Sharon Hoy

Primary & Intermediate Unit Plan

FOR AGES 5 - 12

This plan was created as a resource for teachers participating in school-wide pickleball programs in Vancouver, British Columbia, an initiative of the Vancouver Pickleball Association called EVES (East Vancouver Elementary Schools). My goals are to make it easy for teachers to teach and easy for students to learn. Learning is scaffolded; students move on to skills and game progressions that are developmentally appropriate and fun. Instructions are kept short and simple with language that students can relate to.

Teachers use their discretion and move on to progressions when individual students or the whole class are ready. This plan is meant to be very practical and gives you all the basics to get started.

The primary plan (Kindergarten to Grade 3) focuses on ball skills and target practice specific to pickleball. The focus is on skill development and fun. Some Grade 2 and 3 classes may be ready for activities in the intermediate plan. The intermediate plan (Grades 4-7) covers grip, ready position, forehand/backhand dinking, forehand/backhand volleying, serving, groundstrokes and how to keep score.

Pickleball, like badminton, tennis and ping pong, is played by hitting the ball over the net. Net play is introduced in Unit 2 of the Intermediate Plan.

Each unit begins with skill development and ends with a game. Learning how to score in pickleball can be confusing if you try to teach all of it at once but here, I’ve made it easy for you and your students to learn. It is presented in four incremental steps in Units 1 - 4 so by the end of the plan, your students will be scoring and playing the real game.