1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:04,040 Hello and welcome to Pickable Therapy, the podcast dedicated to your 2 00:00:04,065 --> 00:00:06,650 pickleball improvement. Hope you're having a great week. 3 00:00:06,680 --> 00:00:07,840 My name is Tony Roig. 4 00:00:07,865 --> 00:00:10,420 I am the host of this weekly podcast. 5 00:00:10,445 --> 00:00:12,060 It's a pleasure to be with you. 6 00:00:12,085 --> 00:00:17,120 This week, we're going deep into the idea of peeling back the onion. 7 00:00:17,145 --> 00:00:23,020 We're going to talk about pickle as an onion because that is exactly what it is. 8 00:00:23,045 --> 00:00:29,960 And the onion is a great analogy/metaphore that allows us to take a look at how we to 9 00:00:29,985 --> 00:00:32,975 engage with this sport in different areas. 10 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,640 We're going to explore different areas: play, improvement, yourself as 11 00:00:35,665 --> 00:00:37,860 an athlete and as a human being. 12 00:00:37,885 --> 00:00:40,960 And I think you're going to find a lot of value out of this idea 13 00:00:40,985 --> 00:00:42,775 of pickle being an onion. 14 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:46,260 So if you're a long time listening to the podcast, you're right in there going like, 15 00:00:46,285 --> 00:00:49,240 I like a bowl of ice cream, but it's a different application. 16 00:00:49,265 --> 00:00:50,415 You'll see. 17 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:52,460 So the onion, I think, is going to work well for you. 18 00:00:52,485 --> 00:00:56,180 Before we dive into the podcast, a couple of housekeeping notes. 19 00:00:56,205 --> 00:01:00,600 I've been talking the last few weeks about how pickleball therapy is but one piece of 20 00:01:00,625 --> 00:01:04,760 a bigger puzzle, of a bigger coaching service that we provide, 21 00:01:04,785 --> 00:01:06,455 which is called Better Pickleball. 22 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,240 If you're already a part of the Better Pickleball community, then 23 00:01:09,265 --> 00:01:10,770 you know what's coming up. 24 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:15,440 And so I don't need to bore you with that here because you'll get the 25 00:01:15,465 --> 00:01:17,770 emails and you can make decisions about that there. 26 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,180 But if you're not on the Better Pickleball email list, 27 00:01:20,205 --> 00:01:24,850 make sure you join that because then you'll be notified of events coming up. 28 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:27,160 We have a State of the Union around the time of this podcast. 29 00:01:27,185 --> 00:01:31,020 We're going to have a really nice boot Camp in March and things like that. 30 00:01:31,045 --> 00:01:33,775 So betterpickleball. com and subscribe to the email list. 31 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:34,540 Taking a sip of water. 32 00:01:34,565 --> 00:01:35,720 I'll be right back. 33 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:39,290 All right, I'm hydrated. We're ready to go. 34 00:01:39,320 --> 00:01:43,020 So let's dive into this idea of pickleball being an onion. 35 00:01:43,045 --> 00:01:45,520 And let's start from this premise. 36 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:52,700 It is 100 % normal, 100 % natural for you and any other pickleball player 37 00:01:52,725 --> 00:01:53,930 to want to know it all. 38 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:55,055 We want everything. 39 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:57,440 We want to know everything there is to know about pickleball, and we 40 00:01:57,465 --> 00:02:00,080 want to know it yesterday, right? 41 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:02,040 Not possible. 42 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:07,620 Not possible because pickleball is a very complex sport. 43 00:02:07,645 --> 00:02:09,120 And it's interesting. 44 00:02:09,145 --> 00:02:14,170 I wrote a little piece about this recently about the idea is that 45 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:16,280 at first Gosh, when you first started playing pickleball, it's 46 00:02:16,305 --> 00:02:17,120 just so simple, right? 