“You’ll have fun!” “You’ll meet people!” “You’ll compete again!” All of those things are true about pickleball. But you also will get your heart broken. If you play long enough, it is inevitable. I’m a clinical psychologist and a competitive doubles player, and after years of playing this sport and studying relationships, I’ve come to […]
This article is part of a series in which we debunk three big myths that pervade our game. Myths are tricky – they sound right, and everyone is repeating them. So we follow them. And our game suffers as a result. The first myth we tackled was “Move with your partner.” Here’s why that’s not […]
You and your partner have goals. Of course you do. Win the bracket. Hit 4.0 by fall. Don’t lose to those two again. Maybe you’ve never said them out loud, but they’re there, humming under every game you play together. Here’s what the best competitors in every sport already know: Outcome goals don’t drive performance […]
Your third shot in pickleball starts your transition forward to the kitchen line. The drop shot is a great option for your third as it can disarm your opponents and give you time to advance safely if played well. Of course, not all drop shots are perfect. After you hit your third shot, evaluate the […]
Everybody is looking for a partner. Maybe you’re between partners right now, rotating through open play, trying people out. Maybe you’ve got a tournament coming and a decision to make. So you run the checklist we all run: Similar (or higher) skill level, compatible style, available when you are, wants to compete as much as […]
Do you have a target when you’re about to hit a pickleball shot? If you do, is there enough margin around your target? And are you feeding the information about your intended target to your processing unit (brain)? If you answered “yes” to all of the above, then good job and have fun the next […]
This article is part of a series where we debunk three big myths that pervade our game. I’ve heard some form of these since I started playing way back in 2015. They hampered me as a player. They hamper other players too. I know because helping players get past these tired and wrong myths is […]
Before I became a pickleball coach, I was a pickleball player. As part of my “training” at the local courts, fellow players imparted their “wisdom” onto me. Three bits of advice I received shortly after I began playing were particularly disruptive to my play. Let’s avoid further damage to your play by debunking these myths […]
There’s no shot more controversial in pickleball than the lob. For some, it’s part of the game, and all is well. For others, the lob is taboo and ruins the game. The differences in opinion become more pronounced when you consider the type of lob. A lob from the kitchen line is a much more […]
Navigating through the transition zone to the kitchen line is one of the great pickleball challenges. It is not always a straight path. More often, it is a zigzag journey that requires multiple drop shots and resets before you successfully reach the kitchen line. The third-shot drop gets most of the attention, but in many […]
