The student record
Every student has a record
From your first test, the Academy keeps your record: your Pickleball IQ, your band, your term week and the modules you have mastered. Nothing is decorative. Every number on it is computed from your own answers.
A sample record. Yours is generated from your own measurements and updates with every test, worksheet and Lab session.
Curriculum
Twelve modules. Four pillars.
The curriculum covers the whole decision game, organized into four pillars. The standard on every module is the same: a measured score of 85% or better, and mastery proven in the Training Lab at 90% or better across 20 or more scenes.
Pillar A · Start the point
Standard 85%Serve purpose and placement
Targets, depth and intent: start every rally with a plan, not a toss.
Return and third-shot construction
The return and the third shot built as one construction, not two guesses.
Transition and kitchen entry
Move through the transition zone and arrive at the kitchen as a pair.
Pillar B · Win at the net
Standard 85%Attack selection
Which balls to attack and which to respect: height, balance and position.
Dink control and patience
Patience with a purpose: place dinks that move opponents, not clocks.
Speed-up counter and reset timing
When to speed up, how to counter, and the reset that saves the rally.
Pillar C · Survive and partner
Standard 85%Defense lobs and recovery
Buy time and court position when stretched: the lob as a recovery weapon.
Partnership middle and coverage
Who owns the middle and who covers what: the partnership operating system.
Reading opponents
Tendencies, tells and habits: decide before the ball is struck.
Pillar D · Match intelligence
Standard 85%Patterns and shot economics
Build points with sequences that pay, not gambles that borrow.
Score conditions and pressure management
The right shot changes with the score: protect leads, chase smart.
Adaptation and Plan B
When Plan A dies mid-match: read, adjust and switch with discipline.
The method
How the Academy works
Measure
The adaptive PQ test scores your decisions across all twelve dimensions and names your band.
Your curriculum
PT² AI™ ranks your modules by measured weakness and builds your four-week term around them.
Train to mastery
The Training Lab drills your focus modules at your level until the mastery standard is met.
Prove the gain
Retest and watch the trained dimension move. The Academy reports the gain, not a feeling.
Diplomas
Mastery, certified
Schools certify. The Academy awards a diploma for every module you master, a diploma for every pillar you complete, and a graduation diploma for the full curriculum. Each is a signed PDF bearing your name and member number, issued by the Academy and verifiable against your record.
Module Diploma
One per module: 90% or better across 20 or more Lab scenes in that dimension. Twelve to earn.
Pillar Diploma
Master all three modules of a pillar and the Academy certifies the whole pillar. Four to earn.
Graduation Diploma
All twelve modules mastered: the full curriculum, completed and certified.
Separate from diplomas, the Pickleball IQ certificate is awarded at PQ 115 (Advanced) and PQ 130 (Elite Strategist) for measured tactical achievement.
Faculty
Directed by a psychometrician
Richie T. Kim, Ph.D.
Learning Psychologist · Psychometrician
IPTPA Level II Certified Pickleball Teaching Professional
Founder of Pickleball Tactics and author of the Tactics series, 101, 201 and 301
Most pickleball instruction teaches strokes. Dr. Kim teaches judgment: how players perceive a scene, weigh options and choose a target under pressure, and how that judgment is measured and built. The Academy is that science turned into a school: the same measurement standards used in professional testing, applied to your game. He is the first pickleball strategy specialist, the coach who built an entire curriculum around shot selection, and he previously served as Selkirk Sport's International Advocate.
Textbooks
The school prints its own textbooks.
The Academy's curriculum is also a book series, written by PT² AI™: one volume per pillar, each with full chapters, worked scenes with court diagrams, a 12-scene practice set with an answer key, the failure clinic and the mastery checklist. And one book that exists for exactly one student: My Playbook, generated from your own measurements. Purchased books live on your Academy shelf, ready to download at any time.
Vol. A · Start the Point · $19
Serve purpose, return construction and kitchen entry.
Vol. B · Win at the Net · $19
Attack selection, dink patience and the hands battle.
Vol. C · Survive and Partner · $19
Defense, the middle ball and reading opponents.
Vol. D · Match Intelligence · $19
Patterns, score pressure and adaptation.
The Complete Series · $49
All four volumes, the full twelve-dimension curriculum in print.
My Playbook · $39
The personalized volume: your focus chapters, your failure clinic, your numbers.
Tuition
Free to be measured. Membership to be taught.
Free student
$0, no card required
The adaptive PQ test and your band, your personal curriculum map with all twelve modules, the first focus lesson as a preview, today's daily worksheet, and badges with milestone discount codes. Your map is generated whether or not you ever pay.
Membership
$9.99 a month · $79 a year · $199 founding lifetime
Every lesson, drill and failure-mode protocol in all twelve modules, the unlimited adaptive Training Lab, your four-week rotating term plan, goals and effect tracking, the full worksheet binder, the PDF member report and data export.
Questions
Admissions FAQ
Is the Academy a video course?
What does "mastered" mean here?
What do I get without membership?
How is a diploma different from the PQ certificate?
Who runs the Academy?
Enroll today
Your curriculum is already written.
It is generated from your first measurement. Take the free PQ test, see your twelve modules, and start with the one the data puts first.