The first pilots of Pickleball England’s eagerly-awaited new Club Instructor workshop have received glowing feedback from students.
The Club Instructor qualification (equivalent to an IPTPA Level 1) was created by the UK’s only IPTPA Master Teaching Professionals, Sam Basford and Rob Williams, over a period of nine months. The course marks the first stage of the launch of Pickleball England’s new, bespoke coaching curriculum.
Previously, the International Teaching Professionals Association (IPTPA) Certification Curriculum was the only way to become a qualified pickleball coach. Pickleball England wanted to develop its own coaching pathway which better suited the specific needs of players and coaches in this country.
The new Club Instructor course is designed for club players wishing to help new members improve within club sessions by understanding best practices for developing skills and drills. It is the second stage on PbE’s new coaching qualification pathway – the first being the Club Leader course.
After attending the new Club Instructor workshop, students must also take on online exam to demonstrate their understanding of pickleball and instructing fundamentals, as well as completing a safeguarding tutorial and assessment, and clearing an Enhanced DBS check. Only then will they secure a pass, be listed on the Pickleball England website and receive public liability insurance.
It is recommended that students who pass this stage should hone their instructing skills for at least six months before going to the next [third] stage of the pathway, becoming a Pickleball England Certified Coach.
Before its upcoming nationwide roll-out, the Club Instructor course was road-tested in early April at The Triangle in Burgess Hill, West Sussex and Barnet Copthall Leisure Centre, north-west London. Both workshops sold out despite only three weeks’ notice.
Feedback showed that 73% of students were ‘very satisfied’ and 27% ‘satisfied’ with the course. 91% said the course materials were ‘very comprehensive and useful’.
The pilots were delivered by Rob and Sam themselves. Rob has won multiple medals at the English Open and Nationals, is co-founder of Aldershot and Farnham Pickleball Club and coaches under the Advanced Pickleball and Rob Williams Pickleball brands. Sam is a former Pickleball England Regional Director and Tournament Director of the English Open and English Nationals. In 2022, he set up SB Pickleball to give players access to coaching and events.
Pickleball England commissioned Sam and Rob to create the curriculum, which leverages some of the IPTPA’s key concepts. In doing so, they conducted research into other sports and consulted sports coaching experts Richard Cheetham MBE and Richard Millman.
Rob told Pickleball 52: “I pulled in Richard Cheetham MBE as a highly respected voice completely removed from pickleball and Richard Millman as a pickleball player but with experience developing coach education for squash in America.
“Their insights were invaluable into our thought process on the delivery methods and future coach education pathways. We also needed the agreement from Seymour “Rif” Rifkind to incorporate the global standard IPTPA methodologies into our courses.”
Of the two pilots earlier this month, Rob said: “They were incredibly valuable for allowing us a chance to put all the theory and work into a live setting. As expected, we needed to make some minor adjustments on the fly and reflected afterwards between the two pilots on how to enhance the student outcomes by adjusting delivery and content.
“Sam and I are confident moving into the full roll-out that we have refined the course so that it meets the brief and delivers strong outcomes. We will continue to develop the delivery over time, built upon the core foundation of the course: clearly, as we deliver more workshops, we will discover new ways to communicate concepts to the attendees.
“All educators should be self-analytical, searching for better ways to improve outcomes and life long learners: we will continue to develop both the Club Instructor course and the future additional pathways with this continuous improvement mindset.”
Pickleball England is currently working on defining its conversion process for other pickleball coaching qualifications to be recognised as a Club Instructor qualification within its pathway.
Pickleball England Chair, Karen Mitchell, said: “PbE has now been established for five years. In our 2021-2025 Strategic Plan, we stated our intention to introduce our own coaching curriculum as we grow and scale. I am thrilled that 2024 is the year we transition to our own curriculum. We are incredibly grateful to Rif and the IPTPA for getting us to this point and for allowing us to base our curriculum on their foundations.”
