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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.
[00:00:00.820] - Tony Roig
Hello and welcome to Pickleball Therapy, the podcast dedicated to your pickleball improvement. Our focus is on your mind, on the pickleball mind. Uh, my name is Tony Roig. I'm your host of this weekly podcast. It is an absolute pleasure to be with you.
[00:00:17.920] - Tony Roig
Just got back from the Atlanta PPA Tour event, had the pleasure of commentating there. That was a lot of fun. And, uh, this week heading out west to the San Clemente— the PPA finals are going to be in San Clemente, California. So looking forward to that. And then the riff I'm going to share with you, a takeaway that I had from the— my, you know, being able to sit courtside and watch all these amazing athletes perform.
[00:00:43.370] - Tony Roig
I'll give you a tip in terms of your play that you can take away from how the best in the game do it. Today's podcast, we are going to focus on a stronger body and mind through pickleball. This is a really powerful concept. It ties together a lot of strings that we talk about week in and week out. I think you're going to really appreciate it and think about it this way.
[00:01:04.360] - Tony Roig
We often talk about doing this and that better in pickleball. Today, what we're going to focus on, we're going to pivot to, is what we get, right? What we get as human beings by playing this amazing sport. And I think it's helpful to be reminded about how this sport can positively impact us, the specifics of it, as well as how it can impact others. And then at the end, I have an action item for you that I'm going to share, and hopefully you'll join me in this at the end.
[00:01:32.010] - Tony Roig
Before we get started, we have announced two new camps, one in New York City. The New York City camp is filling up pretty quick. There's only 16 spots in that camp. We have four courts. It's a really cool facility.
[00:01:44.290] - Tony Roig
It's in Gotham City. We're going to basically have the entire facility to ourselves, which is unusual for us to be able to teach a camp alone in a facility. What I mean by that is noise control, all that, all is in our control, meaning like, you know, and you know, obviously some Sometimes you got to teach while other players are playing, and that's fine. But sometimes the noise can be a thing, things like that. But in Gotham City, we have the 4 courts.
[00:02:05.610] - Tony Roig
They're all right next to each other, be very cozy. And we'll be in New York City. I love New York City. So join us for that one at the end of June. It also coincides with an MLP stop there.
[00:02:15.080] - Tony Roig
So if you want to check out some Major League Pickleball and come to camp, that'd be super cool. And then I've added a camp here in Tampa, also in June. So if you want to come over to Tampa, great facility, Pickle and Pint. We don't have the full facility for this, but I will tell you that when we teach the camp, for the most of the time in the camp, it's the facility is not in, not super used during that timeframe because it's middle of the day. So we also have, and, you know, we know the folks at the Pickle and Pine love the facility.
[00:02:43.250] - Tony Roig
So you want to check out one of those camps, if it's your time for camp, highly recommend that you join us for one of those. I want to do a shout out here. Appreciate Linda for leaving this feedback a few months ago on the Pickleball Therapy Podcast. And we always ask at the end of the podcast for you to rate and review the podcast if you have a moment. It helps us reach other players, you know.
[00:03:03.840] - Tony Roig
Obviously, it's nice to hear from you and see how things are going and how the podcast— if it's working for you or not, if you have suggestions, any kind of feedback. But it also— it definitely helps us reach other players. And I think that's, that's key, because if, you know, if it helps you, maybe this podcast can help somebody else as well. So Linda was— she was commenting on the one, uh, Episode 277, which is in and out for this year, which was back in January. Linda said, great summary reminders all in one place of things you've covered in previous podcasts.
[00:03:31.690] - Tony Roig
I've been doing these things in my games, and here's what I want you to take away, and they really make a difference in my mental confidence, right? So, uh, and then she also said, I'll bookmark this episode to refer back to. Thanks, 5 out of 5. Thank you, Linda. Um, but you know, the idea that it's going to make a difference on your mental confidence, I think is so powerful, right?
[00:03:48.690] - Tony Roig
Uh, so, uh, appreciate that, Linda. And if, again, if you have a moment, please, uh, leave a review. That would much appreciated to help us reach other players. Um, okay, so we're talking about what we get, right? A stronger body and a stronger mind.
