Lake Las Vegas Sports Club has seen a huge rise in pickleball since opening in 2017. The club started off with a strong tennis presence, but lately, players want more pickleball.
“Tennis has grown, but pickleball has grown exponentially,” said General Manager of Lake Las Vegas Sports Club Dann Battistone. “Our head pro probably does maybe 60-70% pickleball lessons now versus 30-40% tennis lessons and when he started he was 100% tennis and 0% pickleball.”
Battistone comes from a tennis background. He played tennis at BYU, where he coached from 2002-07. Lake Las Vegas Sports Club head pro, Stefan Gonzalez, also comes from a solid tennis background. Gonzalez was a decorated junior player in Guatemala before moving to the U.S. to play for the University of Alabama and later compete for Guatemala’s Davis Cup team.
But when Battistone recruited Gonzalez to work at Lake Las Vegas, he urged him to start learning pickleball. Battistone even paid for Gonzalez to attend camps and learn pickleball methodology.
Now the duo is looking forward to using the Universal Tennis software to host pickleball events. The same software users know and love for tennis is now available for pickleball. Providers like Battistone and Gonazlez can create events, tournaments, leagues, and more.
“I’m excited to try the pickleball side of the software,” said Battistone. “I’m very comfortable with [the software] and we’ve been using it for tennis tournaments and it’s so easy to use.”
Battistone has been running tennis events on the Universal Tennis platform for years. The club has been home to Junior Circuit events and one-day tournaments, the latter of which are the most popular.
“We’ve found success in smaller consistent tournaments on Saturdays,” Battistone said. “Families or even some of our older members don’t want to commit to full weekends, especially in the Las Vegas heat.”
Tennis is still a significant focus as Battistone encourages everyone, especially young players aspiring to play college tennis or professionally, to get rated and play as many Verified UTR Rated events as possible.
As a former college coach, he understands the importance of the UTR Rating. In fact, he believes it’s the most crucial component of advanced play.
“When I was a college coach, we looked at the Top 125 players for recruiting,” Battistone said. “The UTR Rating is so accurate and it helps these players set goals differently and make adjustments. It’s a great system.”
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Lake Las Vegas Sports Club Takes Tennis Success into Pickleball
Nallelie Vega