Personalities & Pickleball
~ Table Of Contents ~
ACTION NOTES
Pickleball … like life, we can’t just TALK about things, and we don’t know if we’ve learned something … until we DO … Take Action, and it improves our game. Bottom line … “We Improve!”
If we think this book will help us with our pickleball game, we’re right, it will. But it’s far more than that. It will also help us in any / every area of life that we WANT to grow.
Why is pickleball catching on, and it’s like a wave that seems to be consuming the world?
Dear Pickleball Friend,
Think about it for a minute. Why do you enjoy pickleball?
Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the world. Why? It’s clear that this sport has the power to change lives—not just for players, but for entire communities. Its ability to create connections, promote youth development, strengthen neighborhoods, and even help to rehabilitate men and women in prison.
Our passion is not only to help improve your pickleball game but to have pickleball help you grow in every area of life.
We would like to thank Life Masteries Institute (LMI) for their support in this most interesting project. We love all that you are seeking to do in the lives of people locally and around the world.
Sincerely,
Mark & Rosanna Boersma
“AbigthankyoutoLifeMasteriesInstitute!(LMI)” A Personal Note from Mark & Rosanna
“We’vewrittenthisbookas ‘oneflesh’aswe’vebeenmarriedfor 41yearsatthetimethisbookwaswritten. Sometimeswewill pointoutwhoissharingwhatisbeingwritten;othertimes, itcould beMark, Rosanna, orbothofus. Ourheartsarewithyou, the personreadingthisbook, andwehopethatyouenjoyreadingand applyingwhatyoureadasmuchaswe’veenjoyedwritingit.”
Why Do We Love Pickleball?
“Itallowsmetofocusonsomethingother thanmyself. Itchallengesme. Itmakes mecriticizemyself. Ithelpsmetolookat myselfdifferently. Ithelpsmetotryto improve. Helpsmetostrategize. Ithelps metoescape. Helpsmeimprovemy health. Ithelpsmetofindfriends, havefun, andfeelgoodabout myself.”
Rosanna Boersma
“Everypickleballplayerhasthemost interestinganduniquestory. I’veneverseen somanydiverseandamazingstoriesof people. Pickleballisliketherapytome;it helpsmyheart, mind, andsoul. Ifeellike I’minmy20’s, eventhoughI’m62years old.”
Mark Boersma
If you benefit from this book and have a heart for helping people and promoting the growth of pickleball to improve the lives of people around the world, please consider giving to Life Masteries Institute. This QR code will provide additional information on giving. 100% of what you give will go directly into helping impact the lives of those in need around the world.
If you know of any pickleball pros / expert teachers in pickleball who would like to contribute to this book, please text 630.393.9909 with their contact information, along with an introduction to them.
The first thing we’ll be covering in the book is how your personality plays a HUGE role in how you play pickleball. Whatever success you are currently having in pickleball will be affected much more than you realize by your personality.
Just like in life, our greatest strength in pickleball will likely be our greatest weakness. Our great weakness is just our greatest strength … misapplied. It’s taking our strength too far.
Life Masteries Institute has put together a fun mobile web app, “Life GPS,” that identifies your personality in 17 seconds. Once we know our personality, it not only helps us improve our pickleball game but also helps us in every area of our lives.
Yes … knowing this will help us in relationships, friendships, marriage, health, career, financial, emotional health, and yes, even spiritually, whatever that means to you.
Take a few seconds to go online and do the “Pickleball Personality” survey. Pickleball can be one of the best forms of mental and emotional therapy.
Future Vision ~ LMI is currently working on the UX (“User Experience”), and we need your feedback. LMI’s vision is that once you join the Life GPS pickleball community, you’ll be able to connect with others around the world who have a similar personality and DUPR and UTPR ratings. LMI’s goal is to become the largest data/community repository in order to study/understand personalities better to assist you in improving your play … improve your mental health … improve every area of your life.
What Can I Do?
● Share this workbook and QR code with everyone you know in pickleball, you know.
● Provide honest feedback on your “The Experience” and suggestions on how it can improve.
● LMI is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit, and, like any nonprofit, it depends on gifts/contributions, so please be generous and “pay it forward.”
Part 1 ~ Improve Your Game
There are four major areas within pickleball. Before we get into each of the four areas, we’ll share some things about your personality and how learning about your personality will help you in each of the four areas.
1-0: Understanding Our Personality
1-1: Fundamental Mechanical Skills
1-2: Core Shot Techniques
1-3: Essential Strategies
1-4: Practice and Training
1-0: Understanding Our Personality
What does our personality have to do with improving our pickleball game? Actually our relationship with money … i.e. how we view / see money and how we use money? Actually a lot more than most people think. If you take the Life GPS on-line personality survey, there will be a lot of additional insights and resources which will help extend the benefit you receive from this book.
