Pickleball Lessons Indianapolis
Looking for 1 on 1 Pickleball lessons in Indianapolis? Then you’re in the right spot!
Pickleball is a great sport. It’s a great way to stay active and the community is second to no other sport. And if you’re looking for lessons to learn how to get better at the game, or even just how to play the game, you’ve come to the right place.
Our Coaches:
Hi, I’m Josh Mackens. Forgive the website, it’s a work in progress. Also please forgive the professional picture in lieu of a more…Pickleball picture. Working on that as well.
I am a Pickleball Coach local to Indianapolis, based in the Fishers area. I’ve been playing since January 2023 but taking Pickleball seriously since June 2023 (drilling 5 days a week, 2-4 hours a day, watching film, identifying weaknesses, working those weaknesses out, etc.). I am also a Pickleball Pro at the Indianapolis Racquet Club here in Indianapolis.
I’m currently somewhere in the 4.5 range according to the USA Pickleball Player Skill Ratings rubric and in the 4.5 – 5.0 range in DUPR (and here is my personal DUPR). I love coaching players that are in the 1.0 – 4.0 UTPR range and 2.0 DUPR (just started, never hit a Pickleball before or if you don’t even know what UTPR/DUPR is) – 4.5 range.
If you’re just getting into Pickleball, want to progress as fast as possible, or just aren’t progressing as fast as you would like, I’ve been where you are. I know the journey. And I wish I had someone to help me on my journey. I wish I had someone when I started to help me with strategy, to identify the things I was doing wrong, and to even take the time to help me with mechanics on things like drives, dinks, 3rd shot drops, etc. I really wish for the first 3 months I was playing recreationally someone had come along and helped me.
As I got better I wish I had someone to help me understand more advanced things to help me progress even quicker, like my positioning, when I was getting stuck in the transition zone, when to be patient and when to attack, how to not hit neutral balls in the Kitchen when given a neutral ball but to use that shot to apply pressure to generate a put away opportunity, to help with Kitchen progressions, etc.
Had I had someone to help me do all of this I would have gotten much better, much quicker and as a result, had more fun a lot faster.
Let me be that person for you.
Let me help you avoid the pitfalls that I ran into and affirm the things you’re doing right. Let me help you get better, quicker and having more fun faster.
What a Typical Pickleball Lesson Looks Like
A typical Pickleball lesson from any coach will probably look very similar to this:
- Meet up
- Identify what you want to work on
- Structured instruction time as well as time implementing instruction
- Lesson close
Coaches are different but most coaches will follow some sort of process like this.
What Does a Pickleball Lesson from The Pickleball Lab look like?
And while those lesson plans are fine, at The Pickleball Lab we pride ourselves in being the best coaches in the state of Indiana. So, our lessons will look a bit different.
Our lesson actually starts 30 minutes before you arrive. In those 30 minutes we:
- Review game footage (yes, we have you take footage of you playing throughout the week, don’t be intimidated, it’s easy) and analyze
- Upload that analysis to your CoachNow (a coaching app we use, more on this in a bit) for you to view and learn from at your leisure
- From this analysis and from our previous lesson summary (again, more on this in a bit) we plan the lesson for the day to be strategic in targeting improvement
- Then it’s time to hit the court with you
While on court with you, we start by:
- Checking in with how you feel like your Pickleball play has gone since our last lesson
- Checking in to see if you were able to follow the drill schedule you were given from the last lesson
- Ask if you have any Pickleball related questions we can answer before we start
- Letting you know our plan for the lesson
- But asking if there’s something you’d like to work on instead and pivoting the lesson if so
This allows us to set up your lesson for success.
Then we:
- Typically take some type of benchmark to see how you’re improving from one lesson to the next
- Jump into the lesson plan for the day (whether our plan or the pivot to what you want to work on)
- Instruction
- Implementation
- Hit a ton of balls
- Film all aspects for your review in CoachNow
And we end the lesson by:
- Asking if you have any questions
- Remind you to record at least 1 game between now and our next lesson
- Check and make sure the drill schedule you’ve set still works for you
And then we spend 30 minutes off court after by:
- Recording a lesson summary
- Analyze any drills (if necessary) from our lesson and post analysis for you to review on CoachNow
- Send drills in CoachNow for you to complete (to reinforce our lesson) until our next lesson along with a drill schedule based on what works for you
As you can see, if you’re serious about getting better at pickleball in Indianapolis, the coaches at The Pickleball Lab are the ones you want to work with.
