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The podcast dedicated to your pickleball improvement. We are here to help you achieve your pickleball goals, with a focus on the mental part of your game. Our mission is to share with you a positive and more healthy way of engaging with pickleball. Together let’s forge a stronger relationship with the sport we all love. With the added benefit of playing better pickleball too. No matter what you are trying to accomplish in your pickleball journey, Pickleball Therapy is here to encourage and support you.
[00:00:01.400] - Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to Pickleball Therapy, the podcast dedicated to your pickleball improvement. The microphone's a little bit high. Moving it down for you here. Hope you're having a great week. My name is Tony Roig. I am the host of this weekly podcast. I am a master teaching professional, full-time coach, and a senior pro player, in case we haven't met before. It's good to make your acquaintance, and glad to have you with us in the podcast. This podcast is dedicated to your mind. This podcast is dedicated to how we think about pickleball, how we engage with the sport of pickleball. If you are familiar with the podcast and you're watching on YouTube, I'm going to lean over here so you can see it behind me. This was an idea of one of our team members, Kylene. She found this behind me. It's a little hard to see. It's a little bit fuzzy because the way the camera blurs it a little bit, but It's a bowl of ice cream. So if you know what that is, if you know, you know, right? If you haven't heard that episode, highly recommend it to you. This week's episode, we are going to tackle two subjects.
[00:00:54.510] - Speaker 1
One is the 22nd rule, which is an interesting way of thinking about your growth as a person and a player. We're going to focus, obviously, on the pickleball side. But as we talk about a lot in this podcast, the concepts that we talk about, that we deal with in pickleball therapy, the concepts that we talk about, that we deal with in pickleball in general, meaning the things that we learn through our pickleball experience are things that we can apply in our lives at large, or writ large. And so this concept, I think, is something that's really going to help with your game and also just in general, just life stuff. And then I had on here, if you're watching this on YouTube, you can see it behind me where I had cut out the... I had written down plus can't connect, but I crossed it out and I put in John Isner. There was a quote recently from John Isner, which I think will give us hope. If you're struggling with a game, just seeing it from a perspective of a high-level tennis player, high-level athlete, obviously a professional tennis player, a solid American tennis player who had good success on the tour, who's trying to play pickleball.
[00:02:02.670] - Speaker 1
I think you'll find that interesting in the rift. I'm going to dive straight into the first 22nd rule. Essentially, I think of the 22nd rule as a way of moving forward. So maybe there's something that you've been dreading doing for a long time or dreading having a conversation about for a long time. And the idea is basically, if you can dedicate 20 seconds to it, if you can just take the 20 seconds and just do the thing, take the plunge into the pool, if you will, then everything else becomes easier. Everything else becomes more natural. Actually, the pool is an interesting way of thinking about it. So you're standing by the side of the pool and you're trying to decide, do I get in the pool? Do I not get in the pool? Do I get in the pool? Do I not get in the pool? Do I not get in the pool? Whatever. And one way to deal with it is just dive into the pool. That's quicker than 20 seconds. And even if it's cold or whatever, if you're listening to this podcast, you've been around long enough to know that that doesn't last.
[00:02:58.280] - Speaker 1
You're going to be fine. And So it's just a good way of breaking out of stagnation. And I want to deal with it in pickleball in a few different ways. One is something like listening to this podcast, which you already do. But like a friend of yours who doesn't listen to the podcast yet, is you tell him, Obviously, it can't be 20 seconds, but you can say, Listen, do you have five minutes? Listen to this guy for five minutes. See what he says. If you like it, keep listening. If you don't like it, then you can move on with life. But at least you've tried to do something for yourself. You can also think about it in terms of your body. I think the mistake that we make sometimes as athletes, and I was chatting with my coach, C. J. Johnson, about this 20-second rule just yesterday. She was talking about 10 minutes of exercise, but it could be less. It could be even like I'm just going to stand up right now. If you're at home, I'm going to stand up right now while I'm listening to Tony, and I'm going to stretch my hamstrings, or I'm going to stretch my calves or my quads, or I'm going to stretch my shoulder, whatever, something, or I'm just going to rotate I'll take my neck around and just get some mobility in my spine and in my neck.
