Fire Your Pickleball Coach If They Tell You To Use Common Sense

 

At first glance, this sounds ridiculous. Isn't common sense something we should all aspire to have?

The answer is yes... if your goal is to learn the score, have fun with friends, and enjoy beginner pickleball. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Recreation and enjoyment are important parts of the sport.

However, if your aspiration is excellence, then common sense may be the single most destructive mindset you can adopt.

Why Common Sense Creates Average Pickleball Players

Here is the uncomfortable truth: common sense is completely illogical if your aspiration is pickleball excellence. The two cannot coexist.

Think about it for a moment. Why would anyone expect uncommon results from common behaviors? It makes no logical sense. Yet thousands of players do exactly that every day. They pursue exceptional outcomes while thinking exactly like everyone else.

Imagine trying to become an Olympic athlete by training like an average person. The idea sounds absurd, yet that is precisely what many pickleball players do. They make decisions that help them win today's game instead of decisions that help them become a much better player six months from now.

The difference between average players and exceptional players is not talent. It is often their willingness to embrace uncommon sense.

Winning Today vs Improving Tomorrow

Common sense asks, "How can I win this game today?" Uncommon sense asks, "What do I need to do today to become a much better player tomorrow?"

Those are entirely different questions, and they frequently lead to opposite decisions.

Why Stacking Can Slow Your Improvement

Take stacking as an example. If your goal is to win social games, stacking can be useful. It allows stronger players to stay on their preferred side and minimizes exposure to weaknesses. Unfortunately, it can also become a crutch. Many players begin using stacking to hide deficiencies rather than develop them.

This is a knucklehead move if your goal is improvement. You are essentially telling yourself, "I know I have weaknesses, but instead of fixing them, I'll simply avoid them." Better players will eventually expose every one of those weaknesses anyway.

Stop stacking and learn to play every position on the court. Develop a balanced shot repertoire. Learn to attack, defend, reset, drop, and transition from both sides. Great players are not great because they have one spectacular strength. They are great because they have very few weaknesses.

Stop Hiding Your Weaknesses

The same logic applies to icing during social games. Common sense says to hit every ball to the weakest player because that gives you the best chance to win. Of course it does. Nobody is arguing that point.

The problem is that winning the game and improving your game are often two entirely different activities.

Why Playing Better Players Makes You Better

If your goal is improvement, do the opposite. Play the better player. Let them pressure your backhand. Let them attack your transition zone. Let them expose every deficiency you have. Let them tear you to shreds.

That discomfort is valuable information.

Improvement rarely happens when everything is going well. Improvement happens when your weaknesses become impossible to ignore.

Why Drilling Is the Fastest Way to Improve at Pickleball

Drilling is another perfect example. Many players avoid drilling because it is repetitive and less exciting than playing games. Yet drilling may be the single fastest way to improve.

In one hour, you can hit ten times more balls than you would during recreational play. More importantly, you can isolate weaknesses and work on them repeatedly until they become strengths.

This is one of the biggest differences between advanced players and average players. A 5.0 player has fewer weaknesses than a 4.0 player. A 6.0 player has fewer weaknesses than a 5.0 player. How often do you see a 6.0 player who cannot hit a backhand or execute a drop shot? Almost never.

Perhaps we have been thinking about improvement backward all along. Most players spend years trying to maximize their strengths while protecting their weaknesses. Exceptional players do the opposite. They attack their weaknesses because they understand that eliminating liabilities is often more valuable than adding another weapon.

Common Sense Creates Common Results

The truth is that excellence is built on uncommon habits. It requires doing things that others are simply unwilling to do. It means losing today so you can improve tomorrow. It means embracing discomfort instead of avoiding it. It means seeking out situations that expose your limitations rather than hide them. 

The irony is that common sense is designed to keep people comfortable, and comfortable people rarely become exceptional.

So yes, if your pickleball coach constantly tells you to "use common sense," you may want to find a different coach. Find one who understands that excellence is never common. Find one who understands that extraordinary results are built upon extraordinary thoughts and extraordinary habits.

Because the equation is actually very simple.

Common sense creates common results. Uncommon sense creates uncommon players.

Choose one. They cannot coexist.

FLiK IQ

At FLiK Pickleball, we believe improvement begins with understanding. Our goal is to help you see the game differently, think more clearly, and develop the skills that make pickleball more enjoyable and rewarding for years to come.