Gear up at Gear Garage. Join other enthusiasts at the Dink Tank to conjure ideas on how to become a veritable Pickleball Professor.
Become a dominant force on the courts of Slate Pickleball Club and experience true Elation.
Read on of the origin tale Slate and all of its wonderful characters.
Time. Effort. Understanding. Repetition. Patience. Fortitude.
You'll feel the forces beckoning you to give up your quest for this unparalleled rank. You cannot cave.
Mastering the 57 tactical parameters will take years.
The Professors' wisdom flows through every facet of the STAGE program. We have the tools to make you the best you can be.
You must learn, mold your strokes and tactics in every way. You must practice, maximizing repetitions. You must move, pushing your body to the max. You must compete, putting into play as the final test.
In 1965, Dr. Vincent Volley lived two houses down from Joel Pritchard's summer home on Bainbridge Island. He watched from his window as the sport of pickleball was developed. He was only a child of 11 at the time, and saw the potential of the game, potential that would reach across the aisles of culture, connecting more people than any other sport would before.
He, of course, had to tell his best friend Dr. Sophie Spin.
They joined in on the fun during that first hot summer. It instantly became their favorite activity. It consumed their days, their thoughts, their dreams, their sheer identities.
Into adulthood, they became professionals, shooting up to the top of the game. Becoming too Doctors of Sports Science to best understand the human kinetic chain, they colloquially became known as Pickleball Professors. They were untouchable.
New blood was entering the tour. Athleticism requirements skyrocketed. Father Time does not permit any to escape his grasp.
While advancing the sport by introducing the tactics of spin and higher power to the game, the Pickleball Professors were struggling to keep up after being the pinnacle for years.
They shared a vision that came to them in a deep dream, an element hidden deep within the earth, an energy unseen. It's unique radiation reached through to them, calling, yearning to be mined.
They searched. Found a hint of something otherworldly in the magnificent mountains of Washington, of a certain slate never before seen. Digging, chipping, drilling, they found a grand bed of deep grey slate imbued with golden and emerald rivulets.
They carved it out. Grinded it to sand. Spread it on their paddle face. Wrapped their grips with it. They called it Ultraslate. And it imbued them with youthful pickleball powers.
They were back on top. Their spins doubles in RPMs. The control was unmatched. The addiction of the win, at first, surpassed the growing guilt.
But it was soon too much to bear. They admitted their discovery, apologized, and gave back the medals and trophies won under the influence of Ultraslate.
The Professors made the decision to retire from the pro tour and bring all of their research and knowledge to the world in a different way.
They found a perfect location in Northbrook, Illinois to start a pickleball club, to share their wide breadth of knowledge, to create an environment where players can congregate and discuss ways to truly improve their game.
And it wasn't going to be your everyday club. It was going to be better in every way. Better environment, better surface, better amenities, better bar, better coaches, better programming, and more.
Because pickleball deserves better.
They called it Slate.
They've moved up the ladder, they acquired the basics, the foundations of what makes a Pickleball Professor, but they're missing critical ingredients.
Many Slaters are Managers. They are represented and led by the two Mayors, the ones that organize the most, the ones that build community, the ones ensure everyone shows up to the Dink Tank congregations and brainstorming sessions, that assist other Managers on purchasing the right gear at Gear Garage.
The two Manager Mayors are currently Penny Poach and Robert Rally.
Techniques are off. Shot selection is less than ideal. Balance teeter-totters. Legs are flipped the wrong way. Drops fly. Drives flop. And let's not even start on strategy!
The Pickleball Professors have created a comprehensive learning and growth environment to progress up the corporate pickleball ladder at Slate, but in order to take full advantage, consistent participation in STAGE programming is required.
Full development requires patience, time, energy, investment. Just ask any Pickleball Professor. The skill-gap has risen substantially!
But at the end, Elation will come. The unbeatable feeling of seeing how you've improved, the joy and satisfaction of progressing through the ladder, the new connections and friends made along the way. Your quality of life will increase!
First time at the Dink Tank? First brainstorming session on how to become a veritable Pickleball Professor?
Hard to say where you are in the Pickleball Corporate Ladder if you a Professor doesn't get an eye on you!
Sign up NOW for a complimentary Level Evaluation HERE!
Fresh to the game, the Interns' enthused energies brighten the stunning walls of Slate. The Intern Mayors, Connor Consistency and Donna Direction, are there to guide newcomers to the proper pathway: Foundations.
With a wonderful pep to their step, you can rest assured Connor and Donna will make you feel right at home in a fun welcoming environment. No need to get overly competitive, they empathize with beginners with the best of them!
The Pickleball Professors Dr. Sophie Spin and Dr. Vincent Volley knew that as the game grew, a proper learning pathway for beginners was critical to grow the game. After their years of incredible success, Slate was founded to create the next generation of Pickleball Professors.
The Interns are there to guide and educate you at the Dink Tank, how the world of Slate truly works, how to integrate into all of STAGE and the brainstorming sessions, how to meet others and step into an exciting world of play, exercise, and competition.
As a beginner, start your adventure at Slate with the Foundations program by clicking HERE. We are here for YOU! Elation starts with us.
Active, participating are provided written assessments if they participate in instructional STAGE programming. Dr. Spin and Dr. Volley made it very clear that when they founded Slate, that all members in programming must be made fully aware of why they are Leveled the way they are.
Once you pass the Beginner and Intern Assessments, you are prepared for the next phase of the ladder.
Zoe Zone and Dylan Drop, two athletic children aged 7 years old, couldn't help but overhear the Pickleball Professors discuss the powerful Ultraslate and the powers that it gave to players.
They wanted to discover some themselves, and become the youngest Professors to ever live, no matter how far it took them.
They adorned their miner helmets, latched on their pickleball paddle pickaxes, and started on a grand adventure to various awesome locales to dig deep and find the legendary Ultraslate.
Absolutely! Children as young as 3 can become Pioneers and join the quest for Ultraslate.
Register your child for our Junior Programs HERE.
Just like for the adults, every Junior STAGE athlete receives a evaluation tailored specifically for their age and stage as per the Long Term Athlete Development model near the end of the Season.
If they've accrued enough Ultraslate...they'll progress up!
Quinn Quickstep and Anya Ace met in the outdoor open plays when pickleball was first booming in the early 2020s. They were required to play with adults since so few kids were playing pickleball.
But as mere 11 year olds, they felt the drive, the need to improve and compete. They wanted to see pickleball become a more serious sport for other kids. They yearned to play with others just like them.
The Pickleball Professors recruited them after playing against them in an open play, teaching them the modern skillful ways through the STAGE program.
Quinn and Anya were selected by the Professors to represent and assist all those kids looking for excellence, a true fully-featured program that can develop their game faster and funner than anywhere else.
As skill and age increases, the importance of competition follows.
The Prodigies were ecstatic when the Professors presented the Circuit, a competitive and play program designed for players just like them.
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