimes time is wasted because the coach is trying to teach too many things at once. Rather than addressing a single, specific topic, they hop around from idea to idea. Coaches who find themselves saying “And another thing…” are often guilty of getting off message. This usually comes from a desire to share as much of their knowledge as possible in a short period of time. It is important to remember that a coach’s job isn’t to share everything they know, but to make their players better. Keeping things tight and focused will help to do this and allow players to spend less time listening and more time practicing.

It’s a wrap!

It is important to tie things together at the end of a lesson but it is even more important to do it quickly. Two or three minutes is all it takes to thank your players for coming, praise their effort, and review some key points. if you have more you want to say, send it in a friendly follow-up email where you can also promote other opportunities or services.