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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.
[00:00:05.000] - Tony Roig
Hello and welcome to Pickleball Therapy, the podcast dedicated to your pickleball improvement. We are here in the first week of February, 2026. I hope your 2026 is shaping up as you hoped it would. My name is Tony Roig. I'm the host of this weekly podcast, Pickleball Therapy, also the author of the book by the same name, Pickleball Therapy, the Book. Speaking of which, thanks to Jeff, who's part of our Better Pickleball team for helping me put this together and also for helping get the book out to more of you. Right now, our publisher, Ingram Sparks, has it on Barnes & Noble and on Walmart. That's great news. If you haven't gotten a copy of the book and you'd rather get it from one of those sources, Barnes & Noble or Walmart, you can get a print copy there. I have to ask, again, for reviews, if you don't mind, because we're in new places, and those places don't have any reviews because we're just there. If you have a moment to go rate and review the book in barns & noble, bn. Com or Walmart, Walmart. Com. Just search, pickabletherapy, the book. Really appreciate you doing that to get us off the ground there.
[00:01:15.880] - Tony Roig
Then also wanted to let you know that our super camp that we have coming up at the beginning of March is almost full. If you've been thinking about it, it's four days, 18 hours. It's a big camp. It's a lot of learning, a lot of growth in the four days here in Largo, Florida. So if you want to check that out, go to betterpickleball.com. Actually, you may need to send us an email on that. So campsbetterpickleball.com if you want to join the super camp. There's only a couple of spots left. All right. What we're going to talk about this week, we're going to talk about solar panels. I like this. It's basically something I've been working on. I'm working with some more pro players now. And part of the process there is seeing if we can get more out of what already is there. That's where this idea of solar panels came to me, and I've been using it. I think it's something that will help you think about your game and trying to figure out whether there's... My guess is this. My guess is that there's probably more juice to squeeze from yourself.
[00:02:21.680] - Tony Roig
I'm going to give you some ideas about that. Also, just plant the concept in your mind so that you understand that there's probably more more available to you right now than you may be taking advantage of. The solar panel idea is this. You know what a solar panel is, right? Basically, it converts sun power into some form of electricity, not some form, into electricity that we can then harness and use for our purposes, right? Whether it's drive a car, power a house, whatever. If you're my age, then you remember when they started making those calculators? They still make them, obviously, but they had the little strip on them, and that's basically just a little mini solar panel, and it just grabs light, converts it into electricity, and you don't need a battery for the calculator, which is cool. But here's the thing about solar panels. Solar panels are all about how efficient can we get at converting the energy, because the energy is always there. The sun puts out 173,000 It doesn't put out, I should say, the Sun's energy that comes to Earth is 173,000 terawatts of energy per hour that the sun hits the Earth.
[00:03:39.800] - Tony Roig
There's basically 173,000 terawatts of energy sitting there. For What's it taking? Question is, can we take it? Can we grab it? The job of solar panel designers, engineers is to say, Okay, how much of this solar energy can we convert into stuff that us humans can grab and use? So the battle there, again, is conversion, and we've been getting better at it. So when the solar panels first came out, I think it was '50s or '60s, they were at 6% conversion efficiency. Now they're at 22 to 25 % conversion efficiency, and some labs have gotten as high as 47 % conversion, which is pretty darn good, if you think about it. So how does that apply to us as pick-up-ball players? So every one of you listening this podcast has a certain store of ability, store of knowledge, store of shots, store of all this. The question I think is interesting to ask yourself is, is it possible for you to convert more of what you already have into results when you play? I would submit to you the answer is probably yes, that there's more there to convert. I'm going to give you a tip on how to convert that in a second.
[00:05:03.760] - Tony Roig
But before I get into that, I do want to broach one subject with you on this idea of converting. You're converting what you already can do, the Sun's energy, into better play when you play. One is that in terms of your shots, you actually don't need as many shots as you may think you Right now, I'm in the midst of the next book on the progression of books. This one is more of a tactical book. It's not the mental game. It's more what you need to play really a pick-up, it's called Project 4. 0. It's a project that I started almost like eight years ago, seven years ago. I'd have to go back and look at the first video we did on it. But it was a while ago that I started this idea of Project 4. 0. The premise is that every player, if they want to, can play 4. 0 pick-up. I don't just mean 4. 0 pick-up. I mean really good 4. 0 pick-up. What I refer to as benchmark 4. 0 pickable, which is you can basically... You can pretty much hang on any court with any level player. It doesn't mean you're going to beat them.
