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Welcome to the Pickleball Therapy podcast.

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It is the podcast dedicated to your
pickleball mind, and it's the only

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podcast dedicated to your pickleball mind.

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This is not the familiar voice that you
hear each week of my co-coach

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at Better Pickleball, Tony Roig.

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This is CJ Johnson.

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And every once in a while, Tony lets me
hijack the mic to talk about all things

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mental and how they can
improve our pickleball.

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And this week,
I I want to explore this question,

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Will a smile help your pickle ball game?

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I have a story about an event that I want
to tell you where I do believe a smile

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helped this player to
play their absolute best.

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That's what I'm going to be talking
about in the podcast this week.

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But before we get into that, if you are
listening to this about the time that the

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podcast drops, we have the Pickleball
System Spring Boot camp coming up

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on March 27th is the first day.

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That's the kickoff day.

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And then the boot camp
is over the weekend.

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It is a fantastic way
to tune up your pickleball game.

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We are going to be talking about your
number one complaint,

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which is consistency.

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We're going to help you
to become a more consistent player.

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And the best part about this
training is it's 100 % online.

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You do not have to have a course And it is
definitely going to help your improvement.

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So you can check out all the details
in the show notes below.

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So just simply go ahead
and click on that link.

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All right.

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So the question is, does a smile help
you to play your best pickle ball?

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This past week, I was down in Palm
Springs, and I had a chance

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to attend the BNP Paribas.

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I'm not sure that's how you say it
correctly, but

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the BNP open in Indian Wells.

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I was down in Palm Springs.

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I was shooting some video
with the Swingvision app.

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It's a AI AI-related coaching app.

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And I got a chance to pop over and watch
the BMP, and it was a wonderful event.

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And even though I played a little tennis
in high I never played tennis

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as an adult, but I love sports.
I love athletes.

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I love sports.
I am a big tennis fan.

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So it was quite the
treat to go over there.

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And I happened to see Francise Tiafoe.

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And if you're not familiar with tennis.

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He is the 17th ranked player in the world.

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I happened to see him, and I think it
was his first round match, and it was...

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He didn't play his best, but
he eked it out in two sets.

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And I like Francise Tiafoe.

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He is really a showman.

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He's an American player.

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When he is at his best, he
is performing for the crowd.

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He gets them excited.

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He involves them.
He smiles.

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He's very animated.

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He is just...

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It has a real outgoing aura, I
guess, is how I would put it.

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Pulls the crowd in, gets the crowd
to cheer for him very easily.

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So in his next match, he was put up
against a young Japanese gentleman, and

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I'm probably going to
say his name incorrectly.

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I'm going to give it my
best shot, Yosuke Watanuki.

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I'm sure I slaughtered that.

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And this young man has been
on quite the winning streak.

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Now, he is, I think, the 340...

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Let me see, I wrote it down.

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349th ranked player in the world.

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So there's really, obviously, a
substantial difference in ranking

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between Francise Tiafoe and Wata Nuka.

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And he got into this, though.

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He is on quite the role.

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He has won his last, I believe it was, I
think it was his last four events

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prior to coming to the tournament.

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And for those of you who may not
know tennis or follow tennis?

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Tennis, this is a fairly big tournament.

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A lot of players say that if there were a
fifth major, this would be it because

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it draws that strong of a field.

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So for the 349th ranked player in the
world, it really is just a feat

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even to get into the tournament.

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So here he comes in.

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He's facing Tiafoe,
certainly a fan favorite.

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As I said, he's quite the showman.

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But from the very beginning of this
match, Wata Nuki came in and

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he had this smile on his face.

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He's looking around.

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They were on stadium two, and I
happened to see a match there.

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It's quite a beautiful stadium.

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And he's looking around and you can see
him taking in the wonder,

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taking in the experience.

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And he has a smile that's ear to ear.

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That's how he comes in, and that's
how he is starting the match.

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So he serves first.

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And typically, you have a few
nerves when you serve first.

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And he serves three aces right in a row.

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So for those of you who aren't tennis
fans, an ace is the serve, the returner,

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either hits it into the net or hits it
out, and it is a point for the server.

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So he serves three aces right in a row.

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Let's pretty interesting
to start out that way.

