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INSTRUCTION by KYLE MCMAKIN
TEAMWORK: PLAYING AS ONE
How the best doubles teams build chemistry, cover weaknesses, and win points before the match even starts.
Reading Your Partner Before You Read the Ball
Most players spend all their attention on the two paddles across the net. The better habit is splitting that attention, because the partner beside you is giving you information constantly— and almost nobody collects it.
Watch how your partner’ s paddle drops before a reset. Notice the half-step before a poach. Feel the rhythm shift between their patient dink and their swing volley. None of this is verbal. It’ s the same instinct a point guard has for a teammate cutting backdoor; you don’ t call it— you feel it building and you’ re already moving before it happens.
This is why chemistry outlasts individual talent in doubles. A banger paired with a reset player isn’ t a mismatch— it’ s a division of labor, as long as both players know whose job is whose in the moment. The trouble starts when both partners think they’ re the closer. Or when neither does.
Next time you watch a match, don’ t watch the ball for a full point. Watch the partner without it. You’ ll see the real chemistry at work— the small adjustments, the silent handoffs of responsibility, one player’ s positioning answering a question the other one just asked without a word.
Build the Partnership Around Strengths, Not Egos
The most dominant doubles teams aren’ t dominant because both players try to do everything. They’ re dominant because each player knows their job and has stopped fighting their partner for the other one.
Watch a top pairing over any real stretch of matches and you’ ll see this clearly: one player hunts speed-ups and finishes points, the other plays low-mistake, highpatience pickleball— resetting, keeping the ball alive, feeding chances instead of trying to be the hero on every ball. That’ s not one player being lesser. That’ s a division of labor, and it’ s why the partnership is harder to beat than either player would be if paired with someone chasing the same role.
TEAMS WIN MORE POINTS
WHEN BOTH PLAYERS
PLAY TO THEIR STRENGTH
THAN WHEN BOTH PLAY TO THEIR EGO.
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