What Top Gun Can Teach Us About Competitive Pickleball

I am sure everyone has their favorite quote that could apply to the game (feel free to add them to the comments below!).  But for now, let’s do a deep dive into a theme that both movies hammer home, “Don’t think . . . just do”, or from the original film, “You don’t have time to think up there. . . if you think, you're dead”.  It’s no wonder they call quick pickleball exchanges firefights!

What is so bad about thinking?

In his groundbreaking book, “The Inner Game of Tennis,” Timothy Gallwey gives us a road map for maximizing our performance by trusting ourselves and our training.  He describes that we have two selves.  Self 1 is the thinking mind that tells yourself things like “keep your head down,” “just get it over the net,” or worse, “I am sucking today.”  Then there is Self 2, the unconscious mind that controls our natural movements, such as breathing and heart function, but also learned movements, such as walking and talking.  We don’t think about shifting our weight or engaging our diaphragm when we walk and talk.  These seemingly complex actions are second nature, and Self 2 takes care of them without interruptions from Self 1.

So, what’s the big deal with the voice in your head giving instructions on how to play the game?  Well, at best, this voice is distracting, and at worst, it tenses muscles that have nothing to do with swinging the paddle, such as your forearm, face, and shoulder muscles.  Have you ever wondered why you could serve bullets hitting any spot on the court in practice, but in a game, you are lucky to get a slow serve in the center of the box?  The reason is tension.  If a serve requires twenty muscles to execute, the overthinking mind may employ twice that which restricts your paddle from loosely swinging through impact.  So you begin to guide and hope and guiding and hoping isn’t a winning pickleball strategy.

So, how do you tame the thinking mind?

The thinking mind always needs a place to go. If you follow the pro game, you may have noticed James Ignatowich and his rhythmic bouncing feet.  He has noted that his unusual footwork has nothing to do with split stepping or making a play on the ball but everything to do with taming the thinking mind.  Though you can choose different methods, the mind must focus on a place that doesn’t interrupt your game.  Ideally, you aim to focus on external elements vs. internal elements.  An internal element is shoulder rotation, wrist pronation, paddle angle, or weight transfer.  These internal focus elements impede the natural flow of your swing and play.  However, by focusing on external elements, we place the mind and our senses on the game's elements rather than on our body.  Though there are many ways to focus the mind externally, there are three primary ways to focus the thinking mind during pickleball.  They are generally categorized as visual, audible, and feeling.

Visual External Focus

The visual focus is probably the most common way to address the thinking mind.  Gallwey suggests focusing on the seams of the tennis ball.  For us picklers, those would be the holes of the ball.  When the ball is on your side of the net, attempt to stare a hole in it and drown out all other thoughts of mechanics, score, or crowds.  Focus on your opponent's paddle and tendencies as the ball moves out of your purview.  At the highest levels of the sport, players develop a relaxed level of anticipation by getting to know how their opponents play and how they prefer to hit the ball.  Ideally, you shift your focus like a dance from an intense focus on the ball and then back to your opponents as the rally goes back and forth.  Another common focus is visualizing a target or, better yet, a ball flight, which can be an excellent place to focus the mind on a serve or soft shot into the kitchen.  See the arc in your mind before you serve, and then let your training take over without any internal focus on mechanics.

Audible External Focus

Another excellent spot to place the thinking mind is on the game's rhythm.  The next time you warm up baseline to baseline, get a feel for the game's sounds.  As you hit the ball back and forth, say the actions you are hearing out loud: “bounce hit,” “bounce hit,” as you say them out loud, your body may naturally begin to prepare for the shot a little earlier without much thought.  Your backswing gets a little shorter, your footwork begins to prepare earlier, and the game slows down.

Another way to introduce audible rhythm into your game is to develop an internal tune for your serve.  For example, a two-beat: Dah . . .DAH!.  You say Dah calmly on the toss and backswing, then a quick and more forceful DAH! on contact.  This may seem silly, but in the heat of a gold medal match, adding this little audio cue to your service routine can occupy the thinking mind and let everything else melt away.

Feeling Focus

There is a beautiful sensation when you hit a particularly well-struck serve, roll volley, or overhead.  It is essential to imprint how a good shot felt when hitting free and loose in practice so you can relax, focus on that feeling, and replicate it on the court under pressure.  The more you practice this in more competitive games, the more you can calmly recall the feel of your power serve and place it on the ball.

Speaking of mimicking a feeling, emulation is one of my favorite feel-based focus points.  Gallwey describes this as “role-playing,” and you are both the actor and the director.  So, if you need to be more assertive in a match, think of being Ben Johns or Anna Leigh Waters instead of going through the laundry list of strategies such as poaching or crashing the net.  Try to emulate their games, and you will be more aggressive without employing the thinking mind.  Alternatively, if you are jumpy and skittish on counters, emulate JW Johnson, the virtual Iceman of pickleball!  Use his calm, collected demeanor and steady posture to punch the ball back at your opponent's feet.  Don’t think about how he does it; try to be him for a few points at the net and see if that helps calmly counter your next attack.

You can even blend the audible focus with the role play.  For instance, if I go for a big serve, I might say “Ben” when I toss the ball, then “Johns!” when I strike the ball.  It rinses your mind of mechanics and places your mind on the feeling of hitting a great shot like a great player.

Beyond the rally

So you have a place to focus the thinking mind to get you into the zone, but what about in between points?  The best place to focus your attention in between points is on your breath.  Love or hate him, Novak Djokovic has the best instruction here: to let go of the last point as quickly as possible by focusing on calm breathing.  Let your mind relax into the inhale for a few counts and then exhale for a few counts.  It’s a simple instruction that can be difficult if things are not going your way or the pressure builds within a match.  Practice it, and you will get better at it.  Visualize your heart rate going down as you focus on your breath.

Putting it all together

The fastest way to get out of the zone is to acknowledge you are in one.  Keeping Self 1 or the thinking mind at bay requires a bit of a disconnect to outcomes.  You must trust the process and get to a zen level of play that doesn’t see any particular shot as good or bad. . .  it just is.  “Analyze, don’t criticize” is what my doubles partner Lance always says.  If you miss an overhead into the net, which is statistically inevitable, be curious as to why that may have happened, visualize how that overhead should have been hit, maybe do a shadow swing to remind yourself of the proper form, and then let it go—no more thought of mechanics. Place your mind back on the ball or whatever external focus works for you, and swing away.  Bad shots and bad beats are inevitable, but in the end, you have to get back in that cockpit and engage without thinking about the past or the future.  “Don’t think. . . just do.”

John is a PPR Certified Instructor, a professional rec player known by his pickleball friends as “The Professor.”  He aims to help players navigate their pickleball addiction with weekly tips from etiquette to technique to injury prevention.  He can be reached at ThePickleProf.com.