2024 is right around the corner — and you can't get ready for the new year without some New Year's Pickleball Resolutions! ?
Can't think of any? Here's a list of ones to consider...
1. Don’t be obnoxious to your partner — eye rolls, blaming them for hitting out balls or not covering a shot, etc.
→ It's not nice!
→ It's counterproductive — when people are sad (down on themselves for playing poorly) or mad (at you for being obnoxious), they don’t perform better, they perform WORSE!
2. Don't make too many excuses
→ One or two legitimate excuses about the wind or a nagging injury you have is fine. But no more than two! ?
→ If you do use an excuse, make sure it makes sense — see example below.
→ Blaming your past experience with tennis for opening up your paddle face on groundstrokes (resulting in high, weak, slice shots) is not a good excuse — because that same technique would result in horrible tennis shots too! ?
3. Wear goggles
→ The risk of a serious eye injury is simply not worth the slight inconvenience of using eyewear for protection.
→ Even if you have fast hands, no one can protect against certain things like deflections off the net or off your partner’s paddle.
→ It feels like it’s going to take a high profile player losing an eye for goggles to be enforced — and it’s a shame because logic tells us that we don’t need to wait for that to happen.
*P.S. If you can’t imagine yourself wearing goggles on court, then try imagining yourself wearing an eye patch — both on and off the court.
4. Thank the person who got you into pickleball
→ We know this sport has brought you tons of joy, so if you haven’t already, thank the person who introduced it to you.
→ Pay it forward and introduce the game to someone else!
