Hello and welcome to Pickleball Therapy,
the podcast dedicated to your Pickleball improvement.
I hope you're doing well out there.
My name is Tony Roig.
I am your Pickleball therapy host every week,
this is actually a special episode we're dropping on the mailbag
episode. So we've gotten a lot of good feedback,
a lot of good questions.
We had really nice conversations with our Pickleball therapist.
I really appreciate you willing to take the time to speak
with us about your Pickleball journey and what we could help
you with in terms of your game.
And we also had some pending,
pending questions and pendings suggestions inside our,
our mailbag.
And so we want to answer them in this episode.
If you do have a question in the future or something
that you're dealing with,
something that you're struggling as kind of a strong term,
but perhaps you're struggling with something or perhaps it's just something
you have a question about or thinking about,
send us an email therapy at better Pickleball dot com.
We do our best to answer as many of these as
we can in our mailbag episodes.
Before we get started,
make sure you're checking out and if you're not on our
email list,
I don't know what's happening,
but get on the email list.
It's gotta be good.
You get to see a lot of good information in there.
But if you are on the email,
be on the lookout for academy courses coming out.
And we have our summit coming up in a few months,
a couple of months now.
So be on the lookout for that and just make sure
you get registered for that.
It's gonna be a lot of fun and a lot of
good information in there.
Alright, lemme pull up my list here.
And we are gonna dive right into these.
So one of hear from the therapist is talking about the
importance of the mental game as we age,
mental and physical,
right? So challenges that we face in our mental and physical
in terms of,
you know,
in terms of how we deal with that as we get
older. 'cause you know,
none of us is getting younger and,
and certainly changes over time in terms of how we,
you know,
how we address those things.
So basically,
you know,
what I would suggest to you as we get older is,
you know,
we have to be cognizant,
right? Of life,
right? And cognizant of change in our bodies and change in
our, in our minds,
right? And change in our ability,
for instance,
to stay focused for longer and things like that is gonna
be more challenging as we get older.
By definition,
we're probably gonna end up playing younger players,
right? As,
as we age and new players come in,
that's just gonna be part of the process.
And you know,
the, the key there is to understand that,
be okay with it and then start thinking about the game
maybe a little bit differently,
right? Think about how can you outsmart a player who maybe
physically is younger and able to do things that you maybe
can't do.
One option would be be more patient,
right? Another option would be to,
to use a cord better.
Meaning like particularly the out bounds,
right? If young players want to hit hard,
so you use the out bounds to your advantage.
So, you know,
think of ways that you can use your,
your savvy,
right? Your wisdom to outplay those players and that'll give you,
you know,
a competitive edge that frankly the young players don't have,
even though they have perhaps athletically they can get around better
and things like that.
So consider that in terms of your approach to the game,
but also,
again, you know,
think about it in terms of just being aware and being
okay with the fact that,
you know,
we're not,
we're not springing chickens anymore.
And that's okay.
Jeff asked a question that's related to this one.
So I want to talk about this one.
It's about the journey of Pickleball,
right? And the journey being more than just Pickleball,
which I agree with.
And then,
you know,
he wanted me to talk about the growth process and,
and basically the idea that he says the Pickleball journey seems
to follow a logarithmic curve.
It basically,
you know,
you go up the curve and then you kind of flatline
for a little bit and then maybe you dip a little
and go up a little and things like that.
And so,
you know,
the, the question that Jeff had was basically,
how do I keep improving,
right? I'm he,
he's 65,
2 bad knees,
et cetera.
So it relates to,
again, as we get older,
as our bodies maybe don't work the same as they used
to. We just have to think about the game a little
more broadly,
right? Step back from the game perhaps and say,
you know what,
this approach that I was bringing to the game isn't working
any longer or my body isn't able to do it anymore.
So is there another way that I can come at the
game? I will tell you that pretty much no matter your
age, the soft game is always going to be there for
you, okay?
Meaning understanding how to use the non volley zone better and
better and better.
How to stress your opponents inside the non volley zone is
gonna be a super powerful way of playing as you get
older. If you're trying to simply out muscle other players,
that's gonna become more difficult,
right? And this extends beyond age,
right? This is the function.
So ties of just physical size,
right? If you're a smaller player and you're playing larger players
out, muscling them isn't gonna be the best strategy.
So the better strategy there would be to what?
Use your nogging,
right? Use that Foss approach of understanding the game and say,
okay, what can I do here that's gonna be more effective?
And I'll repeat myself here one last time.
The soft game will always be there for you.
So become a soft game master,
right? Think about it like,
you know,
if you know martial arts or mixed martial arts,
there's the boxers and wrestlers and ones that are,
or little,
I mean,
there's technique,
right? But there's a little more Braun,
a little more strengthened.
Those a little more just power overpowering.
And then there's a juujitsu martial artist,
right? That does those things a little bit differently and suffocates
their opponents.
And that's something that you can learn how to do by
using the soft game.
Alright? Let's see here from Pete.