Take this simple 17 second test and it will help us to understand our personality and how knowing this will help our pickleball game.
Each personality will have strengths and those strengths, if not disciplined, will be weaknesses. This applies not only to pickleball but to every area of life.
Mark’s personality is: Driver / Analytic.
Rosanna’s personality is: Amiable / Analytic.
We tend to like people who are like us and fall in love with people who are opposite. Seeing Mark and Rosanna play doubles is a lot of fun. Just ask Courtney Clark, their amazing pickleball coach.
Amiable ~ If we chose the BALL and/or “Conflict with others” we would refer to personality as the “Amiable” personality. This personality tends to dislike conflict and may be taken advantage of by others because of a strong desire to trust / get along with people.
Pickleball Application ~ This personality type tends not to like to pickle people, feels bad about beating others too badly, and tends to be more passive in how they play.
Mark laughs when he plays doubles with Rosanna, as there have been a few times when she has called out the wrong score, and it always seems to give the opponent more points than they have. Hmmm … that’s one way to get people (other than your partner) to like you
Now … just to be clear. The amiable may seem like they are nice and not competitive, but in truth, they are fearlessly competitive. When Mark and Rosanna were playing “Pickleball" with the pastors at First Baptist Church of Elkhart in Bristol, Indiana, Mark asked her if she wanted to have fun playing against the pastors or if she wanted to win. We won’t share what she said so as not to give away the secrets of the amiable personality types.
Analytic ~ If we chose the CUBE and/or “Out of Order” we would refer to personality as the “Analytic” personality. This personality tends to be more careful with how they play pickleball and often overthink things. They will often research/study… well … everything.
Pickleball Application ~ The analytic will tend to play cautiously, hate making mistakes, and struggle to see the big picture. The analytic will take fewer risks and play cautiously, which will give them a strength, but it’s also a weakness.
Both Rosanna’s and Mark’s secondary personalities are analytic. Not sure that we'll share our marriage secrets here. �� The analytic often will talk when they make a mistake / bad shot and will explain to their partner why they made the mistake. We’re not saying the analytics shouldn’t do this, but it may not be their best game. Why?
Our brains are very suggestible, and we may inadvertently be training them to do the same thing again by verbally saying what we did wrong. The brain thinks far faster than the mouth can talk, so it may be more effective to rewire your brain, without talking as to what you will do next time.
Expressive ~ If we chose the WAVY LINE and/or “Boring / Not Fun” we would refer to personality as the “Expressive” personality. This personality tends to like to have fun. This type of personality can have challenges in staying focused, following a plan, staying disciplined and not pursuing the dopamine hit in their brain.
Pickleball Application ~ Playing pickleball with an expressive will be fun regardless if you win or lose … unless of course you are the driver personality winning is fun.
The expressive does have a LOT of fun in everything they do. They will use this to their advantage in getting their opponents distracted. They also love to do crazy shots that seem to everyone else to be impossible … and honestly, they often are, but if the expressive can laugh, make others laugh then it’s worth losing some points.
Throughout the book we’ll share tips on what each personality type can do to help to not allow their strengths to become a weakness. The expressive can have a hard time staying focused and once they lose focus, it can be hard to regain focus.
Driver ~ If we chose the PYRAMID and/or “Out of Control,” we would refer to personality as the “Driver” personality. This personality tends to be driven, very direct, often enjoys goals, and expects to win..
Pickleball Application ~ Mark is a very high Driver personality with a secondary Analytic personality. People love to make fun of the driver's personality. People like to try to get them to smile or talk. The driver's personality is … well … there to win. They are often furious competitors, and the only thing better than pickling the opponents is a golden pickle.
People often hate playing against the driver, but boy, do they love to play with the driver. That is, unless they like to hit the ball. The driver often believes they are playing singles even when there’s another person on their court.
There’s really no such thing as poaching when you’re playing with a driver, as the driver believes that … well … the whole court is really their court and you are just a guest. Now, if the driver's personality is a secondary one, amiable, they will at least apologize for poaching … and then poach again. If they have an expressive as secondary of expressive … Well, you’ll thank them for poaching. If the secondary is analytic like Mark, hopefully you like to win. 14
© https://www.lifemasteries.org
OK … so you probably get the basics for different personality types. Let’s apply them to each of the four major specific areas in pickleball.
