Mental Pickleball Radio is your weekly dose of mindset coaching for the court. Hosted by Coach Kevin, a licensed therapist and mental performance coach, each episode helps you train the most important part of your game — your mind.
Through stories, strategies, and sharp challenges, you’ll learn how to reset after mistakes, find your flow, lead with calm confidence, and stay mentally tough no matter what the scoreboard says.
New 5–10 minute episodes drop every Monday and Friday morning — just in time for your warm-up, commute, or coffee. Because your fiercest game starts with a quiet mind.
Quiet Mind, Fierce Game.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mental-pickleball-radio--6604802/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mental-pickleball-radio--6604802/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
ou usually dominate your local 5:30 PM evening round-robins, feeling sharp, fast, and completely in control. But when you step onto the court for your first 8:00 AM weekend tournament, you suddenly feel completely uncoordinated. You miss routine drops, your feet feel like they are stuck in wet cement, and you immediately panic, thinking you have lost your game or aren't trying hard enough.
In this episode of Mental Pickleball, Coach Kevin explains through the lens of circadian medicine why this frustrating experience is not a sudden loss of skill—it is biology. Because your core body temperature is naturally at its lowest in the early morning, your muscles are physically less pliable and your reaction time is mathematically slower than it is at 5:00 PM. You are not playing badly; you are simply playing cold.
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
Acknowledge the Clock: How to drop the self-judgment and stop the mental spiral by naming the physical reality: "My body temperature is just low right now".
Extend the Warm-Up: Why you need to artificially raise your core temperature by doubling your usual dynamic stretching and on-court warm-up time before the first serve.
Simplify the Strategy: How to accept that your fast-twitch reflexes aren't awake yet and adjust your first game by playing higher-margin shots, aiming for the middle, and avoiding risky speed-ups.
Today’s Challenge: The next time you have an early morning match, do not panic if you feel slow. Extend your physical warm-up, give yourself grace in the first game, and consciously adjust your shot selection until your biological clock catches up.
Quiet Mind, Fierce Game.
Ready to Level Up? Ready to optimize your performance by connecting your mind, body, and sleep health? Book a free virtual session with Coach Kevin at harrisonsleep.com to build your mental flexibility from the ground up
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mental-pickleball-radio--6604802/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mental-pickleball-radio--6604802/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
This episode includes AI-generated content.
12 Jun 2026
Why Staying Positive Hurts Your Game
We have all experienced this scenario: you walk onto the court to face the local "gold medal" team, and before the first serve even happens, your brain instantly decides, "We have no chance". What do most players do next? They try to forcefully pump themselves up with fake bravado, telling themselves they are going to crush their opponents. But the frustration sets in because your body still feels incredibly tense—deep down, you do not actually believe the toxic positivity you are feeding yourself.
In this episode of Mental Pickleball, Coach Kevin explains how to handle these moments using a tool from functional contextualism called "cognitive defusion". Defusion teaches us that you do not need to replace a negative thought with a toxically positive one to play well. Instead of fighting the thought, you will learn how to simply unhook from it, allowing you to carry the "we might lose" thought safely in your pocket while still executing your third-shot drops perfectly.
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
Name the Thought: How shifting your internal language (e.g., "I am having the thought that we are going to lose") creates instant distance between you and your anxiety.
Drop the Tug-of-War: Why you need to stop arguing with your brain and trying to convince yourself you are the greatest player on earth.
Commit to the Action: How to put 100% of your focus on physical execution—feeling your grip, watching the ball, and moving your feet—while letting the negative thought exist harmlessly.
Today’s Challenge: The next time you step onto the court against a team that intimidates you, do not try to hype yourself up with fake confidence. Notice the self-doubt, put it in your pocket, and focus entirely on executing your mechanics.
Quiet Mind, Fierce Game.
Ready to Level Up? Ready to optimize your performance by connecting your mind, body, and sleep health? Book a free virtual session with Coach Kevin at harrisonsleep.com to build your mental flexibility from the ground up.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mental-pickleball-radio--6604802/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mental-pickleball-radio--6604802/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
This episode includes AI-generated content.
9 Jun 2026
Stop Forcing the Third Shot Drive
We’ve all seen it, or maybe we’ve been the one doing it: you’ve been watching pro highlights and step onto the court determined to rip a flashy third-shot drive. You try it three times in a row, blasting it straight into the net or out of bounds, but you refuse your partner's gentle suggestion to try a soft, high-arcing drop because it feels "weak" or "boring". In that moment, you are prioritizing your ego over the reality of the game.
In this episode of Mental Pickleball, Coach Kevin explores the behavioral psychology framework of functional contextualism, focusing specifically on a concept called "workability". Workability asks one simple question: Is this behavior getting you closer to your goal?. We are breaking down why you must abandon the shot you want to hit for the shot that actually gets your team to the kitchen line.
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
Check Your Ego: How to take a breath and honestly ask yourself if you are trying to win the rally, or just trying to look like a pro doing it.
Ask the Workability Question: Why you need to pause after failed attempts at a high-risk shot and evaluate if it is actually working for you today.
Pivot to Pragmatism: How embracing a "boring" but highly effective shot neutralizes your opponent's advantage and gets your feet where they need to be.
Today’s Challenge: In your next match, if you find yourself stubbornly forcing a shot that isn't landing, stop. Switch to the "boring" alternative for the rest of the game and notice how it changes your court positioning, team dynamics, and point control.
Quiet Mind, Fierce Game.
Ready to Level Up? Ready to optimize your performance by connecting your mind, body, and sleep health? Book a free virtual session with Coach Kevin at harrisonsleep.com to build your mental flexibility from the ground up.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mental-pickleball-radio--6604802/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/mental-pickleball-radio--6604802/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss).
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Podcast Authority Score: 47 / 100
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