James Ignatowich and Anna Bright to host LWR Pickleball Clinic

LAKEWOOD RANCH — The Pickleball Club will host professional pickleball players and power couple James Ignatowich and Anna Bright April 17 for a clinic, pro exhibition and Q-and-A session at its Lakewood Ranch club. 

Ignatowich is a 23-year-old player with a background in tennis. After playing collegiate tennis for two years at Vanderbilt University, he developed an interest in pickleball. In 2023, Ignatowich won two gold medals in the Indoor National Championship on the PPA Tour and earlier this year, he became the first professional pickleball player to claim the No. 1 spot on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10. 

Bright is a 24-year-old player residing in South Florida. In college, she played on UC Berkeley women’s varsity tennis team and reached a career-high ranking of No. 13 in the country. She is now a Gold Card touring pro with the PPA. Prior to joining the PPA, Bright played on the MLP Team Ranchers, APP circuits and was an account manager at DUPR.

Ignatowich and Bright are both ranked No. 2 on the PPA Tour in mixed doubles. 

On Wednesday, April 17, registered players for the event will play with Bright for 90 minutes; learning forehand dinks, dinking patterns, resets, lobs and third shot drops. Players will then work with Ignatowich to focus on two-handed backhand dinks, speedups, one-handed flicks, counters and blocks, and drives. 

Following the clinics, a pro exhibition will take place with Ignatowich, Bright, Dominique Lemperle, director of programming and instruction at The Pickleball Club and Forest Dennis, head professional at The Pickleball Club at Lakewood Ranch.

To conclude the day, a Q-and-A session will be held, where participants of the clinic will have the opportunity to ask the pickleball professionals questions of their own, as well as enjoy dinner served in the Players’ Lounge.

The clinic, pro exhibition and Q-and-A session event will be open to members and non-members with a skill rating of 4.0+. Registration is now open for members of The Pickleball Club, with registration opening for non-members beginning Monday, April 1. The fee is $500 for members and $750 for non-members. 

For more information or to register, contact 941-271-4444 or lwrinfo@thepickleballclub.com.