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INSTRUCTION by KYLE MCMAKIN
EVERY PLAYER FEELS IT— FEW PLAYERS FIX IT
The Pickleball Cowboy on Competing When the Stakes are High
You’ re in a tournament. The match matters. Maybe it’ s for the gold medal, maybe it’ s to avoid a drop in your rating, maybe it’ s just a game against a rival you’ ve never beaten. You’ ve been playing solidly all day— clean serves, consistent dinks, effortless resets. Then the score hits 8-all. And something shifts. Your paddle feels heavier. Your feet slow down. You float a serve long. You pop up an easy third-shot drop. Your mind starts racing— thinking about the score, thinking about the crowd, thinking about what happens if you lose— instead of just playing pickleball. This is the mental game. And it happens to everyone. I’ ve been coaching and competing at the professional level for over six years, and in that time I’ ve worked with somewhere around 10,000 players across all skill levels. What I can tell you is this: The mental side of pickleball is the great equalizer. I’ ve seen technically flawless players fall apart at 8-all, and I’ ve seen players with significant mechanical flaws win gold medals because their minds were locked in.
When I work with players, I’ m not just watching their technique— I’ m watching how they breathe between points, how they react to a missed put-away, how they look at their partner when the match gets tight. Those tells are often more revealing than anything happening in their game.
I’ ve been on the winning end of high-pressure moments and I’ ve been on the losing end. The difference almost always comes down to one thing: who was better prepared— mentally— for that pressure.
This article is about getting prepared.
The score doesn’ t change the game. Your reaction to the score does.
PART ONE: UNDERSTANDING THE PRESSURE PROBLEM
Pickleball is unique in how quickly momentum can shift. In a game to 11, every point in the final stages carries enormous weight. At 8-all, you’ re two points from match-point territory. The brain registers that— and it panics.
Adrenaline floods your system, your heart rate spikes, muscles tighten, fine motor control degrades. This is your body’ s fight-or-flight response— evolved for survival, not for executing a soft crosscourt dink. The result? Players do things they simply don’ t do in rec play or warm-ups:
• Serves sail long or land in the net.
• Easy put-aways get dumped into the net.
• Footwork breaks down— feet stop moving, players start reaching and hitting off-balance.
• Swings become tentative— the same shot that’ s aggressive in warm-ups gets pushed or guided under pressure.
• Strategy goes out the window— it becomes pure reaction.
One of the most telling signs that pressure has gotten to a player is their feet. Under pressure, they go flat. They stop moving and start reacting. The swing follows— shorter, more passive, more guided.
You can see confidence drain out of someone’ s game just by watching their feet and their swing. None of this
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