Submitted by Carol Doughty
The Tuesday Oshawa Y Club was allowed to extend its 3 hour session to 4 hours starting May 1, 2016. So, what do you do with an extra hour of pickleball? After surveying the membership with this question, Terry Elliott, the Convenor, found that the overall response was to incorporate drills into the first hour. Therefore, Terry, and one other member, Jim Parrott, started drills on the 3 courts for those who were interested. Approximately 15 members attend the 45 minute -1 hour session which includes the members rotating to the 3 different courts, doing a different drill on each court for 10 minutes each. The drills are emphasizing the following: control; third shot; cross court dinking and dinking in general; and returning lobs when the lob is given, and you are at the NVL. The rotation continues until everyone interested in doing the drills has completed the 3 drills at least once. Once this is accomplished, the games start with the players assigned to a court in the order they had arrived originally. The “early birds” help to set up the nets and tape the NVLs.
Terry and Jim, in photo, vary the drills, adding more challenges to them on a regular basis. Everyone taking part in these drills has appreciated this new format and the effort that Terry and Jim have put into this. Well done, guys.
Now, it’s up to the players to incorporate these skills into their game. Not an easy task, as we all know.
For information on drills you can use yourself or in your club, please contact Jim at jwrparrott@rogers.com. (Note the double letters, please, in the spelling.)