[00:04:05.150] - Speaker 1
Just one thing, and you do it for 30 seconds or 20 seconds or a minute or whatever you can, that's going to help you. This is in line with... We've done a podcast earlier about this similar concept, which is when you do push-ups. If you got down right now and did one push-up, just one push-up, is that going to change your life? Maybe not the one push-up, but you did one push-up, and then maybe tomorrow you do one more, and then maybe the next day you do a couple, maybe you feel like doing two. And even if you do them on your knees or whatever. So the point is, whatever you're doing like that is going to build habits. It's going to build your mental processes. Your mental connections are going to be changed in a positive way. Plus, you get the benefit of the activity that you did, the one push-up. One push-up, again, it's not going to... One push-up alone, maybe not. One push-up today, one push-up tomorrow, one push-up the next day, one push-up the next day. On a year, you have 365 push-ups. Is that Is that all you want to do?
[00:05:02.540] - Speaker 1
Maybe not. Maybe you want to do more. But 365 is much greater than zero, according to my mathematical calculations. So that's an area you can do with your body, stretching or strength. For instance, you can do one squat. You stand up out of your chair and sit back down two or three times, and that's it, and you're done. Then if you like it, maybe the more you do it again, things like that. So pick one thing and do that. Another thing you can do is it's daunting to drill. Drilling as a pickleball player is like this thing, right? I got to get the balls, I got to go to the court. Yes, I understand that. But if you're playing, let's say you're going to play tomorrow or you're on your way to play now. Let's say you can get there just five minutes early, right? And you can either run into somebody there or you can ask your friend or say, Hey, can you meet me five minutes early? We always say this, don't use the word drilling. That's a bad word, right? Just ask them if they'll help you. Tell them you're trying to work on a volley or you're trying to work on a dink or whatever it is you're doing.
[00:06:01.110] - Speaker 1
You need to hit some serves. Can they meet you five minutes early just to help you out? 98% of players who you know who are friends of yours will be like, Yeah, sure. I'll be there. No problem. And you get five minutes in. Just the five minutes before you start playing, radically change how you play that day. It'll radically change your game that day. And then maybe five becomes 10 and 10 becomes 15. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Start with the five. That's a really good habit to get into. Cj would probably string me up if I didn't mention warming up before you play. If you want to do a 10-minute warmup, body warm. No, this is not hitting balls warm. This is just your body. If you want to do a 10-minute warmup, good on you, right? But okay, I don't want to do 10 minutes. Players are waiting for me. Then maybe on your way to the court, while you're walking to the court, instead of walking, maybe do a little skipping, right? Sort of like when you were in elementary school, just skip along, skipping and hopping along. Do a couple of over and back on the line, just Jump around a little bit, a couple of...
[00:07:02.330] - Speaker 1
Seriously, 20 jumping jacks, right? Just something to get your body going, get everything lubricated a little bit, right? Get your body temperature up a little bit, reduces the chances of having an injury, and, and, and, You're going to play better. You are going to play better with a warm body than a cold body, even if you don't get injured, even if you avoid injuries. So that's another thing you can do. And then lastly, what I want to point out on your pickleball journey, this is going to tie into the Isner RIF conversation. A lot of times as a pickleball of players, we want to... There's a lot. There is. There's a lot of stuff in pickleball to learn. I'm having the pleasure of coaching an amazing young pro player right now, and And even at his level of play, there are still things to learn. I mean, even the best, even the best, best number one players have things that they can still learn about the sport. So there's always going to be a lot to learn in this game. It can sometimes feel a little bit overwhelming, right? Like, oh, my God, I got to do this.
