Top-ranked pro pickleball player shares tips on boosting your game. Strategy involved

Marco Island resident Angie Biesinger recently drove two hours to attend a pickleball clinic.

The clinic at the Dinko Pickleball Complex in Miami was hosted by pro pickleball player Catherine Parenteau — ranked No. 4 in the world in singles and No. 1 in doubles – and her wife and coach Athena Trouillot.

“I rarely do clinics,” said Biesinger, who woke up at 5 a.m. and paid $150 for the session, which went from 9 to 10:30 a.m. “But to drive to Miami is nothing to get 90 minutes [with] the best of the best.”

Biesinger, who has been playing for four years, loves the sport and its camaraderie.

Strategy to the game

At the clinic, she learned how “to slow down the ball, to drop it right in front of them (her opponents); and to take time away from them.”

Elise Caldwell, who was a Division I lacrosse player at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, was also at the clinic.

She has been playing pickleball for only one year.

“There’s a lot more strategy in pickleball than people realize, and it’s just as competitive as any other sport,” Caldwell said. “It was really fun (at the clinic) to learn about body positioning and how to be aggressive.

“People (in pickleball) seem to be encouraging — always willing to share tips. It’s an amazing community – people are energized, positive and uplifting.”

Parenteau, 30, and Trouillot met years ago at Michigan State University, where they were both on scholarship for tennis.

But after Parenteau – a French Canadian from Montreal – ran out of her four years of eligibility, fate intervened.

Her tennis coach, Brazilian native Simone Jardim, encouraged her to play pickleball.

Parenteau resisted for about three weeks before finally going to an indoor facility in East Lansing, Michigan.

This was back in 2015.

“There were a lot of lines on the court, and it was confusing at first,” Parenteau said. “But I loved it right away. I had missed being able to compete.”

Jardim, a former tennis All American at Fresno State, was a great teacher. From 2016 to 2020, Jardim was the No. 1 women’s pickleball player in the world.

Now 45, Jardim has passed the baton – or pickleball paddle if you will – to Parenteau, who recently moved to Kendall with Trouillot.

“It’s great to give back to Miami, a city that has been so supportive of us,” said Parenteau, who majored in psychology at Michigan State.

Training tips

Parenteau said that one mistake made by many amateur players is that they do few drills, opting to play games instead.

Out of her six days on the court per week, Parenteau drills four or five times. She plays actual games just once or twice a week, but the key is to make the drills competitive so that it’s fun.

Parenteau also advocates playing “skinny singles,” that is, cutting the court in half vertically. This helps with a player’s accuracy, and it’s more of a fitness challenge as opposed to doubles.

Trouillot also gave pointers in the clinic. She talked about taking the ball in air more and, conversely, making it bounce on the other side.

Also, in pickleball, players generally want to stand behind the baseline or, preferably, just behind the kitchen line.

Trouillot said the only true “no-man’s land” where players shouldn’t stand is “1 or 2 feet inside the baseline.”

If you get caught anywhere else inside the baseline and before the kitchen line, she said, the important thing is square up once the ball is coming, and that should allow you to return effectively.

Trouillot also talked about positioning. For example, let’s consider Player A is on the right, and Player B is on the left. If the ball is hit to the right, Player A guards the line while Player B is supposed to slide over to his or her right, covering the middle.

Trouillot, though, stressed patience.

“You don’t get better from coming to clinics,” she said. Rather, she said, take the information gleaned from the clinic and practice it before playing.

“Let’s say you want to work on shorter swings on your volleys. Work on that until you can do it without thinking before you move on to the next thing on your list.

“Take it one step at a time.”

Added Parenteau: “Pickleball is really growing in Miami, and we love teaching the game. The sport is addictive.”

If you have any suggestions on future columns, please email me at: wvilla07@yahoo.com

This story was originally published December 18, 2024 at 1:35 PM.