Lesson Package

This coach makes it fun and had me laughing, which eased up my nervousness and we put a lot of good work in. Appreciate it James and look forward to next time. I wanted to leave a review because James helped me when I did not even really think I needed a coach, but he was recommended. Attend to play a fast hard game having been a tennis player and other racket sports. He explained the philosophy of adding in a better soft game using more dinks and drop shots and demonstrated how it could help me with the way I play. I can see perfecting it is harder than it looks… but it’s already making a difference in my play. He stress that there is no magic pill or one size fits all strategy and it depends on a variety of factors. Which seems like common sense now, but I’m hardheaded And had hit a wall that I could not seem to breakthrough or get better. He helped me mentally I guess as much as anything..

Found out James was a pickleball Coach at a conference. We both carry our paddles everywhere so we got to play a little one day and we got into a conversation about footwork, paddle positioning, and techniques I hadn’t thought of. I booked a couple sessions for us to sneak in before the week ran out which dramatically improved my serve, valley and speed ups at the kitchen line. I wished we live closer together because I would train with James three or four times a month at least. Thank you!

James, if you read this, what you don’t know is I almost canceled our lesson after watching you play. You look too good out there, but I assumed that you would expect your students to play your style. I even saw you dive for a ball. That’s intense! But then you somehow put on a different hat, literally, and were way less of an intense coach and I got better dramatically in one lesson. You smile a lot when you teach, maybe do that more when you play (a student tip :-)

I’m met James when he was getting ready to speak at a conference in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He invited a few of us to the court at 8:15. The next morning. I used to play tennis many years ago and stopped because of my knee. In the lesson, he made it fun and remain cognizant that I did not want to reinjure the knee. It was great to see the similarities and differences from tennis, and I will definitely be playing more!

I have worked with a few coaches and saw James training someone at this country club where we play. I noticed he really listened to what his student was trying to say, which is not always the case, believe it or not. I am a 3.5 player working towards four-point oh and then just one session James really helped my game. I’m very picky about coaches and I will be passing his information on to others.

Impressive Coach! James Buchanan could probably coach most any sport. He is a natural athlete that clearly takes care of himself. He worked with seven of us and we were all at different levels. He was prepared and the two hour clinic flew by. James should travel and offer it in different cities. He even connected with me on FaceTime to answer some questions and asked for nothing in return.