[00:04:02.070] - Tony Roig
And, um, the, the— a lot of times these podcasts, uh, in case, you know, you're curious, a lot of times the, the, the impetus, right, or the, the, the seed of the podcast comes from something I've read or experienced or seen. Uh, and this week what happened was my neighbor, uh, Mike— shout out to Mike for sharing this with me— brought over a copy of an article that he had read in the Wall Street Journal about pickleball and Parkinson's. Right. And, you know, Parkinson's— I, my grandfather suffered from Parkinson's, so I'm somewhat familiar with the, with the disease. Right.
[00:04:40.160] - Tony Roig
But the— but it certainly, it seems to be a debilitating process for folks who have to navigate that. Right. Because, you know, you're, you're used to operating a certain way in your life. Then now you have this thing affecting you that's impeding your ability to enjoy life the way that you're accustomed to. And so what the article talked about, it talked about the, um, the interrelationship between— or not the interrelationship, the benefits, right, of, of, of a, of a person who has been diagnosed with Parkinson's engaging with pickleball.
[00:05:11.600] - Tony Roig
So they interviewed a player, there was a player who's very active in that process, right? They interviewed him and his feelings, and they interviewed some, uh, uh, you know, neurologists and things like that about the benefits of it. So what I wanted to do was kind of summarize some of the, the concepts in there, but I want to summarize those concepts but also broaden them. And the reason I want to broaden them is because while certainly— listen, I think it's amazing, right? I think pickleball can be so helpful to, to, uh, folks in different, um, you know, in, in all different areas, right?
[00:05:40.860] - Tony Roig
Um, but what I wanted to do was broaden the ideas beyond Parkinson's. Not because it's not helpful to folks with Parkinson's, of course it is, but because these concepts apply well beyond being diagnosed with a condition like Parkinson's, right? And so let's go through a few of the things that we gain from, from playing this sport, both from our body and from our mind. And if you're one of our students, you'll recognize this as the athletic pillar. You know, we, we talk about everything in terms of 3 pillars of pickleball, the athletic pillar being the body and the mind, which I, you know, from our estimation is one of the, uh, one of the areas of pickleball that doesn't get the attention, that it doesn't get its due.
[00:06:17.300] - Tony Roig
You know, you, you, you know, you see a lot of videos and information out there about, you know, this shot, that shot, this strategy, that strategy. Great. I mean, that's fantastic. But if you, you know, the benefits of pickleball and the, and the things that will actually help you play better, the body and the mind is really where, where it's at. But anyway, so we're going to talk about that, the body and the mind.
[00:06:41.520] - Tony Roig
So I'll start with balance. One of the things that you gain in playing pickleball, which is, which is noted in the article, is balance, right? Uh, you're making a lot of movements in a short, in a small space, right? So you're up at the non-volley zone line or in the transition zone or even at the baseline. You're having to move left to right.
[00:06:57.770] - Tony Roig
You're having to rebalance yourself with a split step, get into your ready position, hit the ball, then gather yourself again, then move, then gather yourself, then hit, then move, then gather yourself and hit and move and gather yourself. So it's a lot of work like that, right? In, in, uh, you know, left to right, front to back. Uh, and so, uh, you gain a lot of balance benefits. And what's interesting about balance is, particularly as we get older, um, you know, balance becomes more challenging, uh, for us as we get older.
[00:07:23.430] - Tony Roig
It's just natural. And, uh, uh, whether you have Parkinson's, don't have Parkinson's, right, you're gonna have more difficulty with your balance. Playing pickleball will counteract that some, right? Will, will, will delay those, those drops in your balance and will help you even improve your balance, um, in pickleball. Now, one thing that I would note about balance in pickleball is Pay attention to it.
[00:07:44.060] - Tony Roig
What I mean by that is, you know, you can go out to the court and just kind of move around without really paying attention to your balance, or you can move more intentionally. For instance, in our camps, we teach, um, the camp I mentioned earlier, New York camp, the Tampa camp, all our camps, Tahoe camp, we're going to— we teach these footwork ideas, right, that help you move safely and efficiently, basically where you're moving laterally and then forward and then opening the door to move back. But all of those movements, we show you how to do it with more more control, more intentionality, more, more, more focus, right, on your movement. The better you get at that, the more balanced you're going to be. But that's a— that's a benefit of pickleball.
