Mental Game

How to Evaluate Your Performance with Positive Pickleball Metrics

By CJ Johnson / August 17, 2023 /

We all evaluate our performance when we play. Some may use a different metric (performance = how we did vis a vis our metric), but most players use the Win/Loss metric. Win lots of games, and we feel great. Lose lots of games, and we feel not as great. The objective of this article is…

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The Mental Game Between Pickleball Points: Why It’s Tougher Than Tennis

By Coach Pete Scales Ph.D. / April 27, 2023 /
between pickleball points

Pickleball and tennis are both tough sports mentally, in their own ways. A lot of pickleball players came from tennis and might think that the mental game is a bigger deal in tennis. But one of the ways pickleball is harder mentally is the between-points time. Get your mental game right between the points and…

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Forget the Drop, Drive and Lob. To Play Your Best Pickleball You Need This!

By CJ Johnson / July 8, 2022 /

One of the most valuable and underutilized resources pickleball players have is not a drive, a drop, or even a lob. It’s something that’s rarely practiced. In fact, most of you don’t have any idea how powerful it can be. It’s always in play; on every pickleball court, during every game. It’s an edge over…

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They Were Up 9-3 In Game 2 and Lost the Match?! What Happened?

By Tony Roig / April 16, 2022 /

CLOSING OUT GAMES CAN BE HARD I happened to catch the Ben Johns/Anna Leigh Waters vs. Callie Smith/AJ Koller in the middle of their match at the PPA Carvana tournament. The match offered some insights into our games that I felt were worth sharing. SPOILER ALERT (if you have not watched the match and would…

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Make Pickleball Fun Again

By Tony Roig / October 27, 2021 /

Are you finding that pickleball has become less fun for you than it once was? I have experienced this in my journey and recently have heard from many players that their relationship with the game has diminished. For example, a friend told me, “I do not feel like I’m having fun anymore. I do not…

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Be the Cucumber – Cool and Calm

By Tony Roig / September 4, 2020 /

A friend recently related a story that we have all felt at one time or another. She felt like all the balls were going to her. This feeling increased the pressure on her. The increased pressure resulted in her not playing as well as she can. And so on it went, feeding on itself. When…

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Negative Self-Talk//TWO WORDS to Stop with Coach Dayne G.

By CJ Johnson / August 22, 2020 /

I can’t believe I missed another dink. It’s such an easy shot! Why am I having such a hard time with this? If I keep missing those shots, nobody is going to want to play with me. I’ve been playing for years, I drill, and practice, and I am just not getting any better. How…

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Pickleball Training-Improve Your Mental Focus

By CJ Johnson / January 4, 2020 /

When you want to improve your pickleball game, it’s easy to get hung up on technique, but should that be your only focus? Typically when we start a new sport, or we want to get better at it, we focus on our physical technique, but if you’re not working on your mental focus, you’ll probably…

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Improve Your Mental Toughness on the Pickleball Court

By Tony Roig / October 30, 2019 /

Improve your ability to fight against adversity on the pickleball court.

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Do You Know How Many Unforced Errors You Make?

By CJ Johnson / November 3, 2018 /

The difference between good pickleball players and great pickleball players are mistakes. In fact, unforced errors are the most common differentiator in pickleball ratings.   Unfortunately, most of us have a small blind spot when it comes to our unforced errors on the pickleball court. An inability to see our mistakes as well as our…

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