Early But Worth It Pickleball Tournament Tips
- Marlee Aimone
- Apr 20
- 3 min read
Early but Worth it Pickleball Tournament tips by Athlon Fitness and Performance
Stop Getting Worked on the Pickleball Court: Train Your Eyes & Elevate Your Game
If you’re getting beat at the kitchen line, it might not be your footwork or your paddle skills holding you back, it could be your vision.
Pickleball is a fast-paced game that demands quick reactions, sharp focus, and precise timing. While most players spend time warming up their bodies, very few think about warming up their eyes. That’s a missed opportunity, because your visual system plays a massive role in how well you track the ball, react to opponents, and execute clean shots.
The good news is that you can train quickly and effectively.
Every time the ball comes flying toward you, your eyes have to work in sync to track it accurately. At the net, exchanges happen fast. You don’t have time to find the ball; you need to already be locked in.
Two key visual skills come into play: convergence, which is your eyes working together to track something coming toward you, and focal shifting, which is your ability to adjust focus between near and far objects. If these are slow or inefficient, your reaction time suffers and so does your game.
A simple way to improve this is with two quick drills:
The first is pencil push-ups. Hold a pencil or your finger at arm’s length, slowly bring it toward your nose while keeping it in focus, then return to the start. Do five reps per arm.
The second is focal jumps. Hold your hands close to your face, pick a distant target, and snap your focus back and forth between near and far for twenty reps.
These take less than two minutes, but the impact is immediate. When your eyes are trained and ready, you track the ball earlier, react faster, move more efficiently, and hit more accurate shots. You stop feeling rushed and start feeling in control.
What’s interesting is that this doesn’t just apply to pickleball. The same skills—focus, awareness, and reaction—show up everywhere, especially in networking. Walking into a room, reading conversations, picking up opportunities, knowing when to lean in or speak up, that’s performance too. The people who get the most out of networking aren’t guessing; they’re prepared and present.
That’s why networking matters. It’s not just about exchanging business cards. It’s about building real relationships, creating opportunities before you need them, and consistently putting yourself in the right rooms.
That’s exactly what Early But Worth It creates. It’s a space where people show up, connect, and help build each other through referrals and relationships. And those connections don’t just happen in meetings. They can happen anywhere, even on the pickleball court. A game can turn into a conversation, a conversation into a relationship, and a relationship into an opportunity.
At Athlon Fitness & Performance, the goal is to help you look, feel, and perform at your best so you can create the life you want. That means more than just workouts. It’s about building a system around how you move, react, and show up. With personalized, science-based training, coaching, and ongoing support, you’re not just working harder; you’re getting better with purpose.
Because most people don’t struggle from lack of effort, they struggle from lack of structure. Whether it’s your fitness, your sport, or your career, having the right system changes everything.
Add the vision drills. Train your eyes. Get sharper on the court. Then take that same mindset into your work and your network.
Because whether you’re playing pickleball or building your business, you’re always in a game. Train for it at Athlon and apply it through Early But Worth It.
See you next Tuesday at EBWI!
Best,
Marlee About the Author
With a B.S. in Human Physiology and a minor in Business Administration from the University of Oregon, she combines a strong background in health, performance, and business. As General Manager and Coach at Athlon Fitness & Performance, she leads operations and helps clients reach their goals through personalized, sustainable coaching. A former Acrobatics & Tumbling athlete and Physical Therapy Aide, she brings a team-first mindset and a well-rounded approach to movement, recovery, and overall wellness.
Great tip!