In Pursuit of Change -
By Morgan Evans.  

What does it take to keep developing your game as an adult? I believe that firstly, it comes down to a slightly deeper understanding of fear. As an instinctual emotion we feel, fear plays an important role in our development. Our inhibitions come from fear as a form of protection. It protects us from taking risks that might endanger our chance of survival or success. Fear tells us that we should be careful crossing the road, just like it tells us that we need to be careful trying new things in our next tournament. Hitting your brand new power serve MAY endanger lives !

As an adult, committing to using freshly learnt techniques or strategy in a real match, takes guts, mental fortitude and a willingness to fight your natural fear of losing. It means being prepared to take one step back to go two steps forward. Blind faith that one day soon, practice will become progress. You may suffer humiliating defeat time and time again in your pursuit of change. As coaches we honestly do feel bad about this... really. Then again it might be the kind of once in a lifetime, jackpot change, bestowed upon the few and far between. It fits, just fits, making you instantly better. In that moment your coach is finally worth his weight in gold, and we do accept tips ;-)

Think about it, what's the alternative? Take a lesson, agree on a change, then only use it in other lessons, but not in a match? That's a bit like trying to improve your hunting skills by shooting road signs.

What about this.... What if you let go of the fear? What if winning your next match became less important? If egos and bragging rights were left at the gate, if the pickleball wasn’t your entirety, and you weren’t defined by your four digit rating? Suddenly the pressure that forces us to just rely on the years of muscle memory, is gone, and something new can grow. Conscious thought could exist at 0-0-2. When you do your well timed split step in the transition zone, you COULD tell your arm to play a dink. It could be as simple and as difficult as that.

Bruce Lee once said "You have to empty the cup" referring to ones ability to remove information that lies within you, in order to let new information reside. Empty your cup. Agree to let something new come into your game, understand the big picture is your continual development, not winning your next match. Remember the change you are attempting is a long term solution that has a gestation period. Trust that practicing it under the pressure of a match is an important part of development. Then, just let go, and enjoy the never ending road of change.

Happy Holidays from the CoachME Pickleball team.