Today I sat down with Jeff Troesch, a mental performance specialist who's worked with MLB organizations, Olympians, college programs, and pro pickleball players, including me during a stretch of burnout and some mental-game stuff I was working through. We get into why some people gravitate toward rec play over tournaments, what separates the mentally tough players (Nadal, Federer, Djokovic are the obvious examples), and why breathwork is one of the most underrated things you can build into a routine. Jeff breaks down the mental errors he sees most. Amateurs tighten up and abandon their strategy when the score gets close, while pros can be too stubborn to adjust. He explains the physiology behind choking, how to reset after a bad call, and what to do when someone's targeting you on the court. We also go deep on focus, self-talk, and why between-point rituals matter so much in a game that moves as fast as pickleball. Jeff gets into the yips, what they actually are and how to work through them, and wraps with something that stuck with me: confidence is just a thought about a skill set that isn't really changing. Focus on the next point, the process, and let go of the outcome.
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00:00 Meet Jeff and Zane
01:07 Rec vs Tournament Mindset
01:53 Elite Mental Discipline
02:50 Breathwork Basics
03:57 Common Mental Mistakes
05:14 What Happens When You Choke
06:50 Reset After Bad Calls
08:09 Handling Being Targeted
09:37 What Focus Really Means
10:42 Self Talk That Works
13:37 Pickleball Specific Challenges
14:58 Pace Control and Momentum
16:54 Between Point Rituals
19:25 Stop Overthinking
21:12 Beating the Yips
23:08 Confidence Against Better Players
25:51 What Confidence Actually Is
28:48 Expectations and Winning Pressure
31:55 Final Mental Discipline Takeaways
33:22 Wrap Up and Resources