[00:08:20.770] - Tony Roig
You gain body mobility. Okay. Part of it's your, your footwork. Of course, your legs, your hips are moving, but also your shoulders, your elbows, your wrists, right? As you swing the paddle, as you move your arms around to, to, you know, left to right and things like that, your spinal column, right?
[00:08:36.020] - Tony Roig
All parts of your body are moving. Um, so you're gaining a lot of mobility from, from playing pickleball. And then, you know, obviously you get cardio. I didn't— you know, I wasn't gonna spend a lot of time on cardio because I think we understand that you get cardio from running around. They did a study, uh, it was a few years ago, but basically they, they compared tennis to pickleball and they said, you know, about the cardiovascular benefits or the, the aerobic benefits of the two sports.
[00:09:00.260] - Tony Roig
And, um, tennis, uh, they calculated that in tennis, in one hour of play, you, you get about 11 minutes of movement. Um, court's bigger, but you get 11 minutes. Pickleball, smaller court, but you get 22 minutes per hour, right? We play in a more confined space. We don't have to go pick up the ball so far.
[00:09:16.530] - Tony Roig
There's not a bunch of like first serve, second serve kind of a thing. Um, so we play at a quicker pace. And also remember, one of the things about pickleball I think that's interesting is every single time you return serve, you're hustling up, right? You return serve, you're hustling up. So it's a lot of work in pickleball, so you're getting a lot of cardio as well.
[00:09:32.500] - Tony Roig
Uh, let's talk about your mind now. So you get a lot of cognitive help, right? You get a lot of work with your brain. Think of, you know, uh, eye-hand coordination, right? Uh, you're, you're, you know, recognizing a ball and reacting to it.
[00:09:45.690] - Tony Roig
Is it coming to the left, coming to the right, you know, up, down, things like that. Um, you're moving your body in sync with the, with the what's happening, right? So you see the ball going to the left, you're going to move your body to the left. So you get the mobility and the balance, but you also get the, the read, right? Your brain has to read what's happening and move your body according to what it's reading.
[00:10:03.270] - Tony Roig
Uh, and listen, that's a pretty, it's a challenge, right? It's very challenging, uh, thing for us to do. It's frankly, you know, from what I've read, I, I really like this book, Move Your DNA. I don't have the author right now. I think it's, I'm taking a gander.
[00:10:15.160] - Tony Roig
I think it's either Kathy Bowman or Katie Bowman, something like that. But it's, it's Move Your DNA. Really interesting book. Talks about how like, you know, the body is the, the whole reason for your body is to move you so you can get food to feed your brain, which makes sense. Um, so.
[00:10:29.780] - Tony Roig
You're really, your body is like, and your mind work together to move you around the, around the universe, right? Um, and in pickleball you're getting to do that very, um, under stress, right? Because you're, you're feeling, you know, some anxiety in the game normally, which is fine. And you know, Billie Jean King said, you know, stress, feeling pressure is good. It means you like the thing, means you care, right?
[00:10:52.290] - Tony Roig
So that's fine. So you're feeling a little bit of pressure, a little bit of stress. Everything's heightened a little bit and you're paying attention to what you're doing. We, we live in a very sedentary world these days. You know, we drive cars.
[00:11:01.300] - Tony Roig
We— this morning I had, um, I had lunch with my friend Tyson from the facility, and it was funny because there's a place that's literally right next to the facility. And so I chided him a little bit. He had a reason for doing it, but I was like, we, we had lunch and he was heading back to the courts and I had left my car there. And I was like, did you drive over here? And I was like, man, that's so lazy.
[00:11:17.280] - Tony Roig
Uh, again, just playing with him. But my point is, we live fairly sedentary lifestyles where we drive everywhere, we sit around the house a lot, stuff like that. Uh, so pickleball gives us a way to get that, that mind-body connection with our movement, which is absolutely critical. And it's a lot of how we're designed. One other, like, interesting fact I'll tell you here, and I don't remember the exact number, but I will tell you that, and you feel free to check me on this, your brain-to-foot connection, the nerves there are like more than almost anything, any other part of your body.
