Why Pickleball?
I have been teaching pickleball for many years now. In the beginning, it was mainly because the school I was teaching at already had the equipment. But the meaningful question of “Why are we doing this?” was hard to answer well. Now, answering that “why” is easy. With pickleball being the fastest growing sport in America, it is an activity that students and families are having lots of opportunities to get into. Even in our small town, there are multiple courts, leagues, and recreational meet ups. It is a great lifetime physical activity that you can play into older age which is hard to say for many of the other team sports our students participate in. Pickleball can be great exercise while being very social, fun, and competitive.
Are you new to pickleball?
For gameplay and scoring instructions checkout: How to Play Pickleball
For skill development and games checkout: Small sided pickleball games
1. Developing Skills in a Fun Way!
Pickleball can be challenging for younger students and you want them to experience some success early on. Find ways to make activities fun as they progressively grow their skills. When they start to get it down, one of my favorite pickleball games is “You Dinked my Battleship.” Students focus on practicing the underhand soft hit in a fun way. Set up hoops and polyspots as targets in the kitchen and try to get the ball to hit inside all your opponents targets before they get all of yours. This game can also be played lining up different amounts of speed stack cups or buckets as well. For several add ons and variations to this game, check out this journal from SHAPE America: You dinked my battleship.
2. Bring in an Expert
Students love guest instructors who are experts in a field to come into our schools. Reach out to your local pickleball leagues. Odds are there is someone passionate about the sport who would love teaching the next generation this game. Oftentimes you’ll find retired people who would love to give back. Plus, it’s fun to see our youth in awe at the skill acquisition and gameplay of our older generations!
3. Bring on the Competition
For older students, having a pickleball tournament is a lot of fun and students often enjoy the friendly competition. For more even gameplay and success, students could choose multiple levels of competition from recreational to competitive. Students could pick their level of challenge, especially after playing some Up and Down the River games (King/Queen of the Court) to get an idea of their competition level. Consider a fun traveling trophy like a gold spray painted paddle.
4. Up the Creativity
Find other ways to make the pickleball game a highlight for students. One idea is playing cosmic pickleball. You will need disco/party lights, and light up/or glow in the dark pickleballs.
Additional options are light up paddles, light up lights, and glow in the dark vinyl tape for the courts. And don’t forget to get that music bumping! The nice part of cosmic setups is you can use them for many other activities as well, such as cosmic badminton, bowling, volleyball, etc. Cosmic activities are often noted as highlights of the year from students.
Related Pickleball Articles:
10 Fun, Flexible Ways to Energize PE with NowNets
Engaging Pickleball Activities for PE Classes
5 Small-Sided Pickleball Games for Skill Development [Video]
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