With Heart Travel not only plans your pickleball vacation, we provide expert pickleball coaches to work with you on your vacation!
meet your pickleball coaches
Daniella is an outstanding instructor who effectively combines advanced pickleball knowledge with limitless creativity. Her instructional style, as well as her ability to adapt to any level, creates an enjoyable and valuable learning experience for each of her students.” Norm Dickman, Delray Beach Pickleball Club President
Daniella Niss competes and medaled in Pickleball tournaments throughout the United States, including US Nationals (2 times); Senior Nationals (player and referee); US Open (2-time medalist). Daniella is a Level 2 Certified Referee. She is part of the coaching staff for Delray Beach Pickleball Club’s Intermediate Clinic. Volunteerism and making a difference are important to Daniella. As Delray Beach Pickleball Club Board Member, Daniella establishes relationships through Pickleball in support of charitable organizations, including the Gift of Life; Make-a-Wish Foundation; Achievement Center for Children and Families of Delray Beach Wounded Warriors; and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
She oversees tournament operations for the Delray Beach Pickleball Club - 2021 had over 800 participants and 2022 had over 960 participants. Daniella’s background is in education as a teacher and administrator. Using her knowledge in education and educational leadership, Daniella enjoys teaching players of all levels.
Michael Niss has been my instructor for the Intermediate Clinic through our Club. His 10-week curriculum showcases the strategies of the game to fully understand the game. He models these skills in a manner that is easy to understand and incorporate into the game. Each week the lesson builds from the last one. I have taken many clinics from other teachers, but Michael’s lessons go above and beyond.” Debi D.
Michael Niss is a sought after Pickleball coach who grew up in the Detroit area and moved to South Florida in 1985. He and his wife Daniella first discovered Pickleball in 2015 and have been playing together daily ever since. An accomplished tournament player, Michael competes in events throughout the United States, including as a two-time US Open Finalist; a gold medalist in the Tournament of Champions, PPA Mesa, World Pickleball Open Championship; and two-time gold medalist in the USDA Regional. In addition to playing Pickleball, he is passionate about sharing his knowledge of the sport with others.
To date, he has had the opportunity to instruct/coach over 500 players of all skill levels (2.0 - 5.0). Michael is recognized throughout the Pickleball community for his advanced strategic insight, as well as his unique (and often humorous) ability to communicate constructive concepts.
“As the President of our Club, I have watched Michael Niss teach our Intermediate Clinic with a full knowledge of the game and the strategy. Many of the students have praised Michael and his style of teaching. He teaches with an all-around understanding of the game and how to execute many shots. Our Club’s membership has tripled in numbers since he started teaching 5 years ago.” –Norm D.
If the day ends in a ‘Y’, you will find Ellen Korelitz on the Pickleball courts! She has played at least three hours a day, seven days a week for the past eight years.”
Originally from Massachusetts, Ellen Korelitz now resides in a hotbed of Pickleball action: Boca Raton, Florida. After a successful professional career in the corporate world, Ellen traded in her Montblanc pen for a Pickleball paddle. With an unending passion, Ellen shares her skills and passion for the game, coaching all levels of players in both one-on-one and small group settings. She served as consultant for a popular line of Pickleball clothing where she helped build the company infrastructure and launch the brand. Ellen is a brand ambassador for Franklin Pickleball, one of the top Pickleball companies in the world. Ellen has an impressive tournament record medaling in singles’, women’s, and mixed doubles’ tournaments. Her podium appearances include The South Florida Slam, Davie Shootout, USAPA Atlantic Regionals, Beer City Open, just to name a few.
She is an instructor for clinics of all types and has held several “learn to play” colloquiums, fast-tracking new players to immediate proficiency on the court. Ellen is quite passionate about combining her love for Pickleball and her belief in philanthropy and community outreach. In addition to countless volunteer hours for numerous organizations, she creates and executes several highly successful Pickleball fundraising events. A recent focus is supporting Leukemia Lymphoma Society and Gift of Life. Fitness is critical to level up one’s game and to sustain health and longevity. Ellen conducts fun and engaging Pickleball fitness classes designed to build strength, coordination, and cardio health, all curated for the advancement of one’s game. She guides participants through a paddle-integrated program consisting of warm up and cool down stretching, high intensity workouts, Pickleball-specific circuit training, Pickleball Tabata, and interval training for all levels of fitness.
Patrick Smith has developed Pickleball Qigong, the seamless blending of Ancient Chinese Balance, Breathing and Relaxation practices and Pickleball Court movements. Every movement the body can make, in any arena of play, has a corresponding practice technique in Qigong. Pickleball Qigong is fun. It wakes the body up. It trains the body in ways that make Pickleball court movement easier and safer.”
To gain perspective in life and learn to walk his own peaceful path, Patrick W Smith has studied Martial Arts since 1964. He is an International Master Level Black Belt Instructor for Dillman Karate International. As a devoted student of the martial arts with nearly sixty years of training in numerous styles, he offers classes throughout New England and online. Pickleball calls upon our bodies to perform movements that many of us can make without much preparation.
However, other movements do need gentle rehearsal before we take them to the Pickleball courts.
As more people play Pickleball, more injuries will occur. We are seeing increasing numbers of small and large injuries because our ageless competitive minds are taking our bodies on journeys that our bodies aren’t quite ready to take. Our desire to play is writing checks our bodies cannot cash. In the world of Taichi, Qigong is the root practice that makes TaiChi work. Without Qigong, there is no TaiChi. Qigong teaches breathing, balance, and relaxation in various movements and postures.
Enter Pickleball Qigong. Pickleball Qigong teaches breathing, balance, and relaxation in various movements and postures commonly seen in Pickleball. Other related movements augment the benefits of Pickleball Qigong practice so the participant strengthens muscles and tendons that can soon perform more challenging motions and sustained activities, like those experienced in a Pickleball match. The human body moves within a sphere of potential motion. As we grow, our sphere of movement becomes habitual. We use some motions a lot, and other motions very little. Most of us don’t practice balancing on one foot or moving backward while facing forward. As we age, our habitual movements often diminish and the ones we did not do much in our youth simply fade away.