[00:11:47.980] - Tony Roig
So what that means is that your, your, the, the amount of feedback that you get from the bottom of your feet into your brain, telling it all sorts of conditions about the movement that you're undertaking. It's like lights up when it has that feedback. One of the reasons I wear those, can they call 'em barefoot shoes? They're just a little bit of rubber on the bottom just so you don't get cut out there. But basically I can feel every pebble out there to activate that.
[00:12:11.550] - Tony Roig
But that's something that you get playing pickleball, a lot of that movement to brain connection. So super powerful stuff. You're also solving puzzles as you play, right? I mean, that's the nature of the game. Yeah.
[00:12:22.510] - Tony Roig
You're anticipating, you're looking across saying, I think, you know, I think Sean is probably going to hit down the line because he likes a down the line shot. Actually, I should have used Scott's name there because Scott loves— he loves trying to burn me down the line. So whenever I see Scott, I'm like, I may be going down the line trying to burn me there. If I see my friend Larry, maybe it's a lob. If I see Tyson, I know it's going to be a nice soft shot into the non-volley zone.
[00:12:42.600] - Tony Roig
I might see my friend Tom, he might be charging in to try and attack with the backhand. So all of these things, right, that you know about your, about your friends, about your opponents, you, you factor into what's happening to solve this puzzle. And you're watching the action, right? As you're playing, you're seeing where's the ball going, what's likely to happen next and things like that. In fact, if you think of anticipation, you know, like I think anticipation is misunderstood.
[00:13:04.660] - Tony Roig
You know, you see pro players and senior pro and also young pros playing. And they seem to know what's gonna happen next. It's not, they're not, they don't have a crystal ball, anything like that. What they have is they have a lot of experience on the court and they can, they have a, a good idea of like, if the ball goes here, the next ball's likely to go there, right? And so they're moving based on their, their expectation of where they, the ball might go.
[00:13:25.760] - Tony Roig
But that's just solving a puzzle ahead of time. That's what they're doing. You can do the same thing. Like I said, my, my guess, you know, I, I, I, I gave you, I gave away Scott, Larry Tyson, and, and Tom right now. But, or, you know, I'll tell you, like Jeff, for instance, is gonna take his forehand, he's gonna roll it, you know, hard angle off the court, right?
[00:13:41.520] - Tony Roig
You know what players are gonna do. So pay attention to your opponents and that, that'll help you with that. But also helps you with that mind, with solving the puzzles. And then you get a social interaction. I thought this was really interesting.
[00:13:50.930] - Tony Roig
I didn't realize this until I read the, the Parkinson's article. But you know, like even like calling out the score. Okay. Uh, like apparently, uh, when, when, uh, a folk has, uh, when a person has Parkinson's, they'll start whispering. So they'll start really speaking, you know, really low like this.
[00:14:06.140] - Tony Roig
And so, you know, the just simply calling the score out so your opponents can hear it has a positive benefit to you, which I never thought was a thing, but it's a thing. And then interacting with your partner, right? Both positive and negative, right? Just having that interaction with your partner, interaction with your opponents, maybe the alcohol dispute, whatever, as long as it doesn't get violent, those kind of things. Again, they're challenging you, they're pushing you, and they're helping your, your mind there.
[00:14:30.680] - Tony Roig
So, you know, this is one of the beautiful things about pickleball is the canvas. And we've talked about this before on the podcast, this idea that pickleball is a canvas, and you use this canvas to work on yourself, to paint a better version of yourself. Um, and again, not— there's nothing wrong with learning strategies, nothing wrong with learning shots, they're part of our game. But why sleep on the biggest gift that pickleball has for you, which is allowing you to further develop your body and allow you to further develop your mind. So further developing your body, for instance, like on the balance front, if you get better with your footwork and more intentional with your footwork, then your balance and mobility will be improved.
[00:15:14.530] - Tony Roig
If you— on the mind, if you get better, for instance, at like looking across the net and saying, oh, I see Tom. If I, if I, if Tom drops to me, he's probably charging in behind me. So I got to hit the next one soft. I can't punch it at him because he's going to kill me, right? Then that, what that tells you, then now the brain's working those puzzle-solving skills, right?