[00:06:14.420] - Tony Roig
That's a different That's not a conversation, right? But it means that you can hang. It means that you know how to play a pickable, you know how to navigate the game, you understand what's important, you can separate the wheat from the chaff in terms of what matters, things like that. So that's the premise of Project 4. 0. I'm in the middle of that book, of writing it, I should say. And one of the areas is what shots do you need to play really good pickleball? And it's less than what you think you need, right? You really just need an effective ground stroke that will get the job done on those shots. You need two variants of a volley, a block volley and a punch volley. The rest of it is fine. I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm not saying it's bad, but it's not necessary. You can play it, you can navigate a really nice pickleball game with those basic shots. For instance, what don't you need? You don't need extra spins. That's where you're trying to really super spin the ball. You don't need a lot of power, these new paddles coming out, stuff like that.
[00:07:12.380] - Tony Roig
You really don't need that to play a really nice pickle ball game. Can you do certain things with them? You can't do with other paddles? Sure. Can you do things with spins? You can't do without spins? Sure. And I'm talking about extra spin? Sure. Necessary? No. So one thing that might help you in terms of your development as a player, your thinking as a player is, is why not really focus on the areas that you do a lot? I'll give you a two right now. You have your serve and your return to serve. You do those a lot. I don't know about you, but every time that I play, when I'm serving, When I'm returning, I got to serve. When I'm returning, I got to return. Whether I hit a block volley, a punch volley, a third shot drop, a drive, a lob, a lob retrieval, all these other things, maybe. Maybe sometimes. Sometimes I got to do them, sometimes I don't. It depends on the rally. I don't know about you, but I played rallies where I'll hit a return to serve and not touch another ball. My partner hits three balls and we're out, or I'll serve and not touch another ball, whatever.
[00:08:10.220] - Tony Roig
But I do need to serve, and I need to return. That's a pretty easy area to say, maybe I got to get more out of that. If you're thinking about getting the most out of your game, one thing would be if you're going to do work, work in areas that give you the biggest benefit. I've We mentioned a couple just now. That's in terms of your shots. In terms of your strategy, same thing. Stick to the big picture items. Don't worry so much about the outlier things that happen once in a while. There's things that are going to happen that are going to frustrate us. Whether it's we got to pull wide on a dink. I played yesterday, and my good friend Tom, he's a really good player. I was playing, and I was trying to just get my balls over the net, so I started just lifting them up a little more, and I was placing them right in front of him. I just wanted to get him to play. I hit two or three, he hits a winner past me. It's a nice shot by him, good shot by Tom, and credit to him for hitting a good shot.
[00:09:06.400] - Tony Roig
Am I going to try and solve for that every time that I play? I mean, that's a nightmare. I'm trying to solve for every little thing that happens. Now, I will tell you this. If I miss a return to serve, I'm paying attention to that. What did I do? Did I move my body? Did I not make contact with the ball clean because I wasn't really in the right place? Things like that. That's what I'm going to focus on. I'm not going to focus on the outlier stuff because I'm trying to get the biggest value out of these 173,000 terawatts of energy that I'm putting out every hour in terms of my ability. I want to see how much of that can I convert into results when I play. So the shot strategy. And then, obviously, if you listen to this podcast, you're already aware of this, but the mental part cannot be understated. How important it is to have a sound mind, or a clear mind, I should say, not sound. Sound was a little extreme. A clear mind so that you can then convert. Convert what you know and let it flow into your game.
[00:10:02.820] - Tony Roig
If your brain is busy and crowded, then there's obstruction in there. You get this thing where the panel can't convert the solar energy because it's corroded. It's got stuff on it that doesn't allow it. Those are things that you can do. Another thing would be when you're thinking about, okay, so now I have this ability set that I can do. How do I convert more of that into play, into into results, into performance, I should say, on the court. So that's basically converting knowledge, converting muscle memory, converting history of playing into performance in the moment. It's implementing what you already can do or know how to do. One tip that you can use is to really work on your intentionality. That means not just hitting balls, and where they go, they go. I had a really nice session this week with some local players. We had a couple-hour session together, and that was the big focus of our session, was just, Hey, let's be intentional with what we're doing. You're learning something here like you would if you came to our super camp or one of our better pickleball camps, you're going to learn about pickleball.
[00:11:21.600] - Tony Roig
Great. I mean, that's awesome. That's like you're loading up the sun with this energy. Now you got to convert that knowledge that you've gained into performance. That's where the solar panel idea comes in, where you convert it. How do you convert it is you want to be intentional. You understand now that you're supposed to do this with that shot. It's going to be the best form of the shot. Now you need to put it into action, and you do that by being intentional, by having intentionality with your play. So intentionality doesn't come... It's not like, Okay, I'm going to be intentional, and then you're intentional. That's just not how it works. You do need to say, I want to be intentional, and then work at being intentional. Think of it like a muscle. I've been going to the gym pretty regularly for the last, I don't know, maybe a year now, and I can tell the difference in my muscles and my body from going to the gym. But that took time, that took effort, that took concentrated focus. It's the same thing with building intentionality. You want to build intentionality, start with your serve and return to serve.
