Managing Tournament Days

Pickleball is unique in many ways. It brings people together from all walks of life who may have never met otherwise. It enables people across generations to play a sport together and opens doors for new opportunities daily. There are few sports that capture such a wide audience and bring it into a competitive environment found at pickleball tournaments.

In addition, the way pickleball tournaments are structured is also unusual. There are not many sports where you play a full match, then wait an hour (or more sometimes) and repeat throughout the day. Learning how to best manage your body throughout tournament days can make the difference in being able to compete the whole day and through a gold medal match.

In order to perform at your best, it’s important to start your tournament preparation a couple of days prior to the event, as well as taking the right steps during the event. Following are several things to consider to maximize your potential during a pickleball tournament.

Before the tournament

In the days leading up to the tournament:

• Focus on getting quality practice and repetitions in order to fine-tune some of the shots or movements you have been working on. It’s not the time to add new shots to your repertoire, or to suddenly start Erne-ing every ball if you’ve never done it before. Make sure to maximize the strengths in your game so you will be solid during the tournament days.

• Hydrate—make sure you’re drinking the right amount of water based on the temperature and how much energy you’re exerting. Maintaining a well-hydrated system is key to keeping things going. You may add electrolytes if you wish; however, it’s not necessary if you’re eating well and only on the court for a couple of hours.

• Pay attention to your nutrition. Avoid processed and ultra-processed foods. Try to consume whole foods, cooked at home to avoid excessive fat and salt, which are unnecessary. Everyone is different, but increasing your protein intake slightly is beneficial for athletic performance.

• Try to maximize your sleep at night. Avoid using your handheld devices at least 30 minutes prior to falling asleep and sleep at least seven or eight hours.

On tournament days

Prior to the match:

• Eat a good breakfast. Avoid greasy foods and focus on whole grains (such as oatmeal), fruits, good-quality protein (such as peanut butter), good fats (such as avocados), and once again, maintaining good hydration.

• Get to the courts in time to properly prepare. Allow yourself to get to the courts about an hour prior to your match start time. This will give you time to get accustomed to the facility and check in, so you don’t have to worry about rushing for anything. Prior to stepping on the court, I recommend a medium-intensity dynamic warm-up. Remember: you potentially have a long day ahead, so you don’t want to waste all your energy in your warm-up. Spend about 10 to 15 minutes warming up off the court, then about 20 to 25 minutes on court hitting every shot you might use in the game (dinks, drops, drives, lobs, overheads, serves, returns, volleys, resets, and blocks).

During the day, be sure to maintain good hydration and nutrition. If you’re not hungry, smoothies are a great way to get some hydration while consuming calories to fuel your day. Be sure to add some peanut butter to your smoothie for added protein.

After the match:

This is an area that is often overlooked but is extremely important, especially in pickleball where you can play multiple matches in a day.

Once your match ends, don’t just sit down. Spend about 10 minutes doing a cool-down routine. This can look very similar to your initial dynamic warm-up, but instead of slowly ramping up your intensity, you go in reverse to wind it down. This step will help your body slowly acclimate back to a calm state, help your heart rate normalize, and redistribute blood all over your body to eliminate toxic metabolites faster.

It can sometimes be difficult to know how much time you have between matches at a tournament. However, if you do, and you have more than one hour to wait, I recommend performing a short (10-minute) stretch session. If you have less time, then don’t stretch until later on.

At the end of the day

After your last match of the day, be sure to perform your cool-down routine, followed by a more extensive stretch session (30-45 minutes). Because you’re finished for the day, it’s important to perform a longer stretch session to get ready for the next day. Other things to consider after a long day on the courts:

• Hot tub—this helps relax muscles and redistribute blood flow across your body.

• Cold plunge—some people seem to benefit from cold water immersion for the same reasons as hot water.

• Compression boots—again, the goal is to redistribute blood flow, as well as provide some relief to achy muscles.  •

If you’d like to learn more, contact thepickleballdoctor@gmail.com. The Pickleball Doctor works with pickleball’s No. 1 player in the world, Ben Johns.