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Welcome to the special episode of Pickleball Therapy.

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In this special episode,

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we are going to be answering the age old tournament question

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of serve,

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receive or side.

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What should you do when you're playing in a tournament and

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you're asked this question by the referee or by your opponents?

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If there's an referee,

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what do you want to pick?

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In this episode,

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I'm gonna address it for you.

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We're coming to you both on our YouTube channel,

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Pickleball Therapy,

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as well as anywhere that podcasts are available.

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So like if you had a tournament,

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you don't have access to YouTube,

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you want to turn it on the podcast,

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put it on the podcast,

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you wanna watch it on YouTube,

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you're welcome to do that as well.

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The reason we're bringing this episode to you as a special

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episode right now is because we are getting ready to go

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down to the US Open in about a week and a

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half down in Naples,

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Florida. This is our eighth year going to the US Open.

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We've been fortunate enough to go since its inception in 2016

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and felt that this was a really good time to answer

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this question for you.

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So whether you're playing at the US Open or playing in

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NA tournament,

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this will help you make the right decision.

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If you are gonna be at the US Open,

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please come by and say hello to us.

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We're gonna be down there,

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we'll have a tent that have our sign up there,

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so just look for us and please say hello to us

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so that we can say hello back.

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Alright, let's dive into this serve,

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receive or side question.

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So the way it works in a tournament,

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if you've never played one before,

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is there'll be a number on the back of a card

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normally, or a number behind someone's back.

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It's like the coin flip,

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right? One or two and then a team gets to pick,

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or a player gets to pick,

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and then whoever wins that.

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So if you pick correctly,

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you get it.

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If you pick incorrectly,

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the other team gets to go first.

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You get to choose between serve,

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receive or selection of side.

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So let's work through that to find the,

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the best answer to that question.

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Generally speaking,

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if you're playing in an outdoor tournament,

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if you have the choice of picking either serve or receive

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or picking side,

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you're going to opt to pick side because server receive does

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have an impact on the game,

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but it is a much smaller impact just at the beginning,

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right? It kind of washes out over after a couple of

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rallies, whereas selecting side will affect the entire game,

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potentially the entire match,

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right? Depending on how long it goes.

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But it definitely affects the game and the match.

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So picking side is gonna let you dictate more than picking,

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serve or receive.

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So our recommendation is if you have the choice of picking

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side, go ahead and pick the side.

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Okay? Now,

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in terms of what side you pick,

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that gets a little more complicated because you know,

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we, we say there's like a science,

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a science unto itself on picking side,

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and I would have to address it in two different ways.

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If you're playing in a two out of three,

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so you're gonna play three games to 11,

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okay? Or potentially three,

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a minimum of two up to three games to 11,

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our recommendation is to pick the side that you like best

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to start on.

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Now, there are players who will pick the side that they

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decide that they think they're gonna finish on to be best.

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So you're thinking like at the third game,

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last half of the third game,

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we don't like that approach or we don't prefer that approach,

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I should say not like it,

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but we don't prefer that approach because we want to get

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the first game under our belt.

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Get your first game under your belt,

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you, you feel a little bit of breathing room,

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right? You can relax a little bit,

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play calm,

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or play looser.

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Your opponents would be a little more tense,

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right? Because they can't lose that second game.

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And so that advantage to us outweighs the benefit of potentially

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having the better side weigh in the future at the end

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of game three.

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So we would pick the better side first in a game

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in two outta three to 11,

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and I'll get into what the better side is in a

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minute. The,

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if I'm playing a game to 15,

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right? Then the dynamic changes because in a game to 15,

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I can't get the game under my belt on the better

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side, right?

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The game doesn't end,

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right? We're gonna switch sides in the middle at eight.

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In that case,

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I am going to start on the side I prefer least

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or the worst side if you want to call it that.

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So I'm gonna start on the other side because I wanna

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finish that game and the match on the better side,

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okay? And what I'm trying to do there is I'm trying

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to keep it within striking distance.

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If I can switch ahead,

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great. If I can switch in within striking distance,

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I'm gonna go to the better side to finish that game.

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So that's the,

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that's the idea.

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In terms of picking the better side or the worse side,

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depending on the type of game that you're in now,

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how do you determine what the better side is that is

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very specific to you and your team?

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Okay? Generally it has to do with,

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with wind.

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With sun and potentially with the background like the,

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you know,

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the, the visibility of the ball.

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It does change.

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You know,

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like if you're playing on a court that has a court

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behind it and you're playing on the side,

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that looks all the way down the,

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to the,

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your court and the other court.

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That's gonna be different visibility than if you're playing on the

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side that looks at the windscreen,

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if there's a windscreen,

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right? So you'll have to make that decision for yourself in

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terms of what situation most advantages your team.

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When you make that decision,

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then you'll,

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that'll be the better side and then you can make the

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other decisions appropriately.

