More Mindset, Again

The PPA tour has provided some amazing pickleball lately, and perhaps the best has been the ongoing battle for Women's Doubles supremacy between the teams of Anna Leigh Waters/Catherine Parenteau and Anna Bright/Rachel Rohrabacher. In the past four gold medal meetings, each team has won twice and of the 16 games they've played against each other, each team has won eight. It doesn't get much closer (and entertaining) than this.

But today I want to talk a bit more about mindset, specifically how interacting with your opponents can easily affect their mindset and, if they let you, how it can eventually give you a distinct advantage.

Let's go back to their third matchup, at the Rate Championships in Las Vegas on October 13th. It was game 5 and AB/RR had built up a commanding 7-3 lead and looked to be cruising to victory. While ALW/CP were serving, AB took an overhead slam that bounced the ball off the court into a corner behind the wall. It looked like a certain nail in the coffin.

ALW went to the corner to retrieve the ball, couldn't easily reach it, and received a replacement ball from the referee. AB wasn't having anything to do with that though and asked ALW to get the original ball. ALW of course refused, and AB took a long walk from the other side of the court and leaned over the wall to get the ball they had been winning with. She then headed back to her side hugely satisfied and full of confidence. She casually flipped the ball to ALW, displaying a HUGE amount of attitude.

So now ALW has a decision to make. Does she just give in to what seems like a lost cause, or does she decide that she has been poked one too many times. You can probably guess the answer, and in no time ALW/CP had taken a 9-7 lead. They then gave up three points, survived a match point, and then added three points of their own for a 12-10 win and the gold medal.

So while having and showing confidence is a great thing, you need to pick your spots well if you are going try to intimidate your opponent. Especially if her initials are ALW.

​Michael Gauthier