For Pickleballers Only…(Well, Mostly)
(For those of you who couldn’t care less about Pickleball but have somehow become caught in this vortex, if you read this, just substitute your passion when you read the word “Pickleball”. Or you can have a drink or two and play the Mad Libs version by substituting a random noun each time “Pickleball” appears. You may enjoy this post more than the rest of us…)
It’s been exhausting keeping up the facade that I actually care about purpose, compassion and living a fulfilling life. You know the only thing that really matters is pickleball. All of that pesky “life stuff” can have a seat — the only thing on your calendar today is crushing that other couple in your 11am grudge match on Court Two.
I know it’s important to be mindful, evolve spiritually and leave a legacy of kindness and good works... but if your pickleball game isn’t what it should be, does anything else really matter? I mean, I don’t want to be a jerk about this but Mom can wait for that grocery delivery I promised her last Thursday. It’s only Sunday. I’ve got a morning lesson and an afternoon game scheduled and I might be able to swing by her place tonight. She’s got lots of canned stuff she needs to go through in the cabinet anyway.
DIane’s Mom’s three-legged dog, “Hops”, is concerned about the grocery situation.
So now that we’ve established our priorities, let’s talk about your pickleball life. Hopefully, it’s great. But could it be even better? Often we don’t pause and thoroughly assess our strengths and weaknesses. As a result, we have some ideas on what we need to work on but we don’t pinpoint and make a specific plan to improve essential parts of our game and our overall experience.
Let’s dive into that plan right now. I’m going to list some topics and I want you to grade yourself on a scale of 1-10. If your self esteem is pretty solid you can also have a trusted friend /pickleball partner grade you, and do the same for them. It can be revealing to see if you’re fooling yourself. If you survive the process, you really ARE good friends.
Here goes…
YOUR STROKES (Technical Game) Overall___
Now assign a number to each component:
Serve ___
Return of Serve ___
Ground strokes: Forehand ___ Backhand ___
Overheads ___
Volleys: Forehand ___ Backhand ___
Third Shot Drops: Forehand ___ Backhand ___
Dinks: Forehand ___ Backhand ___
Attacking Game ___
Defense ___
YOUR STRATEGY (Mental Game) Overall ___
Patience ___
Shot Selection ___
Court Positioning ___
Getting to the Kitchen ___
Disguising Your Shots ___
Exploiting Opponents’ Weaknesses ___
Selective Aggression ___
Movement With Partner ___
Communication ___
YOUR MINDSET (Psychological Game) Overall ___
Motivation to Improve ___
Partner Encouragement ___
Dealing With Errors ___
Playing at Appropriate Level ___
Losing Gracefully __
Fun Level ___
Frequency of Play ___
Overall Satisfaction ___
Have a look at your skills and your strategy. See what needs work. What can you do to improve? Lessons? Dedicated drilling with a friend? Online instruction? Look at your scores and shore up those weak spots. Improvement doesn’t happen until you identify the problem in stark relief and make a plan. You’ve got options, one of which is to chill out, accept where you are and have fun. And that’s absolutely fine. You don’t have to be a star as long as your deficiencies aren’t stressing you out.
Most importantly, if your emotional relationship with pickleball needs improvement, take action. There’s no need for a messy divorce if you and your pickleball game can communicate lovingly with each other and find a way to energize your intimate relationship. The main thing is to have fun.
If you’re not having fun, you’re losing every game, no matter what the score.
As Nigel says in the classic movie, This is Spinal Tap, you want that Fun Level to be 11. If that means working on your physical and strategic game as required — do it! This is your passion and it deserves your best. And one of the main correlations with fun is gratitude. Gratitude is your superpower that transcends every situation. Remember your good fortune at being able to play a game — any game.
Become conscious of the physical, strategic and psychological state of your game. This enables you to optimize the competitive and social satisfaction you experience every day.
It doesn’t make sense to beat yourself up over any weaknesses. In fact, negative self talk is a self-fulfilling prophecy, whereas positive internal messaging has been proven to enhance performance. Either take concrete steps to improve or relax and accept where you are. Don’t get caught up in that Pickleball Purgatory of wanting to improve but either having no plan or not caring enough to put in the necessary work.
Enjoy the game you’re in or search for new connections that give you the challenge and/or enjoyment you desire. Seek to improve your skills but refuse to get caught in the “Comparison Trap”. There will always be someone better out there, except for that one person — and think of the pressure they must feel to stay on top. (I can only imagine how terrible it must be to be so good.) Embrace your journey, regardless of how you stack up against more advanced players.
I admire great skill, but I truly respect dedication and a good attitude. I’ve seen “2.5 level” players that I bow to when I see the joy and effort they embody. And we’ve all seen advanced players that are about as pleasant as toe fungus. As I emphasize in Pickleball & The Art of Living, (one of the Top Ten tasting books of all time according to Cabo the Pickleball Pup) Try hard. Have fun. Play nice. That’s all you can ask of yourself.
Some good things to chew on, according to Cabo.
In this post, I have encouraged you to take a good, hard look at your complete pickleball experience — I have laid out the technical, mental and psychological aspects of your game. Now, look at these aspects in the context of the touchstones from The Road Map in my book. The process of grading your game is the first touchstone: self assessment. The third touchstone (developing a growth mindset) is key to committing to the process of improvement and learning. The sixth stone is perspective and self-compassion which keep you grounded in gratitude and positivity. As always, living in the present moment is the capstone. It’s where all of your effort and mindfulness come together. Regret and anxiety have no place in the present moment. It’s just you, your friends and a plastic, yellow ball doing exactly what you want it to do.
Okay, maybe that ball didn’t read the book. But you did. Carpe dinkem. Seize every day you get to play.