Pickleball Strategy: Keeping your cool in doubles play

This past week at pickleball I played with many different levels of partners, and one common thread kept coming through: keep a level head throughout your game! Too often players will let 1 little shot, or negative opponents word get inside their head that affects their play, so here are some tips to help keep you in the game.

1.    Serve deep to opponent’s backhand.

 

2.    Return the serve slow, high and deep to the center, so you can take the net.

 

3.    Keep the ball in play.

 

4.    Breathe out as you hit the ball.

 

5.   Enjoy the competition.  (Relax!)

 

6.   Look the same after all shots.  (Take 5 seconds to ‘clear the computer’.)

 

7.   Don’t let conditions or a player’s actions bother you.

 

8.   The less you say, the better you play.

 

Explanation of 1 – 8 above:

 

1.  In order to serve to the backhand, you may have to move over to the center of the court or the side of the court.  This should be done until you find out who the few people are who have a better backhand than forehand.

 

2.  Returning the serve 10’ to 15’ high and down the center has a two-fold benefit.  It gives you time to take the net, and the serving team is forced to decide who will return it.

 

3.  Keeping the ball in play means not always trying to hit a winner or have perfect placement.  It sometimes means just getting the ball over the net one more time without hitting it wide or long.  You cannot always hit off your front foot, have your eye on the ball, get your paddle back ahead of time, breathe out as you hit, and follow through after the hit, but if you practice doing all of these, you will become a better player.

 

4.  Breathe in as the ball is coming toward you, and breathe out (you may grunt or say an auditory cue) as you make contact with the ball.

 

5.  Don’t worry if you’re in competition against someone you have never defeated.  Make a game out of it and see how many points you can get.  Maybe your partner has hardly ever lost to the other team.  And don’t forget your team could be having a good day and your opponents could be having a bad day.  Never go into a match thinking you don’t have a chance to win.

 

6.  One of the most challenging aspects of this game is managing a mistake.  You have to walk away, erase your thoughts, forget the past.  You have to tame the lion inside you.  Practice control continually.  Look the same whether you made or missed a shot.  Don’t let your opponent know you are upset or frustrated.

 

7.  Don’t let the situation control you.  Good playing comes from self-control.

 

8.  When things are not going well, negative self-talk will not help.  Don’t audibly say anything negative, and don’t let negative chatter go on inside your head.