When I was asked to write a blog about pickleball, I was hesitant because I’d been away from the sport for quite a while. But then I thought I’d write about the qualms I’ve had about getting back into the game.

It should be easy, right? Pick up a paddle and start swinging. Well … Not as easy as all that. I find myself thinking, “I’ll get to the courts and I won’t be half as good as I once was. People are going to think, ‘Hey, what happened to her? She used to be better than that.’ I’ll be embarrassed; I’ll want to make excuses. It’ll be bad.”

With such thoughts in my head, my first appearance on the court is destined for disaster. I don’t stand a chance. My inner opponent has beaten me, and I haven’t even put on my shoes.

What’s going on in my head is probably not so different from thoughts you’ve had before a game that mattered, let’s say, or some other event where your performance was being judged, either by you or by others. The horrible part of all of this is that the worry, the thoughts your inner opponent throws at you, will cause you to fulfill your expectations and perform worse than you would otherwise.

I don’t expect to get to the courts after a long time away and play the best game I’ve ever played. But if I can keep my inner opponent from offering comments and taking over, my game might not be that bad. How do I do that?

There are a few ways, and they fall into two general method groups: discipline and relaxation. As you’ll see from the points below, these aren’t always mutually exclusive.

• Stop thinking. At least, stop thinking so much. If you can tune out negative thoughts especially, your play will improve. Stop thinking about the game and just start playing it. Someone recently said we all have baggage – you just need to make sure it’s checked baggage and not carry-on.
• Concentrate on something and keep that focus. Watch the ball. Pay attention to your follow through. Concentrate on your target. Whatever you choose, stay focused on that thought and don’t let other thoughts or events distract you.
• Stay calm. Don’t react to things happening around you. Take even breaths. Keep your composure. Almost like a meditation on the court, let go of any tightness, relax your body and mind, and “go with the flow.”
• Take the game one serve at a time. Let go of the last point as soon as it’s over. Each new serve is a new chance to make a point, and making points, one by one, wins the game.
• Make a pattern for your rally preparation and do it the same way every time. Relax; move into the ready position; stay alert; watch the ball. Whatever you do, whatever routine you set for yourself, focus on this and nothing else.
• Be fearless. What good does being afraid do for you? Believe in yourself, in your body’s ability to do naturally what you’ve practiced. You’ve made plenty of good shots before. You can and will do it again. Don’t let anyone or anything bully you into believing otherwise.

I''ll keep you posted. If I can get my head back in the game – no, wait – if I can keep my head out of the game, I’ll play better and have more fun. The same goes for you, too. Don’t think about it: do it!

Recently I was at a pickleball tournament and I happened to look at the paddles available from one of the vendors. One paddle had a sticky tag that read, "Lefty." I laughed when I saw it, knowing that paddles aren't any different for right- or left-handers, and I said to the proprietor, "That's cute."

"It's for real," he said, and he proceeded to show me the grip on the "lefty" paddle.

If you look at the paddle in the first picture, you'll see a typical paddle grip. Notice the way the spiral grip matches the angle of my fingers when I hold it with my right hand.

Now look at the next picture, which is the same paddle in my left hand. (I moved my thumb out of the way to show the grip better.) The angle of my fingers and the angle of the wraps are opposite, and it's not nearly as comfortable.

I don't know if any other manufacturers are going to begin offering left-handed grips for their customers, but you can always customize your own paddle by removing the existing grip and replacing it with a new one that's wrapped in the opposite direction.

I’ve been playing this fantastic sport for nearly ten years, and many of the players I’ve interviewed have more than 30 years of playing experience. Together we have logged a LOT of practice hours!

These tips are the result of years of study and passive research. Speaking just for myself, I’ve learned things, unlearned things, made mistakes, triumphed, and everything in between. I know these tips work.

With any sport (or truly with anything you do in life), it helps to know how to go about practicing and how to maintain the progress you’ve made. What good is progress if you don’t keep it?