47 00:02:17,145 --> 00:02:20,400 Use a little plastic ball, a little paddle, got to the court, bop, bop, bop, 48 00:02:20,425 --> 00:02:23,610 paid the ball around, super cool, and you're good to go. 49 00:02:23,640 --> 00:02:27,610 And then you play for a little while and you're like, There's more to this game. 50 00:02:27,640 --> 00:02:29,960 Then you play a little longer and you find out there's more, and the more you When 51 00:02:29,985 --> 00:02:33,640 you play, the deeper it goes, and you just keep going deeper and deeper. 52 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:37,980 And really, you find out that pickleball is a very complex sport, 53 00:02:38,005 --> 00:02:42,020 and that's what keeps us coming back, because it's this really complex puzzle, 54 00:02:42,045 --> 00:02:45,300 both in terms of play as well as ourselves and how we interact with it. 55 00:02:45,325 --> 00:02:51,160 And it challenges us, and it keeps us young, keeps us engaged, keeps us 56 00:02:51,185 --> 00:02:55,240 active, keeps us doing this thing, pursuing this 57 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:57,820 next step along our pickleball journey. 58 00:02:57,845 --> 00:03:02,080 And that's something that we should embrace and not allow to 59 00:03:02,105 --> 00:03:05,095 overwhelm us or get us frustrated. 60 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:07,160 And thinking about pickleball like an onion is something that 61 00:03:07,185 --> 00:03:08,180 can help with that. 62 00:03:08,205 --> 00:03:11,895 Because when you think about an onion, I like to think about an onion this way. 63 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:13,520 I don't know about you, but I love onions. 64 00:03:13,545 --> 00:03:15,495 Onions are delicious. 65 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:18,240 Cooked, they're so powerful. You can do anything you want with them. 66 00:03:18,265 --> 00:03:22,440 Almost every recipe out there has onion in it. 67 00:03:22,465 --> 00:03:23,760 It's the Trinity, right? 68 00:03:23,785 --> 00:03:26,180 The onion goes into just everything. 69 00:03:26,205 --> 00:03:31,940 And so I had this this thing, this onion. 70 00:03:31,965 --> 00:03:35,000 I think it's a bachelor's, but it's a root. 71 00:03:35,025 --> 00:03:36,260 It's a root. 72 00:03:36,285 --> 00:03:45,300 And so I can use it for all these purposes, but it also can cause me to cry. 73 00:03:45,325 --> 00:03:49,655 So it's delicious, complex, deep, but can also lead to crying. 74 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:51,980 So it's perfect for a big of all if you think about it that way. 75 00:03:52,005 --> 00:03:56,060 But the layers of it are really interesting because when you think about 76 00:03:56,085 --> 00:04:00,135 an onion, you peel back a layer and there's another layer of onion, you peel 77 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:02,700 layer and it just keeps going, keeps going, keeps going, keeps going, 78 00:04:02,725 --> 00:04:05,335 not infinitely, but for a long time. 79 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:07,760 And so when you think about your pickle ball that way, you think about it like, 80 00:04:07,785 --> 00:04:12,420 okay, I am currently on whatever layer I am at. 81 00:04:12,445 --> 00:04:17,780 I know that once I peel this layer back, I will see something else in this sport. 82 00:04:17,805 --> 00:04:19,960 And then I will, if I want to, keep going. 83 00:04:19,985 --> 00:04:21,620 I keep peeling that layer back. 84 00:04:21,645 --> 00:04:24,575 And then, oh my God, there's another layer and peel it back and 85 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:25,080 there's another layer. 86 00:04:25,105 --> 00:04:28,240 And that's awesome because you're never going to exhaust the layers. 87 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:31,040 But when you think about it that way in terms of layers, you're 88 00:04:31,065 --> 00:04:31,760 going to think about it. 89 00:04:31,785 --> 00:04:33,660 You think about yourself as being more patient. 