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So as he's about to serve for the game, if
he wins one more point, he's

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going to win that very first game.

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He gets up there and he
misses the fourth ace.

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And he makes an extremely cute
gesture of like, Oh, dang.

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I missed it.

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And he got the crowd to giggle
because the crowd was wondering, Are we

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going to get a fourth ace here
to start off the match.

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So he misses that fourth ace, but
then he does win the first game.

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Throughout the whole entire first set,
he takes that same wonder

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that he had when he walked out onto the
court, that same, almost, I would say,

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childlike curiosity, the smile on his
face, certainly enjoying the experience

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and is applying that to the rallies that
he's experiencing while he's out there.

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This young man was playing some incredible
tennis, and I would dare to say that

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if you're firing on a 10 out of 10 level,
for the majority of the match, he

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was firing at a 10 out of 10 level.

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There were some shots that he hit
that were They're unbelievable.

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There were some shots where he's
sliding to get to the ball,

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so he's reaching for it.

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The ball is under the net
as pickleball players.

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We all know how cumbersome
the net is, right?

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You got to get it over the net.

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And he hits the perfect shot.

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But his reactions
after the shots, good shots

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or not so good shots,
were So ultimately, what I think may

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have turned the match in his favor.

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It certainly got the crowd in his favor.

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It may have thrown Tiafoe off his game
just a little bit because normally, he's

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the one who has the crowd in his favor.

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But I think those reactions
helped him to stay in the moment

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and to really perform his best.

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He would hit a shot,
one of these great, spectacular,

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crazy, once-in-a-lifetime shot.

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It's like hitting He was getting
a great, absolutely awesome ATP.

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And he would look at the shot and have big
wide eyes and this huge smile on

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his face like, Did I just do that?
Really?

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For real?
I just pulled that shot off.

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And it wasn't just the good shots, though.

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He had a similar smile on his face
when he hit poor shots.

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In fact, Sam Query, and
as you know, Sam has been a tennis

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professional his whole entire life.

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He plays pro-pickleball now,
was commentating on this

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match for this tennis channel.

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And Sam made the comment,
I have never seen a player

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smile so much at missed shots.

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Now, not only did he smile at his good
shots, at his missed shots,

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when Tiafa, who is unbelievably athletic
player in his own right,

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a great player, like you said,
he's number 17 in the world.

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When Tiafoe hit
great shots, he applied that same

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smile and that same wonder and really
admiration for the shot

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that his opponent hit.

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In fact, there was one shot
that Tiafoe returned, Watanuki serve

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at a very sharp angle tough shot.
He was off the court.

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He clipped the line.

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I mean, it was a great
shot on Tiafoe's spot.

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Watanuki looked at it with big wide eyes,
and he literally looked down at the line,

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and then he looked back at Tiafoe like,
Oh, my God, I can't believe that was in.

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That was so good.

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Almost a thumbs up.

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Now, I think what that demeanor
did is it did two things.

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So The first thing it did is
it impacted the crowd.

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Because generally,
Francise Tiafoe, he's a crowd pleaser.

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As I said, he's a showman.
He gets the crowd on his side.

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And I think for him as a player, that's
some of when he plays his best.

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When the crowd's on his side and he's
playing to the crowd, he plays his best.

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You can see him lifting his hands up,
trying to get the

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crowd involved, And I think
he lives for that as an athlete, and he

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performs well under those circumstances.

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And in this instance, it's an American
crowd, and Francise is American, and

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Watenuki is a Japanese, and
certainly, they would lean

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towards the American player.

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But Watenuki's actions, just like that

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smile and that wonder, And that being in

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the moment, I can't believe I'm here,
brought a large portion of

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the crowd over onto his side.

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And I wouldn't say it was like they
were cheering for him over Tiafil.

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I don't think that was the case,
but it certainly wasn't

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lopsided in the other direction.

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They were appreciating his performance,
and they were appreciating the fact that

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he was in wonder, and he was smiling at
both his performance as well as Tiafoes.

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So I think that was the
first thing that it did.

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But I believe the second thing that it did
is that wonder, that smile,

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that helped him, Watanuki, to be in
the present, to be in that present moment.

