Pickleball Therapy

Think of a perfect world as one that includes adversities because things will occur to us that are not in line with what we would hope or like. That in and of itself is the perfect world.  How do you deal with adversity when you're working on your game or when you're playing?  i) If you're working on your pickleball improvement, let's say you're working on your serve and you have a tendency to pull your paddle across your body (a very common mechanical flaw in players' games), understand that that's part and parcel of the game  ii) Allow yourself to not lose sight of the positives of the journey itself. You're going to have to deal with obstacles as part of your process to get to where you want to go, but that's just how it is. I'll relate this to a personal story that we'll tie it into pickleball where a lot of times we focus so much on the final painted room, and lose sight of the moments that we're painting, the seeing it develop and trying to do your best. In this episode I also share with you ways of thinking about your process that make it seem more manageable and use it for your benefit if you haven't done something before. Be part of our email list; https://betterpickleball.com/ New camp dates in 2025; https://betterpickleball.com/pickleball-camps/ Check out our resources for the Pickleball Central link and discount code; https://betterpickleball.com/resources/ Move Your DNA by Katie Bowman; https://www.amazon.com/Move-Your-DNA-Restore-Movement/dp/0989653943

You can register for the class and find the Pickleball Central link and code at BetterPickleball.com [https://betterpickleball.com]. Have a great week and we will see you this Friday for our regular episode - Pilling: It is a thing :).

Obstacles will naturally arise and are the reasons why you cannot reasonably say that you will not miss a single shot the next game you play. If obstacles are unavoidable and they generate the percentage, then that percentage is unavoidable by extension.  This week we drive home the conversation we're having last week about 15% volley and setting reasonable expectations as we try to figure out the best way for us to approach the invariable situation where we miss a shot.    If you understand what goes into your shots like shot variability, and removing variables, you can work your percentage error rate down. You can improve your shots by; i) Working on them ii) Drilling  iii) Playing more  But no matter what, you're gonna have a number that is higher than 0% as there's no 0% error rate. Not even the pros have a 0% error rate.  So set the number you want then get it down from whatever your number but recognize that you're always gonna have a number at the end of the day, and how you decide to react to the missed volley relative to that number is going to be relevant to, how you feel and also just dealing in the real world. Better Pickleball Academy; https://betterpickleball.com/academy/ Check out last week's episode here; https://betterpickleball.com/221-mistakes-arent-a-failure/

When we're playing a match and we miss a shot, particularly one that we consider 'easy', we can get down on ourselves. Missing shots is usually the most negative feeling that we have besides losing. How do we process when we miss a shot when we play? This week I'm gonna share with you a technique of dealing with misses because they are going to occur . And it is a normal part of overall execution and strategic decision making in pickleball for us to miss shots when we play, even the easy ones.  We need to change our mindset from 'I should not have missed that volley' to 'Okay, I missed a volley. That's just simply part of the deal.'   This approach will help you stay in the real world and not create some discord between the words you're trying to tell yourself and the reality you're dealing with. And it allows you to avoid needlessly beating yourself up.  The key is to avoid the negativity of always classifying your shot or expecting that you should not have missed and accepting that the shot is within the parameters of your overall game, which includes, by definition, missing shots when you play pickleball. Check out Better Pickleball Aacademy's packages; https://betterpickleball.com/academy/

This week we dive deeper into a recent episode by Tony on a very powerful perspective that had me reflect on my journey about learning.  What I discovered about the reality of the struggle during practice is that, first of all, it's unavoidable. The absolute only way to master a skill to proficiency is through repetition where you will inevitably face both success and failure, no shortcuts. Now practice is about finding joy in the process and being fully present in that moment. There is just something so satisfying about the rhythm of drilling, practicing and the repetition of hitting a pickleball.  What helps me to stay grounded a majority of the time is a really simple tool that I use after every practice, or after playing a session, called 3, 2, 1; 👉 Writing down three things that I did well that day that do not have to be result-based.  👉 Taking on an awareness about myself on the two things I learned about myself to bring back the things I can control. It can be as simple as noticing that I play better when I take a deep breath before serving.  👉 Then one is one thing that I'm going to do with that information in the next 24 hours.  This exercise is a way to shift the focus back onto the process and away from the results, and ultimately, from where I feel the struggle and the frustration.  Check out the Better Pickleball Academy; https://betterpickleball.com/academy/ Pickleball Mastery. A click away; https://betterpickleball.com/217-pickleball-mastery-a-click-away/