[00:12:22.440] - Tony Roig
Focus on those shots, and focus on what I want to do here, and then execute that, and execute that, and execute that, and then get used to that pattern, in that rhythm, right? And then you can extend it to your third shot and fourth shot. Then you can extend it to your dinks, then you can extend it to et cetera. So that'll help you with converting what you already can do, or already can do in theory, right? And that's maybe a helpful way of framing this. Like the sun, the sun does, in fact, deliver 173,000 terawatts of energy to the Earth every hour. So in theory, there are 173,000 terawatts of energy per hour available to us humans if we could convert 100% of the sun's energy that reaches the Earth into usable energy for us. That's the theoretical limit of what's available from the sun. This is the same for you. There's a theoretical maximum that you can convert into performance. The thing is, what steps can you take to get as close to a maximum as possible? A maximum is not going to happen. They're going to do But can you get from, let's say right now you're at 54% of maximum, can you get your conversion up to 60%?
[00:13:37.280] - Tony Roig
Can you get it at 62%? Some of you guys right now, I'm Ben, that there's some of you listening right now that probably are 40% conversion. I don't mean I'm not trying to be negative. I'm not trying to make you feel bad, but that's probably happening to some of you, where you know more about the game, you can do more than you're doing when you play. It's just not converting when you're in games. So how do we take that 40% and move it to 60 %. So intentionality is a really powerful tool, implementing what you know when you play. And then if you want to think about it this way, too, maybe another helpful technique for you would be having more clarity. I go out there with some clear ideas of what I'm going to do. I wrote some pieces on disciplined execution that are out and floating around, so you can check those out. Just a look at discipline execution, Tony Roy. I think you'll find him. I know you can go to betterpickup. Com and find at least one of them, and check those out. I'll help you with that. Then here's the thing that as a coach, is a little bit frustrating for me some time to time.
[00:14:36.340] - Tony Roig
I'm speaking for myself now. As a coach, is I know that the... Because some of you are like, maybe I'm not sure what I should do. I'm not sure what shot I should hit. I hear about the certain return. I appreciate that. What else? I don't know how to hit the punch volley that you mentioned, the block volley, and things like that. Best I can tell you is to get the guidance that really helps you. One is you can come to a camp, and that's great. The other option is the pickleball system. What's frustrating as a coach to me, I mentioned frustrating a second ago, is I know that the pickleball system works, but I know that for some of you, you're not sure whether it's going to help you, things like that. I wish there was another easier solution, if you will, easier in quotes, meaning like, just do this, this, this, and you'll have the knowledge that you need to play great pickleball. If you know what it is, send me an email, tony@betterpickleball.com and let me know, because I haven't found it. And so that's frankly why we built the pickleball system to begin with, because we knew there was a big need out there.
[00:15:35.040] - Tony Roig
Developed it over hundreds, hundreds hours of study. Thousands now, probably thousands of hours of study. Anyway, so you want guidance, I know those work. You may be able to find a local coach that's very good, too. They are very good coaches, but that will require some research by you and some inquiry. But try and get the guidance that will help you. But then in terms of converting that into actionable items, use some of the tips that I shared with you a little bit ago. I have a short rift for you in this podcast. I want to talk about this. It's a reminder, just a PSA. Had this happen in some recent rec game experiences. Avoid targeting who you perceive to be the weaker player. In other words, avoid avoiding who you perceive to be the better player. There's a few There's two reasons for it. One, it's better for you to hit to who you think is the better player with balance. It doesn't mean you ice out the other player either. But you do want to hit balls to the better player because the better player is going to give you shots that you haven't seen before, or different approaches, or different things.
[00:16:45.000] - Tony Roig
That allow you to grow as a player. Another reason is there's no reason to... In Breck play, there's no reason to be so enamored with the result that we make the game unenjoyable for either the targeted player or the better player who's being isolated, theiced-out player. So there's no good reason to be doing that. And then the last thing, and this is purely selfish If you want that player to come back, the better player, is better players aren't going to come back. If you target the other player and you don't give the better player shots, why would they waste their time? Why would they come to that facility and play in those games? So players all the time say, I want to play up. I want to play with better players. Okay, you want to play with better players? Then play the better player. Just a friendly reminder, this little PSA there at the beginning of the year. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this week's podcast. If you have a minute to rate and review the book in Better than Noble, or better no, Barnes & Noble, bn. Com or walmart. Com. Really appreciate you doing that.
[00:17:53.620] - Tony Roig
If you have a minute to rate and review this podcast, if you haven't done so before, really appreciate you doing that as well. It helps you just reach other players. And as always, if you enjoyed this podcast, share it with your friends. Remember, if you enjoy the podcast, they probably will, too. Have a great week, and I'll see you guys in the next episode of Pickleball Therapy. Be welcome.