Carmina’s Montclair Pickleball Story

by Carmina Lasam

It all started on an early Sunday morning in spring of 2024 when I was playing a casual game of tennis with my brother and two uncles at our local tennis courts. We’d usually warm up against the tennis wall, but to our surprise, it was gone that morning. The once empty and sort of lonely wall had been replaced by a group of happy, lively, and competitive players playing pickleball on the town’s two (2) new outdoor PB courts. We smiled at their joy and wondered about the new sport that we just learned about.

My curiosity about pickleball lingered in the following months. I did my research and decided to move forward with taking advanced beginner/low intermediate 2.0 – 3.0 fall clinics at Montclair Pickleball Bergen County (in Fair Lawn) in September 2024. I enjoyed the clinics very much largely due to how kind, knowledgeable, and patient Coaches Kevin, Barbara, and Giovanna were. I also met a wonderful, warm group of players who also were just as excited to learn how to play pickleball and build a strong foundation together. I looked forward to learning something new in each weekly clinic at Montclair PB, while sharing laughs with other players in our 5-week package. I truly had the best learning experience at the 2.0 – 3.0 clinics and decided to surprise everyone (coaches & fellow players) with personalized Montclair PB chocolate cupcakes with everyone’s name on it during our last clinic together.

I was eager to continue advancing to the next level. I enjoyed my first set of 2.0 – 3.0 clinics so much, that I decided to register for the winter 3.0 – 3.5 clinics at Montclair PB’s outdoor Essex location at Montclair State University right after (despite the cold weather). A larger group registered for this level and the clinics were led by Coaches Pat, Matt R., David, and Lena.  All of the pro-level coaches helped us master the fundamentals, taught us drills to help us build memory, and gave us constructive feedback during mini games and match play. I decided to take another set of 3.0 – 3.5 clinics in the spring. Coach Randy led these clinics and I always looked forward to attending them because he added such fun and positive energy to our clinics. He provided helpful pointers and always encouraged players.

After my 2.0 – 3.0 and 3.0 – 3.5 sets of clinics, I attended 5-week open play packages at Montclair PB as I wanted to apply the concepts I’ve learned in clinics to matchplay. I enjoyed both open play packages and met so many kind and uplifting players. I knew I wanted to learn more and opted to also register for guided open play with Coach Pat. He paid close attention to players’ form and gave helpful, detailed feedback to execute a shot better. I found that guided open play also really helped me gain the confidence I needed on the court and helped me receive the feedback I wanted to receive on the court. Coach Pat was also very friendly and welcome questions during and after matchplay.  

After a summer of training, watching the Pickleball Clinic’s learn playlist videos, and playing outdoors often and indoors at Montclair PB, I finally mustered up the courage to register for 3.5 – 4.0 clinics at Montclair PB in the fall of 2025. The 3.5 – 4.0 clinics were taught by NJ’s highest-level coaches – Matt S., Alex, and Jeff. All of the coaches implemented extremely helpful drills and mini games that helped us improve our strategies, court positioning, consistency, partner communication and overall decision making on the court. At this time, I still continue to attend 3.5+ guided drilling with Coach Adam where I really get to focus on building consistency and better technique with all types of shots – drops, drives, drips, dinks, volleys, speed-ups, rolls, lobs, and much more. Coach Adam is quick to deliver helpful feedback as he closely pays attention to players’ pickleball habits during drilling and is also quick to point out great execution. Lastly, I currently take play with pro and private sessions with Coach Leo. He is a great instructor who pays attention to all the details to help everyone improve their game.

At this point in my pickleball journey, I am using all of what I learned from Montclair Pickleball’s top tier clinics which were led by NJ’s highly skilled, experienced, and knowledgeable, and nice pro-coaches on the PB courts. I am continually looking to advance my pickleball game by continuing to immerse myself in Montclair PB’s offerings, drilling on my own, and pushing myself to make better decisions on the court day by day. I have registered for several tournaments since my first set of clinics at Montclair PB and have thoroughly enjoyed competing at Montclair PB’s spring open, summer fest, winter fest and Saturday Showdown tournaments.

I look forward to reaching all of pickleball goals in time and I am forever thankful for all of the guidance provided by Montclair PB’s coaches and for all the connections I made at Montclair PB’s welcoming & super wonderful pickleball family.