Have you ever watched a pro pickleball match? If not, you should—one of the best ways to learn new skills, shots, and strategies is to watch the pickleball players that are the best in the world play. If so, have you noticed that the pro players are rushing to their cell phones during time-outs or breaks in play? Why are these pro pickleball players on their phones during competitive events?
The answer is coaching!
According to the rules of pickleball, “coaching” is “[c]ommunication of any information, including verbal, nonverbal, and electronic, from someone other than a player’s partner, that a player or team may act upon to gain an advantage or help them avoid a rules violation. Coaching on the pickleball court is only permitted during time-outs and in-between games (other than from your partner and other than in unique formats, like the team event Major League Pickleball).
As a result, many pro pickleball players—whose livelihoods are on the line based on their performance during pickleball tournaments—rush to the sidelines during time-outs in order to receive any advice from their support team. And, for some pro pickleball players, the best advice comes in through text messages and calls to their cell phones, as their respective coaches are able to watch live on the applicable broadcast and write in messages in real time.
Coaching is so valuable to any player—amateurs and pros alike. As is true in any sport, sometimes, a person on the sidelines, who can see the entire field, court, pitch, etc., can pick up on issues, patterns, strategies, and more that you are not able to see when you are in the middle of the action and in the trenches of competition. This third-party perspective can be invaluable—particularly, when this third party knows you and your game better than most.
So, although you may not be on the pickleball live streams and having a coach from across the country send you messages on how to improve your success on the court, consider whether you could benefit from having a coach help you improve your game. This could be valuable to you and your game, whether you are in a pickleball tournament or even a recreational warrior trying to improve your skills. Pickleball coaches can help you achieve success in whatever that means to you.
