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 determine the “damage” the detour can do. This holds true for improving your pickleball game.

What got me thinking about this was roller pilling that happened during my recent studio improvement project. Specifically, I was rolling the studio ceiling this awesome Westchester Gray color when something caught my eye: The roller was leaving little pieces of itself behind (“pilling”). Not ideal.

Step 1 here was to replace the roller cover with a new one – and from a different batch. Step 2 was to go over the ceiling with a light sanding and microfiber after the paint had dried, removing the offending particles. Fortunately in this case the pilling occurred between coats 1 and 2 of the paint.

This same sort of “pilling” can happen to any pickleball player who is working on improving their game. Say you are working on improving the depth of your serve. You have your game plan and start applying the coats of knowledge to your game.

But then you realize that there is a problem with the shot you’ve been working on. In this case, perhaps it was you unintentionally adding some extra wrist rotation into the shot. Seemed harmless at first but now you see that the added variability of the wrist is causing inconsistency in your game. You now have some “pilling” in your shot.

Before we move to how you deal with this hiccup in your progress, let’s dwell for a moment on a positive step you have already taken: recognition.

Stating this bluntly: you cannot make forward progress improving your pickleball game without first recognizing the problem. Everything you have done to advance yourself has started with some sort of recognition. And pickleball is no different.

Recognition can be as broad as “I know there is more to this game than I am currently aware of.” Once you have the recognition, you can then make decisions. “I am good where I am” or “I want to learn it.” Either is fine but the “I want to learn it” cannot happen without the recognition first.

In my case the recognition was seeing the little fur balls being deposited on the studio ceiling. Fortunately for me the light at that time was just right for it to be evident, minimizing the problem.

In our above serve example, recognition can happen early or late. But the change to remove the “pilling” in your shot will not occur until the problem is recognized.

Pro Tip: This is where videoing yourself playing shines and can help early identification. Think of it as the light that helped me see the pilling on the ceiling. Video allows you to compare what you are doing with the paradigm of the shot you are hitting. If you are a Better Pickleball Student (TPS or Academy), you have paradigm examples of the most important and relevant shots and strategies in your hub materials.

Once you recognize the pilling, you then work on removing it from your shot. Another constructive way of thinking about it is that you work on developing a new shot that does not have the troubling component. As you get more comfortable with the new shot, it will start to replace the prior flawed shot as your go-to shot until the prior shot is relegated to the dustbin of your game.

That is how you deal with pilling or improving your pickleball game – mechanically.

Now let’s spend a moment on how you deal with these pilings, from a mental point of view – your Athletic Pillar.

If you are new to Better Pickleball, then click here for a preview of the Three Pillars of Pickleball

When I saw that fuzz was being left behind on the ceiling, I could have become upset or even despondent. The ache in my shoulders (remember I was working on the ceiling) was for naught.

But … isn’t this pilling just a normal expected part of the painting process? Not that pilling will happen. That pilling might happen. Pilling is one of the potential obstacles that you may have to deal with when you are painting. As are paint splatter, accidentally painting a door or frame, spilling paint, paint peeling, etc.

I started this painting project because I want to make our Tampa studio as good as we can. I am passionate about delivering the best possible coaching and having an improved studio will allow us to be better coaches for you. Am I going to let some fuzz get in the way of that or bring down the process? Of course not.

When you think of pilling for what it is, then it is no longer such a bad thing. It is just part of the process. Wait till it dries and attack the fuzz balls with some light sanding and a microfiber towel. Not a big deal.

Same with your game. If you are working on improving your pickleball game and it isn’t quite clicking for you yet. Or you are having to work through more hurdles than you thought going in.

All of these are just part of the process.

Rather than seeing them as negatives, just see them as what they are: natural and expected potential parts of your (and everyone’s) process. And, frankly, these obstacles just make it all the sweeter when you finally overcome them.

If you have made it this far down in an article on this topic, you are passionate about growing as a player. Don’t let some pilling ruin your growth experience as you work on your game. Click here for more on your growth as a pickleball player.

Know that along your future improvement journey, you will likely face difficulties that perhaps you would rather not. When this happens, take a step back from them and see these difficulties for what they are: just part of your natural growth process. And certainly nothing that will diminish your experience or stop you from gaining the progress you want.

I am going to keep working on my studio process. I hope you will have the opportunity to join me at betterpickleball.com one day for one of our coaching sessions. They will change how you see the game – for the better.

Til next time.