Mentoring

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Since 2016 we have offered summer mentoring for beginners and those wanting to improve their performance on the game’s basics. These free sessions are held at Sycamore Park, at the corner of Carpenter and Clark Streets in Palatine. They’re every Wednesday morning from 9:00 to Noon. However, they are by invitation only these days. Since COVID we have two, one-hour sessions, each for 12 fully vaccinated  Picklers. The first starts at 9:00. The second at 10:15. One Mentor will work on one court with four students. In the summer of 2021 we worked with 133 Mentorees.  In 2022 we served 85 on Wednesday.

Also, Bear and Mentor Dennis run a Thursday and Saturday afternoon mentoring session at Hamilton at 3:00. No reservations or invitations involved. Some days there are only a dozen students, and some days three dozen show up.  In 2022 we served an estimated 65 Picklers.

During the indoor season, we reserve a gym of six courts every other Tuesday morning at Canlan Sportsplex in Lake Barrington for mentoring. Students ask to be put on "Expect to be available" lists for each week. “On Sunday afternoons Bear invites 24 Mentorees to particiate at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday. They have until Noon Monday to accept the invitation or be replaced. Students will be assigned a court. Mentors will rotate courts every half hour so each gets to work with each Mentoree. 

Of course, if a schedule changes and a Mentoree needs to be removed from an ETBA list, we expect him/her

to let Bear know well in advance.  Bear added the Saturday afternoon mentoring session exclusively for Picklers who are unable to make either the Wednesday morning or Thursday afternoon sessions.

The photos below were from the pre-COVID days when our Wednesday session was walk-on, no invitation

needed.

The photos below were from pre-COVID days. No masks, and no student limits.

Unfortunately, evening and weekend mentoring is not an option, due to the unavailability of courts. However, Bear is considering adding a 3:00 p.m. mentoring session exclusively for working Picklers Saturday afternoons this (2022) spring/summer at Hamilton. That's traditionally a pretty down time for these courts.