Hello and welcome to Pickleball Therapy, the podcast dedicated to
your pickleball improvement.
Hope you're having a great week.
I am your host of this weekly podcast, Tony Roig.
This week, we're going to actually dive into two subjects.
It's going to be a double header.
The RIF will be a little bit longer and the main section will
be a little bit shorter.
We're going to use that format for this week because I
have two topics that I'd like to cover that are timely.
The first one is about how the rules may be robbing you in a
couple of different ways. Let's talk about how to avoid that.
Whenever the new rule book comes out, it's like new rules equal new angst.
The new things we got to spend our mind on.
Then what's normally the rift, but in the second segment of this, I
want to talk about criticism.
I want to talk about dealing with criticism and how do we determine at the
first level, whether what's happening is a criticism or not a criticism.
That's going to be the subjects of this week's podcast.
As we dive into the podcast, if you're looking for coaching, if you're
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I can tell you from feedback from from campers, I can tell you from feedback from
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players are amazed at how much there is to learn in pickleball.
When they start seeing the game differently, they're like, Oh, my God, I
can't believe I was missing all these other things because you don't know
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This is the athletic pillar, mental part of the game.
That's what we do on this podcast.
All right, let's dive into how the rules may be robbing you.
They're robbing you in a couple of different ways.
Let me frame it out for you in terms of what I mean by the rules or what type
of rules thinking I'm talking about.
So we're sitting here in 2025, and the new rules came out.
Now, the new rules didn't really change anything, not in any way that matters.
Sometimes the rules do change.
They added the drop serve.
That was a big change because the drop serve allowed for a
different type of serve that previously was not legal, and it opened up a
whole different type of serving. Those types of rule changes are big.
This year, the big rule change was If you read the comments to the rule change,
you'll see that it's basically more of a housekeeping item
for a little bit of cleanup.
There is a little bit of impact, and I'll address it, but the rule change has to do
with the non-volley zone, when the volley starts.
So before, basically, the volley included the swing of the paddle
before the ball was struck.
The Rules Committee...
I don't want to get into rules committee stuff too deep in terms of my thinking
about it, but I know that they seem to be very concerned about
referee calls, referees being able to make calls, which is fair.
I don't want the referees to have a difficult time.
It's difficult to know when the swing begins.
So they've moved away.
They did the same thing with the serve last year, and they explained this in the
comments as well, which is it's at the point of contact.
The serve begins when you hit the ball. They made the same thing the volley.
So the volley begins when you hit the ball.
So I got a question from several different players, not one player, several different
players in several different contexts that asked, Okay, so basically the non-volley
zone rule, the stuff before doesn't apply anymore.
That's not the case with one exception.
The exception is you're paddle touching the non-volley zone before you volley it.
If you accidentally scrape the non-volley non- Volley zone
before you volley the ball, that is not a violation any longer because the volley
begins at the time you hit the ball, not when you start your swing.
Other than that, everything's the same.
So It's basically, you can't...
It's just everything's the same.
I don't want to get into the non- Volley zone rule has not changed,
other than that one little thing.
But players are thinking about it.
They're spending their time They're thinking about this change,
and they're talking about it.
And conversation is fine. I don't mind.
If you're having a conversation for conversation's sake, that's fine.
But here's what I think is happening.
I think what's happening is when these things occur,
it leads to wasted bandwidth.
What I mean by that is, there's only so much stuff you can do in your brain.
There's only so much you can process, only so much you can focus on things.
There's so much more from my perspective, that is going to give you a better
game for yourself, that's going to give you more enjoyment out there.
What I would suggest is focusing on those aspects of pickleball more than
these outside outlier things on the rules or anything that's outlier.
When you think about this particular rule, what are you going to do about it?
Was like paddle scraping the court before a volley a big part of
the game in your world? I'm going to guess no.
If it happened, what do you care anyway back then or now?
Same thing, like a player sometimes step in a little bit, whatever.
Just do your thing. Enjoy yourself.
That's the second part of where these...
A too heavy rule focus can rob you is enjoyment and friendship and just
having a nice time on the pickleball court.
Because think about the arguments that arise out on the pickleball court.
Usually, they're rule-driven.
Usually, it's out call or an MVZ violation that someone
thinks happened There's illegal serves and things like that.
Those end up in...
