Q&A with pickleball coach Morgan Evans: When are you ready to sign up for your first pickleball tournament?
If you can keep score and know where to stand, then it’s time. Don’t wait! Think of it like having kids: if everyone waited until they thought they were ready to have kids, then there would be no kids, and therefore no one to easily beat me at Call of Duty. I’m talking to you RacoonDude2011, if that is your real name!
The key is having a versatile perspective on tournaments. Playing a tournament can be to scratch your competitive itch, to prove yourself against a jury of your peers, motivation to get in shape, or simply because your wife told you to. The most important perspective for long-term development, however, is to view it as a test. If it’s your first tournament then it’s your initial evaluation.
A tournament is very different from recreational play at your local club. The pressure, the intensity, the emotion, the physical requirements to endure a day of play with often no way of knowing if you do indeed have enough time to wait in line at the taco truck.
Ultimately, a tournament is the best method available for you to get feedback about your game and as such, how to go about improving your game. Every match you play, every opponent you dink crosscourt with is telling you something. If you crash out in two, then perhaps you entered in the wrong level, or perhaps your style didn’t match well with your opponents, or perhaps you simply weren’t consistent enough under pressure. Your toughest opponent is your best coach. The players that beat you are showing you exactly where you are weak, and tournaments are the best proving grounds.
Now is the time, enter a tournament with a tolerant, supportive partner. Take your test, get your feedback, and put yourself on the right track to improvement.
But, don’t have kids, we have enough ;-)
- Morgan Evans
