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Whom Do You Model Your Game After

By Kevin Gress

Have you ever been on your local courts watching a certain person hit shots and said to yourself, “I really like their style of play”?  Have you then thought about trying to reproduce their movements, dinks, and strategy?  If you want to improve and play beyond your local courts, think about modeling your game after some of the better local players you see, or watch videos of pros. Slowing down and analyzing videos of pro matches will allow you to see how they hold their paddle, move their feet, position themselves for resets, dink crosscourt, and equally important, how they handle the mental part of the game.

You might ask, “Which pro should I watch and emulate?” As far as I’m concerned there is only one person, and his name is Ben Johns.  Why him?  He’s the most successful and #1 pickleball player in the world with over 100 gold medal wins. That is – by far – the most ever, so he’s obviously doing something right.  He’s almost impossible to beat, not only because of his style of play, but also due to his superior mental composure and confidence. If you can take parts of his game and work on adding them to yours, you will definitely see improvement.

A friend told me to watch the pro match on YouTube between the Johns brothers and JW Johnson and Dylan Frazier from the PPA event in Las Vegas in October. He said to observe and analyze not only the physical part of the game including shot selection and placement, but also, and more importantly, the mental aspect of the match. This intrigued me as I’ve watched the Johns brothers matches before, but this one was different. They lost the first 2 games of the best of 5 but still came back to win the match. I’m not sure they have ever lost the first 2 games in a match before, so I wanted to see how they mentally handled being down. How did they keep their confidence and composure, win 3 in a row against two of the best pros playing, and win gold? 

Physical Facet and Game Play

As I watched the match unfold, I analyzed Ben’s style of play while also keeping an eye on how he handled himself with reactions during several key moments. The first aspect I noticed was Ben rarely, if ever, drives the ball. I counted him and his brother driving only 8 balls during the 5 games.  Most of the drives were on returns of serve, and amazingly almost every drive ended up in a side out or loss of a point which is probably why they rarely do it.  I would assume they analyze their matches also and see many times those drives keep them back at the baseline and not in a position of high probability of winning the point.   

The next component of Bens game I saw was his superior 3^rd  and 5^th  shot drops.  He is extremely consistent and confident in these shots and doesn’t miss.  They are also rarely attackable meaning he drops them in the perfect place almost every time.  He gets to the kitchen as quickly as possible setting up his game plan of constant dinking and resets in which he also rarely misses or leaves a ball high.  If he does leave one elevated, he has quick hands for countering opponents speed-ups. 

Where I see him having the greatest advantage is in his dinks and his patience. He dinks to constantly move people, putting extreme pressure on them to hit the perfect return. His dinks consistently land maybe 6 inches in front of the kitchen line, making you decide in an instant to either take the ball out of the air or let it bounce.  Very few “dead” dinks are hit, meaning, each dink has a purpose and puts the opponents in compromising positions. To me, his patience and ability to hit dink after dink, waiting for his opponents to get frustrated, is one of his greatest attributes.  He waits them out, eventually they lose some focus, try speed-ups, and make errors. He out-executes opponents and because of this wins the majority of the time.   

Mental Aspect

Because Ben has almost unrivaled skills and patience, this directly feeds into his mental focus and composure. He knows he is a better player than you and doesn’t show outward signs of frustration or jubilation. He doesn’t yell and scream, saying, “Let’s go!” or something along those lines. This ultimate confidence and focus permeate the court, creating stress for opponents, maybe even having some of them in their mind questioning their own abilities. 

Ben stays “quiet and still” in his movements, usually not overreaching or being out of position.  He always moves his feet and has the correct paddle position.  I believe his outward body movements show stillness because his mind is still, meaning he has extreme concentration and focus.  In this particular instance, he doesn’t allow being down 2 games to none change his play or how he focuses.  It seems he is not thinking too hard or over trying.   

You can tell he is envisioning the point and how it will play out in his mind. It looks as though he knows where he wants to place the next ball before it is even hit to him. He detects and visualizes several shots ahead of time, setting himself or his partner up for winners. By seemingly playing several shots ahead he is able to outmaneuver just about anyone he plays.  How does he know this? 

Simple answer: he drills. Repeatedly over and over again for hours daily. This allows him to not think and just play which keeps him relaxed and his mind focused and still. He’s rehearsed shots and patterns so often, to go along with his supreme skill, that he seems to always be one step ahead. If your game is struggling or not showing improvement, maybe take this cue from Ben concerning drilling. You must put time and effort into daily drilling, or even try a few days a week, to see advancement. Your shots will become refined, your fitness will be enhanced, and patterns will become more noticeable.  This leads to an increase in confidence and eventually greater success on the court. 

The last piece I noticed while watching Ben play, and possibly the most important, is his ability to keep his composure during good times or bad times. His body language and facial expressions do not change whether he is up 2 games or down 2 games. He keeps the same game plan no matter the score and doesn’t veer from it. He knows eventually he will outplay you, causing stress leading to loss of focus and errors.  How often do you show bad body language or negative facial expressions after you or your partner hit a bad shot? I wager fairly often, we are all guilty, maybe not even knowing we are doing it.  This takes away focus and erodes confidence not only in your mind but also in your partner’s. Be cognizant of this, try to be more positive and I bet you will play better.  Your partner will play better too, which will lead to everyone having more fun.

Kevin Gress is a Senior Contributing Writer to Pickle Madness. Kevin lives Ponte Vedra, Florida, where he has been playing pickleball for three years. He started playing for exercise and to have fun with friends, but over the past 18 months has been concentrating on raising his level of play and entering tournaments. He has played many APP and PPA events all over Florida along with the US Open in Naples. He also started testing his skills in moneyball events, where you can win money along with medals or trophies.  He’s on a roll, having won the last five moneyball competitions he’s entered. His current Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating is 4.93. Kevin turns 50 next year and has a goal of playing senior pro events.

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