BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Professional pickleball player Ryan Fu brought his expertise to Kern County for the first time Sunday, hosting packed clinics at the Bakersfield Racquet Club.
The clinics filled quickly, surprising Fu with the strong local interest in pickleball instruction.
"I was specifically excited when all the clinics filled, so clearly a great community here in Bakersfield for pickleball," Fu said.
Fu focused on giving participants as many learning opportunities as possible during the sessions.
"I'm hoping that everyone enjoys their time when I'm on court with them. I'm trying to give them as many things that they can think about as possible," Fu said.
Phillipa Mitchell-Smith, who started playing pickleball a year and a half ago, said she learned valuable techniques during her one-hour clinic with Fu.
"His instructions were just so pleasant and so helpful. I mean, everything that I learned with the dinking, not to hit the balls so hard, make it a little bit more precise," Mitchell-Smith said.
She particularly enjoyed the practice time, which allowed players to apply Fu's instruction immediately.
"That's where we really got to reiterate some of our instructions that we receive from the pro Ryan. Ryan let us know, you know, when we need to close in on the center. We cover the sidelines so much, but yet we need to start to place that ball in the center," Mitchell-Smith said.
Tony Andrews also participated in the clinic and hopes to see similar instruction opportunities return to Bakersfield.
"Bringing, hopefully, maybe Ryan, the pro back, Ryan Fu back, or someone else to continue this development of pickleball, high caliber advanced play of pickleball here in Bakersfield," Andrews said.
Andrews said he learned to focus on technique over power during the session.
"I don't need to take these big swings, but they're just short, compactful punches that can put a lot of power and pace on the ball rather than a big swing," Andrews said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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