How Long To Get Good At Pickleball?
The learning curve is subjective, at some point in your life, you might outshine your peers in one aspect only to become a slouch in another. It is evident that Nature works in mysterious ways that are beyond our understanding and sort of translate our physical capacity in our dimensional plane.
Learning sports, for instance, Pickleball requires similar cognitive skills and attributes which implies that the answer to “How Long To Get Good At Pickleball” will vary from one individual to another.
However, there are some proven methodologies that will influence your learning curve and even make you evolve and polish your skill sets so you can progress efficiently.
Speaking of which, below I will provide a thorough roadmap on how long it will take for you to get professionally better at pickleball and even throw in a couple of tips so you can easily iron out any hurdles you may have to face.
Roadmap For Getting Good In Pickleball
As mentioned above, it solely depends on the interest of a person and how easily he or she adapts to the rules of pickleball, nevertheless, a player partaking in this sport is categorized on the basis of three classes.
1. The Rookie’s
Rookies or as per my coach “newbies” are those players that are barely aware of the intricacies of pickleball and don’t really have a clue where to start.
Although pickleball highly caters to everyone equally of any age, it still confuses a newbie or a rookie considering the fact at first glance it certainly looks similar to sports such as badminton and tennis.
Nevertheless, the rules and playstyles are considerably different which requires a new player at least 6-8 months to adapt to.
But when it comes to getting really good that you can confidently play pickleball at a competitive level, a rookie would have to spend at least around 1-2 years in order to build muscle memory and reflexes as well as learn all sorts of techniques and variations.
2. The Intermediate Or Casual
These are the sort of individuals who are already aware of the itsy bitsy details, so coaching them on the basics such as serve, lob, or Dink shots wouldn’t take much time.
However, keep in mind, unlike rookies, these players lack the confidence to play in big leagues as they usually have a mindset of playing with friends just to have a tinker of fun.
If you evaluate your skill level at this degree chances are you already won a couple of games beforehand, however, you may still need to hire a proper professional who could train so you can get good at pickleball.
In general, it would take around 5-7 months in order to become a worthy opponent in the court.
3. The Emerging Player
The toughest of the bunch but still requiring some levels of caretaking. Although some would expect that training these individuals would be a piece of cake, the story here might be polar opposite.
To get them professionally trained and keep them in shape, expect regular drills and competitive games until they have won their first tournament.
A player with such advanced skills would still be required to learn deep esoteric techniques and needs to prove their worth otherwise all their efforts are in vain.
In other words, a high-tier player is only as good as their achievements rather than spending time on the court, so raw skills wouldn’t just cut it, you still have to make a name and reputation in the community which requires more than a couple of years to be considered “worthy in the pickleball world”.
Tips To Become Good At Pickleball
Here are some fruitful tips you clearly don’t want to miss out on,
1. Never Lose Focus
If you are to be considered a tough adversary you need to raise the bar by practicing harder and pushing your limits in court even if you are playing all by yourself.
To be considered good or even worthy, you have to stand out of the crowd and that is only possible if you strive harder than your partners.
Always remember action speaks louder than words and your stats will directly translate how well you are performing on the court.
Try to maintain an apex level of focus and remove all distractions from your life if you want to stay ahead of the league.
2. Watch Professional Videos
If you are struggling to keep up with a technique or shot variation, you need to watch a couple of videos and replicate their moves. There is no shame in watching or spectating someone who is arguably Better than you, in fact, almost everyone you know in your Pickleball community does it and it helps way better than you would expect.
3. Hire A Pickleball Instructor
This tip is exclusively for rookie players who are striving to get better on the court but cannot grasp the concept or simply have a hard time understanding the learning curve.
Although hiring a professional coach might not come off as a cheaper option, the output would be way better than you would have imagined.
Even if you are on a budget or simply cannot afford to hire a coach, at least be with someone who is way better at pickleball and try teaming up or against them.
In the meantime, you would eventually learn a thing or two and at the very least it could be an amazing practicing session.
Bottom Line
The strategies and technique mentioned above correlates highly with the level of proficiency in other sports you may have as it is proportional to the muscle memory you may have already built.
Nevertheless, regardless of all the elements that directly influence how long to get good at pickleball I have mentioned above, displaying consistency through practicing will always be fruitful in the long run and will eventually cause you to get better sooner than you could imagine.
That being said, it’s been a pleasure curating this article, I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors for becoming an emerging athlete in this magnificent sport.