Pete wrote me,
wrote me a message a little bit ago about reflecting on
Pickleball and thinking that how,
you know,
a lot of the players that Pete's seeing out there are
just banging the ball,
right? As hard as they can hit it.
And this is a common conversation these days,
right? The game's getting faster,
the game's getting,
you know,
harder. And his contention he says is Players watch the highlights
of pro rallies and firefights.
And he says,
which are awesome.
And I agree and think this is how the game is
played. What say you,
I would say that I'm gonna,
maybe I said the soft game.
I I I was ahead of myself when I said the
last time.
I'm gonna say the soft game folks.
The soft game is works.
The soft game is a very effective way of playing Pickleball.
Are there players who are coming in and hitting harder and
harder than maybe it was 10 years ago?
Yeah, you know,
I mean,
I think it was about 10 years ago.
You know,
Enrique Rui is a condor,
won a hall of famer,
amazing player was winning singles and doubles and everything.
He's an amazing Pickleball player.
Don't, I'm not trying to take anything away from Enrique,
but Enrique is not a power player.
Enrique is a touch player,
he is a soft and then lobby and things like that,
right? The players coming in now that are coming in from
like at the pro level,
right? They're coming in from division one college and even some
pros and things like that.
Pro tennis players,
pro you know,
high level racquetball players.
I think Dale La Rosa was number one in racquetball.
You know,
you have,
they just come with a different mindset and they can do
things with the ball that,
that weren't as common before.
But that doesn't really change most Pickleball.
And what I mean by that is,
if you can play a good soft game,
you can do that jujitsu thing,
right? Where you're like a python snake and you're just wrapping
around the,
the the hard player and just you suffocate them with the
soft game.
So don't get what I say,
Pete is,
and I agree with you,
right? I agree with what you're saying,
but just in general,
don't get the,
don't let the,
the, the,
the bright lights of the pro matches with all the hard
shots distract you from solid,
fundamentally good Pickleball.
And the last thought I have on this is if you
watch the very,
very, very,
very best of the pros,
those are generally winning with a combination of hard and an
excellent soft game.
The pro players who only have a hard game don't make
it far because the players who have a good soft game
could just out grind them.
So the soft game still exists,
even if it doesn't make the highlight reels that often.
All right,
let's see here.
Question here from a therapist or a comment from a therapist.
So talking about tournament play,
right? So dealing with tournament pressure,
I might cut out for tournaments,
anything related to tournament prep and things like that,
that's an interesting question.
There is a difference,
you know,
between rec or open play kind of play.
And then whether it's a tournament or a ladder league or
a team league,
whatever it is,
you know,
something that's a little more competitive,
it's gonna feel a little bit different.
You know,
your, your approach to the game is a little more structured.
Meaning like,
like for instance,
I'm gonna talk about targeting in a minute,
actually that'll be the next question I do 'cause it'll segue
nicely. But like for instance,
targeting in tournaments is not only targeting meaning means like you
identify a weaker player or a weaker side of a player
and just hit that spot relentlessly in tournament's and competitive play.
Not only is it okay to do that,
I would submit that it is recommended and advisable to do
that because that is the best strategy in those situations.
So your mindset does change when you're playing tournament versus rec
play, then open play.
And certainly you're gonna feel a little more anxious obviously,
or maybe a lot more anxious when you're playing in a
tournament than you're,
you're playing in,
you know,
at your,
in your local courts.
That said,
what I'm going to tell you is that we have a,
if you're a tournament player or thinking about playing tournaments,
we actually have a,
an entire 90 minute course that we're gonna be,
I think it's coming out April 10th,
I think is the date that it's gonna go public.
It's a Wednesday that we're gonna have it.
And so if you want to check that out,
be on the lookout for that and,
and sign up for that class.
It's gonna be,
I'm leading the class.
It's gonna be super,
I I played,
I, I remember how many terms I played.
It has to be 50 plus but you know,
I'm very versed in tournament play and the best way to
get the most out of a tournament.
So check that out if you wanna play tournaments or thinking
about a tournament.
Alright there,
oh lemme go to the one on targeting.
So targeting came in on the YouTube channel and if you
don't know,
we actually have a YouTube channel for Pickleball therapy as well.
So feel free to check us out there.
If you wanna see my smiling face on your screen while
I'm chatting with you about the mental part of the game,
you can go over to Pickleball therapy on YouTube.
If you do go over there,
please do subscribe to the channel to help us get,
we're trying to get to a thousand subscribers 'cause that'll really
help us reach other players.
YouTube, if,
you know,
is very algorithmic.
So they need certain metrics to be met and a thousand
is important to them.
Okay, so the question was what do you do on rec
play when a player says,
you never hit to me the whole game seems that's part
of the strategy.
Identify weaker player.
This is from Greg again on the YouTube channel.
Greg, here's the thing.
So targeting is fine in the sense that it's a strategic
consideration for sure,
right? And if you're in a competitive setting,
then I'm a huge fan of targeting and I think it's,
again, not only,
okay, I think it's recommended.