[00:15:33.750] - Tony Roig
So there's a lot of work that you can do on the pickleball court. You may be doing some of it now, but I'm going to bet you that there's more for you to do. So I'm going to give you actually two action items here. One is test yourself. Is there something going on in the pickleball court that you could be doing that you could be using more fully?
[00:15:51.170] - Tony Roig
What I mean by that is, is there an area of your body or your mind that right now you're leaving something on, on, you know, on the side that you could be doing? If there is, let's do it. I gave you a couple suggestions already, right? Your footwork being more intentional, split stepping on your, on your transitions, getting more into a ready position, right? Hunkering down a little bit.
[00:16:11.480] - Tony Roig
And then on the, uh, on the mind, uh, you know, Pay attention to who you're playing against, right? What are their tendencies? If you don't know what their tendencies are, start paying attention because you'll find them. And you know, we're— it's a pattern game. We are pattern creatures.
[00:16:23.590] - Tony Roig
So that'll really help you. The other action item that I want to share with you, and I think this is really, really powerful and we haven't done this in a minute, so I want to do it now. Guys and gals, let's share our sport with others. Let's share our sport with other people in our community, with your friends, with your family, but also with strangers. I was in a, uh, I got a ride home from the airport a couple days ago when I got back from Atlanta on a Lyft, chatting with a young man.
[00:16:52.770] - Tony Roig
Uh, you know, we were just having conversation. Sounded to me like he was in a, you know, maybe in a tough place mentally, right? Kind of like, like navigating some stuff. And so I asked him, he was doing anything physical, right? Any playing any sports and things like that?
[00:17:05.530] - Tony Roig
He was going to the gym, but he wasn't doing anything socially active, right? Uh, socially, physically active, like pickleball. So I recommend pickleball. And, um, unfortunately, I, you know, because of my travel schedule and my, my work, um, I have some knowledge of what's going on in my local community, but I'm not like plugged in, right? I'm not like always out there.
[00:17:25.040] - Tony Roig
So I put him in touch with another friend of mine, a local coach, and I said, hey, do you mind, you know, guiding this young man into pickleball? And my friend said, absolutely. So I connected those two. And the reason I tell this to you is because I assure you that you come across folks every day. It can be at the coffee shop, it can be at the restaurant, the waitress at the restaurant, the waiter at the restaurant, the barista at the coffee shop, the driver of the taxi or the Uber, uh, you know, the DoorDash person, whatever.
[00:17:51.930] - Tony Roig
Engage the folks in pickleball. At least put it in front of them, right? So that they know what it is. They know how cool it is. And, you know, points of view can like, point them in a direction.
[00:18:02.160] - Tony Roig
So if you live in a community, my guess is, you know, that there's two rec centers that have open play sometimes, even if you don't know the times, right? You can find out, that'd be even better. But at least you can say, hey, you know what, the YMCA on, you know, Main Street has pickleball. I think it's on Tuesdays, but if you call over there, they'll help you out, and here's how it works, and it's super welcoming and whatever. But let's be more proactive, right, in getting folks into pickleball, because I know that if you're listening to this podcast, pickleball is super important to you.
[00:18:27.680] - Tony Roig
This is not a casual pickleball player you know, podcast. Nobody listens to this casually. There's other podcasts for that, not this one. So think of how important it is to you and how much meaning it has to you. Let's give that to somebody else.
[00:18:39.980] - Tony Roig
All right, here's my, uh, the riff today. I want to give you a couple of things on the PPA. Um, again, I was able to do some commentary. I think commentating is the right word. I keep on saying it.
[00:18:50.980] - Tony Roig
I gotta Google it to make sure I'm saying the right word. Well, I'm gonna use it. So PPA commentating. And it was a blast. I got to do— it was either 2 days or 3 days.
[00:18:59.870] - Tony Roig
It was kind of a blur, so I don't remember. I know I did the bronze medal matches. I think I did some quarters and some round of 16, I think Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. But fascinating watches or matches to watch. I analyze them.
[00:19:13.000] - Tony Roig
I— in those matches, I always try and give some, um, I always try and give some, uh, um, pointers, right? Some strategy pointers. And not just like, you know, okay, so that's a great roll and things like that. But maybe talk about like, okay, you see how the return of serve, you know, between these two players is different. This player's returning deeper.
