Happy June everyone! I am so grateful that our spring weather has finally arrived, it sure makes for a more pleasant experience teaching, learning, and playing outdoors. I had so much fun with Wes, Raegan, and Justin in town for the clinics and events last week and I saw so many of you also having a great time on court learning and drilling with each other. Meeting new people, learning new things, and playing with each other... three of my favorite things about pickleball! Many thanks to all of YOU for making this possible!

With much appreciation,

Shelly

What's in this Newsletter:

Photos from Wes' Clinics

June RVCC Clinic Schedule and Lithia Park Lessons

Southern Oregon Pickleball Association (SOPA): Sign Up Today

My Teaching and Certification Updates

New Type of Clinic Series with IPTPA Ratings Test Included

YouTube Videos of Drills Coming Soon!

Wes' Clinics in May

IPTPA Level II and CRS Certifications

I am happy to report that I finally got a chance to get up to Portland so that I could finish the final part of my in-person testing for the Level II Certification. I had to pass a skills test (30+ min of having to make over 80% of every shot combination fed to me from all parts of the court) and the one hour lesson observation. The IPTPA takes certification of teaching professionals very seriously... which is why I went with their training and cert programs! Many "certifications" are all online and no in-person testing of skills or teaching is involved. Whew, glad it's over and that I passed! I also decided to do their CRS (Certified Ratings Specialist) training and testing since I was up there anyway. A CRS is trained to run a series of specifics tests and evaluations and can give an official IPTPA Skill Ratings. One of the most common questions I get asked is "how do I get a rating" or "what skills am I missing to be a higher level player." Well, now I am trained to use their testing system to test you and find out! Which brings me to my next topic....

New Clinic Offering to Level Up your Game!

I don't have all the details sorted out yet but wanted to throw this out there to see how much interest it generates... so here's my new idea!

I'm creating a course series designed to help you move to the next level of play. In six 2 hour sessions scheduled over 3 weeks we will assess your current skills, drill together, and end with the official IPTPA Skill test. In the first session we will evaluate your current skills against the IPTPA Level test that you would like to pass. We will analyze the results and will discuss where your strengths and weaknesses lie. Next we will have four 2-hour drill sessions (2 per week) specially designed to work on the skills needed in order to pass the IPTPA Level test. The final session will be the official IPTPA testing and you will receive your detailed results. The IPTPA test is Pass/Fail and your testing result sheet will show what you need to continue work on if you do not pass. You can sign up for and take the prep course and the test as many time as you like.

Classes will have a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 8 people in them. I will be starting with the 3.0 Level Testing, then moving to 3.5 and 4.0. Sixteen hours of instruction and the cost of the official testing assessment will be included in the Course Fee of $360. The only additional cost will be to join the IPTPA ($25/year) in order to have your score officially recorded. Having an official rating can be very helpful for signing up for clinics, tournaments, events, and group play that requires a certain skill level to join. Hoping to roll this out by the end of the summer, let me know your thoughts!