They don't end well because, frankly, there's nothing in the rules that
allows a resolution, not normally, but for a lot of these, nor should there be,
because what should be the resolution?
Is it your call or my call?
We don't have a referee.
So think about it more big picture in terms of the rule stuff.
I'm not telling you to disregard all the rules You can go nuts, things like that.
Live within the rules, but apply it like, think big picture about it.
What rules are really going to impact the play?
Then when you're playing, are you going to Are we going to allow a game to get out of
line, get out of whack because of a potential rules violation?
Because, again, the other player may disagree, so it
may not be a rules violation. I don't know.
Anyway, so give that some thought in terms of your relationship with the rules.
Whenever you hear new rules, I would suggest this to you.
Whenever you hear big pronouncements about rules changes, be very wary with those.
They happen very rarely.
One other thing I got asked what was something about...
I'm trying to remember what it was, because it was something about the serve,
and it was basically like, it was either you couldn't drop serve anymore.
It was a really big change to the serve that a player asked me about.
I was like, There's no... What?
We got rid of what? Oh, it was spinning the ball.
Spin the ball with your paddle.
Basically, because I don't know, you can never get rid of that.
Spin the ball after you hit it, not the pre-spin.
Because the ball always spins when it comes off your paddle.
Anyway, so that was an interesting...
I was like, Where did they hear that from?
Be mindful.
Have a little alarm for that when you hear a big, big rules thing shared with you.
Just generally speaking for yourself, don't let rules rob you, whether it's rob
you from your bandwidth so that you can focus on what's going on or rob you from
your enjoyment of that awesome game that you're playing.
All right, let's dive We'll dive into the second topic.
Before we do, I want to give a brief shout-out to one of our partners.
Sometimes we could ask questions about ball machines, and ball
machines are very helpful.
They can be very helpful to your game, but they're a big investment.
They are a big investment.
Do not run out by a ball machine unless you're committed to the ball machine.
What we recommend first is take a bucket of balls, 10, 20 balls, and take
it to the court a few times.
Make sure you're committed to this process.
Make sure you're committed to getting in your car with some balls
in your paddle and putting in work 30 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour.
If you're not going to do it with a bucket of balls, you're not going
to do it with a ball machine.
Ball machine is just going to sit in your garage.
You don't want that.
But if you decide that you are going to put in the work, ball machine can give
you a ton of reps in different scenarios.
We have a ball machine that we have partnered with, that we've tried it out.
We think it's a really good ball machine, well made.
It's not on the cheap side of the ball machines, but it's a solid product.
It comes with an app has a couple of things like a removal battery.
It's called the Titan Ball Machine, but we have a link down in
the show notes as well. As you go to betterpickleball.
com, you can always find that under resources.
But check that out.
There is an affiliate link.
Basically, we get a commission if you purchase it through
there, which helps support the podcast and our other coaching efforts
that we do for free.
Anyway, so check that out.
If you're ready for a ball machine, that's a good one to try.
All right, let's talk about criticism.
What I want to focus on here isn't so much the second part of it, which would be
like, what do I do if I'm criticized?
How do I deal with it? Things like that.
I want to give you an idea that might help you nip it in the bud a little bit in
terms of the criticism, because here's the thing.
Criticism can occur.
There are situations where you are being criticized.
The term criticism here I'm using in its
negative sense, in the no point criticism stuff.
For example, it would be like you miss a shot in a game, and it's like,
you're always missing that shot, or something like that.
That's a criticism, not helpful.
It's just negative. It's just attacking.
That's the way I'm using the term criticism here, not in the potentially
constructive sense, which I believe you can also use it in that sense, as
you'll see as we get through this.
Criticism certainly happens.
I would suggest that nobody likes criticism.
I don't like criticism.
Again, criticism without a point.
We're all human beings.
No one likes being criticized.
Anyway, criticism, no bueno.
But here's the thing.
How do you know that you're being criticized?
Or is it something else?
Could it be feedback?
Could it be constructive feedback?
Could it just be being advise of something that would help you
improve that in the future.
Because think about how would you improve without that?
Meaning, without some feedback.
Either you need to figure it out on your own, or someone needs to tell you.
An example would be, say you're hitting your shot too late.
Let's You're just take one shot. You're a return to serve.
You're running forward, you're going past the ball, the balls are getting behind
you, so the balls are going wide or you lose control, you can't
have power on them.
