I love to share what I refer to as a remarkable story from my youth about taking time to observe the behaviors of top music students at the Juilliard School in New York City. Founded in 1905, Juilliard is a world-renowned leader in performing arts education, providing the highest caliber of artistic education for gifted musicians, dancers, actors, composers, choreographers, and playwrights from around the world.
Located at Lincoln Center, Juilliard offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in dance, drama, and music, with more than 800 artists from 43 states and 44 countries enrolled in its College Division. These students appear in more than 700 annual performances in the school’s five theaters and at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall. Juilliard’s learning continuum also includes nearly 400 elementary through high school students enrolled in the Preparatory Division and more than 800 students enrolled in Juilliard Extension, its flagship continuing education program.
Juilliard is guided by the core values of excellence, creativity, equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging and is committed to enrolling the most talented students regardless of their financial background. The school operates 74 practice rooms with pianos in Lincoln Center and another 13 rooms with pianos in the Meredith Willson Residence Hall.
As a young man, I spent time on the campus of Julliard and remember observing the behavior of the top music students. I learned that nearly every student accepted into Julliard had a teacher that “drilled” into the heart and mind of the aspiring musician the importance of practicing scales. This inspired us to create our own version of “scales” for pickleball, and the Volley Zone was born. This quintessential invention is a required element in top performance by the best of students at Julliard, and it’s also a cornerstone of our pedagogical approach to teaching pickleball.
Coaches Corner applies a similar pedagogical approach to teaching pickleball. Physiological perfection is assessed and demanded from the foundation of every athlete that joins their program. The coaches watch over 5 hours of video assessment for each athlete to discover precisely where the greatest impact can happen in taking that student deep into what they refer to as “perfect practice.”
The founders of Coaches Corner emphasize the importance of drilling and practicing scales in music and liken it to the Volley Zone. This invention equates to practicing scales in pickleball. Just as music students at Juilliard secure a practice room and spend hours practicing scales before their performance, Coaches Corner encourages its athletes to use the Volley Zone to improve their skill development. The parallel between Juilliard and Coaches Corner’s approach to teaching pickleball is striking and underscores the importance of deliberate practice in achieving mastery.