90 00:04:33,685 --> 00:04:39,980 You think about yourself as being more relaxed because you know that 91 00:04:40,005 --> 00:04:41,935 you're working on a layer. 92 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:43,940 You're not working on the onion at that stage. 93 00:04:43,965 --> 00:04:45,540 You're focused on a layer. 94 00:04:45,565 --> 00:04:47,055 And you can be patient. 95 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:50,160 You work on this layer knowing that I'll get through the layer eventually. 96 00:04:50,185 --> 00:04:52,900 And then once I get to that layer, I'll start working on the next layer. 97 00:04:52,925 --> 00:04:56,775 And also allows you to focus because you get away from, 98 00:04:56,800 --> 00:04:58,360 I need to know everything right now. 99 00:04:58,385 --> 00:05:01,240 I need to know I need to know everything there's going to 100 00:05:01,265 --> 00:05:04,960 pick a pickleball immediately, or else something bad is going to happen or else 101 00:05:04,985 --> 00:05:07,980 I'm failing or whatever it is, that goes away. 102 00:05:08,005 --> 00:05:10,620 Because the only thing I need to worry about is what? 103 00:05:10,645 --> 00:05:11,660 The layer. 104 00:05:11,685 --> 00:05:13,900 The layer that I'm currently working on. 105 00:05:13,925 --> 00:05:17,440 Knowing that once I'm done with that layer, then another layer, and then 106 00:05:17,465 --> 00:05:19,295 I can worry about that layer then. 107 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:22,380 And then after that, there'll be another layer and another layer and another layer. 108 00:05:22,405 --> 00:05:26,400 But in the meantime, I can focus on what I'm doing now because the reality is I 109 00:05:26,425 --> 00:05:31,380 can't get to layer number four inside the onion and Until I've 110 00:05:31,405 --> 00:05:38,100 mastered or I've pealed back layers one, layer two, and layer three. 111 00:05:38,125 --> 00:05:41,660 The first three layers before I get to layer four. 112 00:05:41,685 --> 00:05:45,300 So if we understand that, we sit back and say, Okay, wait a minute. 113 00:05:45,325 --> 00:05:48,660 This thing that I'm thinking about is layer four. 114 00:05:48,685 --> 00:05:52,575 Let me focus right now on layer two. Let's say I'm on layer two. 115 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:55,960 I can focus on layer two, knowing that I need to get through that, to get to layer 116 00:05:55,985 --> 00:05:59,280 three, to get through that, then to get to layer four, and not jump ahead to layer 117 00:05:59,305 --> 00:06:04,280 four, which is one of the reasons why a sporadic approach to pickleball 118 00:06:04,305 --> 00:06:06,535 can be so frustrating. 119 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:07,840 Sporadic might be the right term. 120 00:06:07,865 --> 00:06:12,880 I mean, basically like a shotgun, where you're just picking YouTube 121 00:06:12,905 --> 00:06:17,100 videos or friends at the court telling you things, things like that. 122 00:06:17,125 --> 00:06:21,940 That can be very frustrating because what's happening is oftentimes, 123 00:06:21,965 --> 00:06:25,900 let's say you get a video on YouTube that says five tips or something. 124 00:06:25,925 --> 00:06:33,380 You'll find tips in there that all the tips It could be layers you're not at yet. 125 00:06:33,405 --> 00:06:37,360 One tip might be layer two where you're at right now, and then two tips might be 126 00:06:37,385 --> 00:06:40,500 layer three, and one tip might be layer six. 127 00:06:40,525 --> 00:06:42,680 So you sit there and there's no differentiation. 128 00:06:42,705 --> 00:06:44,700 In YouTube, it's just tips. 129 00:06:44,725 --> 00:06:48,780 And So you sit there and you're like, Okay, I'm going to work on tip four. 130 00:06:48,805 --> 00:06:51,695 Well, tip four is layer six or layer four. 131 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:53,940 And you're just like, That's not where you're at right now. 132 00:06:53,965 --> 00:06:59,760 So you're trying to tackle something that, frankly, isn't going to work because you 133 00:06:59,785 --> 00:07:02,420 don't the other layers peel back yet. 134 00:07:02,445 --> 00:07:07,000 And it's just, frankly, a waste of time if you think about it because you're on 135 00:07:07,025 --> 00:07:10,700 layer, trying to master layer four is on layer two. 136 00:07:10,725 --> 00:07:15,740 So try and think about your progress in the game as an onion as 137 00:07:15,765 --> 00:07:17,260 being different layers. 