Monday Minute 11/10/25
- Jill Braverman
- Nov 10, 2025
- 5 min read
Hello all my Pickleball Joy Riders!
Welcome to the Monday Minute: a 60-second list of what I’m exploring and thinking about. Feel free to forward along if the pickleball spirit moves you!
Yesterday: Gold in Women's with Megan Fudge and Bronze in mixed w/ Randy Blanco at the APP Mesa
In my mind…Is there a "perfect" pickleball mentality to guarantee more wins?
If you’ve followed my Monday Minute in the past, then you know this has been a heavy theme for me in 2025. In one of Anna Bright’s most recent newsletters, she also opines on the topic--admitting that she still hasn’t quite figured out which energy is the optimal one to bring to the courts. She writes: “I won’t pretend to know the perfect pickleball mentality - sometimes I think being full of rage and carnal energy is optimal for me, and other times I prefer to go into matches with a more detached mentality.”
Personally, this weekend in Mesa, I think I “figured it out”. (p.s. definitely don’t listen to anyone who says they’ve figured anything out! LOL), but I am definitely closer to it than I ever have been.
It starts with these simple truths, which I repeat to myself before and during my matches:
I’ve already won.
I’m present; I’m full of gratitude.
Pickleball is joy.
Then, later and as needed, I can layer on top of it:
Be aggressive
Be a PREDATOR
HUNT
Basically, I can ratchet UP easily from my foundational truths. BUT if I start overly aggressive, it’s really hard for me to come back down from an early “on tilt” mindset.
I think this is why you see some of the best players in the world look almost dead bored. They are starting with a very calm nervous system, because when your nervous system is balanced the entire world moves in slow motion. There are some other “hacks” to achieve this . I noticed in my previous matches when my arms are loose and hanging like an elephant’s trunk I usually play well. When I watch my own facial expressions I notice when they are calm and relaxed that my hands are their fastest.
I’m reminded of one of Kdub's favorite golf sayings: slow is smooth and smooth is fast. That’s a huge key! A whip with tension CANNOT whip!
There are other ways you can conceptualize this, like: have swagger (Hayden Patriquin), be in a flow state (Anna Leigh), be bored (Ben Johns), be calm (Gabe Tardio)—they all look different, but it’s still achieving the same effect: slowing down the ball by using nothing but your mind.
We’re going to talk more about this on our PODCAST which is coming back this week.
In my ears…Our podcast is coming back!
Are you excited? I am! After some time off…WE’RE BACK BABY. And different. More giggles, less politics. More insights into how to improve your game and funny anecdotes from life on the Pro Tour.
From left to right: 1.) Kristin and I finally took a picture. 2.) Randy Blanco and I meditating/laying down on the cool concrete outside championship court right before our semi-final match. 3.) Randy and I winning bronze against Sophia Sewing and Casey Diamond
On my body… Why do I really wear one leg sleeve?
People always ask me, “Jill why do you wear just one leg sleeve?” And the answer is simple: I can’t afford the other half of my pants.
But seriously, I would not have been able to walk away with two medals this weekend - over 17+ hours on the court over three days - without playing and sleeping in my leg sleeves. Find out for yourself why Novak Djokovic, Lebron James, and your girl JILLY B choose Incrediwear (use code JILLYB for 10% off) to heal our bodies and perform our best.
In my practice… My third shot drop technique has evolved!
I talked a lot this year about the shovel drop well before everyone started making how-to videos on it this month - lol. I even gave it a loving nickname, my “chippy”. But I’ve evolved. Don’t worry, this isn’t R.I.P. Chippy. Chippy has now become my fifth, and I tend to use Chippy most after I hit a third shot drive.
"Chippy" drop pictured above has a low finish, neutral face.
I’ve worked really hard on a spinny third that is good enough to follow straight in - a la Hayden Patriquin. Super dwell-y, super spinny, nice and high so that I feel like I’m almost running “underneath it” (watch Gabe Tardio whose drops feel like they spend an hour in the air—he can almost beat his drops to the line!)
"Spinny" drop pictured above has that classic high finish outside your right shoulder
I’m maybe a few thousand hours behind Gabe and Big H in honing this shot, but I really like borrowing styles I see working from other pros and experimenting to see if I can make them work for me (and then seeing if I can teach them to my students!)
The key in hitting the spinny drop has been hyper-focusing on making contact well after descent. I really want to feel like the ball is almost going to double-bounce before I make contact and then dance forward. To achieve this, your first move usually has to be dance backwards to give the ball time to descend. Something I kept repeating in my head in the women’s final was “dance with the third, dance with the third”. Translation — go backwards to go forwards.
I could opine on the different types of drops and when to use each for an entire Monday Minute. If you enjoy my philosophical pickleball technical diatribes then get excited because I’m thinking about creating a digital forum where you can join me and learn even more.
In the books...sold out Mexico camp!
Our camp theme was “Let the algorithm run”: How to develop automatic patterns & plays that earn you free rallies. Modern pickleball is all about EARLY decision-making…quicker recognition & neural firing to slow the game down in your mind.
Everyone says they want to make better decisions, but what they really want is to make quicker decisions. And that’s hard if no one has ever taught you the if-then patterns of pickleball. This is why you feel like you’re in a constantly reactive state on the court, out there playing “jungle ball” with your lizard brain.
If you missed out on this camp but still want to learn how to work smarter, not harder, then join me in 2026 as we release THREE destination camps and one monthly Fantasy Camp in Newport Beach. More details coming THIS week!
Have a question for Jilly B? Email us at thispblife@gmail.com
Xoxo,
Jilly B
Hi, Congrats on your gold with Megan and Bronze in mixed doubles. I watched the women's final and was so excited to watch the come back in the second game where you were down and on the brink. Loved how you used your momentum on each point to push one more point through. You could see your opponents trying so hard 'not to lose', while you and Megan were scraping it out to try to win. If you could bottle that feeling on your side of the court, how would you describe it and what would be a key word that you said internally that kept you pushing for each point?