5 Things a Humbling Tournament Weekend Taught Me

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This weekend I was the #1 seed in an amateur 5.0 event and didn’t even make it to a medal round.

I usually play pro/open, and a small part of me was pretty certain I’d come out on top.

Instead, I stumbled, and learned more about my own mental game than I have in months…which is simultaneously humbling and kind of the point.

Here are the five lessons I’m taking with me that I hope can be useful to you.

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1. Skill level and tournament readiness are not the same thing.

I came in as the top seed in amateur 5.0 and we didn’t even make it to a medal round. Considering I usually compete in pro/open, this one stung.

I’ve been dealing with a back injury and have only played a handful of times in the last month. My partner and I had one practice match together before the tournament. One.

I came in cold, and my body and mind knew it.

Being a 5.0+ player and being a tournament-ready 5.0+ player are two different things. Reps matter. Match play together matters. You can have all the skill in the world and still leave early if you haven’t done the work to show up sharp.

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2. Get. Your 3rd. Over. The net.

Here’s a super secret hot pickleball tip:

You CANNOT score points if you do not get the ball over the net. 🤯

The first match, I couldn’t hit a third shot drop to save my life. Nearly every one went into the net. And when your third shot isn’t clearing the net, you can’t get to the kitchen, you can’t control the pace, you can’t do anything.

But here’s the actual lesson inside the obvious one: if your third shot drop isn’t working, you have a decision to make. Fix it or switch to drives. Move and have your partner take as many as possible. What you cannot do is keep netting it and hope it comes around on its own. Inaction is its own mistake. Recognize the problem, make the call, and adjust because the point doesn’t care that you’re having an off day.

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3. Know when to shift gears - and do it faster than you think.

Tactically, we were off in some matches we should have had handled. Passive when we needed to be aggressive. Aggressive when we needed to be patient.

In a sport where games go to 11, you have maybe two or three points to recognize something isn’t working before the deficit becomes unclimbable. We let it go longer than that. By the time we tried to change things up, we were already too far behind to dig out.

The adjustment is rarely the hard part. The hard part is identifying it, and making a switch fast enough to matter.

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4. Emotion will cost you the point you can least afford to lose.

Near the end of a match on day two, an opponent ripped a ball straight at my partner’s face after a minor disagreement during the previous rally. It hit him around the collarbone. It felt unnecessary, and it made me genuinely angry.

Two rallies later, on match point, I got a dead dink sitting up in the middle of the kitchen.

And I decided I was going to do the same thing back to that guy.

And I body bagged the net. Point, match, call it a day.

I’d love to tell you I stayed composed and made the smart play. I did not.

I let emotion pull me out of my game at the exact moment it mattered most, and I paid for it immediately.

The irony of coaching mental performance and still getting cooked by my own limbic system is not lost on me.

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5. When the moment speeds up, you slow down.

Multiple times on day two, playing well - when we were on a run, when we had just caught up, even on a game point - I missed my serve.

Not because I can’t serve. Because I was over-aroused. The momentum was building, things were moving fast, I was feeling it, and I rushed. I skipped the reset. I served before I was composed. Hyperarousal is just as much an enemy as not being fired up enough.

Those points mattered. Some of them might’ve changed the outcome.

What I know, and what I failed to do in those moments: when everything speeds up, that’s exactly when you slow down. Take your time. Find your breath. Serve at your pace, not the pace of the moment.

The ball will wait.

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What I want you to take from all of this

I help people manage pressure. I teach mental performance skills. I think deeply about this stuff and more and more, it’s genuinely central to what I want for my students (and myself).

And I still:

- Got tight when my body wasn’t ready
- Kept netting my third instead of switching to drives
- Waited too long to make tactical adjustments
- Swung at a dead dink out of anger instead of making the smart play
- Rushed my serve when the stakes went up

That’s not a confession of failure. That’s what this sport actually looks like, even at a high level. The mental game isn’t something you master once. It’s something you keep working, in practice, in competition, and apparently on weekends when you think you’re going to medal and then don’t.

The gap between knowing and doing closes slowly. I’m closing it. So are you.

If you’re working on the mental side of your tournament game - managing pressure, resetting between points, staying at your pace when things get fast — that’s exactly what we will keep digging into together.

Hit reply and tell me where you’re at. I read every one.

— Coach Jess

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Current Weekly Clinic Schedule

No Tuesday clinic this week!

All sessions are held at California Smash in El Segundo, CA. Come see me!

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Interested in working together privately? Just reply to this email for more info.

See you on the courts!

Coach Jess
Athena Pickleball 🏓✨

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P.S. I’m seriously considering building a small online competitive-development intensive for ambitious 3.5–4.0 players, something with live Zoom coaching, match reviews, drilling plans, tactical breakdowns, accountability, and mental game work woven in.

Before I build anything, I want to make sure I’m solving the right problems.

So I’d love to hear from you:

• What’s the biggest thing keeping you from getting to the next level?
• What situations make you tight, frustrated, or inconsistent in matches?
• What do you wish someone would help you understand better or help you with?
• Would things like match review, drilling plans, or tactical coaching help you most?

Hit reply and tell me. I’m reading every response personally.
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