Pickleball Travel For Good, a Rich Tradition Continues.

For a third year in a row, travel advsor and pickleball Coach Melinda Alcosser curates a Carpe Dink’em Pickleball Vacation experience to the Dominican Republic, this time for about sixty pickleball players, from beginner to advanced level, in two separate weeks, scheduled for November 2025.

These “Punta Cana Picklers” will enjoy an all-inclusive resort stay at Club Med Punta Cana, Dominican Republic with daily pickleball instruction from the coaches who work with Melinda on these trips. 

Michael and Daniela Niss, a.k.a the BlockNISS Monsters as they are known in the Delray Beach, Florida, along with the amazing Ellen Korelitz, coach and inventor of PickleHIT, a High Intensity Training with a pickleball focus, will all grace the courts. Michael Niss is also known as the Pickleball Whisperer, as he brings his students to a high level of discernment into how each point is played and considered.

The teaching focuses on learning strategy and developing an understanding of the “whys” of the game. From shot selection to mechanics, participants consider how to properly face all types of opponents and how to neutralize them to one’s advantage. From serve to paddle tap, the goal of the week is to come away with greater awareness of how to construct one’s game and have fun playing!

Another element to Melinda’s group trips is her With Heart Travel component.  Bringing travelers outside of the resort for what Melinda terms a “giving exchange” to meet local people, build friendships, and to deepen the connection and understanding between travelers and those in destination. 

In 2023, she initiated this With Heart relationship with the Calasanz Bavaro School in Punta Cana when she donated a pickleball net to the school, and group participants gifted paddles and pickleballs.  The group was offered an opportunity to take part in a visit the school to meet and work with students.  About forty students, some of the teaching staff, along with some of the Punta Cana Picklers all became a team, working together to set up the court in an outdoor space at the school, using the portable net and a premeasured rope to lay chalk lines.  

Students and staff were then introduced to the game and began to enjoy playing pickleball as a community.  The students spoke Spanish and some English, and communication was certainly part of the challenge at times, yet all were able to try something new together.

This relationship with Calasanz Bavaro remains strong. The tradition continues with these 2025 groups; Melinda and the Punta Cana Picklers will once again visit with this school community to play pickleball and share time together. One student commented that this is the first time anyone from the U.S.A ever visited the school.

Melinda’s passion is to curate meaningful and memorable journeys that are designed to open hearts and minds and deepen connection with oneself and the world! To find out more about Carpe Dink’em Pickleball and With Heart Travel opportunities of all types, in destinations throughout the world, contact Melinda Alcosser at Melinda@WithHeartTravel.com or call 310.903.5107.