RECS Pickleball Instructors
Steve Paranto (IPTPA Certified Instructor and Certifier)
Steve has been teaching pickleball since the 1980’s. He has coached many national champions and won four National Championships at the 5.0 level. Steve has also won four World Senior singles championships. He has written instructional articles for Pickleball Magazine and Into Pickleball, and was inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame in 2019. Steve is also the only player to win at the highest level in six different decades. He loves working with all skill/age levels, he is especially strong giving fellow seniors strategies that will keep them healthy, energized, and able to play their best pickleball.
John Bartlett (IPTPA Certified)
John grew up in Whitefish, MT playing every sport he could get his hands on. While he mostly played basketball growing up, about 10 years ago he started playing tennis, quickly found pickleball and switched. Like most of us, he was immediately hooked. John has competed in many pickleball tournaments, but being an instructor the past year is what he loves most. Helping so many others fall in love with the game and improve as players. John believes that people are most likely to improve when they are having fun and celebrating success. He tries to make every student smile and keeps the energy high. In his spare time, you can find him spending time with his family or fly fishing for carp.
Lori D’Antonio (IPTPA Certified)
Lori is originally from Pennsylvania but lived outside of NYC for the last 28 years and moved to Oregon not too long ago. She grew up playing tennis and continues to enjoy it by competing in the USTA leagues. Lori found pickleball in 2016 and has been developing programming and teaching the sport for the last 6 years. Lori taught hundreds of juniors/adults through town adult education programs and in racquet & health clubs. She even taught her 88 year old mother who now plays almost daily! Lori encourages her students to focus on the framework of the game in order to be able to go play at any level, while socializing and falling in love with the sport. Her motto is to remain calm, take a breath, keep the perspective.
Tracie DeJager (IPTPA Certified)
Tracie grew up in Lake Oswego playing lots of sports like Soccer, Basketball and Lacrosse at the high school and collegiate level. In pickleball she is a 2019 nationals medalist, rated as one of the top women's players in the NW, she was rated as one of top 50 players in the world as an alternate for the MLP. She became a certified pickleball instructor in 2019 due to her love for teaching as well as wanting to spread her love for the game. Tracie describes her teaching style as interactive, with a good balance of mechanics to build muscle memory. Her goal is to leave every student with a fun experience, as well as new tools they can focus on while drilling to implement into their game.
Wes Gabrielsen (IPTPA II Certified)
Wes is a native Oregonian who grew up playing every sport under the sun, eventually focusing on tennis, and played at the collegiate level for Linfield University. Wes has played pickleball professionally since 2012 and coaches many other current pros. He was recently inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2022. Wes is an 11x USAPA National Champion, 6x Canadian National Champion, and has won over 160 gold medals in open/pro level tournaments since 2011. As one of the founding members of the IPTPA, Wes is an avid teacher and player of the game, as he loves seeing that “spark” moment for all players. He caters his lessons to what the student needs and makes it as personal and fun as possible.
Rick Hammerquist (IPTPA Certified)
Rick grew up in Rapid City, South Dakota and competed in many sports during his youth. He played collegiate tennis at South Dakota State University. Rick is a multiple time pickleball gold medalist at regionals and nationals in at the 4.0-4.5 mens doubles levels, and won a national bronze in 4.5 singles. Rick was a USPTA certified pro in his twenties and coached 2 different high school tennis teams. He broke up with tennis in 2018 and is all in for pickleball. He loves helping his students by analyzing the basic fundamentals, making realistic and simple corrections, while enhancing student’s strengths in order to reach their goals. When Rick is not playing or teaching pickleball, he practices as a home health physical therapist and is the secretary of Columbia River Pickleball Club.
Riley Hanks (IPTPA Certified)
Riley is from Central Oregon. She has been playing sports her whole life with a primary focus on Tennis, which she played throughout high school and at the collegiate level. After college in 2022, she found pickleball and was immediately hooked. Riley has competed in many APP and PPA tournaments, most of her medals are from singles. Riley enjoys teaching players of all skill levels, ages, and backgrounds. She believes that people are more likely to perform best when they’re having fun. Focusing on building muscle memory and implementing key shots because it is more likely that players remember how they felt as opposed to what they were taught.
Erik Lange (PPR Certified)
Erik is a local Oregonian and graduate from the University of Oregon. He has worked in the racquet sport industry his whole career, in 2017 while with Head Penn he found pickleball and fell in love. Erik is a full time professional pickleball player, playing on the PPA Tour and was recently drafted to the Chicago Slice of MLP with his new teammate Ben Johns. Erik has medaled in various tournaments around the country since going pro in 2018, he made it to the 2019 nationals gold medal match at Indian Wells. He is PPR certified and loves teaching pickleball to help others improve at any level. Erik's favorite drilling partner is his 13 year old son Evan.
Spencer Lanier (PPR Certified)
Spencer grew up in Newberg, OR., where he excelled at basketball and tennis. When he graduated from Newberg High School in 2021, he turned his attention to pickleball. He played his first tournament indoors at the Willamette Valley Open in March of 2021, and was hooked. While attending Community College in 2023, his success in local tournaments led him to decide to participate in as many tournaments as he could, and he competed in APP and PPA tournaments across the country. Taking 2nd place in both the Men's Pro Doubles at the 2023 Newport Beach APP and Mixed Doubles at the 2023 Chicago APP are his career highlights so far. Spencer enjoys teaching all skill levels and prides himself on making sure his students are having fun.
Joy Leising (PPR Certified)
Joy grew up in the midwest playing competitive tennis since she was 6 years old. She went on to compete at the collegiate level for Lewis and Clark College. Joy got the “pickleball bug” when she was asked to play a tournament in Canada, once she started learning how to dink, the next year she played in over 25 tournaments. Joy achieved gold in 2021 in both mixed and women’s 5.0 age 35+ doubles. She is ranked as one of the top PNW women’s professional players, achieving 15 national medals. Joy is able to meet players at any pickleball skill level, she listens to which areas her students want to improve and focuses heavily on technique and strategy. Helping them find new strengths in their game as well as developing new skills.
Joey Lutostanski (IPTPA II Certified)
Joey grew up in the Portland area and has lived here his whole life. Before finding pickleball in 2020 during the pandemic, he played high level soccer and Australian football. Joey was certified as a pickleball instructor just this last year and has been teaching full time. He loves teaching and playing the game here at RECS, as well as in tournaments around the USA. Joey believes “Kindness always comes back!” He follows the teaching philosophy of creating a positive environment for his players and prides himself on teaching everyone differently, adapting to their background of sports or any kind, or not!
Paul Porch (IPTPA Level II Certified)
Paul has been a teacher his whole life, his passion for teaching started at 16 as a water safety instructor. While teaching mathematics for over 30 years he played tennis, racquetball, badminton, and even some squash. In 2010 Paul’s knees encouraged him to discover the pleasures of pickleball where he had the good fortune to begin playing with and learning from Enrique Ruiz, Steve Paranto, Joy Leising, as well as many other excellent players. Paul has medaled at tournaments in six different states including the tournament of champions. He wrote the first instructional piece for the first edition of Pickleball Magazine. Paul acknowledges that everyone has different strengths/weaknesses, as an instructor he looks to identify those and tailor his instruction to complement the player so they can move toward their full potential as rapidly as possible.
Spinny 2 Ball Machine (RECS Certified)
Spinny 2 is available to rent for 1-2 players. The ball machine has 12 different settings ranging from drilling, game simulation, volleys and more. The machine can be booked as a private lesson instructor. Rates are per hour and vary by membership level. Spinny loves the indoors and spending quality time with others. Favorite food: pickleballs.