What a great sport. I’m glad to be back. And I took my own advice and went out with a clear head, just for the joy of it, and had a great time.

I played well, especially considering how long it’s been since I was at the courts. I took the “Fearless” approach I mentioned here last week: I worked on staying calm and believed in my body’s ability to play well with the practice it’s had. Of course, these were just pickup games, but they were fun and swept me back into the arms of the sport. Ahhhhh. I’m still smiling.

One interesting thing I found about getting back to pickleball after a long absence: I was able to look at my own play in much the same way as when I watch others play. As I wrote in The Art of Pickleball, I noticed that most points are not won by hard hitting or making fancy shots. In fact, points are not won nearly as often as they are lost. Think about it: how many times have you won a rally with a put-away shot or a great sideline drive? Now think about how many times you’ve lost points by putting the ball into the net or out of bounds or somehow it got by you? Pickleball requires that one side miss a shot in order for the other side to score. To win points, you need to concentrate on not missing shots as much or more than making the great shot that will win the point. If you can keep the ball in play, you will win more often.

When I did make winning shots in my recent games, they were almost always what I call “changeups.” In baseball, a changeup pitch is usually slower than previous pitches and throws the batter off the rhythm of a hit. Examples of what I call changeups in pickleball are when you deliver a dink instead of returning a hard drive or when you break out of dinking with a hard, fast shot. These shots break the rhythm of your opponent’s expectation and can catch them unprepared. It’s something to practice on the receiving end, too, because the more you can learn to deal with these changeups, the better your game will be.

And I found that in my excitement at being back in the sport again, I often swung too hard and my ball would sail out of bounds (my canny opponents always let it go). My “home runs” were too much for the game, but it was tough to contain my enthusiasm and remember that the soft game can win many rallies. It’s true because many players don’t spend nearly as much time working on their soft game, so they’re less prepared to play the soft game well, and their dinks often end up in the net or fly too high. The soft game also gives you a break and lets you to catch your breath for a few moments. When I could keep myself calm and not get carried away, my soft game proved to be a good choice.

When you go out to play this week, don’t over-analyze your game, but keep mental notes about what worked and what didn’t, and see if making changeups and perfecting your soft game can help you play better.

See you on the courts!