Basically, your shot breaks down because you're hitting them late.
How do you fix it?
If you want to, you want to fix it, I'm guessing you do.
You can figure it out yourself. That's true.
For instance, inside our pickleball system, we teach you energy,
trajectory, things like that.
So you could work through that puzzle and It's trajectory, paddle angle.
Oh, I see. I'm hitting it behind me.
Okay, I see it.
So nothing wrong with that.
That's the dream, right?
That's what we do as coaches, right, for you, is do the same thing
that I'm describing.
Or you can get feedback.
It's the other option if you can't solve it yourself.
How do you get feedback?
You get feedback from a friend, family member who knows
what they're doing or a coach, right?
In terms of, this is what I'm seeing.
I'm saying that you're doing this.
That information can be received as criticism.
Because that person, let's say I'm coaching you,
and I say that to you, I'm criticizing you.
I'm like, Are you hitting the ball late?
You're a faulty player because you're hitting the ball late.
But is it really criticism or is it constructive feedback?
I would submit to you in that scenario, it's constructive feedback.
What I want to suggest to before you consider something being criticism,
let's be aware of a couple of things.
Number one is, what we think of something is a result
of how we interpret it in our own mind. That's the everything.
That's the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Everything that happens in life is filtered through our
processing center, our brain.
We need to be aware of that.
With that, we can be aware of what our own predisposed predispositions are.
Some of us are more predisposed to seeing a criticism.
Some of us are more predisposed to seeing feedback.
This is not criticism, just to be clear, about that.
It's just understanding yourself better and then understanding which
way you may be predisposed.
That way, you'll be ready when a piece of information comes in or a feedback comes
in, whether is this good feedback or criticism?
The not helpful feedback.
Then the second thing, and then ask yourself, why is this criticism
as opposed to feedback? Why am I looking at it that way?
Then one other piece that you can use is consider the source
and the context or the environment in which the feedback is being provided.
Is it coming from a loved one?
Oftentimes, loved one, feedback can be difficult.
Food, things It can't feel like they're attacking, but probably
not if it's a loved one.
I mean, maybe, but that could be a toxic relationship.
I'm not saying that doesn't exist, but ask yourself.
Coach would be somebody who probably not criticizing
you, probably offering feedback, or at least trying to.
Then you can think of an environment in which you're out there with fellow
players, and they're friends of yours or fellow players who are
co-students and things like that.
Perhaps the information they're providing to you is not aimed at criticizing.
It's aimed at giving you feedback based on the context that you're in.
Those are the things that you can think about, consider in terms of how you think
about the information coming your way.
As I mentioned, no one enjoys being criticized.
Even myself, your host, I'm not a fan of being criticized.
But think about if I can better gatekeep that, is it criticism
or is it constructive feedback?
Then I can avoid the negative feeling, the negative impact that it has on me, feeling
that I was criticized, not feedbacked.
Then I can gain the benefits of the feedback.
I can gain the benefits of the information that's being shared with me.
It goes from a negative...
Actually, it turns it all around from a negative to a positive, if I can give
it the correct tag, if you will, when the information comes my way.
Give that some thought.
Perhaps that will help if you are feeling criticized about your
pickleball or anything else.
All right, that's this week's podcast.
I hope you enjoyed it, the double header format.
If you enjoyed it, throw a rating out there.
Review it if you can, and share it with your friends.
Let them know.
Maybe you have a friend out there who's feeling unduly criticized, you
can help share this with them.
Or if you have a friend of yours who's so bogged down in the rules that they can't
enjoy the beautiful game of pickleball, that you are we're currently playing.
Next week, I will be back with a regular episode of the podcast.
I'm not going to spoiler for you, but you want to check that out.
Then be on the lookout for, we're going to publish a Bookmark episode, which We're
going to try and do a few more of those this year.
We have one or two in the past, if you search bookmark episode.
But basically, the idea is these are episodes that you can bookmark and repeat
because they're designed to be repeated.
All the podcasts can be reheard. You're welcome to do that.
But these in particular are set up in a way that basically, they
help you either get to the cord or deal with stuff after the cord
and things like that. So be on the look out for that.
Anyway, I hope you have a great week, and I will see you next week for the
next episode of Pickleball Therapy.
Be well.