One of my favourite coaching memories is watching a 3.0 team (Sandy and Bob) compete at a local tournament. They were players I had worked with a few times in the past, so I was happy to see them in action in this mixed doubles event. They had just lost the first game in a best 2-out-of-3 match and they waved at me to come over and chat with them during the changeover. I obliged and walked up to the fence:

Sandy: “Hi Mark. So, we need your advice. We’re in a little trouble out here.”

Me: “I see that. Well, what’s your game plan?”

Bob: “Sandy takes the thirds, so I can be aggressive at the net.”

Me: “That makes sense. Anything else?”

Sandy: “Pick on her backhand. It’s not nearly as good as her forehand.”

Me: “Really?”

Bob: “Yeah.”

Me: “Oh. So you need to do a better job of executing the plan.”

Sandy: “What do you mean?”

Me: “Well from what I see, you’re hitting almost all of the balls to her forehand.”

[Bob and Sandy look at each other, confused]

Bob: “Really? I thought we were doing a pretty good job of that.”

Me: “You realize she’s left-handed, right?”

[Bob and Sandy are taken aback, and simultaneously look over at their opponent who is drinking water]

Sandy: “She is?”

Me: “Yeah.”

Bob. “Oh. Well, that would explain why we’re having so much trouble!”

This scene is not uncommon. Too often pickleball players are so concerned about themselves and what is happening on their side of the court, that they fail to recognize what’s taking place on the other side of the net: they don’t see an opponent who serves the ball and wanders forward, or the net player with her paddle down. They miss observing things like when someone is crowding the middle, leaving their side of the court unattended and vulnerable. And, yes, like Bob and Sandy, they even fail to notice which hand their opponent is using to hit the ball.

Hula Hoops and Pickleball. When thinking about how (un)aware people are when on the pickleball court, I like to imagine a hula hoop on the ground. I envision the player standing in the centre of the hoop and their awareness extending out as far as the hula hoop goes. The bigger the hoop, the greater the awareness.

Elite players, of course, have very large hula hoops of awareness. They have the ability to know what’s going on with themselves, their partner and their opponents, all while preparing to hit the ball. Beginning players – especially those with limited athletic backgrounds – typically have very small hoops, which explains their knack for serving the ball while their partner is tying their shoe, or literally not seeing a ball rolling around at the back of the court. In Bob and Sandy’s case, their hoop almost reached as far as their opponents, but not quite far enough to realize there was a lefty on the other side of the net. That would explain why even though they had a clear strategy – and believed they were using it – they weren’t able to recognize the problem. Their hula hoop was just a little too small.

How to Grow Your Hoop. I think most people would agree that given the choice, it is better to have a larger hula hoop rather than a smaller one; it’s better to be more aware on the pickleball court rather than less aware. So, how do you do it?

The first thing to recognize is that one’s ability to process information is, at least in part, related to how stimulated they are in a particular situation. If the ball coming toward you is causing a lot of stress, for example, it will be hard to pick up something subtle like whether your opponent is standing on the baseline or just behind it. If you’re feeling stressed by the ball, all of your attention will be focused on dealing with it and you won’t have much left over to give to other things like your opponents. So your hula hoop of awareness will grow naturally as your playing skills develop and the amount of mental energy you have to give to hitting the ball diminishes.

You can also work actively on growing your hula hoop. One of my favourite drills is to have two players rallying together. One person is responsible for holding up a certain number of fingers before the other player hits the ball. The hitter has to take a peek and call out the number of fingers they see. The degree of challenge can be adjusted depending on how early the fingers are shown to the hitter. A similar activity involves asking the hitter to do math problems or answer riddles as they are hitting the ball. Both activities challenge the players to think/observe while performing a technical skill.

Making the Leap to Match Play. While it is great to be able to count fingers or solve riddles, the goal is to help players bring increased awareness to their matches. While there will be some natural rubbing off between practice and match play, there are some more practical things you can do to super-charge your growing hula hoop.

First, record your matches. While this won’t necessarily increase your awareness during the match, it can be helpful to go back and review it after. You may see some things that you missed in the heat of battle and the realization that you have some blind spots can encourage paying closer attention next time around.

Second, use your timeouts to ask questions: What is happening? What are our opponents doing? What are we doing that’s working well? What’s not working? Even if you don’t have all the answers at your fingertips, the act of asking the questions and considering the answers will typically spur you and your partner to pay closer attention.

Third, get a second opinion. If you have someone who often watches your play (a spouse or a coach, for example) check in with them after your match. Ask them to share what they noticed and see how it compares to your observations. If they say something different from you, resist the temptation to correct them or push back. Listen to them and then spend some time reflecting on their point of view.

Even Pros Have Blind Spots. If you find that your hula hoop isn’t always as big as you’d like it to be, don’t fret. Think of growing your awareness as a process rather than an outcome; a journey more than a destination. There will always be times where it is easier to be aware of what’s going one all over the court – when your hula hoop is huge – and other times where you get caught by surprise and the hoop feels tiny. The best players in the world still get caught off guard occasionally by an opponent’s unexpected poach or sneaky deceptive shot. The main thing is that you become aware of your awareness (wow, very meta!) and work to develop and refine it. Good luck!