Name: Professor Doug Simmons; Education Associate - Director of Instruction
Email: doug.simmons62@yahoo.com
Phone: 937-369-9555
Preferred way to contact: Text or Email
Social media links:
Facebook, Instagram, YouTube
Type of instruction:
Private, 2 and a Pro, Groups of 3 or 4
Locations where instruction is offered:
Pictona and surrounding areas
Qualifications:
Academic Degrees:
⁃ Bachelor's Degree- Business Management, Wright State University- Dayton, Ohio
⁃ Master's Degree- MBA, Central Michigan University
⁃ Master's Degree- Supply Chain Management, Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT)- Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio
Pickleball Certifications:
⁃ Pictona Certified Instructor, Professional Pickleball Registry (PPR)
⁃ 2 years teaching experience prior to Pictona Certification
⁃ Estimate of number of students taught- 200
⁃ Personal skill rating- DUPR- 4.572
⁃ Competition Achievements (1 year of competitive play)
-2023 USA Pickleball Diamond Amateur Championship- Gold Medalist
-2023 Daytona Beach Open- Golden Ticket Qualifier- Bronze Medalist
-2023 WPT Daytona Beach Challenger- Bronze Medalist
⁃ 35+ Years of teaching experience: Pickleball, Tennis, Foreign Military Sales (Air Force classroom), Yoga, Spinning, Body Pump, Reebok Master Step Instructor, Kickboxing, Group Fitness, Personal Trainer, Completed 3 full marathons.
Fees (60 Minute Sessions):
⁃ Private: 1 hour- $100, 1.5 hours- $120
⁃ 2 and a Pro: 1 hour- $50 per person, 1.5 hours- $65 per person
Larger groups and clinics negotiated at booking
Teaching Philosophy:
I have been afforded the privilege of doing a job I love for the last 35+ years...teaching! My initial teaching philosophy is to discover what type learner you are. Some students learn best from repetition, some are visual learners, others auditory, some perhaps by mimicry.
I was the number one singles tennis player in the Midwest for many years, played Division 1 college tennis, and achieved a career high top 50 National ranking. I have also taught Foreign Military Sales on 6 different continents, working for the United States Air Force. I have been able to translate these tennis and classroom teaching/playing skills into teaching Pickleball.
Having never been a natural athlete, I am a stroke perfectionist; and spent many years hitting millions of balls to hone my strokes. I will instill extremely sound fundamentals into your game, ones which will hold up under pressure. My private lessons are more technical in nature, but I employ many easy to understand/remember tools (analogies) to simplify learning.
I'm also a firm believer that pickleball, or any type learning is quite similar to building a house, it starts from the ground up. If you don't have a firm foundation on which to build (i.e., correct footwork), the rest of your game will suffer; particularly in the Florida wind!
My group lessons incorporate actual doubles drill playing situations and STRATEGY, all live ball, random feed, to replicate play. It is also a goal that we achieve a bit of a cardiovascular workout in all lessons, so we are prepared to play those long matches.
Finally, I’ll also touch on the mental aspects of the game (perhaps the most important), we may incorporate breathing techniques, methodologies to relax while playing under pressure, and appropriate warm up and cool down stretches to avoid injury.
I look forward to seeing you on the court!