INSTRUCTION
Compete , Learn and Honor Your Way to Better Play Through a Stronger Mental Game
Let ’ s cut right to it — you ’ re spending way more time on your technique , and maybe on strategy and tactics , than you are on your mentalemotional game .
You ’ re not alone . Almost all pickleball and tennis players — and pickleball and tennis teaching pros — do the same thing . And , at every level , from rec to world ’ s best , the ones who have their mental and emotional game more solid end up playing better , and they win more often .
By Martha R . Roper and Peter C . Scales ( Coach Pete )
But here ’ s the key : winning can ’ t be your focus . It ’ s judo . It ’ s Zen . You ’ ve all heard it — focus on the process , not the outcome . And that ironically gets you to the outcome more often . But it ’ s hard !
I ( Pete ) was a racquet thrower when I started tennis at age 42 , as well as a psychologist . Oops . Only when my wife , Martha , finally said , “ I ’ m out for mixed dubs unless you clean it up ” did I start confronting how deep this went . And it took one of our tennis pros to get me over the line , finally , when he was watching me melt down
Martha and Pete with Anna Leigh and Leigh Waters at the Desert Ridge Open in Phoenix .