138 00:07:17,285 --> 00:07:21,815 And I think you'll find that it's much more productive for you 139 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:24,780 because of the focus and because of the patience that you'll have. 140 00:07:24,805 --> 00:07:27,600 You can also think about it in terms of your play, and I'm going to 141 00:07:27,625 --> 00:07:28,540 talk about you in a second. 142 00:07:28,565 --> 00:07:32,980 But in terms of your play, you can think about it like, 143 00:07:33,005 --> 00:07:39,120 when I'm out playing, right now I'm focused on, let's say 144 00:07:39,145 --> 00:07:40,780 you're focused on your four-shot. 145 00:07:40,805 --> 00:07:42,500 You're on the return side. 146 00:07:42,525 --> 00:07:44,340 I'm focusing on my four-shot. 147 00:07:44,365 --> 00:07:50,100 And so that's what I'm going to spend my energy on, my bandwidth to deal with 148 00:07:50,125 --> 00:07:52,460 or to think about as I'm playing. 149 00:07:52,485 --> 00:07:57,740 That allows me to focus on that layer and not worry about the potential pop-up on 150 00:07:57,765 --> 00:08:02,575 shot number 23 during the rally and then I'm upset about that. 151 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:05,040 It got nothing to do with anything because it's not the layer 152 00:08:05,065 --> 00:08:05,740 of the onion that I'm on. 153 00:08:05,765 --> 00:08:10,500 And I understand that there's additional layers, threat identification, weakness 154 00:08:10,525 --> 00:08:15,375 assessment, be able to exploit different opportunities 155 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:18,100 that are presented by my opponents and all those sorts of things. 156 00:08:18,125 --> 00:08:20,340 All that stuff is happening on the court. 157 00:08:20,365 --> 00:08:24,840 It's a layer that perhaps is not yet for you. 158 00:08:24,865 --> 00:08:27,080 In other words, you're not at that layer yet. 159 00:08:27,105 --> 00:08:30,540 And there's nothing wrong with that. Just like, again, go back to the onion. 160 00:08:30,565 --> 00:08:33,100 The layer inside the onion, you know it's there. 161 00:08:33,125 --> 00:08:36,615 You can't see it because you haven't peel back the layers on the outside, but 162 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:38,260 you know there's a layer on the inside. 163 00:08:38,285 --> 00:08:42,680 And so the fact that I can't yet see that layer doesn't mean it's not there, doesn't 164 00:08:42,705 --> 00:08:46,180 mean there's anything wrong with me, doesn't mean anything other than 165 00:08:46,205 --> 00:08:49,940 I still got to peel back some layers to get to that particular layer. 166 00:08:49,965 --> 00:08:58,900 It basically makes things not as negative for the player, for us or 167 00:08:58,925 --> 00:09:01,300 for you, because it's more objective. 168 00:09:01,325 --> 00:09:04,500 You know there's more layers inside the onion. 169 00:09:04,525 --> 00:09:08,295 You know you can't see them right now, but you don't need to be upset about it 170 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:11,680 because there's a reason you can't see them right now is because you're still 171 00:09:11,705 --> 00:09:15,220 working on the layer that you're on right now, and you got to peel that one-off 172 00:09:15,245 --> 00:09:16,900 before you can see the other layer. 173 00:09:16,925 --> 00:09:19,620 While you're playing, it also gives you some comfort there. 174 00:09:19,645 --> 00:09:23,700 In your progress and your improvement, right, work, it gives you comfort, 175 00:09:23,725 --> 00:09:25,820 focus, and patience on what you're doing. 176 00:09:25,845 --> 00:09:29,215 When you're playing, stop worrying about things that are 177 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:31,640 layers that even though you know they're there, right? 178 00:09:31,665 --> 00:09:33,140 I know that there's a thing there. 