Pickleball Strategy: Don't panic

The other evening at pickleball I did what I've never done before. I lost my cool after making so many dumb mistakes in 2 straight games, that I walked off the court after our losses, and chucked my paddle towards my bag (which made annoying slap, bang, boom, as it bounced across the floor.) I went out of the gym and reminded myself of the dumb mistakes, which wasn't a great idea! I went for a walk down the hallway, found a sink, and splashed multiple waves of water on my head. I couldn't believe that I had even done this. I've never lost my cool in pickleball.  None of us play professionally, whether or not we win is not going to have any bearing on our income, livelihood, success in life, or if our friends and family love us any more or less at the end of the day. It’s awesome that people love pickleball so much that they take it seriously and really try their best to reach their full potential, but at the end of the day it’s just a game, something that we should all be doing for enjoyment! It sucks being so hard on yourself, it’s really not fun at all. Be realistic about your performance that day and lighten up a little bit.
   “If you practice being negative, you’ll get good at being negative. If you practice getting angry, you’ll get good at being angry. If you practice being positive, you’ll get good at being positive. What do you want to be good at on the court?”. Many of us fall intro the trap of thinking that when we hit a crappy shot we have to be disgusted with ourselves. Well, it’s your choice. You can make the choice between focusing on the negative emotions and feelings, and projecting those on the court, or to let those feelings pass and move on to the next point you have to play with a level head.  Have a sense of humor about it. It’s not that I’m actually “ok” with screwing up, I’d obviously rather not, but heading out onto the court I know that errors will occur, and I want their occurrence to affect my game play as little as possible that day. Make a conscious effort to practice being positive on the court.
   Why will it improve your game? Because nobody plays well when they’re angry. Almost always getting angry and frustrating becomes a terrible cycle on the court. An error is made, your emotions go south, the next point is played with a poor attitude and another error is made furthering that crappy outlook on your game.
   Lastly, I’d like to reiterate something that I mentioned before: you’re going to make errors. It doesn’t matter how good you become, you will never leave a pickleball court without making unforced errors. I’m not pointing this out to be negative or a pessimist, but rather to make sure that you all have a healthy expectation on yourselves out on the court. So many players make those inevitable errors and immediately focus on how stupid they were to make a mistake, as if they’re above it and too good for such things. This kind of attitude will only set you up for frustration and a constant feeling of failure which is simply unrealistic. When errors happen immediately give yourself positive feedback, tell yourself specifically what you’re going to do better next time you get that same shot or are in that same situation on the court. It’s not the end of the world, errors are all just part of the game, nobody plays without them.
***My pickleball paddle was not harmed in any way, and is encouraged to do great things next pickleball session.***