PTR-Certified Professional
Certified through the Professional Tennis Registry, with decades of racquet-sport teaching experience.
About Joy
Strength, Growth, and Joy Don’t Have an Age Limit
Founder. Athlete. Guiding force.
Joy Upshaw is the founder and head coach of Pickleball Prep with Joy, where she helps players build the strength, balance, mobility, coordination, and confidence that make movement feel better on and off the court.
Joy holds bachelor’s degrees in kinesiology and dance from Cal State Hayward, as well as a master’s degree in Human Performance from San José State University. Her academic and professional foundation is rooted in understanding how the body moves, develops, recovers, and performs—and how thoughtful coaching can help people become more confident athletes and healthier humans.
For more than four decades, Joy has coached athletes of all ages and experience levels, from first-time movers and young athletes to high school, college, national-team, and masters competitors. Her experience includes teaching movement, speed, agility, posture, mechanics, coordination, and body awareness—skills that translate directly to safer, stronger, and more confident pickleball.
Named one of the world’s 50 fittest women over 50, Joy is also a 25-time World Masters Champion and a record-setting lifelong competitor. Her accomplishments reflect far more than athletic talent: they demonstrate the value of smart preparation, consistent training, recovery, healthy habits, and a positive relationship with competition at every age.
At Pickleball Prep with Joy, she teaches the physical foundations that support better play: stronger feet and legs, improved balance, quicker reactions, safer stops and starts, greater mobility, and the confidence to move freely on the court. Her approach is encouraging, practical, and built for real people—not just elite athletes.
Joy meets every player where they are and helps them prepare their body to play with more confidence, compete with more freedom, and enjoy pickleball for years to come.
Joy establishes the philosophy, curriculum standards, assessments, coaching expectations, and participant experience. Weekly classes are delivered by qualified coaches trained in the Pickleball Prep with Joy system.
“I don’t want age to tell you what you have to stop doing. I want smart preparation to help you keep doing what brings you joy.”
A personal note from Joy
Why I Created Pickleball Prep with Joy
My 90-year-old mother, Carol Upshaw, and I have both lived in Rossmoor. During that time, I regularly took her to the pool, the fitness center, on walks, and to many of the other activities the community offers.
One of the first things I noticed was how active Rossmoor was—particularly the rapidly growing pickleball community. I loved seeing the players’ enthusiasm, friendships, and excitement for the sport.
But as a lifelong athlete and coach for nearly 40 years, I noticed something else: many players were stepping onto the court without adequately preparing their bodies for the quick stops, changes of direction, backward movement, balance, and power the game requires.
I saw an opportunity to bring my experience—and my joy for sports—to a new community.
That is why I created Pickleball Prep with Joy. It builds upon the philosophy behind Joy’s Jackrabbits, the youth coaching program I have led for decades, and adapts it for adults who want to remain active, confident, and connected through pickleball.
My primary goal has always been to bring joy to people’s lives through sports. Pickleball Prep with Joy is a wonderful opportunity to continue that mission with the Rossmoor community and, eventually, with active adults everywhere.
— Joy Upshaw
Meet Your Rossmoor Coach
Rossmoor Coach
Sharon Lamond
Sharon Lamond brings decades of racquet-sport instruction, a strong academic foundation in human performance, and a lifelong passion for helping people move and play with confidence.
A full-time tennis instructor at a Northern California country club, Sharon has spent decades teaching players of different ages, experience levels, and physical abilities. Her coaching experience includes work in schools, private clubs, and recreational programs.
Sharon is a certified professional through the Professional Tennis Registry. She holds a Master’s degree in Education and a Bachelor of Science in Human Performance—an ideal combination for a program that brings together thoughtful instruction, age-appropriate physical preparation, and racquet-sport movement.
As a member of the founding Pickleball Prep with Joy coaching team, Sharon will lead participants through the program’s progressive movement, strength, balance, and court-readiness curriculum.
Sharon shares Joy’s belief that excellent coaching should combine expertise with encouragement, personal attention, and genuine care. Her goal is not simply to lead participants through exercises. It is to help them better understand their movement, build confidence on the court, and continue enjoying pickleball for years to come.
Master’s Degree in Education
An experienced educator who understands how to teach, communicate, and adapt instruction for different learning styles and abilities.
B.S. in Human Performance
Academic training focused on how the body moves, performs, and develops—directly supporting the movement-preparation goals of Pickleball Prep with Joy.
Additional coaching experience: Schools, private clubs, and recreational programs.
40+ Years of Coaching
25-Time World Masters Champion
USATF Masters Hall of Fame