Monday, October 14, 2024
Monday Inspiration - How Did They Do That?
I've spoken about mindset on numerous occasions, and I probably will again many more times. This week I was inspired by an exceptional example on the PPA Pro Pickleball tour. Let's go back a couple of weeks to the PPA Virginia Beach Cup, and the Mixed Pro Doubles quarter final match on October 4th, between Christian Alshon/Catherine Parenteau (4th seed) and Riley Newman/Jackie Kawamoto (11th seed).
If you only have time to watch a few pickleball matches now and then, this one is being talked about as one of the finest matches of all time, and that's pretty high praise. Be sure to have a watch.
As the seeding might suggest, it was no surprise that Parenteau/Alshon won the first game, by a score of 11-9. In the second game they quickly worked their way to a 10-7 lead. In other words, they were one point away from the match victory. And then the fun began.
FIVE times Parenteau/Alshon had two serves and lost both rallies to Newman/Kawamoto. That's TEN times that Newman/Kawamoto faced match point and survived.
So what does it take to stare down the barrel of the shotgun TEN times and survive? I could see that both Newman and Kawamoto took fewer high risk shots when they were on defense. That minimized the chance of an untimely unforced error. But never once did I see even the slightest sign of them letting up or relaxing. They honestly believed that all they had to do was win the current rally. And they did. Not only that, but they got two points themselves after facing the sixth match point, and then two more after the eighth to take an 11-10 lead.
And where were Alshon and Parenteau during all this? They never once looked confident. They appeared to be scared and hopeful. After all, surely in ten attempts Newman/Kawamoto would make at least one simple unforced error. But they didn't.
And wait, there's more! While serving at 11-10, Newman/Kawamoto relaxed slightly and couldn't finish the job. Parenteau/Alshon came back with two points of their own to go ahead 12-11. And then had two more failed match point opportunities. Newman/Kawamoto got one point back to make it 12-12, Parenteau/Alshon failed to go ahead, and then Newman/Kawamoto scored two points to win the game. The winning point was the 33rd rally since the score had been 10-7, almost an entire second game in itself.
This was simply an unbelievable game with incredible mental powers on display. My takeaways included: never let up the pressure on the other team; keep the intensity high; play each rally to win; don't get distracted by the score; and if you are winning, keep doing the same things that got you there.
Not surprisingly, Newman and Kawamoto then took game three 11-7 to win the match. They earned and took the mental advantage by winning game two, and for all intents and purposes, the match was over then.
The entire match took 110 minutes, more than twice the expected time. But game two will certainly inspire players for years to come. Well done Riley and Jackie.
Michael Gauthier
Rally Academy
Pickleball Strokes
NDY - Not Done Yet
Owner, Pickleball Strokes
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