Hello pickleball friends, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving holiday!
I’ve got a “tough” question for you…
Did you over-eat during the Thanksgiving holiday?
I did…. So many different foods to sample!
My plate ended up crammed with turkey, stuffing, gravy, sweet potatoes, biscuits and a little salad so I feel better about myself. Does this sound familiar?
So what does this have to do with pickleball?
Well imagine your pickleball game is your dinner plate, and all the advice/tips you’ve accumulated over the years is the food.
If you’re the type of player who keeps piling on more and more you may be “over-eating” when it comes to how-to advice and if so, chances are your game may be bloated…and needs to get LEAN.
The way you start doing that is by eliminating all the to-do’s in your head and only work on one or two things at a time. Focus and work on those two things, for example: Return serves deep to the back hand side AND get to the net with your partner.. Stay lean with the to-do’s during your social games. Being bloated with your pickleball overeating (to-do’s) can be no fun. This is a mistake you can easily “remove” from your dinner plate…
Maybe this visual of a plate of pickleball to-do’s will help you stay LEAN by keeping it simple. 🙂
OK… time for me to hit the gym and pickleball court since I’ve not played since Nationals. I’m finally caught up with work that was put on hold during my fun at Nationals. So now I will continue the pickleball fun in Southern California (I get to teach a clinic with my Dad) and in January I will spend a week in the Seattle area visiting some of the areas courts and a YMCA with my side kick Alex Hamner… Yes another pickleball adventure!
Analogy: Playing the short game is like eating your vegetables; sometimes, you just have to make yourself do it! Sure, the “piece of pie” hard shot is really tempting, but you have to make yourself eat your vegetables and wait for the right shot that will score the point.
Your writing is every bit as sharp as your cross court angles.
Great article, Jennifer. It made a lot of sense to me. Thank you.