Marin County Pickleball News

Marco Torresi (MarcoPickleball.com) and I (OddPickleball.com) are hosting $285 four-session workshops at Cañon Tennis & Swim club in Fairfax, California. We have made Socratic pickleball, the fastest track to impressive top-level play, more accessible than before.

We have opened it up to all levels. We will match you with players at your skill level. We have also eliminated the requirement to attend four weeks in a row. You can now attend on the Monday evenings of your choice. Eventually, we’ll probably add other days and times.

So what is Socratic pickleball? You will be playing ordinary pickleball with three others at your skill level or two others and a coach. After many of the rallies, we will discuss what happened, and strategies for improvement. We will help you break habits such as coming too slowly to the NVZ, not watching opponents’ body positions, serving slumps, and techniques such as how to handle slammers at the net, dinking rallies, dropshots, topspins and backspins. We may surprise you by discovering changes in your play that will enhance your game considerably and sometimes instantly.

For instance, when you are on the right-hand side, try returning hard and low near the sideline toward the baseline corner, and watch what happens! You’ll find it’s a shot that right-handers as well as left-handers miss all the time.

Want to learn Around the Post or Erne shots? You can learn that here!

For intermediate and advanced players starting at 6pm, you don’t have to have performed a 3rd shot drop, but should know what it is. You should be aware of ‘popping the ball’ and are somewhat proficient in keeping it low most of the time.

If you are more of a beginning or low intermediate player, you’ll enjoy our 7pm sessions, where we will show you proper form for immediate success, help you remember things like coming to the kitchen at the right times, and work with you on any issues you may be facing, such accuracy in serving.

I have led a few informal Socratic sessions, and just finished a formal 4-week course, and I can tell you everyone had fun, and the results were fantastic for every single participant.

Because many players couldn’t attend four weeks in a row, we have worked out a new plan in which you can attend any four sessions. You can join any time and skip a session or two, then attend in following weeks. Right now it’s Mondays at 6pm and 7pm, but we’ll consider more days and times if you can’t make it Monday evenings.

What People Are Saying:

“Thx very much Jeff.
It was very helpful for me to get to the next level.
I’m impressed with our progress as well.”
– Debra

“Jeff brings deep knowledge to his method, and he makes learning fun. He keeps everything moving at a good pace while we are learning. I like his “socratic method” because it is so in the moment, we the students stop play and we can see where we are out of position, gain awareness of where we ‘could’ have hit the ball, or see how we could recognize and exploit the weakness of our opponents. He starts each session with us students being intentional about what we want to work on, and with him playing alongside us, he will ensure he hits you balls to allow you to work on the skill you declared you wanted to work on. Three of us took lessons 1x per week for four weeks and we all showed great improvement in our playing – as we were told by fellow players. “wow you have really improved” is what we all heard from our PB pals.”

Sometimes in Pickleball, you need to be made aware ‘in the moment’. Jeff accomplishes this through his Socratic Method and easy going style of helpfulness.”
– Barbara