The Mindset of the Best Players in the World

May 11, 2023

Hey!

Before we keep going, welcome back to another edition of the newsletter. If you’re new to the newsletter and want to go back and check out past editions, go here!


Today’s edition has two parts: 

1. A Helpful Tip (Video) – How to Serve a Pickleball | A Beginner's Guide.

2. For the Pickleball Nerds  Sexy vs. Discipline.


A Helpful Tip (Video):

I gotta confess... I’m more confident making strategy videos than technique videos!

So when my mom asked if I'd make an in depth serve video for beginners… I thought, “ehhh.”

But, I decided to get outside my comfort zone because so many people have been asking for this video!

Hope it helps!👇


For the Pickleball Nerds: 

What wins isn’t sexy. 

When you’re pulled out wide on a cross court dink, do you survive that ball by dinking middle and regaining your balance?

Or do you go for, what I call, the “panic speed up?” AKA, the sexy “hero shot.”

Because here’s the thing…

Doing what’s sexy can be fun. But it’s a good way to lose. And I get it! Hitting that spectacular shot that works 1 in 7 times is enough of an adrenaline rush to make you think it’s a good idea to do it again.

Spoiler alert. It’s not. Those odds lose games. 

Instead, what if you decided to be the most disciplined player on the court?

And notice I intentionally didn’t use the word patient or aggressive.

Because discipline doesn’t mean you play slow and patient or fast and aggressive. It means you play the right shot at the right time based on: 

  1. Who you are as a player. 
  2. Who your opponents are.
  3. What the situation presents.

And the right shot at the right could mean you dink for 109 balls, or look to rip a drive immediately off the return. 

And don’t get me wrong! I used to say…

  • “let’s stay patient” or 
  • “lets get more aggressive”

…all the time. 

Which, I don’t think are bad things to say. But, for example — if you say “let’s be patient” immediately following a lost point.

Then what happens, when on the next point, your opponent pops up a dink within 3 shots? The answer is, you need to crush it. Not “stay patient and wait.”

I’d rather tell my partner after an erratic off balance speed up, “hey reminder, let’s be disciplined in this next point!”

Now, my thoughts are still forming on the topic, but I know this:

This mindset, which I believe to be the current mindset of the best players in the world, has unquestionably helped my play. And I’m confident it will help yours too! 

Not sexy pickleball. Not hero pickleball. 

Disciplined pickleball. 

Talk next week,

Kyle

PS: My guess is, as you read this, you thought of someone you play with who maybe isn’t the most disciplined player out there 😂. If so, send this blog to them so we can all get better! 

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