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Premium Lesson Plans
This series of lesson plans are intended to provide you with a useful resource you can use with your players. While we do include some basic lesson plan examples, included with a paid membership, these are much more elaborate and detailed. We have made the plans as detailed as possible, but you should feel free to make adjustments as you see fit: really like a particular drill? Extend it! Think your players need more time playing a particular game? Switch teams and do it again!
Think of these documents like you would recipes – use them as a starting point and follow them as closely as you care to.
Here are a few other things to consider as you use these lesson plans:
These plans are based on 90-minute sessions. If your lessons are longer, you can lengthen the time allocated to the different activities. If your lessons are shorter, you’ll need to abbreviate some aspects of the lesson, or perhaps save them for another time.
These plans are adjustable. Pretty much any drill or game can be made easier or harder while maintaining the original look and feel. If you need an activity to be more challenging, consider making the target smaller or the goal more demanding (e.g. make six hits in a row to a target rather than just six hits total). If you need to make things easier, make the feed slower or remove some of the movement required. All of these activities can be used across a wide range of skill levels
Connecting tactics and technique. None of these activities exist in a vacuum – they are all intended to help people play better pickleball. If you’re the coach, be sure to help your players understand not only what they are doing, but how it will help them to play the game better. Making a clear tactical connection will improve buy-in from your players.
Examples of the activities. While we tried to make the descriptions clear and easy-to-follow, a picture is worth a thousand words. You can see examples of many of the activities on the page you downloaded the document from.
A handy Warm-Up Menu is included in each and every lesson. Mix up your warm-ups!
One last thing to remember: while great drills and games can help make a lesson more fun, nothing is as impactful as the person leading the group. The instructor is the one who sets the tone and leads by example, and it is important that they take this responsibility seriously. So go out there, have a great time and teach your heart out! Hopefully, these lesson plans can help you with that work.
Mark Renneson
Pickleball Coaching International
There are 4 groupings of lesson plans available. Paid members of PCI can click below for member preferred pricing, in addition to having the flexibility of purchasing each series for just $35, or all 4 series (and 12 lesson plans) for $120.
Non-members are welcome to access these tools as well, but they are only available as a group of 12 plans, for $150.
What do these entail? Take a peek!
Series 1: Start Build and Finish Strong
This series of lesson plans focus on starting the point well and being a solid volleyer at the net. We even get a little fancy by introducing spin (something many players LOVE learning about).
PLAN #1: Starting Strong. Teaching points and activities help instructors explain why it is so important to care about the first shot (serve or return) and to see it as a chance to do more than just get things started. Drills and games help players be more deliberate with their first shot, not to hit a winner, but to tilt the odds in their favour.
PLAN #2: Very Good Volleys. This lesson is all about developing skill and confidence at the net. Players will work on handling drives from the NVZ and sending them back effectively. Players will also work on their volley decision-making skills based on the opponent’s position on the court.
PLAN #3: All About Spin. A class favourite, this lesson plan gives players a chance to learn about backspin, sidespin and topspin. Taught in a progressive way, players get to experiment with different spins and try to use them in modified game situations.
Series 2: Third Shot Development
We all know that the third shot is a key part of pickleball: hit it well and good things happen. Hit it poorly and you’re asking for trouble.
This series of lesson plans give you the tools to work on developing a variety of third shot skills, as well as develop the decision-making needed to go with them.
PLAN #1: 3rd Shot Drive. Taking a swing on the third shot can be a very effective way to cause trouble against a team whose volley skills are a little suspect. The teaching points and activities in this lesson plan will help give your players confidence to let it rip!
PLAN #2: 3rd Shot Drop. When the drive doesn’t make sense, the drop is usually the next best option. The trouble is, the shot is high-risk and hard to execute well. This lesson plan will help you walk your players through the key technical elements of good drops and give them meaningful chances to develop them.
PLAN #3: 3rd Shot Decision-Making. What should a person do after hitting the third shot? Well, it depends. And this lesson plan gives your players a chance to develop those critical decision-making skills.
Series 3: The Soft and Hard side of Pickleball
This series of lesson plans deal with handling balls at two ends of the spectrum. On the one hand, players need to be able to manage to play against Bangers — those power players who look to speed things up from anywhere.
On the other side of things, players must learn to be comfortable sending and receiving dinks. We’ve even got a lesson plan of some of our favourite miscellaneous drills and games!
PLAN #1: How to Beat Bangers. The focus here is about handling speed — whether it’s coming from the baseline or up near the kitchen. Intermediate players love this straightforward, practical approach to playing against the power game!
PLAN #2: Dynamic Dinking. When opponents play soft and low balls up near the net, your players better be able to handle them without popping up the ball. This series of teaching points, games and drills will help your players keep the ball low and slow.
PLAN #3: Mixed Bag Drills. Enjoy this smorgasbord of fun and fast-paced drills and games. Use these in a single lesson or work them into any on-court session you choose! Players will get to work on their serves and returns, drops, drives, soft game and more!
Series 4: Singles Pickleball
While it may be less popular than doubles, singles can be a really fun way to play pickleball! The trouble is, many people are hesitant to give it a try.
These lesson plans make it easy for an instructor to introduce some key tactics of singles in a way that is both systematic and fun!
PLAN #1: Intermediate Singles (1). This lesson focuses on the beginning of the point — using the return of serve to cause trouble. The teaching points show where singles tactics come into contact with doubles and where they diverge.
PLAN #2: Intermediate Singles (2). The development of the point in singles also depends a lot on the third shot. While there are some tactics that apply in both singles and doubles, this lesson outlines some key differences in terms of the mentality when hitting the third.
PLAN #3. Intermediate Singles (3). Building on Lesson #2, the focus here is on what to do when the return of serve prevents a player from doing what they want with their third shot. As well as hitting a challenging shot, players must learn to identify the quality of their ball and move accordingly.
