7 weeks ago, I seriously considered quitting.
6 weeks ago, I won my first medal.
11 days ago, I won my second.

And today, I want to share:

One story about a guy who didn’t give up on me and one lesson that’s changing how I think about strategy.

Let’s start with the story.

Patrick Kawka (pictured above) is one of the most skilled pickleball players in the world.
He’s got an effortless stroke that reminds me of Steph Curry shooting a basketball. Pure. Fluid. Almost unfair.

So when he agreed to partner with me for three tournaments, I was stoked. This was a chance to level up and run with one of the best guys on the APP Tour.

But it came with pressure too, even if I didn’t fully admit that to myself at the time.

See, we played together for the first time at the US Open, and I completely froze in our second round match. I was tentative & tight — overthinking every shot. I was playing not to lose and guess what? We lost.

I think deep down, I felt like I didn’t belong next to a guy like PK.

He’s this smooth, decorated player with seven medals to his name, and then there’s me, still proving to myself I can get on the medal stand at this level.

And that pressure to prove myself got to me. See, I didn’t want to let him down so much that I played as if every shot was life or death.

Ever been there before? It’s brutal.

A month later in New York City, we had our second tournament together. And again, I didn’t play my best as we went 0-2.

After that one, I sent PK a text that read something along the lines of…

"Hey man… I haven’t played to my potential, and I know these losses are on me. We’ve got Newport coming up, and honestly, you should find a new partner. You deserve better."

And the truth is, I genuinely wanted him to move on — not because I didn’t care, but because I did. I wasn’t playing to a level worthy of winning.

Soon after I sent the text, he responded…

"No, we’re a team. I made mistakes too. Let’s get on the practice court and figure this out."

I honestly didn’t know what to say.

Part of me wanted to argue — to insist: "No, man… go find someone you can actually win with." But after sitting with it for a bit, I thought: screw it. Let’s give this one more shot, and I tentatively texted him back,

“Lets do it.”

As an aside, because a lot of people don’t know this…

At the pro level, partnerships can get messy — players drop each other all the time, often with barely a text. That’s why I respect PK so much. We just had an honest conversation, and he told me more than once that he knows my ability and trusts we’ll figure it out together.

That’s honorable.

When we got back to Phoenix, we got on the practice court.

Now, in our first two tournaments, we stuck to a traditional stacking format: PK on the left side of the court, me on the right. But then, we started to experiment.

Sometimes he took the left side. Sometimes I did. Sometimes we just played straight up.

The good thing about our games is that we can both play on either side, which tends to be rare but extremely valuable!

And around this time, I saw a post Dayne Gingrich made on playing “straight up.”

From Dayne’s post:

*What if stacking is hurting your game? Would you believe me or, because everyone’s doing it, think I’m full of crap?

I’ve played both straight up and stacked, depending on who my partner was, and I’ve changed my mind on what I think is better for our game in the long term.

Gabe, Hayden, and Alshon are all incredible left side players, but because they’re now locked on the right, they’ll never totally unlock their full games. They should all be playing both sides during a match, depending on what’s specifically happening with their opponents. Before you ask … yes, even lefties should learn how to play the left side.

Stacking is putting the focus on US — our strengths, needs, and wants. When we talk to our partner about what side we should play, pre-match, we currently never start the conversation with, “It depends on who our opponents are.” Instead, it always begins with our side of the net. This is counter to how I believe the game should be played. It should always start with THEM.

When we stack, we may feel more comfortable in those positions, but after awhile, so do our opponents. We show them the same patterns over-n-over. This allows them to make easier adjustments and counter patterns. If we start the match playing straight up with the intention of adjusting, based on what we see from our opponents, it’ll give us the maximum amount of options.

Stacking, in my opinion, is hurting the growth of players. They get stuck on half of their body — the same decisions, angles, and court positions. If we were guaranteed to grab a lead and keep it in every match, stacking would probably be the +ROI play, as adjustments wouldn’t be needed.

But this isn’t PB.

Adapting to the current situation is everything, but if you’re only able to play one particular side, you’re hindering your team’s ability TO adapt.

What we want shouldn’t be the priority — the game should be played from the lens of what our opponents DON’T want. Being able to effectively play both sides gives us the best chance of exploiting their vulnerabilities.

Translation? Why hand your opponent a playbook when you can hand them a puzzle instead.*

[end of post]

That hit. And for the record, I still like stacking a lot.

But for us, it felt like we should zoom out and ask the question, “What gives us the best chance to win,” based on who we are as players. So that’s how we decided to approach our practice sessions and ultimately, how we entered the tournament.

Fast forward to our 3rd event together in Newport! And we make the finals, losing a tight one to Tanner Tomassi and Richard Livornese: 6–11, 11–5, 8–11.

And if I can be honest with you, I felt extremely proud of this one.

Now, here’s what I took away:

1. You’ve got to have the hard conversations with your partner.

2. You’ve got to talk openly about strengths, weaknesses, preferences, and tendencies before you even step on court.

Because the thing is, our new strategy was actually pretty simple, once we stripped away the old assumptions:

PK is incredible at the 3rd shot. So let’s have him take as many of those as possible.
I’m a great mover. So let’s get me in a position to move off the ball and create some havoc.

Left side, right side – it didn’t matter. And that’s what unlocked us.

But this isn’t just about PK and me. It’s about you, too.

If you’re a competitive player, this is a conversation you need to have with yourself & future partners.

What’s your strength?
What’s your partner’s strength? And…
Are you playing from a place of comfort or adapting for what’s best for both of you?

And as a final thought,

This experience revealed two things for me…

1. We all have the power to lift others up and help them play better. (Thank you PK)

2. Staying in the fight, even when things get hard & tough losses happen — is what makes the wins so sweet.

— Kyle

P.S. Speaking of support, a member of ThatPickleballSchool (Thanks, Alejandra!) made a song based on the current 21-Day Challenge. It blew my mind 😂

Click here to listen: https://www.udio.com/songs/8yUTvjdqszvALTA4hNaEjn