Hi friends! These notes aren’t about playing perfect pickleball.

They’re about playing YOUR BEST pickleball - brave, focused, and free.

Tournaments bring noise, pressure, expectations, nerves, partners, opponents, ratings, and the little voice in your head that suddenly gets very loud.

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This is your reminder that none of that gets to do the driving here.

You are behind the wheel using your preparation, your mindset, your ability to stay present, adjust as necessary,

and compete with courage and confidence!

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Use these pages to ground yourself before a match, reset between games,

and steady your mind when things get heightened.

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The goal isn’t to eliminate nerves-these mean you are human,

and the adrenaline actually is an asset on the court.

You don’t need to be fearless.
You just need to be anchored.

Let’s go do this. 💪🏓

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The Night Before:

 

Get your gear totally ready, including your cooler and snacks. In my bag: electrolyte powder,  kleenex, lens wipes, voltaren, Advil, a sweat towel, wrist bands, massage gun, braces. Don’t forget your safety glasses and clean snacks for energy. (Fruit, trail mixes, protein bars.)

 

Visualize right before bed. Visualization is a very powerful tool because the brain can’t really tell the exact difference between what you are seeing in your head and what is actually happening on the court. There are fascinating studies about this, and we will dig into it more in the Pickleball Mental Fitness Digital Course coming this winter.

 

You actually want to envision your shots and winning points. Play an entire game out in your head, point after point, where you are in control and winning the points.

 

Get a lot of sleep. This is important. Energy levels and decision making will go better for you if you are rested. Be in bed and asleep by 10pm so that you get the recommended optimal sleep between 10pm and 2am.

 

Hydrate like crazy the day before. 

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Check and Level Your Emotions:

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Competitiveness, self-judgement, fear of looking foolish, and letting our partner down kick up at their highest in a tournament. 

While these sorts of emotions have their benefits and can motivate us to strive, too much of them can lead to overthinking and poor choices. Let them go while you are on the court. They do not serve you. 

Instead: Find your center, flow, mamba jamba, Sasha Fierce, whatever you want to call it. Push that negative, fearful junk out and bring in deep breathing, a slow calm walk back to the baseline in between points, and the ALL IMPORTANT mantras: “Next Point”, “Hunt the Ball”, “Own This”, 

 

 

Remind yourself: What is your WHY here?

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Are you trying out for the PPA Tour? Not likely. Tournaments are an opportunity for YOU to work hard in anticipation of a goal, to break your own limits and outgrow yourself to live your best freaking life.

Drop that need to prove something to your peers about your level or your medals.

You don’t have to prove anything to anybody except yourself. YOU DECIDE. 

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                            Don’t waste any more hours or days looking for outside approval from other                                   humans that did not design you or your destiny. 

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Don’t Fixate on the Score

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This is not the same as not caring about winning. We can desire the results we want to achieve while at the same time not being emotionally manipulated by an outcome that we cannot fully control. 

Don’t attach your own approval and worth to the outcome of this game. 

Being “attached” to an outcome means that we don’t approve of ourselves unless we win. We will not let our happiness, self-acceptance, and sense of accomplishment be conditional on things we can’t control.

All we can control is our preparation, our attitude, how we show up, how we choose to see things, and how we act. Let’s drop exaggerated fears around risk, embarrassment, failure, and rejection. When we frame challenges outside of our comfort zone as opportunities for personal growth, we have taken decisive action to become a better, more powerful version of ourselves.

 

The Day Of:

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Before going in:

Eat a light, clean meal about 3 hours before your start time.

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Allow time in your car or private area to do your pre-tournament routine - whatever that is.

• Play your fight song loudly.

• Do breathwork or review above to start telling your brain you are okay regardless of the outcome. 

• Visualize yourself playing some points successfully.

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Onsite:

• Arrive early and set up camp.

• Do your Dynamic stretching

• Warm up on court: Slinky Drops, Fast Hands, Serves. ***This gets the jitters out and starts firing up your reflexes. 

  • Do NOT just dink and chat. You need to get yourself into compete mode.

  • Do NOT overdo it and show your skills / weaknesses to your opponents who are likely warming up near you. 

 

Game Play Mindset:

• **Study your Opponents: their  No-GO zone, a shot you used that worked (repeat it)

 

• SLOW your mind down - tell yourself that you have time.

 

• Have patience. Your mission is to get the ball back over the net. Not to make every shot a put away.

 

• Do not dwell on a mistake.

 

• Stay positive with yourself and your partner.

 

Court Smarts:

Take your allotted 10 seconds you have to serve if you need to calm your nerves.

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Slow everything down (picking up the ball, getting into position)  if you start to feel out of control.

 

Use your timeouts, especially if the other team is getting a run on points.

 

Drive down the middle early, see if your opponents communicate.

 

Hit high percentage shots: These are down the middle and 18” inside the lines.

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Questionable Calls:  Remain calm and sportsmanlike over questionable calls. If a second one happens, interject with a diplomatic, “Are you sure?” Now they know you are questioning them and they will be less likely to call an out ball. A third one? Go get a ref or staff person.  

 

REMEMBER:

YOU. ARE. FIERCE!

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You are out there off the couch playing competitive pickleball! I mean, COME ON! 

How cool is that? 

 

Feel the Gratitude for this experience.

 

You, my friend, are a Bad Ass Athlete. 

 

OWN IT!