I, I would recommend targeting in a competitive setting and a
non-competitive setting.
And by that I mean like,
you know,
rec open play,
that sort of thing.
I would recommend not targeting the opposite right now I don't
recommend freezing out the weaker player,
right? So it's not like every ball goes to the stronger
player. I'd recommend playing situationally,
meaning, you know,
hit the balls to different spots depending on where you want
hit 'em without consideration for this player stronger and this player's
weaker identifying the weaker player,
great. In other words,
good skillset,
right? To have.
So you've identified that player A is a weaker player and
player B stronger.
Good. That's a good skill to have,
particularly if you're gonna play competitively at some point.
But in a rec play,
what happens is,
there's a couple reasons why you don't want to target the
weaker player besides the fact that,
again, from our perspective,
winning and losing shouldn't be the metric anyway.
And particularly not in rec games 'cause there's no,
it's not a tournament or anything where you advancing if you
win, but there's a few other reasons.
One is you're gonna discourage the better players from coming to
your group.
And so as a player who oftentimes is the better player
in open play situations,
if you don't hit me the ball,
I have no reason to come back,
right? If you're not hitting me any balls,
then why would I come play with you,
right? I'm not gonna come.
So that's one reason.
Another reason is for yourself because it's gives you a really
if, if,
if player B is in fact a better player,
then hit the player B to see what kind of balls
player B hits back at you,
right? So that you can then improve as a player.
So rec play,
recommend not targeting in,
in competitive play tournaments.
Yes, targeting is amazingly the right thing to do.
Alright, another question from a therapist.
What do you do when you feel like you've outgrown your
original Pickleball foursome or group?
That's an interesting question,
right? I mean it's obviously there's,
you know,
Pickleball has different layers to it in terms of how we
relate to it,
our relationship with the sport.
I would suggest that you can find a balance.
And what I mean by that is you can still play
with your pickle,
original foursome or group.
When you do that,
you are going to work on certain parts of your game,
right? That perhaps,
you know,
you're not as comfortable working on when you're playing in a
higher setting,
right? A higher level setting.
And that's normal,
you know,
and what I mean by that is like,
say you're working on like a particular,
like your backend dinks,
right? And at the higher level you're not comfortable with a
backend dink.
So maybe you run around it a little bit,
hit more forehands.
So when you play in the group that's not,
that hasn't kept up,
right? Take that as an opportunity to work on shots that
you wouldn't otherwise hit.
Could be an Avis lob,
could be backhand dinks,
it could be moving the dinks around differently.
Maybe you hit your dinks cross court and you can use
that op,
that opportunity to hit more dinks straight or in the middle
or some other dinks,
right? Because what happens is when you're play in those groups
that they're less,
there's less pressure on you,
less stress on you.
And so you're more free to try different things and you
can still maintain your social relationship with those folks,
you know?
So you basically go out there as it's,
it's like a drilling session kind of,
you know,
it's not,
doesn't replace drilling,
but it becomes that where you can kinda like just practice
a little bit and just take the moment to enjoy your
friends and then you make time to play in the other
groups that you wanna play in.
So you just balance it out.
I can tell you that's what Jill and I have done
over the years,
you know,
because we have improved in a way that,
you know,
perhaps in some of the groups that we used to play
in just wouldn't be fair for us to play at at
our level,
right? The way that we can play.
So when we play with those groups,
we, you know,
we love them,
we, we like the people,
we like the folks.
So we go out there and we play a little bit
differently, we play more soft game,
more trying a few different things,
you know,
things like that.
So that'd be my recommendation.
You can,
you can walk that line.
And then the last one I'm going to address in this
mailbag episode is actually,
I'm going to tell you what it is and I'm gonna
do a whole episode on this one.
So this one had to do with a lot of the
therapists were asking about tendencies,
right? So like,
you know,
we always talk about the game being a game of tendencies,
Pickleball a game of tendencies.
So the suggestion was could we make a list of common
tendencies that we see so we can look at those,
look for those in our opponents and how to capitalize on
'em. Great question,
good way to exploit that knowledge.
And I'll do a subsequent episode entirely on tendencies.
So again,
if you have any questions about Pickleball,
the mental side or anything else,
just feel free to shoot us an email at therapy at
better Pickleball dot com and we'll put it in the podcast
mailbag for the next mailbag episode.
Hope you enjoyed this special episode.
The episode that is dropping this week,
I'm looking at my notes here,
is going to be about podcast language or it's not podcast
language. Podcast is about language.
It's about language and it's about protecting yourself because there's oftentimes
language that we use that specifically I'm gonna dive into language
that we lose around the concept of losing or on losses
that is potentially harmful and can,
it just puts bad thoughts into our mind,
right? Just not a positive way of interacting with losses.
So I wanna talk about that in this week's regular podcast,
which will drop on Friday.
Hope you enjoyed the special episode,
and we will see you at our regular episode on Friday.
Have a great rest of your week.