Most Important Line from the Olympics?
And how it can apply to your game
In today’s Bite Size Pickleball’s newsletter:
Most Important Line from the Olympics?
Don’t Showboat Unless the Show Works
Hat of the Day
Most Important Line from the Olympics?
Do you want to be great at pickleball? Or, really, anything in life? Then take the lesson from the greatest shooter of all time, Steph Curry, after he hit a barrage of three pointers in the last three minutes to save the Gold Medal basketball game for Team USA.
“Thankfully, the work took over.”
What’s that mean? It means that nothing amazing is ever going to come unless you’re prepared. And preparation includes repetition, over and over again. Whether you are a basketball player, an Olympic diver, runner, water polo player, or pickleball player, like us.
Do you want to be great? Practice, and then practice some more. Until you get to the point where you can just “let go” in your play and let the work take over. When you’re in that “Curry frame of mind,” that mind is on auto-pilot. That’s where it needs to be. It’s a total trust in your preparation and the willingness to just let it fly with zero fear. 100% confidence in the work you’ve put into it.
For more on this topic, listen to this week’s podcast on the topic.
Don’t Showboat Unless the Show Works
I recently developed a highly effective through-the-legs drive. I usually use the shot when a ball is hit short to me, and I have ample time in my approach. At the last possible moment, I will whip my arm behind my back and fire that ball through my legs. The first few times I tried it, it didn’t work, and it only evoked laughter. But lately, it has worked really well. And here’s the important thing: I am not doing the shot to show-off, which some players think I am. I am using the shot to win the point. I am 5-for-5 on my latest attempts.
When I played basketball, it was the same thing with my behind-the-back passing. I never made that pass for show. I only made it when it was going to serve the play the best. That was typically when I had the ball in my hand on a two-on-one fast break with my teammate on the left side. My opponent would hedge to cover me and the pass went around my back for my teammate’s layup. I also used the pass to free up a teammate who was at the three point line. That behind-the-back would buy them an extra second, or so, to get their shot off.
Of course, behind-the-back passes, and pickleball shots through the legs, happen when you’ve put in a good amount of work, and the game slows down enough for you to begin incorporating this stuff into your repertoire.
Speaking of the game slowing down for you, here is this week’s Bite Size Pickleball podcast on that exact subject.
BITE SIZE PICKLEBALL HAT OF THE DAY
Taking Apple’s slogan of “Think Different,” we’ve put the “dink” form of it on a hat, t-shirts and more. Check it out in our store and use the discount code VIPcustomer10 for 10% off.