Hard Ball at Your Feet? How to Stop Panicking and Win the Point
I was working with a player at camp last season — I’ll call her Sue — who had one of the prettiest dinks I saw all week: soft hands, patient,…
How To Deal With Bangers in Pickleball: 3 Mindset Shifts That Work
Before I show you how to deal the banger, I want to tell you about a player named Pat. A few summers back, Pat was in one of my clinics.…
The 4 Stages Of Learning Pickleball — Which One Are You in?
I’ve been playing pickleball for about five years — and working behind the scenes here at Better Pickleball for four of them. When I first started learning pickleball, it was…
Pickleball Timing: 5 Mental Shifts to Read the Ball Like a Pro
It’s a common frustration I hear from students in The Pickleball System, our Academy and at our camps: “CJ, I’ve got the shots, but I feel like I’m always a…
Raise Your Pickleball Level With Better Shot Selection
It’s easy to get lost in the sea of pickleball content. You see a pro hit a logic-defying around-the-post (ATP) or a 100-mph speed-up, and you think, “I need that…
Calm Your Mind, Win More Points: The Mental Game of Pickleball
You Don’t Need a New Shot. You Need a New Mental Game. You walk off the court after a rough session and you already know what happened. It wasn’t your…
Ask the Right Question: A Pickleball Mindset That Stops the Spiral
TL;DR: You’re not stuck because you “did something bad.” You’re stuck because you asked a bad question. Swap “How could I miss that shot?” for “Am I allowed to miss?”…
How to Handle It When Another Player Criticizes Your Play
There are (or will be) times when we play pickleball that our interactions with fellow players will be less than agreeable to us. It could be a rules dispute, a…
Growth Mindset for Pickleball Players: Path to Becoming Your Best
How to Build a Growth Mindset on the Pickleball Court (and Beyond) If you’ve ever felt stuck in your game—or frustrated by slow progress—you’re not alone. Whether you’re a beginner…
Nobody’s Watching Your Pickleball Mistakes—Seriously.
If You Think Everyone Is Watching Your Pickleball Mistakes… They’re Not If you’ve ever left a pickleball game worrying about every mistake, you’re not alone. Many recreational players—especially those new…
Chasing a DUPR Rating
Should You Be Chasing a DUPR Rating? Depends. The following question was recently posed to me as the host of the Pickleball Therapy podcast: “My goals are to continue to…
What 2024 Taught Us and How We Are Getting Set for 2025 (and you can too!)
As 2024 winds down, Tony and I have been reflecting on the highs, the challenges, and everything in between. If you’re anything like us, this past year probably felt like…
Detours During Your Pickleball Improvement Journey
How do you deal with detours in improving your pickleball game? Sometimes during a project, things take a detour. How you deal with it, mentally and in your process, will…
Building Confidence in your Pickleball Game Comes from the Knowing-Doing Connection
Playing confident pickleball is connecting the knowing and doing of pickleball. Jill and I recently came back from a long trip out of the country. We had taken our paddles…
How to Prepare for a Pickleball Tournament:Everything I Want You to Know
If you’ve been wondering how to prepare for a pickleball tournament — and the idea of competing makes your stomach flip — I want to walk you through it, because…