179 00:09:33,165 --> 00:09:35,480 I can't see it right now because I'm not working on that. 180 00:09:35,505 --> 00:09:36,540 So I don't worry about it. 181 00:09:36,565 --> 00:09:37,800 I worry about it when I got to worry about it. 182 00:09:37,825 --> 00:09:40,220 I keep working on the layer I'm working on now. 183 00:09:40,245 --> 00:09:42,900 And then think about it for yourself, okay? 184 00:09:42,925 --> 00:09:48,020 Last week's podcast, I talked about this podcast some, and I talked about 185 00:09:48,045 --> 00:09:51,580 the effect of this podcast on me personally and on other players. 186 00:09:51,605 --> 00:09:55,000 And that's been a process just like an onion, right? 187 00:09:55,025 --> 00:10:01,380 Just layer after layer after layer, both in terms of uncovering 188 00:10:01,405 --> 00:10:07,400 parts of the mental side of pickleball that are helpful to me and helpful 189 00:10:07,425 --> 00:10:09,380 to you, helpful to other listeners. 190 00:10:09,405 --> 00:10:13,460 That's a process over time, layer after layer after layer, 191 00:10:13,485 --> 00:10:16,380 and also applying it to yourself. 192 00:10:16,405 --> 00:10:21,880 Applying it, for me personally, to me, has been a layering process of one layer 193 00:10:21,905 --> 00:10:27,580 at a time, one layer at a time, until I am where I am today. 194 00:10:27,605 --> 00:10:31,580 And knowing that I'm not where I'm going to be in 195 00:10:31,605 --> 00:10:36,880 a week, in a month, and in a year, because I will continue to peel back layers of the 196 00:10:36,905 --> 00:10:41,100 game, peel back layers of myself and my understanding of myself, 197 00:10:41,125 --> 00:10:47,320 peel back layers of my understanding of life and psychology and sports and the 198 00:10:47,345 --> 00:10:50,180 mind and the body and all these things that work together 199 00:10:50,205 --> 00:10:59,680 to continue to work on improving myself, both as a pickleball player and as a 200 00:10:59,705 --> 00:11:03,640 human So that's this whole week's podcast. 201 00:11:03,665 --> 00:11:04,895 It was a deep podcast. 202 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:08,120 We're not going to do a rift this time because that was a lot of content right 203 00:11:08,145 --> 00:11:11,580 there to chew on, literally, I guess, like an onion. 204 00:11:11,605 --> 00:11:14,440 So think about that as you work on yourself. 205 00:11:14,465 --> 00:11:20,140 Just consider the layers, allow the layers to be what they are so that it's not 206 00:11:20,165 --> 00:11:24,440 frustrating to you that you can't see layer number 32 on the inside of the onion 207 00:11:24,465 --> 00:11:28,560 yet because you're working on layer seven, layer eight, layer nine, whatever 208 00:11:28,585 --> 00:11:30,180 layer you're on right now. 209 00:11:30,205 --> 00:11:33,100 Focus on that, get the most out of that, and enjoy the process. 210 00:11:33,125 --> 00:11:36,180 Enjoy the peeling of that one layer. 211 00:11:36,205 --> 00:11:39,095 Just enjoy the little peeling it back a little bit of time. 212 00:11:39,120 --> 00:11:42,080 Maybe you see a little bit on the inside of the next layer, layer 10 is there 213 00:11:42,105 --> 00:11:44,880 looking at you, and you start seeing it a little bit at a time. 214 00:11:44,905 --> 00:11:47,640 And next thing you know, layer 9 is gone, and you're on layer 10, 215 00:11:47,665 --> 00:11:49,375 and you just keep going. 216 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:52,800 All right, so hopefully that framing will help you out with your progress, your 217 00:11:52,825 --> 00:11:55,540 play, as well as your personal development. 218 00:11:55,565 --> 00:11:59,000 If you enjoyed the podcast, please consider rating and reviewing it. 219 00:11:59,025 --> 00:12:00,620 Let's get up to that 4. 9. 220 00:12:00,645 --> 00:12:01,495 Just kidding. 221 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:03,380 You'll understand if you heard last week's podcast. 222 00:12:03,405 --> 00:12:05,535 And always share it with your friends. 223 00:12:05,560 --> 00:12:07,820 Remember, if you enjoy the podcast, they probably will, too. 224 00:12:07,845 --> 00:12:10,260 Hope you have a great week and I'll see you on the next episode. 225 00:12:10,285 --> 00:12:10,480 Be well.