Pickleball is America’s fastest growing sport. Clubs, communities and municipalities across the country are struggling to keep up with demand for courts and teaching professionals. The risk of course, is with all the dollars being committed to pickleball, it will eventually go the way of Pet Rocks and Milli Vanilli. That, however, seems unlikely for numerous reasons. The sport is generally played outdoors, it embraces all ages, offers excellent aerobic exercise and is incredibly fun.
The Landings Club currently has over 750 active players and that number continues to grow. New Neighbors is reportedly adding as many as ten new players each month. With that kind of explosive growth, plans were proposed over a year ago to build four new courts, hire a full time pickleball professional, and if necessary, a second professional to satisfy the demand for lessons.
Alex Fox was hired a year ago this month and his impact was immediate and positive. The demand for lessons grew so fast, it quickly became apparent that he needed to find a second full-time pro. A decision was made to hire a new pro to coincide with the completion of the new courts, which will happen as soon as the installation crew finishes a crash course in how to measure twice and paint once.
Bradley Morse joined the Sports Courts crew in mid-February as a full time pickleball professional and his arrival couldn’t come soon enough. Bradley moved from Seattle, Washington where he was working with The Pickleball Experience, traveling and giving clinics to all levels of players. He was introduced to pickleball in a middle school gym class, but at the time was more interested in football, baseball, skiing and snowboarding. Bradley concentrated on those four sports until a series of injuries steered him back to pickleball.
Bradley started playing about five years ago and quickly became a formidable competitor. However, as is often the case with individuals new to pickleball, his game hit a plateau. After turning to Alex Fox for lessons, his game began to soar. Bradley has been teaching players of all skill levels for several years and is ready for whatever challenges come his way at The Landings.
Alex and Bradley want to approach teaching in creative and visionary ways. According to Bradley: “People play for many reasons, so we need to individualize sessions as much as possible.” They stress that The Landings is at the front end of the sport’s explosive growth, and suggest that we don’t yet know where this growth will ultimately take us. In that respect they want to test different lesson content, even using video training in much the same way that it is used by the golf professionals. Further, they hope to produce videos to distribute nationwide, which will also provide wide exposure for The Landings Club.
The pickleball program has made great strides in the last twelve months, but there is much more to come. Plans are for two additional courts to be constructed this summer at the same time courts five through ten get rebuilt. While other communities may be struggling to keep up, The Landings is charging ahead.