You hear and see it all the time “only practice with the best”, “only play with people who are better than you”. If that were true, we would all be excelling at incredible rates. In this write-up I’ll cover the 3 types of people you should be playing with and the 2 different mindsets to bring into practice.

Coming from a professional sports background in MMA and the various arts involved such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling, kick-boxing, Muay Thai, boxing, etc., I’ve been in environments where specific skillsets are developed with both athletes and coaches. While most of us playing Pickleball don’t have a dedicated coach, we can learn from outside the sport.

The most notable coach during my career was my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach, Greg Souders, of Standard Jiu-Jitsu. His goal was to be the best coach and produce the best athletes, at whatever cost. He read just about every dry sports psychology book you could think of and drew a breadth of knowledge from elite coaches in any given sport. While it would be difficult to convey the type of coach he was or the style of his coaching without actually sitting in on one of his classes, many would describe him as taking a very ‘cerebral’ approach to the art of coaching. After 10+ years of coaching, it’s now beginning to show as he is being credited with his ‘ecological approach’ to coaching and learning (you can watch one of his classes using this approach here, having the chance to listen to the way he coaches).

Between the time I began Pickleball to where I’m at now, I’ve had countless discussions with Greg re-visiting developing a skillset. The following is not my original thoughts and rather a summary of what Greg has taught me.

Who should I play with?

Find 3 different types of people to play with:

1st - those who are lesser skilled than you.

2nd - those who are equally skilled as you.

3rd - those who are more skilled than you.

What is the purpose of this? While focusing on ‘deliberate practice’ (see https://fs.blog/deliberate-practice-guide/) , you will often find yourself trying something new. When you introduce the new skill, you will want to try it on those lesser skilled than you. IF it works with a high percentage of certainty, you will then present that skill to those who are equally skilled as you. If what you’re doing works on the equally skilled, then move it to the higher skilled. This works inversely as well. If what you’re doing does NOT work on the higher skilled player then you will need to re-asses what it is you’re doing and bring it back down the ladder. Based on the results, adjust accordingly.

Why? Two reasons: 1. Different levels will give you different looks and 2. The psychological effects of winning and losing.

1. If you started with someone higher skilled than you, you will likely be in a more defensive mindset rather than experimental or offensive. All too often I see people worried about winning during practice rather than developing their skillset. Yes, they can be done simultaneously but rarely is that the case. People play to their habits, not their training, and allow egos to get in the way of learning. Individuals tend to disregard what they’re working on in order to focus solely on winning. Playing with lower skilled players offers you the opportunity to explore and experiment, which brings us to a later point (no pun intended. See ‘Mindset’).

2. Both constantly winning or constantly losing can be detrimental for the development of an athlete. When you’re constantly winning, you won’t feel challenged. When you’re constantly losing, you will feel de-moralized. Losing inherently carries with it feelings of failure and shame. I’m not saying you want to enforce false feelings of accomplishment to avoid feeling like this. This is natural in development. But it is difficult to feel like you’re progressing when you’re constantly losing. There needs to be an adjustment in the environment, as well as understanding the bigger picture, the long term view. The learning individual needs a healthy balance of feeling accomplishment as well as challenge. There needs to be a sense of reward. But there also needs to be a sense of learning from our mistakes and thus leading to developing our own process for development.

Mindset

Every time you play a match, play with intention. My coach calls it ‘exploitation’ or ‘exploration’. In exploitation, you’re strictly trying to win and leverage the skills you’ve been working on. Basically, present your best performing self. In exploration, you’re still trying to win but your first priority is working on the desired skill set. When in exploration, you do not let your partners desires for winning keep you from working on that desired skill set.

The next part is very important. I won’t even try to put this into my own words and will just quote my coach:

“Once a skill is stabilized it has to be de-stabilized. You have to find a new intention for that action. Try to do something different or you will hit diminishing returns… the brain is a novelty seeking machine.” - Greg Souders (@gdsouders)

Training without a coach can be difficult so I’m hoping this offers you guidance in how to make better use of your time on the courts and helping you reach your goals.