Each week I see the same people do the same things. Driving low balls while losing balance, smashing returns, and attacking low balls at the kitchen as soon as they feel some pressure. When I see these hallmark signs of a player who has plateaued, I am reminded of the age-old expression ‘nothing changes if nothing changes’. Far be it for me to tell a person how they should enjoy their journey in the wonderful world of pickleball, but if you happen to be someone who wants to continue developing as a player, then this article is for you.
I want you to think of the growth of your game in the same way that you think about the growth of your body. To grow muscles — to become stronger, more powerful — you need to test yourself, stress those muscles so that they adapt and grow. Think of a tournament as a workout: you're stressing yourself so that your body and mind are put to the test, one that you will fail at some point. A tournament is the ultimate training-to-failure workout. In a sense, even the winner has played to failure…because there is no one left to play.
Imagine all the players in the world are simply kids at school and a professional player is akin to a child that got all the way through. At the end of each year of school, a student sits exams, if they pass they move on, if they don’t… try again! What chance would you have of passing 11th grade if you never took the exams K-10? NO CHANCE!!! Imagine now you just passed 10th grade, but the world has a virus-related blip and when you wake up all the 9th graders are smarter than you. COVID changed the game in a lot of ways and the influx of talent has created a very deep pool that means the pre-COVID veteran is lucky just to stay afloat at their perceived rating. During that time, we lost the privilege of pressure: tournaments. Tournaments are our exams, they are our workouts and when they returned, they were bigger and better…the weights got heavier, the algebra test just became calculus and there’s a whole bunch of people realizing that the game didn’t just take a step forward, it took a leap. So what should you do? That’s what you wanna know right..that's what we all have in common: we all want to get better and we don’t want to get worse.
If you’re serious about it, here’s what you do:
- To become a better player you need to find out where you are strong and where you are weak. The only way to do that is sit your exam, play a tournament, and get your report card. Take that report card and hit the drawing board. Record your matches so that your drawing board is accurate and not your ego just throwing your partner under the bus. Do this again and again. The more you do it, the more feedback you get, so the faster you can adapt your training to solve the current puzzle of whatever your level is.
- Find a way to enjoy the occasion, not just the tournament. That’s different for anyone, for you it might be sightseeing or going to the beach. For me, it’s drinking in a new bar ;-). If you can enjoy this moment in your life then you’ll likely want to do it again, regardless of the outcome of your tournament. Whatever happens, just think of the tournament as a stepping stone, a teacher, but not your magnum opus. You’ll only know when that day was in hindsight, many years from now when you hang up the paddle.
- Learn the names of the referees, be nice to them, let them feel comfortable and in charge. If you are naturally a combative schmuck and your ego won’t let you accept defeat then ….well…don’t do that, that sucks for anyone.
- Don’t succumb to the temptation of training every day. You’re not 12 years old and your body is like day-old rice, unless you warm it up… EH….it’s just not going to go well! Stress + rest = Growth. The equation doesn’t work without rest!
- To find the right amount of training you need to listen to your body and then ignore your own perspective of your body, and look at the facts. What’s your lean muscle mass, what’s your max VO2? How are you measuring your speed? Don’t you dare trust yourself on that, do court sprints and record your times!! How well are you sleeping, how well are you sleeping during tournaments? Does your diet have to change when you’re on the road? What kind of ratio of electrolyte mix and just water works for you. How does your body respond to additional glycogen in the days before the tournament? Look at the problem like the GPS system on your phone: If you want to get to Grand Central Station, you first need to turn on location so that the phone knows where you are. You can’t possibly get anywhere new until you know where you are now. In short…know thyself.
- Get fit to play pickleball, don’t play pickleball to get fit. You’re just asking for injury and that will end up costing you a lot more play time in the long run. When you hit the gym focus on lower weights, higher reps to begin as this will increase the strength of your tendons and ligaments so they will support higher weights and more explosive movements. As you become more experienced with resistance training, incorporate HIIT workouts that utilize a lot of lower body power, core stability and rotational speed.
- Every year, take at least 2-4 weeks without touching a paddle. Seriously, you’re addicted and you need to put the pipe down once in a while. Dry January isn’t just great for the liver, it’s a reset button that gives people a fresh perspective on their life. After a few weeks away from the game you’ll realize two things. Firstly, your body will feel amazing and secondly, you really miss pickleball! How often do we truly appreciate something if we are able to do each and every day?
- Give back to the game by playing with players lower than yourself once in a while. Do you remember that time at open play when you were beaten so badly that it made you question if you really are a 4.0? The person who beat you played down and taught you a lesson or two. Doing this for other people bestows the same kindness and also allows you to be in a low-pressure environment so you can work on some technical aspects of your game.
- Don’t change paddles every time something new and shiny comes out. It’s rarely the arrow, it’s usually the archer — and a $300 paddle won’t fix a $3 dink. For the paddle to truly feel like an extension of your body, it takes time so find a paddle that suits your style and work with it.
- Lastly, and I mean this… don’t let this game become you. You’re more than that, whoever you are. You have to do at least one other thing that gives you meaning. It doesn’t matter if it’s stamp collecting or hiking the Andes … just do it. Even if for no other reason than you really don’t want the kind of crushing weight of self-expectation that only exists when your pickleball defines you. Also, you’ll lose fewer friends if you have a spare subject matter up your sleeve at the next intervention.
Happy New Year everybody, Cheers to 2025!
- Morgan Evans
Learn more about Morgan Evans and CoachME pickleball.
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