The Pickleball Cowboy on Competing When the Stakes are High You’re in a tournament. The match matters. Maybe it’s for the gold medal, maybe it’s to avoid a drop in your rating, maybe it’s just a game against a rival you’ve never beaten. You’ve been playing solidly all day—clean serves, consistent dinks, effortless resets. Then the score hits 8-all. And something shifts. Your paddle feels heavier. Your feet slow down. You float a serve long. You pop up an easy third-shot drop.

When I was 5 years old, my mother took me for my first swim lesson. The instructor, a gruff man in red lifeguard Speedos, led me to the deep end of the pool and pushed me in. With my mother looking on in shock, I managed to dog-paddle to the side safely. At which point, the instructor exclaimed: “You see! He swims!” We never went back for lesson two. I mention this lesson for one reason: If you’re not coming to pickleball from another racket sport (especially tennis), you wou