Meet the pros: Here are the 2 people at Victory Pickleball who are hoping to up your game

Play. Compete. Learn.

Those are the three main goals of Victory Pickleball, which opened recently in Loves Park and quickly had people playing on nine of its 15 courts. Check one. And over 150 people had signed up for its first tournament before the building even opened. Check two.

Elisha Hougland and Jen Lassandro are check three. They are the professional teaching duo at the only dedicated indoor pickleball facility within an hour of Rockford.

“Elisha and Jen can do more than just teach a beginner. It is important to get started, but there might be a lot of people who are 3.5 (intermediate) or 4.0 level players. How do I get to the next level? Well, you need to take a lesson," said Victory Pickleball owner Tim Ancona. "It’s not going to just happen. They can take somebody all the way to a 5.0 player and coach them and help them get better.”

Meet Victory’s two pickleball pros, both who are already known to many in Rockford’s pickleball community.

More: Why pickleball is claiming the hearts of Rockford's greatest tennis players

Elisha Hougland

Hougland, 27, grew up in Aurora and played NCAA Division III college tennis at Judson University in Elgin. He has been working as a tennis pro in the Chicago suburbs since he finished college. Four years ago, he also started teaching pickleball after talking his club in Aurora into adding the sport.

“Their courts in the morning were empty of tennis players,” Hougland said. “I thought, ‘How can we fill this space?’ People who are not working are often playing pickleball. That’s how I got into seeing the sport and fell in love with playing it.”

Hougland, who has played professionally, teamed up with Ancona’s oldest son, Justin, a former sectional champ for Rockford Christian and Division III college star at Wheaton. The two of them have been doing a popular weekly YouTube video for two years now called Pickleball Journey. After the ribbon cutting at Victory, the two filmed their latest lesson on one of the new courts.

Hougland is the head pro and will set up leagues and classes as well as give private and group lessons. “We’re trying to get people to move from one level, wherever they are at, to the next, and give them a fun place to play,” Hougland said.

Jen Lassandro

Lassandro is the only conference tennis champ in NIU history, and she was the Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Year in both 1993 and 1994. The former Jenny Karges was one of 50 NIU women athletes honored last year for the 50th anniversary of Title IX.

As recently as three years ago, Lassandro was playing tennis daily. Sometimes two and three times in a day. But then she fell in love with pickleball. She is ranked in the top 10 in the world for women senior pro pickleball players. While Hougland is a full-time employee, Lassandro is part-time as the senior resident pro.

“I am so super-excited to be on the Victory team,” said Lassandro, who lives in Cherry Valley with her four kids. “I think it’s going to be huge. This is my hometown, my community. That’s why I am so excited. Tim has this vision and everyone went behind him on it, and he made it happen.”

Lassandro said she is particularly excited to work with kids, the fastest-growing age group in America’s fastest-growing sport, and players who are already good but want to get even better.

“I am really looking forward to the higher-level players, maybe the 4.0s and 4.5s, and bringing them to the 5.0 level and beyond,” Lassandro said. “I am also excited to work with the younger generation. I have a 14-year-old and he’s playing, so I am looking forward to that, too.”

Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Recently opened Victory Pickleball hires pros with Rockford ties