I hope these tips will be valuable as you implement them in your own practice. I urge you to think about what you do now and how it’s working or not working. Then judge how you can apply these tips to better utilize your own practice sessions.

1. Slow Down. Practice doesn’t have to be (and probably shouldn’t be) fast. You’re not in a tournament, and there’s no need to hurry your strokes. Practicing slowly means you have time to think about what you’re doing, analyze your body position and your state of mind as you go, and sort out problems as they come up. If you go too fast, you’ll skip over the little details that the great players of world pay attention to.
2. Break Each Problem into Small Chunks. The smaller, the better. Don’t be afraid to break down your play to the barest of bones. Start with the very first thing that happens, and do each step carefully to the end, making sure every step is clean and precise. This goes for anything: if it’s a problem, think about why it’s a problem, and deal with pieces you can chew.
3. Build Momentum. Practice every day. Progress is only useful when you can keep it up and build on it. If you improve a small bit of your playing but then leave it for a few days, chances are it will revert back to the bad  habits or techniques you had before. You have to keep it going. Those small achievements then multiply, improving your playing by leaps and bounds.
4. Do Everything Ten Times. Doing something correctly once isn’t enough. It’s a fluke. Doing it ten times consistently is not a fluke—it’s an improvement. It may seem tedious and boring, but that’s because you’re not approaching it the right way. Turn it into a challenge. Make it a game. Get to the end, mastering each repetition consistently, without reverting back to your old habits. Which brings me to number 5:
5. Don’t Be Afraid to Make Mistakes. You will make lots of them. It’s inevitable, and it’s ok. Learn from those mistakes. Analyze them. Take the emotion out of it and understand that making mistakes is part of learning. Everyone learns at a different speed, so stop wondering how your friend is progressing so quickly. If you work at it, you will improve and overcome those areas.
6. Start Every Practice with Technique. So you’re ready to start practicing. You pick up your paddle and launch right into a game without warming up your body—and your mind. You miss shots and skip over technique, and your play is neither fluid nor clean. Your body needs to wake up first. Your arms’ muscle memories need to be refreshed before you can count on them to do what they’re supposed to, leaving the rest of your mind to deal with actually playing the game, not micromanaging your legs, arms, hands, feet. Do 15 minutes of basic warmup exercises: start with the soft game just behind the non-volley line. Get those dinks working perfectly. Concentrate on consistency and good form (using all the angles: backhand, forehand, etc.). Then move to the baseline and work on forehand, backhand, overhand strokes until they’re smooth and working easily. Your efforts will be rewarded later.
7. Practice The Biggest Problem First. It’s like eating the thing on your plate you like the least (how many of our parents told us that?) and deal with the issue head on. Spend time on it. Move on if you have to, but come back to it. Don’t let anger and frustration cloud your mind and mar your practice. Your body will tighten up and physical tension destroys good play.
8. Video Yourself. Record yourself playing when you believe you have good form. How does it look? Are you happy with it? Does it look different from what you thought you were doing? Chances are, it does. What we feel we are doing is rarely the same as what we see afterward. Video recording your practice session allows you to see little things that you might not see from your perspective in the moment. That being said: Don’t Despair. No one is watching—only you. Now that you know what the problem is, you can fix it.
9. Emulate Better Players. While I was learning to play pickleball, I watched other players constantly. I was fortunate to be surrounded by some of the best pickleball players in the nation, and that burned into my subconscious a solid foundation for what my interpretation of what great play should look like. I examined their technique. What makes his play seem so effortless? I love the way she directs her shots so consistently. How can I make mine do that? How are she and her partner playing so efficiently together? Ask yourself these kinds of questions and attempt to answer them.And last but definitely not least:
10. Enjoy Your Practice: That may sound silly, but the more you enjoy it, the more you’ll want to do it. It’s a process—a  kind of game. Practicing the right way is going to take your game to the next level, and allow you to reap the rewards associated with being a better player.

Visit www.galeleach.com for information on my book, The Art of Pickleball, and to get an autographed copy.