Better Pickleball Through Hypnosis
By Matthew Schwartz
April 3, 2025
“Look into my eyes. Look deep into my eyes.”
That’s what fictional hypnotists in movies over the years have said to put their subjects in a trance. Now, real-life hypnotists say hypnosis can help pickleball players improve.
Dominick DeCarlo has been a hypnotist for 18 years. He’s been a pickleball addict since first playing three years ago. The 55-year-old Chicago native lives full-time in his RV with the license plate, “LUV2PKL.” He travels the country playing pickleball every day, usually three times a day.
DeCarlo played a lot of tennis growing up and picked up pickleball quickly. He has a nickname, “The Pickleball Mayor” (he says a pickleball player gave him the title) and likes it a lot. He created a Facebook group with the same name. He says his DUPR (Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating) is around 4.7. “My short term goal is to play like a 5.0,” he says.
DeCarlo says hypnosis “can be a valuable tool for athletes, including pickleball players, to enhance their performance by addressing the mental aspects of the game.” He claims hypnosis “can help players manage anxiety and stress, improve focus and concentration, overcome the serving ‘yips,’ improve consistency and reaction time for firefights,” and help other aspects of your game.
DeCarlo says hypnotism works because it induces “a relaxed state of focused attention, allowing the subconscious mind to become more receptive to suggestions. It also incorporates guided imagery and positive affirmations to help players achieve their desired mental and physical states.”
Shelly has helped many athletes through hypnosis
-
Kristin Shelly is a certified hypnotist with a private practice in Asheville, North Carolina. She’s hypnotized pickleball players and other athletes. “There is no better mental technique I can think of to improve your mindset and performance than hypnosis,” Shelly says. “Hypnosis can help improve focus and confidence through direct suggestion and visualization while in the hypnotic state. More specifically, post-hypnotic anchors can create the experience of focus and confidence linked to when you pick up the paddle or step on the court.
“In hypnosis you create neural impressions that can be recalled on the court,” Shelly says. “Athletes of all sorts at the highest level use this technique to improve their game.”
Indeed, countless professional athletes have said hypnosis helped them, including Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and the Olympic gold medal gymnast Mary Lou Retton.
DeCarlo says hypnosis can help pickleball players overcome self-doubt and build confidence in their abilities. He says it can also “enhance a player’s ability to focus on the present moment, blocking out distractions and maintaining concentration during crucial points. This heightened focus can lead to better decision-making and quicker reaction times.”
DeCarlo is combining his passions for pickleball and hypnosis. He will soon rollout a hypnosis program geared towards pickleball players. He says when he tells pickleball players that he’s a hypnotist, the most common response is, “Can you make me a better pickleball player?”
“The answer,” DeCarlo says, “is Yes!”
For more information on Dominick’s hypnosis programs, go to www.dominickdecarlo.com.
To book a free, 20-minute introductory session with Kristin Shelly, go to https://calendly.com/hypnosiscareertraining.
Thoughts of the week, not all pickleball
· Here’s another example of the greed in pro sports that turns off fans. Technical glitches on Major League Baseball’s Opening Day caused those who pay $150 per season for MLB.TV to miss at least an hour of a few early games. The league sent subscribers (including myself) an email on Saturday apologizing for the outage and offering $10 off any purchase of $25 or more at MLBshop.com. Are you kidding me? MLB screws up and says, in effect, we apologize, but if you spend more money at our online store you’ll get a discount. The league should have just given subscribers $10 off their subscription cost.
· The NCAA men’s basketball tournament hasn’t had many upsets or buzzer beaters and no Cinderella teams have gone far, but it’s still my favorite sports event every year. And to have all four number one seeds in the Final Four could make Saturday’s games really good.
· Regarding pickleball paddles, last year Kevlar was the hot property, now it’s foam. It’s a great time for us paddle nerds.
· Speaking of paddle nerds, after interviewing the paddle reviewers Chris Olson, John Kew, Braydon Unsicker, Dustin Fowkes and William Chaing, among others, I can tell you not only do they know paddles, they all happen to be smart and solid family men. Just good people. By the way, Kew’s other job is as an archaeologist and Fowkes is an emergency room doctor.
· You ever notice how people who bought an expensive paddle almost never admit publicly that they made a mistake and don’t like it?
· The Netflix true-crime documentary, Love on the Run, is well done but a sad commentary on how many Americans reacted to the event, treating the escapee, a violent career criminal, and his accomplice/girlfriend, who worked at the jail, like heroes.
· I must have missed the pickleball rule stating that when the temperature is under 35 degrees, the Franklin X-40 pickleball has to crack.
Hudef is giving away a new paddle to the first person who emails the correct answer to one question at the end of my first blog of every month. This month’s winner will receive the Kevlar/carbon fiber Hudef Viva Pro Gen3 paddle, valued at $169.99.
The question: In my February 14th blog, I wrote about my interview and subsequent meeting with Ben Johns. What snack food did Johns say he has an addiction to?
Email your answer to sales2@hudefsport.com. The winner will be contacted by email.
Remember, if you buy any Hudef paddle that costs $169.99, use my discount code MS30 to knock down the price by 30%, to $119.99. Any less expensive paddle, the code is MS15, giving you 15% off.