On Saturday, I attended the PPR (Professional Pickleball Registry) Level 1 certification course from 830am-5pm which cost RM1700; I was fortunate enough to sign an agreement to get sponsored but I would be bonded for a year. The two people that led this course was Truong Quang Vu and JP Huynh Phu Qui which you can see on the bottom photo; they are middle left in the photo.
The first 1 hour and half was just going through a study guide that would end up on the written test. It went through some basics covering history of pickleball, equipment and a lot of theory/definitions that a pickleball coach would need to teach their students.
I can't go through everything from that one hour and half but I would like to highlight the hourglass structure which was one of the most important things from that theory session. It's basically a framework on how to coach and I'm sure it's probably applied to things outside of pickleball coaching as well. Apparently, this is a theory that is usually taught over four days so for that day they probably just covered the surface level of this theory. The theory is broken down to open, closed and open but apparently, there can also be semi-open which they didn't cover too deep and I probably would have been overloaded with information.
In the beginning of the hour glass, there's an introduction and warm up phase. It's kind of like getting to know the student and based on that information a coach can figure out how to plan out the lesson. It's about finding out their background if they are athletic or have racquet sports experience. I was also shocked when JP told me that things like passing test on exam or maybe finding out they ate too much before coming can be used. The coach can adjust the intensity based on that information before the session even starts. For example, if they passed their exam they are most likely happy and have more energy so the coach can drill the student harder whereas if the student is sick or not feeling well, then the coach has to go a bit lighter. Then it comes to the open play where a coach observes the student on "how they do it" through a drill or point play of some sort.
After the open play, is the closed phase. This is where the coach teaches "how to do it". It's where the coach comes in and teaches the technical/tactical skills.
When that's done, it's closed again to observe whether or not the student has applied what they learned from the closed phase. Then there leaves the wrap up which is where the coach as well as the students give feedback on the session.
After the one hour and half sitting and listening to theory, Coach Vu demoed all the shot techniques. The part I liked about this part of the session is because he broke everything down to 3 key points which made it easy to learn. It's something that I could use to teach my future students. I also learned that some of my own techniques are not correct since mine have a little bit of tennis influence which needs to adapt to pickleball.
Dink
1 - Open Wrist
2 - Contact infront
3 - Push the ball with shoulder, elbow and wrist as one motion from low to high
Volley
1 - Stay low bend knees
2 - Contact infront
3 - Hit within V range of both arms
Drop (Extended Dink)
Same as dink but pushing more
Drive
1 - Stay low, paddle low and below wrist
2 - Transfer weight forward and contact infront
3 - Swing paddle towards direction to aim (no need to swing all the way and over the shoulder like tennis)
Serve
Same as drive but as a server there's complete control over the ball so coach Vu said to take advantage of that to put pressure on the opponent.
Return
The main purpose of the return for (doubles) is to get towards the kitchen. There are four types of returns: drive, slice, lob and drop. They all have their pros and cons.
After the run through of all the technical skills, Coach Vu had us partner up to skill test us on the above shots to see if we are qualified to teach as it's part of getting the cert.
Later, we also had to demo a group lesson with the hourglass structure framework. Coach Vu ran one to show us and then all the students ended up in groups of 3-4 to try it as well. All of us made mistakes and some of us were confused especially me at first because I didn't have much coaching background except maybe giving pointers to people 1 on 1 if that even counts.
After all this, there was a group assessment on each student giving a 15 minute class. Honestly, I should have failed this part of the certification because I totally panicked and kind of lost control of the session. I was even feeding the balls poorly to the pretend students. After this group assessment was over, I was surprised to hear Coach Vu say that nobody failed. JP said they were a bit more lenient since pickleball coaching is still early since it's only been around for two years in Malaysia and only more active for the past one year. I mentioned to JP that I felt a bit overloaded and a bit overwhelmed with all the information that was being presented to me. Then he said to me that PPR certification was supposed to be for people that were already coaches. He used taking the driving test as an example so basically, I was like taking a driving test without ever driving before. Before attending this course, my mindset going in was that they were going to teach the students but this certification is more for checking of the students are qualified to be coaches.
After the group assessment, there was a multiple choice test that could be done written or online and Coach Vu even offered to let us do both and submit the one with the better score. The written test could only be done on that day and everyone took it. After that test, we all git our certificate of attendance.
I enjoyed my experience in this course. It really changed my perspective on coaching. Honestly, I came in thinking coaching would be an easy thing but there's a lot more to it than I thought. There's a lot of coaches out there and after attending this course I realized there aren't that many coaches that are "good". To be good, a coach really needs the structure. The coach runs the show from beginning to end; they are able to control the pace and adjust lesson plans according to the level of the student. Especially in the group sessions, Coach Vu showed us how there was no wasted time. All the students were moving and active; they had no time to talk or chit chat. He said if there's a student chit chatting with another in a group lesson or not moving for 30 seconds, then the coach has failed being a coach. I feel coach Vu's level of coaching is something that I want to strive towards. The aura emitting from him was crazy. The way he talked and demonstrated just shows that his over twenty years of experience in coaching is no joke.
Coach Vu said it will take about 3-4 weeks to find out if students get their certificate or not. Hopefully, I get it and my pickleball coaching arc begins.