You won 11-6. You picked on the weaker player, ran around your backhand, ripped every third shot and leaned on the patterns you trust.
Congrats.
But did you actually get any better?
That’s the uncomfortable question at the heart of what FLiK founder Fred Robinson calls “The 4.0 Trap.”
Once players get pretty good, they also get pretty good at hiding the parts of their game that aren’t. And rec play makes it easy.
Weak backhand? Run around it. Can’t consistently drop? Drive instead. Hate playing the right? Stay left. Strong player across the net? Feed their partner.
All perfectly reasonable strategies if the only goal is winning.
But winning today and becoming a better player tomorrow are two very different things.
Fred argues that players need two modes: performance mode, when the result matters, and development mode, when getting uncomfortable matters more.
That means occasionally choosing the backhand. Hitting the drop you might miss. Playing the side you hate. Attacking the stronger opponent.
You might lose a few more games.
Good.
Because sometimes an 11-8 loss in which you worked on three weaknesses is more valuable than an 11-4 win in which you exposed none of them.
The scoreboard tells you who won. It doesn’t tell you who improved.
And if you’ve been stuck at roughly the same level despite playing constantly, Fred’s argument might explain exactly why.
➡️ Escape the 4.0 trap. Read Fred Robinson’s full breakdown