I’m so happy you asked us to offer our thoughts on yours and John’s classes, clinics and overall instruction and insights into advanced Pickleball.
Brooke and I have had the privilege to be in a few classes of yours from the Pre-5P to 5P’s along with your other advanced classes that cover all the drills and skills that you offer. The most amazing thing happens to both of us after we take your classes!
There is suddenly a sharp rise in our play level. We have plateaued a few times in the past and luckily you both were there to offer us some class that relaunched us to higher skill sets. That might seem intuitive, but in Pickleball, the game eventually becomes more cerebral after we learn the the how’s and why’s. The strategic overview of winning is so well explained by both of you that we almost take it for granted that we will be far better players for having attended any of your courses.
Thank you both so much for your friendship and your generous instruction.
We were first introduced to John & Letha Rodrigues during our 2022-2023 Winter season in Arizona. John & Letha offer pickleball lessons at the RV resort where we stay during the winter. Over the course of a couple of years, we participated in many of John & Letha’s clinics as well as private lessons.
Their guidance has elevated our game tremendously. They have not only taught us court positioning, proper footwork, shot selection, deceptive shots, etc. but have also taught us a lot about the mental part of the game and how to communicate effectively with our partner. They are both very good at providing feedback in a positive and professional manner.
If anyone is considering an instructor, we would highly recommend John & Letha Rodrigues.
Custom Court Painting for Selkirk’s Coeur d’Alene Retail Facility
I have the privilege of working for Selkirk Sport as a Maintenance Tech. These two court I installed with the help of others. We used Acrytech’s Cushionx court system. CushionX is a prefabricated rubber shock pad mat overlay that is fully adhered over properly prepared asphalt or concrete, then sealed and finished with Acrytech acrylic top coats. The system is designed to give cushion, fast install times, and a finished acrylic playing surface.
CushionX comes in rolls 59” x 60’ we glued each roll down using the squeegee butterfly method. We then rolled a 100 lbs. roller over the entire matt. The next step was to seal the seams. The final step for the cushion mat was to seal the entire cushion mat; it was now ready for the acrylic topcoats providing players with a cushioned, durable, and professional grade playing surface.
Selkirk decided to have black service courts, we masked the edges and applied two coats of acrylic topcoat using squeegees. You can see the rubber mat between the service courts and their seems that are sealed.
We applied red acrylic topcoat to the non-volley zones. If you look closely, you can see that the dividing fence floor mounts had already been installed prior to finishing. This was done before the gray acrylic outer perimeter top coat was applied, completing the system and leaving a professional, cushioned playing surface
A local vinyl company printed a big stencil that we laid down over the none volley zone and traced it. We then masked off the “S”, and using a squeegee we applied the maroon acrylic top coat.
We finished taping and texturing the drywall, along with painting in the first month. The floor was then ground down and pressure washed; this took us into the second month. Once everything was prepped, we glued down the cushioned mat and applied the two coats of acrylic top coats. We then installed the divider fence and gates. Our final step was to install the vinyl flooring on the side of the court.
Congratulations to all of our students, current and past, who participated in the Coeur d’Alene Classic Tournament this past weekend, July 10-13, 2025, especially those who medaled.
Robert Quall writes the Tennis Tips column for the Merced County Times newspaper. He wrote the following article following clinics that we ran in spring 2024.
New kid on the block
TENNIS TIPS BY ROBERT QUALL
I have given numerous tennis lessons over the past 66 years. I started giving lessons for pay when I was 18! Never have taken a tennis lesson-probably should have. Can’t say that about pickleball! Just took a three hour pickleball lesson that cost me $70! I got tired of Kathryn Nutcher clogging up my text messages with incentives (not money) if I joined her in a group lesson. I think the incentives were four diet cokes!
I knew pickleball players were invading Merced, I didn’t realize how many! Love it or leave it, pickleball is here to stay! According to Jill Gooden, an excellent player, there are over 250 pickleball players in the immediate area of Merced. I know Los Banos sports over 150 players.
What makes the sport so popular? For one thing, you can learn the basics of pickleball in about an hour. That includes rules, shot making, scoring, and so on! If you can play ping pong, you are on your way!
Tennis demands years and years of practice to become proficient. Mediocre tennis players still have many hours of training under their belt! One hundred serves, two hundred forehands, and so on!
I have not yet gone over to the dark side but can see pickleball is lots of fun to play! There all kinds of levels for all ages and skill levels. Pickleball has developed essentially all levels of play so that everyone can be competitive. Although pickleball is very easy to learn you can advance as far as you want towards becoming a professional.
John and Letha Rodrigues, touring professional pickleball instructors, came into Merced three weeks ago. They offered three hour clinics to over 60 pickleball enthusiasts and gave 16 private lessons. After six days teaching on Rose Opinski’s state of the art pickleball complex, they left town escorted by Brink’s armory. Just kidding!
I think with a week’s worth of practice I could be competitive, especially with the other 84 year olds if there are any around. I played lots of ping pong in college when I should have been studying-never tried to enter an Ivy league school!
In Shape has pickleball courts so you have no excuse.
Robert Quall is a former Merced County Superior Court judge and prosecutor who lives in Merced.
Courtline Pickleball 