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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.
[00:00:00.570] - Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to pickleball Therapy, the podcast dedicated to pickleball improvement. Hope you're having a great week. My name is Tony Roig. I am the host of this weekly podcast, as well as a professional pickleball coach. I'm dedicated my professional life to helping players just like you enjoy their best pickleball experience. And part of that is bringing you this podcast, in which we hope to help you navigate the mental parts of pickleball more productively. This week's podcast, they're in the RIF. I will share with you some current events that are going on with our coaching team. If you're If you're watching this on YouTube behind me, you'll see these big boxes. That's part of what I'm going to share with you. But what I wanted to talk about this week is something I was reminded of in our current coaching adventure that we're on, that I'll talk about more in the RIF. And it has to do with checking your balance sheet. It has to do with making sure that we be aware of the fact that sometimes we can go too far on one side of the balance sheet, as you'll understand, and that we need to take the time to to make sure that we balance it out on the other side because there are two sides to a balance sheet.
[00:01:05.490] - Speaker 1
And so when you think about a balance sheet, a balance sheet has two sides. If you know accounting at all, you have assets and liabilities. You have Less is a minus if you want to think about it that way. As pickleball players, and this happens in life, too, what ends up happening is a lot of times we end up focusing a lot on the things that we That we don't do well or that we wish we did better. And let me ask you this as a thought experiment. Let me ask you to right now, list three things or think of three things that you don't believe you do well or that you could do better. I guarantee you came up with three like, Bam, Bam, Bam. And maybe you came up with 20. I don't know how to do this. My serve, my volleys, the bangers, the lobs, whatever. I mean, there's a laundry list of things that are negatives, that are things that you struggle with. Those I'm going to put them under the could be better column behind me. If you're watching this on YouTube, you can see it could be better behind me there.
[00:02:09.570] - Speaker 1
And then the other column is could be worse or it's pretty all right. Now, you want to think about it, which is the other side of the balance sheet that we need to focus on because it's easy to get too negative. It's easy to just... We're so focused on everything that we're trying to do better. We want to do better. And even as coaches, we need to be sensitive to this, because as coaches, we want to help you improve. So we'll watch you play and we'll say, Okay, this is... You need to stay down on your dinks, for instance. So we'll be focusing on that and hammering that. This is what you need to do. But It's important also as coaches and players, to keep in mind the bigger picture of you as a player, because just like there's things that you could do better, I assure you that today there are things that you do pretty all right. You pretty well. You currently play pickleball, I assume. And so you're able to go out there, you're able to keep track of the score. You're able to navigate a game. You're able to hit enough shots that you're able to play the game.
[00:03:13.880] - Speaker 1
You're not unable to be able to at least do enough to play a competent game at the level that you're playing right now with the folks you're playing with. Otherwise, you wouldn't do it, or you wouldn't be invited and things like that. That's just how it works. So what I think it's important to do is to You're spending a little bit of time thinking about the other side of this balance sheet, the other side of your pickleball balance sheet. And I'm going to help you do that right now. We're going to go through a few different questions I'm going to ask you to help prime the pump, if you will. But this is the process that you should try and do from time to time. Because again, the could be better side of the balance sheet is always getting filled. Your brain is automatically filling that, right? You'll notice that so and so hits a certain type of ball, and you can't hit it that way, and then maybe you'll miss a and you'll say, Okay, that's a problem. And then whatever it is, you have this list. And no criticism. This is the very natural thing is humans.
[00:04:07.590] - Speaker 1
We tend to hyper focus on the negatives, on the things that should be improved. Probably the reason why our ancestors survived and why we're here today. Because that's what keeps us alive, is seeing the things that we're missing. Noticing the things that we have doesn't really help us on this survival quest, but it's very valuable to to our minds and to our peace and to our happiness and tranquility and things like that. Although there is a whole conversation on happiness that I'll have in a subsequent podcast that I heard recently that got me thinking about it, about not worrying about the things to be happy. But we're I got to talk about that today. I'll be in another podcast. But let's take a moment and let's work through some areas of the game where things are probably not as bad as you may think or feel. I'm going to ask you, some of these questions may a little bit simplistic, but there's a reason I'm asking them this way. First question, have you hit a good shot recently? Think about it. Take a second. Any shot. The last few times you played Did you hit a good shot?
[00:05:17.080] - Speaker 1
And of any kind. All right. My guess is yes, right? It could be a volley, it could be a dink, it could be a serve you hit that was really nice. There's got to be a shot that you particularly like. Maybe it's a punch volley, maybe it's a block volley, maybe it's a dink or a lob or whatever it is, right? So you have a shot that you probably like. Have you ever come... Not ever. In the last month, let's say, have you come back from being down in a game? So you were losing, say, like 9:05, and you and your team came back in one, or you were down 10:06 or something, and you came back in one. That's pretty cool. Good on you, right? Congratulations on doing that. Do you play the same today as you did six months ago? Are you the same exact player in every aspect of the game? How you understand it, how you hit the ball, things like that, everything. What about a year ago? You stayed the same player you were a year ago. If you played longer, go back as far as you want. Are you the same player today that you were and pick the time?
