There's Winning and There's Learning

Losing sucks. It is hard to describe it any other way. But in an attempt to frame losing as something positive, we now call it a learning opportunity. So how do we get past the anger and frustration and learn from it?

I tell my students that they have to become self-aware. I am not exactly sure how to make that happen, but I start with unforced errors while we are drilling. After a mishit, I immediately stop and ask them why the ball went where it did. I am often met with a blank stare, but we can usually recreate the positioning and stroke and see immediately where it went wrong. Now the student has something concrete to monitor and fix, and most often they can do that. So it is a learning opportunity.

Losing a game or a match requires a bit more work and learning is really only possible with some video to review. It is relatively easy to isolate a bad shot and go back a couple of shots to find where the secret lies. Teams will often be missing third shots, getting trapped at their own baseline, or getting caught out of position. These things can be addressed, drilled, and fixed in a practice session.

So yes, learning opportunities exist, but you have to take the time to work at it. Come to think of it, there are likely the same opportunities in winning a game. It makes sense to be constantly evaluating your game to isolate the things needing improvement.

See you in the video room.

Michael Gauthier
Rally Academy
​Pickleball Strokes