Pickleball Diary Day 8: Learning by Watching Better Players

March 18, 2023 — Day 8 of learning pickleball.

I did not spend most of my eighth day playing pickleball. I spent it watching.

That turned out to be useful.

I went to Crossgates in Slidell for Pickle in the Dell 2023 to watch AJ, Dev, Doug and Jesse compete. Patrick, Tuna, Kristen and I watched from the second-floor balcony while a cold, strong wind moved through the courts below.

Watching From Above Changed What I Saw

Standing courtside, especially as a brand-new player, I was mostly watching the ball.

From the balcony, I started seeing the space around it.

I could see how a shot pulled one player toward a sideline and opened space somewhere else. I could see the angles players were creating instead of only seeing where the ball eventually landed. Patterns that moved too quickly for me at court level looked more obvious from above.

On Day 8, I was starting to realize that pickleball was not only about hitting the ball. It was also about what each shot did to the shape of the court.

I did not have the vocabulary yet to explain everything I was seeing. I just knew the game looked different from up there.

Looking back, I think that was one of the first times I stopped watching only the ball and started watching what the players were doing to the court.

Watching AJ Move Up to 4.0

I was especially excited to watch AJ.

In his previous tournament with Tristan, he had finished second in the 3.5 division. At Pickle in the Dell, he moved up to 4.0 and played with Dev.

AJ and Dev finished third in their first tournament together at that level. Doug and Jesse won the same 4.0 division.

Eight days in, I was still learning the basics. Watching players I knew compete at a much higher level gave me something I could not get from simply hitting balls myself. I could watch their spacing and movement, along with their shot choices, without also having to worry about where I was supposed to stand.

AJ Showed Me I Had More Than One Backhand

After the tournament, I dropped AJ off at Pontiff while I went to the office to get some work done.

When I came back to pick him up, he was still practicing.

He showed me something about my backhand that immediately got my attention.

I had been trying to punch almost every backhand ball. On the shot we were working on, AJ showed me how to use more of a controlled pushing motion instead of treating the ball like something I had to strike sharply.

At the time, I interpreted the lesson as, “Stop punching the backhand and push it.” With more experience, I would not turn that into a universal rule for every backhand in pickleball. Different backhand volleys, blocks, counters, dinks and groundstrokes ask for different motions.

But for the ball AJ was showing me that day, I had been trying to do too much with my hand. For that ball, I suddenly had something besides punch it.

The lesson was not that every backhand should be pushed. The lesson was that I had been using the same answer for too many backhand balls.

Where I Was After Eight Days

Eight days into pickleball, I was still at the stage where almost every session gave me something new to think about.

This day was different because much of the learning happened while I was standing still.

I did not leave Crossgates as a dramatically better player. I left noticing different things.

This entry is part of my original diary from when I first started playing pickleball. It records what I understood at the time, along with a little hindsight where an early lesson needs more context today.