[00:19:32.410] - Tony Roig
See the problem the other one's having? Short return of serve, getting killed. Stuff like that, right? That you can use. And I wanted to share one takeaway with you from my experience, which is even the pros struggle.
[00:19:47.860] - Tony Roig
Even the best. And these are the best pickleball players. On the planet. Even these players have their own struggles on the court. It's not like, you know, they've gotten to a certain level of play and they just step out on the court and everything is rosy for them and everything is fantastic and there's— they're smiling all the time.
[00:20:06.190] - Tony Roig
They are challenged, they get upset, they get down on themselves, they get all of the things that happen to players at all levels of pickleball happen even to the pros. And so This idea that you're going to like, once I learn that shot, I'm gonna be feel better, or once I learn that strategy, I'm gonna feel better, is nonsense. Absolute total— not utter nonsense, I should say utter utter nonsense. If you want to feel better about your pickleball and about how you play pickleball and all that, it is all up here in your mind. It's all up here in your brain.
[00:20:44.030] - Tony Roig
So focus on the mental side of the game. Focus on your perspective and your interaction with it. Um, we have the book Pickleball Therapy, the, the book that's out, Pickleball Therapy. The book is all about perspective, all about it. If you're not sure about your place in the game, and what I mean by that is, you know, how you interact with the game from a, in a positive way, and sometimes you get lost, I think the book's $27.
[00:21:09.260] - Tony Roig
If it's not worth $27 to figure that out, I don't know what to tell you. And the reason it's $27 is because it costs money to print these books. They print them on demand. So $27 to get a book. I think you can get, if you have a Kindle, it's included.
[00:21:22.490] - Tony Roig
We put it in Kindle Unlimited so you can read it. I put for free in quotes. I'm doing air quotes on the free because it's included in your Kindle thing, but, um, no more money for it. So, um, anyway, I highly recommend it to you if you're feeling loss in the game. And then last thing I wanted to mention is, um, if you ever get to go to a PPA event, I cannot recommend it to you enough.
[00:21:41.750] - Tony Roig
I mean, it's— we're still in a sport, a stage of the sport where you can like, you know, I'm in Atlanta, you know, I'm commentating, but I'm like, most of the, most of the area there is like, I'm in the same area as everybody, right? Which is— goes to the point. So even though I'm in theory like the— I'm on the social, I'm on the PPA media thing, working with them on media, I'm doing the commentary, whatever. I'm still like in the same lounge as everybody. I'm still walking through the same areas.
[00:22:06.550] - Tony Roig
Means it's the same thing for the players too. Like Ben Johns is sitting right there, Anna Leigh Waters coming through, Anna Bright's right there, you know, the refs are coming through, the other players are coming through. Yeah, there's Gabe Tardio, you know, there's Kate Fahey. I mean, whatever, they're all hanging out, coming through. Um, and you get to see the best pickleball you've ever seen in your life live, and it's way different live than it is on TV.
[00:22:27.260] - Tony Roig
Now, if you can't make it live, you can always check it out on Pickleball TV. And I think they also stream it on YouTube TV sometimes. So I'm going to be at the PPA San Clemente with Coach Kyleen from the team. We're going to be there doing some commentary, doing some coaching of some of the players there. So really looking forward to that.
[00:22:44.500] - Tony Roig
We also have the camps out in San Diego. I think they're full up, maybe one spot left for a grad camp. I'm not 100% sure. If you're interested in the grad camp, check it with Kyleen. Just send us a, send her an email, kyleen@betterpickleball.com.
[00:22:57.720] - Tony Roig
If you are interested. But anyway, so that's what's coming up, PPA San Clemente. Check it out on Pickleball TV, or if you're going to be there, look for the orange cap. So that's this week's podcast. I hope you enjoyed the podcast.
[00:23:07.900] - Tony Roig
Uh, as always, if you haven't been to rate and review, as I mentioned earlier, please do that and share it with your friends. Because if you enjoyed the podcast, if it resonated with you and touched you in your heart, friends will probably like it too. Be well, and I will see you next week on the next episode of Pickleball Therapy. Pewa!