READ • POSITION • TARGET • HIT
Training the Mind Until the Game Flows
There is a strange paradox in sports: the better trained we become, the less we have to consciously think about what we’re doing.
A beginning pickleball player may consciously think about almost everything: Where should I stand? Where is my paddle? Who takes this ball? Should I dink or drive? Where should I hit it? How hard? What spin?
That’s necessary during learning—but it’s a terrible way to play fast pickleball.
When the ball is moving quickly at the kitchen, there isn’t time for a committee meeting in your head.
The goal of training is therefore not to eliminate thought. It is to train good thinking until much of it becomes instinctive.
That’s the purpose of the PickleShot Process:
READ → POSITION → TARGET → HIT
Four simple cues.
Each represents a much deeper set of skills, but the player doesn’t need to consciously recite all those skills during every rally. We practice the details so eventually four simple words can trigger the entire process.
And eventually, even the words themselves begin to disappear.
1. READ
See before you do.
Every good play begins with information.
Before deciding what to do with the ball, read what is actually happening.
Read:
- The ball
- Your opponents
- Your partner
- Court position
- Paddle position
- Body position
- Speed and trajectory
- Patterns and tendencies
- Open space
- The likely next ball
Don’t merely watch the ball. Read the game.
Where are your opponents?
Are they balanced or reaching?
Is a paddle high or low?
Is someone moving?
Is there an opening down the middle?
Is your partner moving with you?
What is the most likely response to the ball you’re about to play?
The better the read, the earlier everything else can happen.
Great anticipation can sometimes look like extraordinary speed. The player isn’t necessarily moving faster—they simply recognized what was happening sooner.
Training Cue:
READ: What is happening—and what is likely to happen next?
2. POSITION
Get yourself ready for what you just read.
Reading without responding physically accomplishes very little.
Once you recognize what’s happening, move into the best available position.
That includes more than your feet.
Position your:
Feet • Body • Balance • Paddle • Partner relationship
If you read the ball early, you can often arrive calmly rather than scramble late.
Get your paddle ready.
Get your body balanced.
Move with your partner.
Protect the highest-probability openings.
Whenever possible, arrive before the ball rather than simultaneously with it.
This creates an important connection:
Better READS create earlier POSITIONING. Earlier POSITIONING creates easier shots.
Players sometimes try to solve positioning problems with better hand speed.
Sometimes the better solution is simply:
Be there sooner.
Training Cue:
POSITION: Where do my body and paddle need to be?
3. TARGET
Decide what you want the ball to do.
Targeting isn’t merely choosing a location.
Before hitting the ball, develop an intention for the entire ball.
Consider:
Placement • Pace • Height • Trajectory • Spin • Margin
Where should it land?
How fast should it travel?
How high should it cross the net?
What trajectory gives you the best probability?
Topspin, slice, or relatively neutral?
How much margin should you allow?
This is where visualization gets absorbed into the process.
You don’t need a separate VISUALIZE step.
Instead:
See the intended ball as part of choosing the TARGET.
And remember that a good target isn’t necessarily the smallest target.
Lines are tempting. So is skimming the tape.
But pickleball rewards repeatable precision with intelligent margin.
Sometimes the right target is comfortably inside the line or safely above the net. A paddle-width of margin can turn a low-percentage attempt into a highly effective ball.
The objective isn’t to hit the most impressive shot available.
It’s to select the best shot for the situation.
Training Cue:
TARGET: Where, how, and with what margin?
4. HIT
Decision made. Now trust it.
Once you’ve read, positioned, and targeted, thinking has largely done its job.
Now hit.
Don’t make three new decisions during your swing.
Commit to the choice.
Stay relaxed.
Watch the ball.
Breathe through contact.
Use the appropriate swing.
Finish naturally.
And whenever possible, don’t advertise your intention too early. Similar preparation can produce different placements, speeds, spins, dinks, drives, and resets.
The goal is decisive without being tense.
Fast without being hurried.
Intentional without being rigid.
Training Cue:
HIT: Relax. Commit. Contact. Finish.
From Conscious Competence to Unconscious Competence
This is where the PickleShot Process becomes more than four words.
At first, you may deliberately think:
READ. POSITION. TARGET. HIT.
That’s okay.
You’re building neurological and behavioral patterns through repetition.
Eventually, the process compresses.
You see the opponent’s paddle.
Your body begins moving.
You recognize the opening.
Your paddle delivers the ball.
It starts feeling automatic.
That’s unconscious competence—not mindless play, but trained awareness operating faster than deliberate verbal thought.
The goal isn’t:
Think more while playing.
It’s:
Think well while training so you can think less while playing.
Between Points vs. During Points
There’s also an important distinction.
Between points: THINK.
Evaluate.
What happened?
What pattern are they using?
What should we adjust?
Communicate with your partner.
Make the strategic correction.
During the point: FLOW.
You don’t need fifteen mechanical swing thoughts.
Return to four cues:
READ.
POSITION.
TARGET.
HIT.
See what’s happening.
Get where you need to be.
Know what you want the ball to do.
Then trust yourself and play.
Head • Heart • Hands
There is even a natural connection to the broader Pondering Life Head • Heart • Hands framework.
HEAD — READ & TARGET
Observe reality. Discern what’s happening. Decide wisely.
HEART — TRUST & COMMIT
Don’t play afraid. Don’t second-guess every decision. Stay relaxed and confident in your preparation.
HANDS — POSITION & HIT
Move. Act. Execute what you’ve decided.
We encounter the same pattern far beyond pickleball.
Observe reality. Prepare appropriately. Choose intentionally. Act decisively.
Good decisions require both contemplation and execution.
Too little thought produces recklessness.
Too much thought produces paralysis.
Wisdom learns when to ponder—and when to move.
Train It Until It Flows
The PickleShot Process isn’t intended to add four more things to an already crowded mind.
It’s intended to organize hundreds of little lessons into four simple mental folders.
During practice, open the folders. Study the details. Work on positioning, paddle preparation, margins, spin, footwork, disguise, breathing, and technique.
During competition, close the folders.
Trust the training.
And remember:
READ • POSITION • TARGET • HIT
See it. Get there. See it. Do it.
Train it consciously.
Practice it repeatedly.
Play it instinctively.
And when the game speeds up—
FLOW.
Pondering Life
Timeless Wisdom • Modern Execution
“Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.”
Psalm 111:2 BSB