Simple Is Better: Stop Overcomplicating your Pickleball Hey friend, I'm in your inbox this week with a simple reminder: bread-and-butter pickleball will raise your level faster than any flashy new shot. We think improvement comes from learning something new. More often, it comes from finally doing the simple things consistently. I posted a new positioning video on YouTube last week (see below), and many comments said the same thing: “So simple, but so helpful.”“Good reminders. I needed this.”...
9 days ago • 2 min read
Want to Improve Faster? Track Your Kitchen Arrival Percentage Last week I ran a doubles strategy clinic with 16 women, and I started with a bet. My coaching partner and I stood at the kitchen line while I put two players in the transition zone. I offered anyone a dollar if they could get to the kitchen...with one catch: they could only hit hard. No drops. No resets. Just power. Team after team got stuck. Every hard ball came back at their feet, and they never advanced. Only one team broke...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hi friends, If I could convince you to obsess over one thing in your pickleball game, it wouldn’t be your third shot drop or your speed-up. It would be your footwork. Not because better footwork helps you hit one shot better, but because it helps you hit every shot better. The better you’re set up, the more options you have. Better dinks. Better speed-ups. Better lobs. Better deception. More power. More consistency. My newest YouTube video focuses on dink setups, but the lesson is much bigger...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Twisting the Screws on Your Opponents Most players think pressure means hitting hard. And sometimes it does. A good speedup can force a reaction, create chaos, and blow a point open. As an ex-tennis player, hitting hard was my first form of pressure and for about 3 months, I thought that was basically the whole game (mini-tennis anyone?) Hit harder, win more points. It took me some time on the court, playing, coaching, watching high-level matches from the sideline, to realize how wrong that...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
The 5 Skills You Need to Reach the Next Level This week on Instagram (@athenajess), I broke down what I believe are the five biggest skills that separate 4.5 players from legitimate 5.0 players. But before we get into it, I want to make one thing clear: these skills aren’t exclusive to the 4.5-to-5.0 jump. They’re the same skills that help players move from 3.5 to 4.0 and from 4.0 to 4.5. The level changes. The principles don’t. At 4.5, most players are already pretty consistent. They’re...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
"NO, Jess. That's NOT it. Aghh, I HATE when I do that." That's what I say to myself - internally, and sometimes very much out loud - about three different not-so-smart and very impulsive things I love to do on the pickleball court. Trying the same lob repeatedly is one (it just doesn't fly with certain opponents). Rushing speedups on certain bounces is another one. I know the ball isn't there and I do it anyway. Hello, tape. One of my besties has a version of this too. She'll randomly jab at...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Your Mind Needs A Job A sports psychology idea I've been sitting with lately, in my own game and with the players I coach, is that your mind needs a productive job when you compete. We're a bit like herding dogs. Left to our own devices we can become restless and scattered, but give us a job and suddenly we're calm and focused. We talk so much about not overthinking, and that's true. But trying not to overthink will almost certainly cause you to do exactly that. Here's what I've noticed: most...
2 months ago • 2 min read
10K Subscribers + June Half-Day Camps Are Back Athena Pickleball hit 10,000 YouTube subscribers this week, which honestly feels surreal considering that was my entire goal for 2026. What’s been most surprising isn’t the number itself, though. It’s how much building a YouTube channel has mirrored learning pickleball: you’re often wrong about what will work progress takes longer than you think consistency matters more than motivation and sometimes you just have to keep making one more ball So...
2 months ago • 2 min read
What To Do When Your Third Shot Drop Stops Working I referenced this mind-blowing idea in last weeks email, but lean in, because this one's wild: You CANNOT WIN a match if you cannot make a third shot. Ok, technically, if the other team misses eleven returns in a row... maybe. But statistically? Not a strategy I'd take to the bank. I was reminded of this the hard way at my last tournament. My drop was off for a full 3 game match. Same shot, same result, getting worse by the point. If you've...
3 months ago • 3 min read