A Pro Says Trusting Practice Beats Overthinking On Court

• Pro player Alex Crum writes in The Dink that fast exchanges at the kitchen line leave barely enough time to think through your next shot.
• He says the answer is preparation: the more work you put in at practice, the more confident you become executing without thinking about every shot.
• His takeaway is to practice with your brain and play with your instincts, building trust through repetition, preparation, and experience.

Why Getting Your Brain Out Of The Way Can Improve Your Pickleball

Sometimes the best pickleball advice comes from someone who has never picked up a paddle. In a piece for The Dink, Alex Crum points to Calgary Flames goalie Devin Cooley, who recently went viral for a postgame interview about the power of the unconscious mind.

The Dink notes that Crum plays pro pickleball on the PPA Tour and in Major League Pickleball, and is a sought-after coach. His reading of the Cooley interview is simple. Cooley plays his best hockey when he is not consciously thinking about every movement. He trusts his preparation, reacts instinctively, and lets his body do what it has been trained to do. In a Sportsnet post dated October 19, 2026, Cooley said he has to “let my unconscious brain do the work”.

Crum writes that he could not help but think about how much this applies to pickleball.

The Kitchen Is No Place For Overthinking

Crum starts with the fast hands battle at the kitchen line. The ball is flying across the net, you react in fractions of a second, and there is barely enough time to register what is happening, much less consciously think through your next shot.

Imagine the alternative he describes. You remind yourself to keep your paddle up, stay balanced, watch the ball, and maintain your grip pressure while someone fires speedups at your chest. His verdict: “Good luck with that.”

What works instead, he says, is what happens when he plays well. “When I’m playing my best pickleball, I’m not thinking about every little technical detail. I’m reacting, trusting my instincts, and letting my training take over.”

Athletes call this being in the zone or reaching a flow state. Crum says that whatever you call it, it is a pretty incredible feeling when everything just clicks.

Here Is The Catch: You Have To Earn It

The biggest question, in Crum’s telling, is not whether playing instinctively helps. It is how you get to that point in the first place. His answer is preparation. In his words, the more work you put in at practice, the more confident you become “in your ability to execute without consciously thinking about every shot.”

He says he has seen the other side of this firsthand. Over the past 12 months, injuries have limited his ability to practice consistently. He knows he is still capable of competing at a high level, but he says there is a difference between knowing you can make a big shot and truly believing you are going to make it when the match is on the line. When he has not been able to put in the work, that belief is not quite as strong.

Practice With Your Brain, Play With Your Instincts

Crum’s biggest takeaway is that you cannot simply tell yourself to stop thinking and expect to play better. You have to build that trust through repetition, preparation, and experience.

He splits the two settings. Practice is where you work through the mechanics, make adjustments, and develop confidence in your shots. Competition is where you try to let all that work take over.

His closing instruction for the next time you are in a fast hands battle or facing game point: don’t try to solve every technical problem in your head. “Trust what you’ve practiced. React to what’s in front of you. And let yourself play.”

Crum ends on a line that fits any recreational player: “Sometimes the best thing you can do for your pickleball game is get your brain out of the way.”