Imagine this…you are down 1-8 in the third game. You just hit a stunning smash into the net. As you receive serve are you focused on the point you are playing or the last point? Perhaps, you and your partner won the first game and are up 9-2 in the second game…are you thinking about the medal stand?
Are you present, or are you thinking about the past or future? Top players have a pickleball mindset. They may have worked hard to develop it through reading or working with a sports psychologist, or they may have just developed it on their own. The fact is that all great athletes are not only physically gifted but mentally as well.
Pickleball Mindset: The Past is Over
These athletes have the ability to forget the past. It might be the last point, the last time they struck the ball or it might be an agonizing defeat several months ago. Whenever it occurred they know…it is in the past.
That point is over. Whatever happened, happened. That moment in time cannot affect the future unless we choose to let it. If a player focuses on a bad shot, the fact that their last serve did not go in, or what they consider a bad line call they cannot focus on the task at hand, i.e. the current point. To focus all your energy on the current point you must learn to turn off the thoughts that don’t contribute to the moment at hand.
Quiet the inner dialogue about how well your opponent is playing. Stop criticizing what you did wrong during the last serve. Such commentary keeps you from focusing on your current performance. I read an article about a top Ironman triathlete, who would repeat, “Do what I can do in this moment” over and over again throughout the race. You can only be the best you can be if you develop a pickleball mindset that focuses on the present and doing everything you can at this very moment to succeed.
Pickleball Mindset: The Future is Not Now
I don’t know anyone that can predict the future. However, I have met a lot of people who can influence the future with their current thoughts and actions. Some players sabotage themselves by focusing on the future. If their focus is the way they will feel when they lose, they likely will.
At the same time, you don’t want to be thinking about being photographed on the medal podium when you are in the middle of a match. If you have been playing pickleball for any length of time you have experienced the “comeback”. During a comeback, I would contend, the winners were focused on what they could do to win each and every point.
One shot at a time. One point at a time. 1-8 becomes 2-8, then 3-8. A few points later it is 6-8. Now the momentum has shifted.
Pickleball Mindset: Selective Amnesia
To be most successful, our pickleball mindset must include selective amnesia. However, I would encourage you to take it one step further:
I want you to develop a long-term memory for success and short-term memory for failure.
No one has ever completed an athletic career without losing. However, the greatest champions do not dwell on their failures. Instead, they focus on the positives. Whether that is how well they trained and prepared, how well they hit a particular shot, or how they kept confident till the very end. There is always something you did well. Focus on that, and forget the rest.
If you want more information on how to improve your pickleball mindset, read my ebook Be the Best Pickleball Partner You Can Be.