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If you're not sure,

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ask your teammate,

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you know,

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what side do you most comfortable with?

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You feel more comfortable playing on this side or on this

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side? And whatever your teammate says,

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just pick that one and that that'll be your be that'll

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be the better side,

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I should say.

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Don't pick that because in the 15 you may pick the

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other side,

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so, but you'll determine that that'll be your better side for

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your team.

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So that's how you're gonna pick side.

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Now if the other team pick side or you're in a

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situation where you have to pick,

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serve or receive,

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what do you do in that situation?

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You are going to pick two.

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You're gonna select to receive.

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And the reason you're gonna select to receive,

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and I'm gonna move over to the court board here on

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the, if you're on the video,

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you'll see it on the video is basically in the first

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rally, right?

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So you're gonna pick,

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you're gonna be the yellow team by pick and receive.

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What happens there is the serve the return that third's probably

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gonna get missed.

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You know,

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more often than not,

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and I gotta give credit here to a fellow professional player

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and friend Kyle Yates,

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who was gracious enough to share this thought process with me

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during the 2019 French Open that we happened to,

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we were able to play together at,

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or play against each other.

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We played in the same tournament.

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But the,

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the idea is that the pressures at the beginning of the

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match, everybody's all tight,

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right? So let that one rally work itself out.

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You get a side out,

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now the serve comes over to you,

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you'll get two chances.

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You're in a little more rhythm.

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So generally speaking,

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you're gonna want to pick,

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receive on the serve versus receive.

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So side number one,

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and then serve,

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receive number two.

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Now, here's what's interesting,

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and I've seen this happen many times in tournaments.

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Players who have not been coached by us will,

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if you pick side,

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they'll pick serve.

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So you,

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you end up with like a win-win,

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right? So you pick your side and then it goes to

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the other team and they get to pick,

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serve, or receive,

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they'll snap call serve 'cause that's what everybody does.

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And so you'll get received and side,

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which is awesome,

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and another curve ball you can throw but be,

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I'm gonna tell you a curve ball in a second,

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but before I tell you the curve ball,

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I did wanna let you know also that we're having our,

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we have a let's get ready to tournament class coming out

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on April 10th.

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That's live.

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After that,

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there'll be a recorded class that'll be available at some point,

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but in,

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in getting ready for the open or just getting ready for

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tournament, if you want to come to our live class,

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it's a really nice 90 minute class.

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We're gonna cover things like this,

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but a lot more than this,

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right? We're gonna cover all sorts of pre tournament during tournament

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tips that'll help you gain that edge while you're playing a

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tournament. I'll put a link down below in the show notes

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on the podcast and,

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and the video.

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I'll put a link up top and down below so that

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you can check that out and decide if it's right for

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you. Our recommendation is if you're going all the way to

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a tournament,

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registering for a tournament,

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doing all that work,

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you might as well go in there with the best set

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of skills in order to navigate the tournament landscape to get

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the best out of it.

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Alright, so one last little bonus tip here for you that's

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kind of sort of funny I guess,

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but sort of,

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you know,

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if you want to throw like a curve ball at the

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other team is if you get the first choice and you're

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not really sure what to do,

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you can defer,

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right? So you can say,

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we, you know,

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defer to you,

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you pick,

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and then they,

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they might go like,

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what? I don't know,

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you know,

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what's going on?

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So again,

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that's kind of on the,

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on the,

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on the outside there,

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but you can always throw that in there as a,

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just, you know,

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we, we'll,

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we'll pick second.

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You guys pick first and then make them pick the,

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pick the first choice.

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So side first,

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receive second.

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That'll give you an edge.

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And in tournament play,

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oftentimes, especially in those close matches,

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right? Those little edges or would make the difference between you

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having 11 and your opponents having 11 first.

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So hopefully that'll help you with your tournament play.

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Again, if you're coming down to the US open,

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please come say hi to us.

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Whether you're coming to the open or playing in a tournament

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in your area in the near future.

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Remember to have fun at the tournament.

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Enjoy the experience.

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It's a wonderful experience where you get to compete with other

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players who just like you,

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come to the tournament,

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right? Looking to give their best test themselves,

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right? See what's going on,

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see how other players are playing,

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who Are playing at a more competitive level.

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And so just,

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you know,

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it's a wonderful experience and I hope you have the best,

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the best experience there.

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And if we can help you,

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help you get that edge or help you feel more comfortable

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right in the tournament setting so that you,

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you feel more comfortable when you're walking around knowing what's going

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on, happy to do that for you in our tournament class.

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As always,

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if you enjoyed the podcast,

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please consider rating and reviewing it and share with your friends.

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If you enjoyed the podcast,

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they probably will too.

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Hope to see somebody at Thes Open.

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And if not,

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I'll see you on Friday at our next regularly scheduled podcast.

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Be well be.