HOW TO KEEP YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME
Success in racquet sports is rooted directly in your ability to handle emergencies.
Your opponent, if they are at all skilled, will try their level best to present you with situations that surprise and/or unbalance you in their effort to win points.
A clearly understood reality among first responders is that one will generally not rise to the occasion, but will instead fall to the level of their training.
Only the skills and responses that are fully integrated through purposeful and focused repetition are the skills and responses to be relied upon in an emergency.
Racquet sports, at their essence, are about creating emergencies for your opponent and defusing the emergencies they create for you.
Do the work so that you can enjoy the play! Fill your toolbox with reliable tools that are easily accessible to you and then practice choosing and executing the use of those tools in pressure situations until you respond automatically in the most logical manner for the situation at hand.
Remember that racquet sports – tennis and pickleball – are both games of emergencies. So, be sure your practices reflect the concept held as truth by first responders and TRAIN UNTIL YOU OWN IT!