[00:08:01.440] - Speaker 1
I got to do this. I got to do this. I got to do this. First of all, you don't have to do this, this, this, and this. And trying to do it is going to be counterproductive, right? So applying this 20-second rule or this let's just chew off a little bit at a time. Focus on one thing. We've done some prior episodes on areas that have highest impact on your game. And I'm not trying to sell you on the system. You do whatever you want to do. But programs like the pickleball system or programs that are designed to give you one step at a time. That way, you don't have to guess. But what you want to do is you want to find the one thing that is going to most help you with your pickleball, and then stick with it. Stick with that one thing. Try to avoid doing seven things at one time because you're not going to feel good about it. You're not going to complete any of them. You're going to half ass it all. You're going to basically 30% good at a bunch of things. That doesn't feel great. 100% good at one thing feels really good.
[00:08:56.530] - Speaker 1
You'll probably hear this quote many times if you listen to this podcast over the period of a few years, but that Bruce Lee quote just sums it up better than anything I've ever heard in terms of constant focusing on one thing at a time. It's a quote from Bruce Lee where he says, I fear not the fighter who has practiced 10,000 kicks one time. I fear the fighter who has practiced one kick 10,000 times. Imagine getting very good at one thing, one part of the game, and then getting good at another part of the game, and then getting good at another of the game, and leaving the parts that aren't that great that you're not crazy about. Leave them be. Let them be the way they are, because if you're trying to work on all of them one time, you're not going to improve any of them. And then you just find what the highest value item is for you. I'll tell you, the highest value item for every pickleball player out there at any level of play is going to be your return to serve. There's just no... It's just boring, and I'm like, Oh my God, this guy again with his return of serve.
[00:09:54.090] - Speaker 1
But I can't. There's no other answer. It's not the role volley, it's not spins, it's not a hard serve, whatever. It's your return of serve. So if you're not sure where to start, that's a great place to look at. All right, now we're going into the RIF, and I want to talk about this Isner quote, because if you know the podcast, the RIF is basically something that I've come across recently that jolted me for a second, and I said, Well, let me share that with you because it's going to help you along your journey. Perhaps you do, perhaps you don't know, but John Isner is a very accomplished American tennis player. I don't know exactly. I think he might have been in the top 10 at one point in the world, not just in US, but in the world. I believe he was top 10. If he wasn't, forgive me, but he was top player, top level player. He holds a record for playing the longest match ever against, I believe, Nicholas Sorsa, Mahoutsa's last name, Israeli player that played in the Wimbledon. I think it was three days. It was a crazy match. They changed the rules since then because it just was absurd.
[00:10:59.480] - Speaker 1
But The last set was like, I don't even remember what the score was. It was like 100, whatever. It was a crazy number. Anyway, so very accomplished player. I don't know if switch is the right term, but he's playing pickleball now, right? And he's trying to make a goal, but he's playing professional pickleball. He's really tall. I think he's like, might be 6'10. He's 6'7 or something like that. So good wingspan, good pickleball player, right? Comes from tennis, what's there not to like? So the quote was that he had underestimated pickleball. I'm going to tell you, as a former, I never played at John Isner's level, but I was a reasonably good tennis player, about a 4, 5 tennis player, so reasonably decent. I fell into the same trap at first, meaning I thought pickleball was a simple game, just pop the ball around, no big deal. Once I learned how good pickleball was, I have left tennis completely and just played pickleball, and I study pickleball and teach pickleball, and coach pickleball, and I think pickleball is just a phenomenal sport in terms of its complexity. But the reason I share this with you is because I want you to understand that John Isner, who comes from a high level of tennis, has all the shots.
[00:12:11.880] - Speaker 1
Technically, he can hit the ball however he wants to hit it. Even a player like that coming over to the sport is acknowledging now, Oh, my. I didn't really understand how difficult, how complex, I would say, the sport of pickleball is. If you're If you're out there and you're like, Man, I can't get it. I feel frustrated. There's too much, whatever it is you're feeling about it, understand that you're not alone. Even players with the pedigree, the background, the training, the work. A player who's hit millions of balls in his life, been on a court his whole life, professionally even, excuse me, comes over to a pickleball and says, This is pretty complex. It's pretty interesting stuff. Hopefully, that gives you some comfort in knowing that if you feel that that pickleball is complex, so do other really good athletes with really extensive backgrounds in related sports, in sports that have overlap with pickleball in terms of how they're played and the size of the court, not size, but the layout of the court, net, things like that. I would suggest you, I would encourage you to think of pickleball's complexity as a gift.
