How Getting Smashed by Bangers Made Me Unstoppable! Why You Should Stop Avoiding the Hardest Hitters on the Court
- Tom Kiat
- Aug 19
- 2 min read
I used to avoid bangers like the plague.
You know the ones, they walk onto the court with carbon paddles and a football warmup routine, ready to unleash fury on anything that floats above net height. No soft hands. No patience. Just full-throttle drives and body shots from the first point to the last. I used to roll my eyes. I’d think, “This isn’t real pickleball.” And I’d try to play “correctly,” drop and reset while they pummeled me into submission.
I lost a few games in my early days.
And then something shifted. One Saturday morning I was stuck on a challenge court with two heavy bangers. Everyone else moved to different courts, but I stayed. Not by choice, just by bad luck and late coffee. But what started as a beatdown turned into a breakthrough. I was forced to slow the game in the middle of chaos. I had to actually feel the ball on the paddle, not react with panic. My blocks began dropping lower. My resets stopped popping up. I wasn’t trying to win anymore, I was just trying to survive. And that survival mode, that focus, built something real.
A few weeks later, I played against some 4.5+ guys who liked to grind. Dinks, drops, cat and mouse. Normally my comfort zone. But something was different this time, they couldn’t shake me. I wasn’t rushing. I wasn’t forcing anything. My timing felt bulletproof. Why? Because once you’ve trained against bangers, the slower game feels like moving through warm water. You don’t panic anymore. You calculate.
Here’s what bangers taught me that drills never could:
Pressure is your best teacher.
Bangers don’t give you rhythm, and that’s exactly what makes them valuable. You’re forced to stabilize under unpredictable fire. This is where your hands get real.
Blocking isn’t about reaction, it’s about absorption.
Most players swat at drives. Bangers taught me to receive the ball, like catching a punch. Once you get this, everything else slows down.
Mental fortitude is a skill.
The biggest transformation wasn’t physical. It was mental. I stopped flinching. I stopped complaining. I started smiling when the heat came. Because every shot was an opportunity to harden my game.
If you can hang with a banger, you can hang with anyone.
When you become comfortable in discomfort, when you like the chaos, every other style of play becomes easier to manage.
Now I seek out the bangers. I want to play them. They’re my favorite practice partners because they sharpen what really matters: hand speed, paddle control, mental focus, and courage.
Your breakthrough isn’t in the comfortable games.
It’s in the war zone. Get in there.
🔥WIN MORE. FAST.
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