There are 4 major personality types when we look at one level. If we look at a 2nd level, there are 16 personalities. 3 levels: there are 64 possible options; 4 levels: there are 256. When we look at the Geo and the Pain test, there are 65,536 possible combinations.
But we’ll seek to keep things simple in this book, focusing on the primary personality and maybe the secondary. The Geo test seems to be genetic, how we were created by our creator in our mother’s womb. The Pain test appears to involve several factors. Maybe birth order, maybe our parents and/or how we were raised, maybe the hurt and pain we’ve been through.
1-1: Fundamental Mechanical Skills
Your physical technique is the foundation for consistency.
● The Grip: Use the Continental ("handshake") grip as your neutral starting point to allow smooth transitions between forehand and backhand shots.
● The Ready Position: Always return to an athletic stance with knees slightly bent, feet shoulder-width apart, and your paddle held high near your chest.
● Footwork: Focus on quick lateral shuffles and split-step timing as your opponent contacts the ball to improve reaction speed and balance.
~ Coaching Tips ~
Have the analytic studying this closely and then help you do each of these things really well.
Amiable ~ Don’t take anything personally.
Analytic ~ See the big picture in addition to the details.
Expressive ~ Be focused, pay attention to details. You’ll have more and everyone around you will as well.
Driver ~ Learn to think like the other three personalities and that will help your strengths to not become a weakness.
1-2: Core Shot Techniques
Mastering specific shots allows you to control the pace of the match.
● Dinking: Develop soft, controlled shots that land in the "kitchen" (non-volley zone). This forces opponents to hit upward and prevents them from attacking.
● The Third Shot Drop: Use this soft, arcing shot from the baseline to land in the opponent's kitchen, allowing you to transition safely to the net.
● Deep Serves and Returns: Aim for the back of the opponent's court to keep them on the defensive and prevent them from reaching the kitchen line.
~ Coaching Tips ~
Study the amiable to learn the soft skills.
Amiable ~ You are doing your opponent a favor by beating them, as that will make them better, and that gives confidence.
Analytic ~ Study the expressive and driver personalities and realize that often to get better we may play worse initially.
Expressive ~ Consistency is REALLY important!
Driver ~ Learn to smile throughout the game. Just saying.
1-3: Essential Strategies
Strategic play often beats raw power in pickleball.
● The "70% Power Rule": Avoid hitting at 100% capacity; moderate power (around 70%) provides better control and accuracy.
● Targeting Weaknesses: Aim for your opponent's backhand or feet to force awkward, weak returns.
● Holding the Kitchen Line: In doubles, stay as close to the non-volley zone line as possible to limit your opponent's attacking angles.
● Communication: In doubles, use clear calls like "mine," "yours," or "switch" to coordinate movement and avoid leaving gaps in the middle of the court.
~ Coaching Tips ~
Study the expressive and how, when we “break rules” at the right time and not often, we will catch opponents off guard.
Amiable ~ Learn to be more forceful like the expressive and driver.
Analytic ~ Learn to be in flow and not so rigid.
Expressive ~ Learn to study the game and your opponents carefully.
Driver ~ Hmmm … Yep … keeping it to 70% won’t be easy. I’m sure we can be accurate up to 99.9%. Just saying. ��
1-4: Practice and Training
● Drilling vs. Playing: Real improvement happens during focused drilling sessions (e.g., hitting 50 consecutive dinks) rather than just playing matches.
● Fitness: Improve your agility and stamina through ladder drills, squats, and cardio to sustain performance during long rallies.
Are you focusing on singles or doubles play, as the optimal court positioning varies significantly between the two?
~ Coaching Tips ~
Study the driver and their discipline, their consistency and their passion for being the best they can be.
Amiable ~ Don’t tell the driver to smile. It throws off their game.
Analytic ~ NO … don’t tell the driver that losing 1 out of 20 games is OK. They won’t respect you. Just saying.
Expressive ~ Sometimes in life … we need to learn to have fun in the boring. Just saying.
Driver ~ Keep up the front that you are the least caring person on the courts … otherwise people will learn that you are the most caring person on the court and then seek to take advantage of you, and that won’t go well for anyone.
Part 2 ~ Improve Your Life
How do pickleball and personalities help us in every area of life?
Pickleball is both mental and physical. The mental guides the physical.
2-1: Physical
2-2: Relational
2-3: Mental / Learning
2-4: Emotional
2-5: Financial
2-6: Spiritual
NOTE: Mark & Rosanna are continuing to write this book. We value ALL feedback. Based on our personalities, Mark, as a driver, will tend to like sharing how people won’t like this book unless we do something differently 2026 is the year of growth, so Mark is focusing on understanding why it’s beneficial to seek positive feedback. �� Mark can be text or called at 630.393.9909.
