The Pickleball Lesson from the Trump-Musk Feud
Can Feuds be Good For Your Game?
In today’s Bite Size Pickleball Newsletter:
The Pickleball Lesson from the Trump-Musk Feud
THE PICKLEBALL LESSON FROM THE TRUMP-MUSK FEUD
Feudalism has been around since the dawn of mankind and it’s not going away anytime soon, as evidenced by the recent bromance breakup between Trump and Musk. Don’t you feel sad? No? OK, well, me neither. I just wish our country was in the hands of more responsible adults. But that’s a whole other can of worms to get into, and I’m not interested in that here. I am interested in how the act of feuding relates to pickleball.
We all love watching a good feud. Remember the days when you were in high school, when you learned that so-and-so were going to fight behind the school at lunchtime? “Oooooooooh, let’s go!” But if we were one of the so-and-so’s, it probably caused us a good deal of anxiety and anguish, and we definitely wouldn’t have been wise to eat beforehand! Especially THIS cafeteria slop!
Now, take that nervous feeling, inherent in your gut, when you’re going to be one of the combatants, and transfer that to the pickleball court. Do you think that is going to help you play better? If you’re approaching your pickleball matches as if they were do-or-die duels? Because I don’t think it is going to help you play better. I think it is going to MAKE you play from a position of K.O.B.K. Kill or Be Killed, which you have heard me say many times. And the K.O.B.K. mode is a distinct position of over-intensity. You’re simply grasping too tightly, in your mind, and in your body. Note the way you’re even holding your paddle in this instance.
I think, scratch that, I KNOW, the better approach to ANY match you play is focusing on maxing your potential, forgetting who your opponent is (except when it comes to strategy), and playing the best you can in every moment—while letting the outcome take care of itself. You want to be playing from a place of relaxed intensity, R.I. is the not-so-secret ingredient you need to reach peak performance.
The Zone is, I am going to say, NEVER hit when you’re on the court aggressively wanting to kill someone. Just look at the grace on any athlete’s face when they are in the midst of a streak, and you tell me if you see any kind of grimace there whatsoever. What you see, is a flow state, their mind and body 100% in tune with the moment. The second they pull out of that place and think, “I’m going to crush that mo-fo,” is the moment they lose connection to the source. Any of you who have experienced a Zone understand the word “source” here, from a subconscious level, because it cannot be explained, only felt in a mysterious way. It is not to be overanalyzed.
For me, personally, I always try to remain calmer than my opponents, because when I can be in that frame of mind, my game becomes that much more graceful and effortless. I have seen it my game, time and time again, if I am exuding maximum aggression to beat someone, and have made the match “personal,” I never come close to maxing my potential. So, I would recommend to both Trump and Musk to forget about the other guy and get back to doing the best job they can in their respective lines of work. If only…