[00:06:24.190] - Speaker 1
I can tell you I'm not. And I'm going to bet you're not either. I'm going to bet that you understand the game better. I'm going to bet that you hit the ball differently. You're more confident and comfortable out there than you were before, right? And that's not to say you might not feel stuck some, right? And plateauing and frustrated some. And that's all natural, right? That's all fine and natural. But let's not drive the car off the cliff with our thinking, right? It's fine to want more. It's fine to say, okay, I would like to grow, keep on growing, because I still want to grow. And I can tell you all the best players still want to grow, right? But That doesn't mean we drive off the cliff because there are things that you're doing better. And recognizing that not only makes you feel better because you don't feel as bad maybe about your game and things because you understand you're improving, it lets you know that six months from now, a year from now, year and a half from now, that same progress can be yours again. Is there a part of the game that you can think about that you understand better?
[00:07:23.920] - Speaker 1
Maybe it's the soft game, maybe it's how you play the return side, maybe it's the importance of certain types of shots and hitting them a certain way. Maybe it's the risk of hitting the net, things like that, right? And closer to home, let's get closer to home for a second here. Are you feeling better about your play than you were before? If you listen to the podcast, have you picked up any tools over the last however long you've been listening to the podcast? Is there something that resonated with you that's helped you in becoming a more mentally strong pickleball player? Which by extension will make you a more mentally strong human being navigating your life. So if you can answer yes to any of those things, then that's good. That means that your balance sheet is starting to balance out. So the things that you have on the could be better or I'm not particularly good at. Framing it as could be better, I think, is a more positive way for doing it for you. It's a more productive way for doing it for you, of doing it for you, I should say. But now you're balancing that with some things that you actually do well.
[00:08:34.060] - Speaker 1
Things that you have improved in your play and in your understanding of the game of pickleball. And this is a process that I would recommend repeating. When your mind starts feeling full of doubt, full of everything you do wrong and all that negativity, take a moment, take a piece of paper out, sit down and maybe make some notes and say, These are things that I actually do pretty well. These are things that I understand about pickleball that I didn't understand a year ago or two years ago or six months ago or whatever framing you want to put on it, whatever time frame. But just take the time to do that so that you avoid the possibility or reduce the chances of having an overly negative feeling about your relationship with pickleball because Because your relationship with pickleball is important. Your relationship with pickleball is valuable. Your relationship with pickleball is something that adds to your life, particularly if you give yourself a moment to give it some thought and put a framing, a proper perspective framework around the way you're feeling about pickleball, even in the darkest days of your pickleball, even in the, Oh, my God, I can't believe I lost every game today.
[00:09:52.900] - Speaker 1
Whatever happened that you feel upset about popping the ball up, whatever it is. There's a flip side to it that is is a positive flip side, and it's balancing out your balance sheet is a really helpful process for you. So something that you should try and do from time to time. If it helps you to go through the questions I asked here, you can bookmark these podcasts. So you basically put a little bookmark on there and it's there for you. And so the title, I don't know exactly what the title of this podcast will be, but it'll be something like Balancing the Sheet, Balancing the Balancing Sheet. You can also copy the link to the podcast and put it in a document or a spreadsheet if you're that inclined, if you like that stuff, that organization. And then you put it on your calendar. This will drop on the mid-august sometime. So you put done mid-September. Check the balance sheet with Tony and pickleball Therapy. That's a really productive way of having something on the calendar that's going to help you balance out the balance sheet. So consider doing that. And if you do do it, let me know how it worked out for you.
[00:10:51.620] - Speaker 1
If you do it regularly, particularly if you're a therapist, I'll talk about the therapist thing more in a second, the program we have coming up. But if you're a therapist, I think it'd be helpful for you and helpful for the community, right? For me and the community, because the more I know that these types of things help, the more inclined I would... Not inclined, inclined is not the right word. The more likely I am to say, Okay, let me prioritize these types of podcasts higher than other types of podcasts because they're the podcast that you can come back to and can help you over time. Anyway, so let me know if that worked out for you. All right, let's talk about the RIF. So several things on the RIF. So I mentioned therapist a second ago. I think it was your last week's podcast, the one before I talked about a therapist event coming up that is still in the works. I'm going to tell you why it's delayed in one second because it's good news why it's delayed, but it is, in fact, delayed a little bit because of something very positive. And several of you have reached out about becoming a therapist or interested in finding out more.