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I mean, think of it this way.

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How many times have you smiled
after you hit a poor shot?

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After you hit a shot that you think you
could make, how many times

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have you actually smile?

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And there is something about smiling.

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There's been some scientific studies on
what smiling actually does to our bodies.

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And I don't know if there's ever been one
that's been done about what

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smiling does in sports.

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But there have been these studies about
what smiling does to our attitude and how

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how it calms us and the different
things that smiling can do for us.

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And I know for myself, I probably
have never hit a shot that I think I

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should make and then smiled afterwards.

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I'm going to guess I've always had
somewhat of a negative reaction.

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In fact, I was telling Tony this earlier
today when I was getting

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ready to record this.

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On Sunday, I was watching the...

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I think they were in Coral Gables, the PPA
Coral Gables final, and

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Anna Bright was playing.

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And respect Anna Bright as a player.

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She is a great player.

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She missed a very easy forehand dink,
down the line, forehand dink.

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Easy forehand dink, one that she's
going to make 99 out of 100 times.

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And she took the paddle and
she smashed she asked herself, she hit

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the paddle to her head.

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And it wasn't just a little
light tap to her head.

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It was with a similar force that I've
seen players slap a paddle to their leg.

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And I got to thinking to myself, I'm like,
wow, those are just two such very

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different reactions to a missed shot.

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What's the internal impact
to our psyche when we do that?

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And unlike all players, I've been guilty
of thinking at times that, wow,

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how could I have missed that shot?

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In fact, Tony did a podcast several weeks
ago, about a month ago, where he talked

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about we are going to miss a
percentage of shots, right?

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We all know we're not perfect.

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So why do we beat ourselves
up when we miss a shot?

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Because that's just one
part of the percentage that we will miss.

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It's silly to beat ourselves up.

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And I never thought about it that
way until he framed it out that way.

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I'm the player that when I miss a shot, I
think I should, let's put it

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that way, that I should make.

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I have more of a Anna
Bright style reaction.

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I don't know that I've ever hit myself in
the head, but I have more of that beat

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yourself up type of reaction
versus to put a smile on my face.

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Now, I don't know that the smile
impacted his win.

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I think, personally, I think it did.

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Now, first of all, he was just playing
great tennis, and he pretty much played

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great tennis through the entire match.

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He did go through a little lull where his
play dropped, but his demeanor

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didn't change.

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And in the end, he beats Tiafoe.

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And I'm going to guess
on any given day, right?

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I mean, he's the 349th
ranked player in the world.

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00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:07,455
Tiafoe is number 17.

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00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:13,255
I'm going to guess on any given day,
Tiafoe could beat him as a player.

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00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:15,040
I mean, that's what the rankings say.

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00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:22,320
But in that one particular match,
I really do think Watanuki's demeanor

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changed the match in his favor.

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00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:28,440
He was playing great.

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00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:31,240
He kept smiling.

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00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:32,560
He took the pressure off.

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00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:36,415
He took any pressure off himself
because here he is, he's the underdog.

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00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:38,520
He's not expected to beat Schiaffo.

239
00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:44,960
And he took the pressure
off and was able to perform.

240
00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:51,855
So maybe, just maybe,
the next time you're out on the court, I

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00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:57,360
know I'm going to try this, the next time
I'm out on the court, I'm going to smile

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after I make the shot, no matter if
it's a good shot or a not so good shot.

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00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:13,440
I'm going to smile, and I'm going to
observe, what does that do to my mindset?

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00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:15,040
I'm going to guess it slows me down.

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00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:17,655
I'm going to guess it calms my body.

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00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:19,655
I'm going to guess it calms my breathing.

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00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:25,280
But I'm going to observe what it does for
me, and if truly a smile can

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help me to play better pickleball.

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00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:31,975
That's what I've got for you this week.

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00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:37,175
Don't forget, we've got that March boot
camp coming up, and your regular podcast

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00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:40,680
host, Tony Roig, will be back next week.

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00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:42,720
Until then, have fun.

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00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:50,015
And hey, let us know if an
email, cj@betterpickleball.

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00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:50,815
Com.
Let me know.

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00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:51,720
I want to know.

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00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:53,680
Until then, have fun out there.