Rosanna, as an amiable person, tends to enjoy more positive feedback. Rosanna is working on growing to where someone can be brutally honest with her, and she’s fine with that. ��
Mark likes it when others are brutally honest with Rosanna because it makes him look better … and after 41 years of marriage, he’s looking for every advantage he can get to see the wife of his youth. �� No … for sure this will not be in the final book, as it would make Mark look bad, and for sure we don’t want that to happen.
You don’t have to read any of the following as we are still working on the following. If you have suggestions / tips on what we should include for sure let us know.
Amiable ~ If we learn to think differently about money we won’t be held back financially as an amiable personality is that we may be too nice to people and they may take advantage of us. Let’s make sure we don’t use money to buy praise, affirmation, love, friendships and/or to please people. Let’s learn to think differently about conflict and understand that some conflict / confrontation can be positive for everyone involved.
Analytic ~ As an analytic we may be penny wise and dollar foolish unless we learn to think differently. We may invest into things which look good on paper, but in the big picture they don’t make sense. We may struggle with being too tight with money, not as generous as maybe we should be. We can be great in finding the best value so that we can save people around us a lot of money.
Expressive ~ When we learn, as an expressive on how to think differently about fun, that can save us a lot of money. Learning to think differently about how we earn money and learning how to make everything we do as fun will help us to earn more. Learning to partner with other personalities for the mutual benefit of everyone is a wise thing to do.
Driver ~ As a driver personality we tend to think that having things in control is a good thing which can be really good for our finances. But learning to also be more flexible, at times, and consider feelings, hopes and dreams can also bring peace and harmony which can help us to earn more while working less.
Coaching Tip ~ Let’s learn to think through points of wisdom.
Each of the different personality types will have a different perspective of money. Often … but not always, the “wavy line” and the “ball” have the hardest time in not spending money / saving money.
When we understand our personality and the personalities of those around us, we’ll see greater financial freedom and do so in less time. There may be monthly Coffee Connections in your local area. There are weekly Zoom / phone Coffee Connection conversations where you will meet interesting people who can also answer questions about finances and/or help to hold you accountable. Call Elaine Yoder at 574-312-5318 for additional information and/or see back cover of booklet for additional information.
As mentioned previously, there are four levels of coaches. Which one do you need for the season of life you are currently in?
Level 1 Coach is Cheerleader:
You’ll probably like this level of coaching as they are encouraging and even if you’re doing really bad they will give you an encouraging word. The Amiable personality tends to do the best for this level.
Level 2 Coach is a Teacher:
With every new financial dimension we move to, the rules of that dimension change The Analytic personality is often the best in helping us in this area.
Level 3 Coach is Coach:
The Expressive personality will often push you, like a great football coach. You may not like this person at times but they will help bring out your best.
Level 4 Coach is Navy Seal:
The Driver personality will challenge you. If you want to see amazing financial freedom in the shortest amount of time, then this level of coaching is what you are in need of. If you feel your Life Vision is bigger than fear or limitation, and you're committed to becoming who you were created to be, then pursue this level.
1-7: Questions
This booklet is continuing to be updated and we love to hear feedback on what you like the most and what you believe could be improved. What questions do you have where you did find the answer in this booklet?
Q1: Where can I get additional copies for friends and family?
Answer ~ Call Katie at Compass Accounting at 574-370-6867 or Elaine Yoder at 574-312-5318.
Q2: Are there other types of valuable booklets like this on other topics?
Answer ~ Yes, there are. There are actually many different types of booklets and more being created every quarter. Call Katie at Compass Accounting at 574-370-6867 or Elaine Yoder at 574-312-5318 for additional details and / or if you have specific suggestions you would like to see additional topics for booklets.
Q3: Answer ~
Coaching Tip ~ Often … it’s not that we don’t know the solutions to a problem we’re having. It’s often that we aren’t asking the best question.
Coaching Tip ~ Getting help from those who have wisdom and can assist you to BEcome all you were created to BE.
2-7: What’s NEXT?
If they would like in life / personal areas they can connect with LMI. Ask about the 30 minute gift strategy session.
Life Masteries Institute
Elaine Yoder at 574-312-5318.
Action I Will Take!
Taking action is a result of how we think. What actions will we take from this booklet?
Hmmm … what am I thinking?
It’s good … to just sit back and … think … reflect … ruminate.
Why are prisons starting pickleball clubs?
Pickleball is unlike any other sport. You can be a young child and woop some adults bum. You could be a woman who’s a senior citizen and beat a young man who’s physically fit.
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