[00:11:51.800] - Speaker 1
You've received the information and committed. I congratulate you on doing so. If you're curious about it and you want to know more about it, send us an email at therapy@betterpickleball. Com. Com, and we'll send you the dets, the details on becoming a therapist, if that's something that's of interest to you. Anyway, so we will be having the event, but it is going to be pushed back a little bit. And the reason it's pushed back is because life I wrote a post about this, or a little blurb about it recently. Life, sometimes, storage disease, really cool curveballs. Usually, when you hear the term got a curveball, it's not good. It's like, nobody wants a curve thrown their way. But sometimes you get a positive curveball. And the positive curveball that we have gotten is we have the pleasure of coaching the currently number one ranked player in men's doubles pick-up. And so it's an honor. It's a privilege, it's a He's amazing. It's everything that you would think of this opportunity. He's an outstanding young man. Great athlete, obviously. A great pick-up player, goes without saying. He's number one in the sport. But as I mentioned earlier about growth, He knows there's more.
[00:13:01.040] - Speaker 1
He knows that there's more room to grow. It's our privilege and our role, our job, if you will, to provide that to him, to help him see maybe parts about the sport that will be new to him and different way of thinking about things sometimes that will help him continue to reach his full potential as a player. I'm going to tell you, I'm not taking anything away. He's an amazing player already and a dominant force in the sport. That young man, the upside is amazing. The stuff that's going to come down the pike is going to be really phenomenal. And so really excited about that. Some of you have asked because you've seen it in some of the publicity has been out and things like that. It was funny. Actually, I'll tell you a quick story where I was doing some coaching this weekend in the Kansas City PPA, and No big announcement or anything. We're doing our thing, right? That's all. We're not making a big to-do about it. It's just helping this young man live his best pickleball life is what we're trying to do, and that's it. But obviously, when the cameras are on and everything, they see this person.
[00:14:16.050] - Speaker 1
They're like, I was wearing an orange cap. So now you're going to see a lot of orange, by the way. Just heads up. But I was wearing an orange cap. So the announcement who I know, Dave Fleming, he's a friend, a fellow senior pro. I played against him and seen him at many tournaments over the years. Dave, Adam, who's a co-prodcaster, co-announcer, said, I don't know who the guy with the orange hat is, but Dylan seems to be talking to him and listening to him. And so Dave says, he looks like, I think that's my buddy Tony, Tony Roig. I think that's who that is. But anyway, so it was a funny way of it being made public. There's no way to avoid that because the TVs are on. But the cameras are on, and that's the way of life. Anyway, so some of you asked about my role in coaching and everything else. I can assure you that it will not impact core coaching responsibilities, meaning my role inside the pickleball system, my role inside the academy, my role in camps, my role in intensives. None of that will change. Dylan and I have had many conversations about that.
[00:15:22.840] - Speaker 1
He understands that I have responsibilities outside of the coaching that I'm doing with him. So none of that will change. But ancillary projects, still important. I'm not saying the therapist event is not important. It's important to me. I want to do it. I put it on the calendar. I want to get it done. But some of those may have to be delayed a little bit, particularly at the beginning of the relationship where we're trying to really get some fundamental pieces in place. Anyway, just updating you on what's going on and updating you on the therapist event. It'll probably push back, my guess, in a week or two. So I'll let you know more next week. I'm heading up to Bristol for the tournament up there tomorrow, so I'll be gone this week, and then I'll be back next week in studio all week. So I should be able to devote some time to that. There's a couple of things we got to do on the back-end to get that done. And then if you happen to be watching on YouTube and you're curious, there's these boxes behind me that say, Handle a care fragile. Thank you.
[00:16:23.270] - Speaker 1
Fragile. Thank you. This is another exciting thing that's going to be unveiled over the next probably two weeks or so as we get acclimated with this technology and set it up and start using it. But super exciting stuff. Everything that we're trying to do here is aimed at providing you the highest value coaching anywhere. And we believe we do that currently. Actually, we know we do that currently, and we will continue to do everything that we can to continue to stay at the forefront of that process. So that's what all these boxes and coaching Dylan and other things that we're doing to be able to do that for you. All right, that's this week's podcast. I hope you enjoyed it. I will be back. I believe we're going to have a special episode dropping next week. It's just that the editor right now to get done. It's an interview with Sarah Weiss. I think you're Enjoy that. And then we'll have a regular episode next Friday. What I'm going to talk about, I don't know yet because I haven't thought about it yet. Something will come up, I'm sure. If not, I'll go into the list of the cued up list because it seems like every week something comes up that's interesting and helpful.
[00:17:32.810] - Speaker 1
Maybe we'll do zero sum game. We'll see. I think we should explore that a little bit more from last time, or maybe we'll do the happiness thing I mentioned this time. We'll see. We'll see what inspires for next week. But I hope you enjoyed the podcast. If you enjoyed it, please consider rating and reviewing it. We always ask you, and as always, share it with your friends. Remember, if you enjoyed the podcast, my guess is they probably will, too. I hope you have a great week, and we will see you on the next episode of Pickleball Therapy. Be well.