Next to the great ball debate, I think this is the most controversial subject
in pickleball and I'm gonna give you a few suggestions on how you might handle it.
stay tuned.
Hey everybody its CJ Johnson
Next to the ball I think that this is one of the most talked about things
happening inside a pickleball. I was in the Pickleball Forum on Facebook the
other day. Jjust in case you haven't been there it
was a group that Aspen Kern started a while back and there's probably 11 or
12,000 of us crazy pickleball players over there talking about all things
pickleball so make sure you join it. But what caught my attention is this one
particular post had a hundred and ninety eight comments. The post centered around
playing with people who are better than you and playing with people who aren't so good.
Let's say you're the person who wants to play with a better group of
players. What are some ways to do that? Well here's a couple of my recommendations.
First thing is why is it that you want to get on to that court? A couple of
things, once you reach a 3,5, 4.0 level up to 4.5 and some 5 the difference
in ability is not necessarily the shots you can have it's the consistency. So
start by asking yourself what is it that I want to learn or have accomplished by
being in this game? The first thing could be technique perhaps there's one or two
of those players who have some shots that you don't have inside of your
repertoire. If that's the case instead of asking for a game
perhaps you're better off asking if they would spend some time on a practice
court helping you to learn and understand how they do those shots and
why they use those shots.
Perhaps you have a couple of teams who move really well together and seem to
always cover the court and get back to the ball. I you're looking for some
suggestions on court positioning you might ask one or two of those players to
watch you play a game and make some suggestions based on how they see you
moving. You might even see if they would go to a practice court and work with you
on a point or two to give you some direct instructions on how to better
move during certain situations on the court. Oftentimes you'll find that much
more helpful than the one or two tidbits that you might get during the course of the game.
Perhaps you just want to have some fun and have a little bit of challenge of
playing with some better players and that's great too. Then it becomes a
question of timing. The best time to ask is usually while those players are
warming up or at the end of the day. Try and avoid the middle of a full
heated games. That's when players are really focusing
and perhaps playing their best and having their most fun, naybe getting
their workout in, You're more apt to get them to play with you if you do it at a
time that's convenient for them.
Now if you've gotten into a game with some
better players don't try to impress just play your normal pickleball game. Don't
play keep away from a player, just play to the best of your ability. If you'd
like to get some feedback from them make sure to ask that person. Say is there
something that I'm doing on the court that I could do better or differently
that would make me a better pickleball player? I think you'll find that they'll
give you a suggestion or two.
Now if you're the person who is playing with
people of lesser ability remember.
A couple tips for playing with people who maybe aren't quite as good as you.
Just because you're on the court together doesn't mean that they want
your advice. They may not want to hear anything you have to say. Again you
don't know why they're out there. What you might suggest to them is something
like if I saw something that I thought could improve your pickleball game would
you want me to tell you?
If that person is open to suggestions make sure that you limit it to one or
two. I can't tell you how many times I have seen people out on the pickleball
court offer a different suggestion after each and every point. Al that does is
confuse someone and it takes away their performance skills. Look at their game
and offer the top one maybe two suggestions that'll help them to improve.
Lastly look at this as an opportunity for you to get a little bit of practice
in. Perhaps you've been working on that off pace serve. Maybe a lob serve that's
very high in deep or you're working on placement. One of the challenges that I
like to do for myself is I need to keep the ball and play and if I'm going to
hit a winner I have to hit it at half speed, I can't do a full speed winner
that forces me to use some angles and hit some shots that I might not readily
use and that I might find useful later on.
Lastly one of the biggest lessons that I have taken away from my career coaching
sports is the person is always more important than the game. Make them feel
good about who they are because you never know when you're going to be the
best player on the court or the worst player on the court people will always
remember how you made them feel. Be kind to each other! Because together we can
Train Smart, Live Bold and Age Well