How to Let Go of Mistakes in Padel

Why Letting Go of Mistakes in Padel Is One of the Most Important Mental Skills a Young Player Can Learn

Every young padel player makes mistakes. Mishitting a smash, sending a bandeja into the net, or fluffing an easy volley these moments happen to every player at every level, from beginners at their local club all the way to professionals on the World Padel Tour.

The mistake itself rarely decides the match. What happens in the player’s head straight afterwards does.

This guide is for young padel players, their parents, and youth padel coaches who want to understand why dwelling on errors is so damaging and what to do about it.

“Why Is My Backhand Not Working?” The Thought Pattern That Holds Young Padel Players Back

Picture this: your child is playing a padel match. They miss a straightforward wall shot that they’d nail in training nine times out of ten. Instead of resetting, they start talking to themselves. “Why did I do that?” or “Don’t mess that up again” and the next point suffers too.

Does this sound familiar?

When young padel players dwell on mistakes, they crowd their thinking with frustration and self-criticism at exactly the moment they need a clear, focused mind. The court suddenly feels smaller. The pressure feels bigger. And the errors keep coming not because of poor technique, but because of what’s going on between the ears.

For parents: if you’ve watched your child spiral after one bad point, you’ve seen this in action. It’s not a confidence problem it’s a mental habit that can absolutely be coached and changed.

Even the Best Padel Players Make Mistakes – Here’s Why That Matters

Think about the best padel players in the world. Do they make unforced errors? Absolutely. Do they hit the glass awkwardly, misjudge a lob, or double fault under pressure? Of course they do but we don’t tend to remember those moments. What we remember is how they recover.

The same principle applies to young players. Mistakes are not what define a padel performance. Dwelling on mistakes is what creates the real damage because it pulls focus away from the present moment and into a loop of self-judgment that almost always leads to more errors, not fewer.

The players who progress fastest aren’t necessarily the most talented. They’re often the ones who have the shortest memory for bad shots and the quickest reset between points.

The Mental Resources Problem: Why Dwelling Costs Young Players More Than They Realise

Here’s a useful way to think about it and one we use with young players in sessions.

Imagine a circle that represents everything your brain can focus on at once. In padel, you want as much of that circle as possible filled with useful things: where you want to place the next shot, how you’re reading your opponents, what pattern of play you want to set up.

When a player dwells on a mistake, that circle starts filling with unhelpful content; the image of the error, the frustration, the self-criticism. Suddenly there’s far less mental space for the things that actually win points.

This is why you’ll often see a young padel player make one mistake and then two more in quick succession. It’s not their technique breaking down, it’s their mental resources being eaten up by the previous error.

For coaches: this is a powerful concept to introduce to junior players during practice matches. Ask them after a point: “What were you thinking about when you played that shot?” The answers are often very revealing.

The “Don’t Mess This Up” Trap and Why It Makes Things Worse

One of the most common patterns we see in young padel players is what happens after a mistake on a key shot. Say, a first serve or a smash at the net.

Instead of resetting with a clear intention, they go into the next attempt telling themselves: “Don’t double fault this time” or “Please don’t miss this smash again.”

The problem? The brain doesn’t process the word “don’t” in the way you’d hope. Telling yourself not to do something keeps the image of doing it right at the front of your mind. It also disrupts the natural, automatic rhythm of your shot preparation, the same preparation that works so well in training, when there’s no pressure and no inner commentary.

Think about it this way: the best padel players in the world, when asked what they think about during a shot in practice, almost always say the same thing “Nothing, except the shot I want to play.” That’s the state you want young players working towards: clear, simple, forward-focused intention.

For parents: if your child is being hard on themselves on court, resist the urge to offer technical corrections between points. A calm “next point” or “move on” said with warmth, not pressure is often far more useful.

5 Strategies to Help Young Padel Players Let Go of Mistakes

1. Replace “Should” With “Want To”

A lot of inner pressure in young padel players comes from the word “should.” “I should have got that.” “I shouldn’t make that mistake.”

“Should” carries judgment. It tells the brain that what happened wasn’t just an error it was a failure. Over time, this kind of language chips away at confidence and makes players risk-averse.

Try replacing it with “want to.” “Next time, I want to get into position earlier.” “I want to hit that shot flatter.” It’s subtle, but it shifts the focus from blame to intention which is where young players need their minds to be.

For coaches: notice the language young players use about their own mistakes in training. Gently challenging “should” language and replacing it with “want to” can make a noticeable difference over a season.

2. Stop Judging Yourself on Individual Mistakes

Padel is a fast, reactive sport. Points are won and lost in fractions of a second. A single missed smash, a shanked return, a net cord at the wrong moment none of these define a player’s ability.

Help young players build a mental habit of separating what happened (the mistake) from who they are (a capable, developing padel player). The error is just data. It’s information about what to adjust not evidence of failure.

For parents: this mindset starts at home. The conversations you have after a match about mistakes vs. effort vs. improvement matter enormously. Ask “what did you learn?” more often than “what went wrong?”

3. Identify the Mistakes That Trigger the Most Frustration and Plan a Response

Some mistakes bother young players far more than others. A double fault might feel catastrophic; a missed forehand drive might roll off them completely. Every player is different.

Encourage your young player to identify the one or two errors that consistently knock them off their game. Then, rather than hoping to avoid those mistakes, work out a planned response for when they happen.

What will they tell themselves? What will they do physically to reset; a deep breath, bouncing on their toes, a deliberate shake of the arm? Having a practised response means the mistake no longer catches them off guard mentally.

For coaches: build this into training by deliberately creating pressure scenarios where those mistakes are likely to occur. The practice environment is the ideal place to develop and rehearse reset routines.

4. Build a Between-Point Reset Routine

In padel, there’s a brief pause between every point and that pause is a golden opportunity for a young player to reset their mental state before the next one starts.

A simple reset routine might look like:

• Breathe out slowly — releasing any tension from the previous point
• Look up — physically shifting gaze away from the spot of the mistake
• Say one clear word or phrase — something like “next,” “move on,” or “let’s go”
• Focus on one intention — what do you want to do on the next point?

It doesn’t need to be long or complicated. Even 5–10 seconds of deliberate resetting is enough to stop the spiral before it starts.

For coaches: introduce this routine in practice matches and make it a habit. Players who have a trusted between-point reset are significantly more consistent under pressure.

5. Develop Refocusing Cues and Practise Them

A refocusing cue is a personal phrase or action that reminds a player to let go and move on. It works best when it’s been practised enough to become automatic.

An example might sound like: “That shot’s gone. Nothing I can do about it now. What do I want to do on this next point?”

The key is that it’s forward-looking, not backward-looking. It acknowledges the mistake (rather than ignoring it, which doesn’t work) and then immediately redirects attention to what matters next.

For players: try writing your own refocusing cue and practising saying it even at home, away from the court. The more familiar it feels, the easier it is to access under pressure.