Virtual Pickleball Lessons

Noted. Fair question. And I don’t disagree with you. This website is just our starter website. We will certainly be upgrading it in the near future and that plan is already in the works. As for if we are legit, I would encourage you to check out our About page as well as the page for our Founder and Lead Instructor. You can also check out our Google Business Profile for reviews from real people.  And finally, you can certainly check out our YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok profiles if that puts you at ease as well. We are certainly legit and also offer a full moneyback guarantee to put your mind even further at ease.

We have a very pro-consumer moneyback guarantee. If for any reason whatsoever, you are not satisfied with your virtual lesson, you can ask for a full refund within 14 days and you will receive your money back, no questions asked. We feel like we are a collection of some of the best Pickleball coaches in the US. And we are going to protect that brand at all costs. And that includes the cost of any virtual lesson.

Absolutely. And we’re not just saying that. Film review with an expert is invaluable. That’s why professional athletes in every sport watch film. Not to mention, we’re giving you a normal lesson just minus the on court experience. And in our on court lessons we require our students to film before their next lesson so we can do film analysis anyway. So, we’re just taking our normal on court lesson and removing the on court part. Everything else is the same:

1. Identifying gaps in your game
2. Talking adjustments to fix the gaps
3. Demonstrating
4. Go home with a drill schedule to work on fixing the gaps

In fact, we have some in person students that say our film analysis we do for them off court is their favorite part of the lesson. And that’s because it’s hard to see the mistakes you’re making in real time. As they say, “film don’t lie”. And it’s invaluable to see the mistakes you’re making in film. When you do, the buy in to fix the mistakes is higher and the change is more immediate than if you didn’t watch film. And in a “virtual lesson”, it’s basically one big film session. We also use our webcam to do a bit of demonstration as well so that component is not lost either.

Ultimately, virtual lessons are a great asset to your Pickleball journey. And our coaches have even sought out virtual lessons from the top pros in the game. That’s how valuable we believe they are.

We’re pretty intense about coaching. If you’re going to put in the hard work of getting better, our coaches are going to put in the hard work of making you better.

Here’s a detailed lesson breakdown (note: this is a breakdown of lesson schedule after taking your first lesson, your first lesson will look very similar but without the work done from a previous lesson):

Pre-Lesson:

1. Coach reviews your previous lesson notes
2. Looks at film you uploaded since last lesson and analyzes
3. Posts analysis on CoachNow app for your review after lesson
4. Combines the above to produce a lesson plan for the day

In-Lesson

1. Coach checks in with you to see how you feel like your Pickleball play has gone since the last lesson
2. Checks in to see if you were able to follow drill schedule since last lesson
3. Asks if you have any Pickleball related questions we can answer before you start
4. Lets you know the plan for the lesson
5. But asks 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 your Coach will:

• Check in your benchmark we asked you to take
• Jump into the lesson plan for the day (whether our plan or the pivot to what you want to work on)
• Film analysis
• Instruction
• Discussion

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

Post-Lesson:

• Coach posts a lesson summary on CoachNow app
• Posts lesson recording in CoachNow for you to review
• Analyzes any drills (if necessary) from the lesson and posts analysis for you to review on CoachNow
• Sends drills in CoachNow for you to complete (to reinforce the lesson) until our next lesson
• Sends drill schedule based on what works for you

As you can see, if you’re serious about getting better at pickleball, the coaches at The Pickleball Lab are the ones you want to work with.

Your first lesson is actually 1.5 hours instead of our usual hour. We use that first 30 minutes to go over our initial coaching intake to set us up to coach you successfully. We talk about things like your pickleball history, things you specifically want to work on, what made you want to reach out for coaching, and even things like injury history, etc. but most importantly we want to assess your goals and where you want to get to in your pickleball journey. Once we’ve completed that and laid a nice foundation for us to move forward with your lesson, we then use the last hour to go through your film and get into the lesson itself. Every lesson after your initial lesson will be 1 hour.

Yes, there’s no way to see what you need to improve in your Pickleball game if there’s no film to analyze.

We get it, asking people if you can film a Pickleball game is scary. However, in the 100’s of times I’ve asked people if I could film I’ve literally never had anyone tell me no. Just let them know you’re doing it for coaching and your own personal film review and people are all too happy to do that. And if you’re using the streaming option for your lesson, let them know it may end up on YouTube and offer to give them the link when it comes out so they can get a “free lesson” out of your lesson. Usually, people will love that. But the bottom line is: just ask. And in the highly, highly unlikely event someone says no, just ask the next group. They’ll say yes.

When you sign up on Calendly you will get an invite from us to our app called CoachNow. Within 24 hours you will have that invite, sign up, and then in the app itself it will allow you to upload the video you’ve saved on your phone to the app. This will then upload the video CoachNow and we will be able to see it as well as download it and use it on our lesson.

Most people film with a tripod but any way you can set up your camera to get the match will be fine. Ask to borrow a tripod from a friend or family member or order an overnight one for around $17 on Amazon. This one will work great but really any one will do. The best place to put your camera is at the net back off of it as far as possible. You can also put it behind you at the baseline if you’re not able to get it at the net. You can also put it in the corner of the baseline as well. Film at .5 zoom if necessary to get the full court. In order to film at .5 zoom you will need to use the front facing camera of your phone. If you’re confused on this, ask a friend and they should be able to help.

The truth is you should really just film any match. Any match will give us valuable data and insight. The problem is most people wait to film a match where they play really, really well. We’d rather see a match where you play either poorly or about average. Playing really well covers up a lot of your flaws. Playing average shows us a pretty accurate picture of your game. And playing poorly shows us where your flaws truly exist. But honestly, any match will do. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to film the perfect game. Go out and film and just get us the game you end up filming and we’ll be just fine.

We recommend getting to your virtual lesson about 15 minutes early. That allows you to work out any issues with your Zoom program. Technology can be amazing when it works and costly when it doesn’t. You don’t want to waste the money you’re paying trying to update your Zoom. If you get to the lesson 15 minutes early that allows you to work out any issues beforehand and be ready at lesson time.

Absolutely. We record the entire lesson and post it for your review on CoachNow where you can access it at any time.

CoachNow is our coaching app we use. We are able to record videos in it, access the film you record in it, as well as communicate with you and a whole host of other options. It’s extremely handy and a huge asset in our ability to provide world class Pickleball coaching. Not to mention, since we pay for the app it’s free for you to use! It’s an added benefit for you for scheduling a lesson with us.