Why Should I Choose You Guys to Coach Me?
It all starts with our Coaches.
Our Coaches
We truly believe we have the best Pickleball coaches in Indianapolis and even the state.
We have about a 10% hire rate because all of our coaches go through a rigorous interview process.
We require our coaches to:
- Have a large and extensive knowledge of the game
- Have the ability to teach and train
- Work as hard as you do
1. Game Knowledge
We require our coaches know the game of Pickleball. You have to know the game in order to teach the game. Whether this means our instructors having attained a high level ranking in Pickleball relative to the levels they are teaching, or having a long, long history in the game with a history of coaching success already, our coaches are equipped with the knowledge necessary to help you improve.
2. Teaching Ability
Just because someone is a good Pickleball player, that doesn’t make them a great coach. Being good at Pickleball or having a massive library of game knowledge at your disposal doesn’t mean you can:
- Break down complicated concepts simply
- Pivot to a different way of explaining something if a client doesn’t quite understand how you’re explaining it
- Adapt to a client’s way of learning and absorbing information
- Or even have the patience to work with a client until they overcome their current Pickleball challenge
Our Pickleball coaches don’t just know the game, they are great teachers too. They all have some type of experience (with most having extensive experience) either in coaching already, the education system (K-12 or college/higher ed), or other teaching professions like corporate training. Our coaches know how to teach and help their students absorb game knowledge and put it into practice.
And they’re all constantly getting educational training on how to teach better as well so they can become the best teachers possible.
3. Hard Work
And finally, a coach can have all the game knowledge and be an incredible teacher but if they aren’t as dedicated to helping you become better as you are, then they won’t coach for us.
For every hour on court with you our coaches spend an hour off court.
We believe you simply can’t just show up to a lesson cold as an instructor, pick something to work on, and then hope your client gets better.
We also believe you can’t simply walk off the court after a lesson, leaving the client on their own until the next lesson.
That’s great for other coaches. But not for us.
That’s why we require our coaches before they ever step on cour for your lesson to do their pre-lesson work:
- reviewing last week’s lesson
- film analysis
- lesson planning
- and more
And why we require them to do their post-lesson work of:
- recording lesson summary
- posting your drills for you to follow that week
- setting up your drill scheduling
- and more
If you’re going to work hard, then we are too.
And if a coach doesn’t have the game knowledge, ability to teach, or mentality to work hard to help you get better…well, then they don’t coach for us.
Our coaches are the best of the best.
And these are the coaches you want coaching you.
What is CoachNow?
CoachNow is a coaching app we use with all of our clients to communicate as well as record lessons.
When you sign up for a lesson and pay we set you up with a CoachNow account (free for you because we pay for it) where we are able to send you lessons recaps, communicate on our lessons, record our lessons for you watch again, and even post video analysis on lessons or even game film.
The video analysis portion of our coaching is one of the biggest values based on client feedback and it’s CoachNow that allows us to do this.
CoachNow allows us to take regular pickleball lessons and take them to the next level.
Why Pay For Lessons?
That’s a great question. You can watch YouTube, Instagram etc. and self teach. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. I’ve done it myself.
But somewhat of a pitfall in self teaching is that when you’re watching these videos, they’re coaching you for…the length of the video. After that, the coaching is over and it’s up to you to apply it. You also can’t ask them follow up questions. And you can’t get the advice personalized to you.
With coaching you get a tailored lesson to your game, personalized, real-time advice, the ability to ask any questions you want and individualized 1 on 1 attention. Put that all together and what you ultimately end up with is a quicker path to playing better at the game you love.
In terms of getting lessons versus just going out and playing, you totally can! I did that early in my journey too. However, I wish I could have gotten lessons earlier. I would have gotten so much better so much faster and had way more fun. So, essentially, if you want to get better fast and have fun quicker, Pickleball lessons are a great investment!
Where Do You Coach?
Depending on the client and the day, I coach at either IRC (Indianapolis Racquet Club) or on outside courts. I schedule the location based on what works best that given day. If you need me to travel to you that is possible but a travel fee is added to the cost of the lesson.
Ready to get started? Contact me below!
Contact Josh
If you’re ready to schedule a lesson or if you have a few questions first, contact us below: