Recently I played pickleball for the first time. Having played tennis and squash, I believed I would be able to pick up the game of pickleball fairly easy. Boy was I wrong!
Pickleball is a paddle sport created for all ages and skill levels. The sport combines many elements of tennis, badminton and ping pong. It is played on a badminton-sized court, or a slightly modified tennis court, using a paddle and a plastic ball with holes that looks like a wiffle ball. It can be played as singles or doubles. After getting run ragged for an hour by my friend Maggie and her father John, I vowed to practice so that the next time I played with them I would not get embarrassed.
Whatever it is that you might want to master, you can become better at anything. But you will NOT get better if: 1) you don’t want to, and 2) you aren’t willing to feel the discomfort of doing things differently. Maybe you want to be a better cook, or break 80 on the golf course, or learn to tango. Learning anything new is uncomfortable at first. You need to act in ways that are unfamiliar. Take risks that are new. Try things that will probably be frustrating initially, because they won’t work the first time. You are guaranteed to feel awkward. You will make mistakes. You may end up embarrassed or even feel shame, especially if you are used to succeeding a lot. Just remember, if you remain committed through all of that, you’ll get better.
All I know is Maggie is coming back in town in April, and if I don’t get some practice in, I’ll be in a real pickle!
