You might be avoiding games that could actually help you.

We all want to get into the better games.

I hear some version of it all the time: The games aren't good enough. This person isn't good enough to drill with me. That person is too good for me.

And yes, level matters. You need appropriate competition and practice partners to improve.

But I also think we spend way too much time evaluating whether the people across the net are giving us the right experience, and not enough time asking:

What can I get out of the experience that's actually in front of me?

Because almost every game, drill partner, or clinic rotation can give you something to work on if you're intentional about it.

There's real value in playing both up and down; they just train different things.

🛑 One caveat: I don't recommend playing a full level up or down. There are diminishing returns once the gap gets too big. Think more like half a level.

When you play up, your weaknesses get exposed.

This is a good thing.

Better players make you expect one more ball back than you're used to. They punish balls that normally go unpunished. They give you less time, apply more pressure, and force you to make better decisions.

You find out pretty quickly what actually holds up.

But playing up also creates a mental challenge. You might put more pressure on yourself. You might try to hit bigger shots to prove you belong. You might abandon the things you normally do well because suddenly they don't feel like enough.

So your job isn't just to survive the game.

Pay attention to what the game is exposing.

Where are you losing points? What feels rushed? What shot or pattern works at your normal level but suddenly breaks down?

That's the information you're there to collect.

When you play down, you get to build.

When you're one of the stronger players on the court, you have more time and more control over the point. That gives you room to choose something to work on. Try the pattern you've been practicing or work on the shot you don't quite trust yet. Try constructing points and being a puppet master instead of simply winning them.

There's another huge opportunity here:

Mental toughness.

🧐 Can you stay present when you're frustrated?

🧐 Can you stop making excuses about the quality of the game?

🧐 Can you keep competing when you think you "should" be winning?

🧐 Can you lift up a weaker partner instead of getting visibly frustrated with them?

🧐 Can you hold yourself to your own standard even when the game around you isn't demanding it?

That's training too.

And lower-level games can be surprisingly difficult because the points don't always follow the patterns you're expecting. Players make unpredictable choices. Balls go places you weren't anticipating. The rhythm can feel completely different. Your job is to adapt rather than complain that the game isn't unfolding the way it's "supposed" to.

The same goes for drilling.

Maybe you're paired with someone in a clinic who isn't *quite* at your level, which happens ALL THE TIME in clinics and camps, at mine and everywhere.

Can you work on hitting a more precise ball so they get a better rep?

Can you focus on your footwork, contact point, recovery, or consistency instead of worrying about whether every feed is perfect?

And if you're paired with someone better than you, great. Can you tolerate struggling for a while and use the quality of their ball to challenge yourself?

Not every partner has to be perfectly calibrated to you for the reps to have value.

Part of becoming a better player is becoming better at using what's available to you.

So which one do you need?

Playing up is where you find the holes.

Playing down is where you work on filling them.

And both give you an opportunity to work on something bigger: your ability to stay engaged, adaptable, and intentional regardless of what's happening around you.

So the next time you catch yourself thinking, These games aren't good enough, or This isn't the right person for me to drill with, try asking a different question:

What can I work on here?

And if you really can't think of anything, the answer might just be your attitude. 😉

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Speaking of decisions...

I get asked all the time "What should I have done there?"

My newest YouTube video is all about the decisions players have to make over and over again during a point.

Drive or drop? Move forward or stay back? Take the ball out of the air or let it bounce? Attack or keep dinking?

Hopefully this video helps answer some of those questions!

​

Side question: are ai-assisted thumbnails a total turnoff or do we not care? I was struggling with canva so I called in chatGPT, but i'm not so sure...🤔

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And one last thought. Stay with me here.

Sometimes when I'm coaching or playing, I have this moment where I just marvel at how incredible we are as humans playing this sport.

Think about what your body and brain are doing during just a single point.

You're tracking a tiny ball moving incredibly fast. You're anticipating where it's going. You're moving your body into position. You're finding the paddle face. You're adjusting the angle by fractions. You're deciding how hard to hit it, where to put it, how much spin to use, and then reacting again a fraction of a second later. You're thinking 1, 2, or more shots ahead...

Over and over and over.

There are hundreds of decisions happening throughout a game. Some completely automatic now. Some very much NOT automatic yet.

And every level has its own version of this.

Things that once required all of your concentration eventually became things you don't even think about anymore. And now you're struggling with a whole new set of things that someday might become automatic too.

Sometimes we're so focused on the next level, the next rating, the shot we can't hit yet, or the game we wish we were in that we forget to notice:

Holy sh*t, look at everything you've already learned how to do.

Seriously. Do you ever stop and appreciate how amazing you are and how far you've come? If you haven't lately, I just want you to know that I am very proud and very impressed.

Pickleball is insane. Forever obsessed.

See you on the courts!
Coach Jess

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RESOURCES: ​
​Get 10% off CRBN gear with code: COACH JESS at www.crbnpickleball.com​
Pu​sh Dink Cheat Sheet Push Dink Cheat Sheet.pdf​
Split Step Cheat Sheet: ​​Split Step Cheat Sheet.pdf​
​6 Decisions Cheat Sheet: 6 Pickleball Decisions Cheat Sheet.pdf​