Hey!

New year, new you amiright? **laughs

By now, gyms have filled up and new commitments have been made. There’s a new energy that comes with each new year we can’t ignore. There’s something about it that gets us fired up. It’s like we get an official chance to hit that reset button. 

To get things back on track, go a new direction, or double down on what’s working.

For me, it’s time to hit the double down button and get rocking on my first official year being full time in pickleball. 

And with that being said, welcome to the first newsletter of the year, and the 55th edition overall.

Before we keep going, if you're new to the newsletter and want to go back and check out out past editions, go here!

Today’s edition has three parts: 

1. A Helpful Tip – 5 drills you can use to get better {Video}

2. An Entertaining Video – Before going all in on pickleball, I asked myself this one question… {slam poetry style} 

3. My Journey Playing Pro Pickleball – New year goals and big picture thoughts.

A Helpful Tip: 

There’s stories about the legendary approach Kobe Bryant had toward his improvement.  How his training looked different from everyone else. How his intensity was different from all the rest.

There’s one story I heard years ago that stuck with me. It goes like this: 

A player walks in the gym and sees Kobe training. He decides to sit and watch how the best player in the world works out. Kobe did the same fundamental move for 2 hours straight. And the player watching wasn’t impressed. He said it was boring to watch. After the workout, this player walked up to Kobe and said, “you’re the best player in the world, why did you just spend 2 hours working on such a fundamental move?”  

And what Kobe said next blew him away. 

I share in this video. 😉 

An Entertaining Video:  

If you’ve been with me for a while, you’d know that the title (above) for the last year has been, “an update on my journey to pro pickleball.” Well, we’re rocking and rolling and from now on, I'm calling it, “My journey playing pro pickleball.” 

Dang. Writing that gets me Juiced.

(Grandma I know you’re reading, so for clarity that means I’m excited. Use that term with your friends :)  

And here’s why I’m so pumped. My game feels sharp.

• My 3rd shot drops are smooth.
• My resets are buttery, and
• my kitchen game is improving. 

In addition, I’m actually using a new paddle, and this thing is legit. I haven’t been this pumped about a paddle in a long time. (I’m making a video in the next couple weeks on why I switched to the 13mm SLK Halo) So, stay tuned. 

And on top of that, my goals are crystal clear. 

Become a top 50 player in the next 8 months. 

But as you know, lofty goals are nice to keep us going in the right direction — a north star if you will. But it’s the daily commitment to the process of improvement that gets us from where we are to where we want to go. 

And In the last few weeks, I’ve had a realization about where I want to go and how I plan to get there. See, I love creating content. But, I love competing even more. And that realization doesn’t mean I’m going to stop doing content. Far from it. It just means I will structure my days differently to prioritize my training. Because my primary goal isn’t to become one of the best content creators in pickleball. It’s to become one of the best players in the world. 

2 weeks ago, I didn’t have this clarity. 

Now, with all that said, a quick transition.  I’m playing a full slate of tournaments this year. My guess is, I’ll probably play around 20 or so.  

Here’s my next three tournaments! 

• PPA Masters in Palm Springs, California - starting tomorrow for me in mixed doubles.
• PPA Desert Ridge Open - Scottsdale, Arizona - January 26th
• PPA Arizona Grand Slam - Scottsdale, Arizona - February 16th 

Hope to see some of you around at these tournaments!   

Talk next Thursday!
Kyle 

PS: I love supporting people doing cool things. And when I saw current pro player Rob Nunnery decided to start a daily newsletter taking us inside pro pickleball from his perspective, I signed up. And for the record, Rob didn’t pay me (or ask me) to promote this here, I’m just interested in it and thought you might be too. You can subscribe to that by clicking here.

PPS: If you’re ever interested in buying a paddle from Selkirk.com, Like the SLK Halo I’m using, use my Code ADV-thatpickleballguy. It gets you a digital gift card for future selkirk purchases. I got you!