[00:13:41.110] - Speaker 1
Think of pickleball's complexity as something that you want that you're happy about, right? And the fact that you can't figure it all out in a weekend, or in a month, or in a year, or in a lifetime, frankly. I'm not trying to press you, but I don't think anybody Any one of us will be able to know everything there is to know about pickleball despite the attention given to it, as much attention as you want to give to it. Here's the thing. We should welcome that. We should be happy about that and smile about it because we know that pickleball will always have something to teach us. Pickleball will always have something to give us. It's like that gift that keeps on giving. And so as long as you remain curious, as long as you remain young in your mind, meaning I want to know, I want to learn, I want to know something different. I want to keep going. Pickleball is inexhaustible. So it's a wonderful gift for all of us who play the sport and also are interested in knowing more about pickleball. Frankly, it's a gift to myself, to CJ, and to the coaches at the Better Pickleball team, because it provides us with a never-ending source of growth as well.
[00:14:58.500] - Speaker 1
We get to continue to grow as coaches, grow as knowers of the game, and continue to participate with you in your journeys of growth. It's just we're all growing together and improving our understanding of this awesome, awesome sport. Anyway, so hopefully that helps you if you're on a journey of improvement and feeling a little bit like you're in the deep end of the pool, maybe in treading water, because if John Isler can treading water, we can all treading water. All right. That's this week's podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. C. J. And This week, and the Better pickleball Team, I should say, Coaching Team, are up in Chicago teaching our camps. So I'm sure we're having a great time up in Chicago. I'm also playing at the APP Humana. So if you're going to be at the Chicago APP, please come say Hello to me. And if you're interested in a camp or any training, you can always go to betterpickleball. Com and check that out. If that's something that is in your wheelhouse or something that you're interested in doing, I guarantee you you will learn and have a good time at one of our camps.
[00:16:01.710] - Speaker 1
As always, if you have a minute, consider rating and reviewing the podcast. Really appreciate it. I know I haven't done a good job with the shoutouts. I will do a shoutout next time. One other quick thing. We have the Pickaball Therapist event set. We are going to be, I believe we're going to do is we're going to have a link. If it's available by the time this podcast drops, go down to the show notes and find the link there. If you're a therapist and can't find the link, please send us an email at support@betterpickleball. Com. I know usually it's therapy, but support will be quicker since I'm out of town. Support@betterpickleball. Com. Please include the term therapist-live, please. Therapist-live in the subject line, and that'll let our team know that you're inquiring about that. Then they'll send you a link to register. You don't have to do anything other than we need to send you a login for the event. That's it. You have an opportunity to answer some questions if you want to, but it's not required. You can get the I invite and attend if you want to. If you want to share some more about yourself and your experience with Picaball Therapy, that is obviously welcome.
[00:17:06.210] - Speaker 1
I'll put that in the show notes to this one. Again, if you can't find it by the time this drops, please send us an email at support@betterpicaball. Com. We'll send you the link and you can register. And if you're not a therapist, it's perfectly fine to join us to watch it because it's a live recording of a podcast, but you'll be in a different area. So if you want to become a therapist, you can also send us that. Just send us an email that says Therapist to support abetterpickleball. Com, and we'll get you the documentation on that so you can make a decision. But you can still watch the event and listen to the event. It's going to be like, Ask me anything, with a few topics that I'll have sketched out as well. But it'll be a nice event, a live recorded podcast with our therapist. So check that out. So rate and review we talked about, but we have one more thing, which is share with your friends, because if you enjoy the podcast, they probably will, too. I hope you have a great week, and I look forward to seeing you in the next episode of Pickleball Therapy.
[00:18:04.580] - Speaker 1
Be well.