If you want to improve your pickleball, stop trying to play like the pros. That may seem counterintuitive, but let’s think about it for a moment.

Chances are pretty good that unless you’re a pickleball pro, you don’t;

Hit like a pro
Play like a pro
Train like a pro
And most importantly, you don’t play their opponents.

So….stop trying to play like a pro.

Now, let me clarify that before everyone has heart failure.

If you’re trying to change your technique, find the pro that hits that shot the best, and see if you can emulate what they do.

If you want great footwork, look at Jennifer Lucore.
Who else dinks more consistently than Gigi LaMaster?
If you want a great backhand serve, look no further than Scott Moore.

But when it comes to playing, you don’t play their opponents, so why copy their style of play and strategies?

Recently I was talking to Helle Sparre, and Ben Johns name came up, arguably one of the best pickleball pros in the world today.

Players try to emulate his style and his shots, specifically the backhand roll. A shot that he’s mastered that few others are capable of doing consistently, similar to Karem Abdul Jabbar’s skyhook.

Her observation was that when players without the ability or physical conditioning try to copy his style of play, they often put themselves at a disadvantage against their opponents.

They don’t need that shot to win the rally, and either they make a mistake by trying to do too much, Or if they do manage to execute the shot, they’re often out of position for the next shot because they don’t understand exactly how and when to use it.

Now that you know when to copy the pickleball pros and when not to what should you do to improve?

If you want to get better at your level of pickleball, figure out how to do these three things.

1. Solve the problems that you encounter today.

What is it that you face every time you walk out on the pickleball court?

As an example, let’s talk about baseline lobs.

If you watch pickleball pros you rarely see a lob from the baseline. One of the reasons is it’s not an effective strategy because most of those players have an almost impossible to return overhead smash.

Yet at lower levels, a baseline lob could help your team get to the non-volley zone.

I watched a team win the Gold medal 4.0 women’s division at a large tournament almost exclusively by hitting lobs, defending from the baseline, and waiting for the other side to miss.

2. What skills will you need to solve the problems at your level?

Let’s use our lob example again.

While that may help you win a tournament or move to the NVZ at your current level as you move up in levels, the opponents you face will have better overheads. That requires you to develop another method of getting to the non-volley zone, the third shot drop or a third shot drive.

3. Make a Plan

You know me, plan, plan, plan.

Anything unplanned is left to chance. Put a plan into place to start building those skills.

Now some of you are thinking how exactly do you do that?

The first thing to do is to become a student of the game.

While professional pickleball players are fun and exciting to watch, you’ll get more value by viewing tournament videos of people who are your age at your level.

Professional players often have rallies that go 20, 30, or 40 plus shots.

However, if you watch most 3.5 and below level players, the average rally is somewhere around five shots. This shows you which shots are most important for improvement at that level.

The second thing is self-awareness.

Take a critical look at your pickleball game. What are your strengths and your weaknesses?

Here’s one of my most popular resources
to help you take a critical look at your game and create a personalized practice plan.

Once you’ve got your baseline, here are two different video series to help. This one focuses on the basics, and a second focuses on the harder shots in pickleball. These videos are full of tips and drills to help you solve your problems today and get ready for tomorrow.