Your Brain on Tournament Tilt
Notes from an amateur pickleball competition
In today’s Bite Size Pickleball newsletter:
Your Brain on Tournament Tilt
YOUR BRAIN ON FULL TOURNAMENT TILT
I just spent three whole days watching an amateur pickleball tournament. If there was one thing that stood out the most, it was the level of tension running through the majority of players’ games. So here are a few thoughts that might help you move past that tension and tap into your best possible performance.
Number one: It’s the same damn game you’ve always played. The exact same. The only thing that changes is your thought process. If you're thinking too much while playing pickleball, you're doing yourself a disservice. You're putting a barrier between you and the possibility of peak performance. Peak performance happens when you’re prepared enough to let go and flow with the moment-to-moment plays.
And that’s another source of tension: you're not focusing on those moment-to-moment plays. You’re focusing on the result. Anytime you approach a game—or any pursuit in life—with a result-first mindset, you inhibit your full potential.
Another big factor? You're thinking about the competition weeks—sometimes months—in advance. You load your mind with unnecessary drama. So when tournament day finally arrives, your brain is already cluttered and ready to tilt at the slightest provocation. And once you're into competitive play, it’s nearly impossible to shake all that baggage. That kind of mental work needs to happen long before the tournament begins.
I suggest you learn to start catching yourself when you drift down the path of most resistance. You know the one: worrying about who you’re playing with, who you’re playing against, your travel plans, what it’ll mean if you win, or lose, what kind of balls will be used, whether your hip will hold up, or if the porta-potties will be clean. On and on and on.
Sure, some prep is important. Drill with your partner. Sleep well the night before. Rewrap your paddle grip. But beyond the basics, there’s a mountain of mental clutter you can—and should—clear. My tip? Use a mantra. Every time the garbage cycle starts to churn, repeat:
“Just stop, Rick! You got this. Trust your preparation.”
And once you’ve done all you can do to prepare? Let it go. Go play your best in every point—and let the result take care of itself. That’s when you give yourself a real shot at peak performance, aka hitting “the zone.”
One last thing. Expect distractions. They’ll come in all shapes and sizes. For example, how long you’ll actually be at the tournament, or how long you’ll wait between matches. I watched my friend and his wife start at 8:00 a.m. and they didn’t finish until 5:00 p.m. Most of the mixed division players were stuck there for six hours or more, sometimes waiting more than an hour between matches.
Could you complain? Sure. Would it help? Not a chance.
This event had one guy trying to wrangle over 400 players. One of his quotes, when players tried to ask him a question was, “I’m Joe Pesci until I’ve had something to eat.” Well, that was actually what he said to me when I tried to ask him if I could get a replacement for myself. Yours truly sprained my ankle walking through a dirt path on the tournament grounds a couple of days before I was supposed to play. D’oh! My partner and new replacement ended up winning their division. D’oh! Anyhoo, I suggested they use AI next year to help streamline operations. Say what you will about AI—but there’s a reason it’s catching on so fast: efficiency.
The most helpful thing you can do to maximize your tournament efficiency is to come prepared—and then commit to flowing with everything. If you can keep your head in that space for the duration of the tournament, that’s a success in my book. Because the more your feathers get ruffled, the fewer points you win.
That’s all, folks—unless you want to dive deeper in my books How to Play Better Pickleball or 11 Ways of the Athletic Warrior: A Guide to Peak Performance, both available on Amazon. They’re full of the tweaks you need to stop getting your feathers ruffled and tilting your pickleball machine.
