Hey Pickleballer, Who Are You?

Starting out in pickleball I never thought of myself or other competitors being a “type”. Although many players are identified or self-identify as “dinkers” or “bangers”, I never put emphasis on these categories myself; I guess I always aimed to achieve elements of both.

Now, “dinkers” and “bangers” are two types of playing styles that have become attached to a player. However, what I’m referring to here is more so the way in which a player can come across. Here’s what I mean by this...

About 5 years after picking up my first paddle, I played against a team who I ended up categorizing as “grumpy and mean”. This was back in December of last year, in California, at a National Pickleball tournament.

My teammate and I had already played a few matches, most teams were your standard, happy-to-be-playing-pickleball people. However, with one match we could immediately feel that the vibe was different with the other team.

Despite their sunglasses, we knew that after the quick introductions there would be no interaction. No talking, no smiling and I’m talking between them. It also probably didn’t help that they were both wearing all black from their hats right down to the shoes.

I can tell you that I went through a small roller coaster of emotions that match. Initially, I was a bit taken back by their attitude.

But then they started making bad line calls and some obvious cheating was going on so I became really frustrated and almost angry, which then quickly turned into confusion because between rallies my teammate and I were trying to decide if we wanted to pause the match and request a referee or not (which, you can do during a time out).

We opted to not get a referee, as we thought it would only ignite their attitude more and if there was no referee available then we didn’t want to have to go back and keep playing them after our request was made.

Eventually, we just played very determined - determined to not lose to this negative duo. Overall, it’s pretty clear that I didn’t think the match was enjoyable. But it's a competition, right?

At the end of the day, we’re on court to do our best and we aren’t competing to make friends. While I generally agree with this statement that interaction had me thinking about the different types of competitors and so I’ll ask you this: do you know what type of competitor you are?

Photo credit: Deseret News

Some Considerations

Most players are scoping out other players to potentially play with in the future. While we’re seeing more partner consistency from the pros, that was not exactly the case back when I first started playing.

Players were rotating amongst each other and if I had to guess, I would say the pro tours and prize money have something to do with players sticking with the same partners.

At the amateur level players are still mixing it up and are often playing with people they have never met before (we call this a “blind date” in pickleball). So, something to keep in mind is that players are always watching each other as possible partners for the future.

It’s not just about your journey, others are on this exciting pickleball adventure and the majority of people are playing pickleball for the fun and love of the game.

I’ll tell you, many times in community centers, I see stronger players smashing the ball at the lower-level players, this is definitely intimidating and unwelcoming for the newer people.

Not sure how many of them actually want to keep learning the sport after an experience like that. I even have a few students who take lessons to specifically learn how to not back down from a hyper-aggressive player.

Sponsors often watch matches. One of the really fun aspects about pickleball is that some brands are really open to sponsoring players at many different levels.

This is because they are open to investing in ambassadors of the game and coaches who are growing and developing the sport, as a way of gaining further brand exposure.

If you’ve ever hoped or dreamed about being a sponsored pickleball player, maybe it’s time to do a check-in with yourself as to what type of player you are or want to become.

Players left to right: Collin Johns, Ben Johns
Photo credit: Joola USA

I will say that I’m sort of wary of the players who are overly friendly on court, mostly because I think it’s a tactic to distract others which I’ve definitely fallen for in the past. Tactically speaking, being a certain type of player can give one a huge advantage over others.

Take Ben Johns for example, I believe a very effective tactic of his is the decision and ability to stay even keeled while on court. He rarely shows emotion, no matter which way the momentum swings, he moves about the court in a calm and collected manner and very rarely shows bursts of erratic movement or emotion.

Players will feed off of other people’s emotions for example, a player who is letting the lead slip away from them and starts to show defeat in their body language and attitude might give their opponents a leg up, some further motivation to turn around the momentum of the game.

Ben stays so level that no matter what the score is he rarely shows signs of fatigue, frustration or early celebration. On the other hand, someone dynamic and loud like Tyson McGuffin knows how to use the crowd to support his game.

This has nothing to do with the other opponent, it has everything to do with Tyson’s energy levels. He can rally from a deficit by engaging with the crowd between points.

Tyson McGuffin
Photo credit: PPA

Regardless of whether someone is watching you or not and for what reason, whether you’re a tournament player or recreational player, a teacher of the game or forever learner of it, overall, what type of player do you think you are or are becoming?

There’s many, many ways to define yourself; it's just a matter of knowing which ones resonate with you the most.

By the way, my partner and I ended up beating team Grumpy.

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