Hello and welcome to Pickleball Therapy, the
podcast dedicated to your pickleball improvement.
I hope you're having a great day, a great week, and a great holiday season.
My name is Tony Roig.
I am your host of this weekly podcast.
This week's podcast, I wanted to talk to you about finding the perfect partner.
Been a lot of scuttlebutt out there about Ben Jones and Colin Jones' brother not
partnering for 2025 and Ben looking for new partners.
There's been a lot of opinions being shared about who would
be the best partner for Ben for 2025.
I thought it was a good time to talk a little bit about picking a partner.
How do you pick a partner? What do you look for?
And things like that.
We're going to do that in this week's podcast as we get ready for 2025.
Then in the RIF, I'm going to talk to you a little bit
about the journey and maybe what is it that you want for yourself in 2025.
That might help inform what you're looking for in a partner.
As we dive into the podcast, These podcasts are made possible
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If you're thinking about 2025 being a new year for you and
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It's provided to you by the Better Pickleball Coaching Team, so you know that
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Com, just click on Academy and check the offerings there.
All right, let's dive into picking a partner.
Again, as I mentioned at the beginning, Ben Johns is no longer going
to play with his brother.
It's the end of an era, if you will.
It's a little bit sad in the sense that they're brothers, they
get to play together. That's cool.
But I think for Ben and Colin, I imagine they love pickleball,
but Pickleball is their business.
I don't know Ben that well.
I know him saying hello to him at tournaments and things like that.
But I actually know Colin reasonably well.
I met Colin when he was first starting out playing pickleball.
He started playing here in the Bay Area.
He used to play at a club called Bardemont here, and with Damon, Marissa, and the
folks there, with Tom DiCaprio, myself, some of the other players that would
go out there and play with Colin.
Obviously, he was athletics very gifted.
He came from tennis, was a very, very good tennis player, so he picked
up pickleball pretty quickly.
I've stayed in touch with him from time to time.
He's a great thinker of the game.
He's been at our summit a couple of years, sharing some ideas and things.
He doesn't mind using terms that are not sexy or clickbaity, like we do.
One of the summits he presented was basically about discipline and how
discipline is important at all levels of play.
You can imagine a conversation about discipline doesn't get a lot of views, it
doesn't get a lot of traction, but it's a conversation that actually
will make a difference to you.
I have a lot of respect for Colin and for Ben, obviously, as
ambassadors for our sport.
The conversation that we've been seeing on Facebook and videos and things,
everybody's been jumping on this podcast.
I think that Thomas at the Dink was maybe the one to break the story.
But the idea is that Ben is looking for a partner for 2025.
So all these ideas about different players that Ben can partner with and different
advantages and things like that.
Why not use this opportunity to explore what it is to...
What criteria we can to find a partner?
You can use this.
If you play rec play, you can use it conceptually.
I'll share a personal story about a rec game that I played a few days ago, the day
before Chris It was Christmas Eve morning.
We played in a mixed group, and I played with different partners.
They're all cool, but there was one partner in particular who,
the way we jive on the court, helped us prevail in that match, and
I'll share I'll go with you.
You can use it in rec play in terms of how you approach different partners
that you're playing with.
But if you're going to play competitively, whether in tournaments or league or
anything like that, this is a way to think about
how to select a partner that makes the most sense for you.
Because here's the thing, when you think about pickleball doubles,
it's a team sport.
I would submit to you, it's as much a team sport as any
sport that you think of traditionally being a team sport, like
basketball and things like that.
You need the performance of the individual player.
You need the basketball player who can either rebound, dribble, pass, shoot, do
the individual acts that make that basketball player
a good basketball player. Same thing in pickle ball.
You want to be able to hit your dink, hit your serve, hit your return, hit
your volleys, things like that.
But there's the second element to it in doubles, which is how well do
you play with your partner?
Court coverage, assignments, strategy, supporting each other, things like that.
When you think about playing with another human
being, partnering with another human being on a pickleball court, what is it that
makes for a good partnership?
The number one thing that I have on here is shared goals on the list.
Shared goals basically means that are you both looking for the same thing.
For instance, let's say that you both want to dominate.
You and your partner, your objective is, we just want to beat everybody in our
league or whatever you're playing in. That's our objective.
If that's your goal, that's your objective, then what does that translate
to in preparation for that event?
It translates into drilling a lot, practicing a lot, really
honing your skillset, getting together and working on playing together as partners,
working on timeouts, working on all sorts of things, the elements that will
take you to your shared goals.
In that situation, if you both share that goal, then that's going
to be a good partnership.
What if you both want to participate in those types of Events like
tournaments and league, but it's more about the experience.
Tournament could be you want to travel.
League play could just mean, I just want to go Tuesday.
I want to compete at a reasonably high level, but I'm not that concerned
about whether we win or not.
Then, as long as you and your partner are on the same page, that works too, because
you're both seeking the same thing.
When issues arise is when there's a split in goals between the two partners.
You have one partner that wants to kick ass, take names, to just destroy
everybody, and the other partner is there to spend time with their
friend, just enjoy the moment.
In that case, that's where you could have just a falling out, if you will, because
you have different interests in why you're going to that.
For instance, the US Open is coming up in 2025, like it does every year.
There's different players trying to find partners, and there's different
reasons to go to the US Open.
Maybe you just want to go to Naples and, again, enjoy the experience
and do the best you can. That's fine.
Maybe you want to, again, go down there and you want to compete for a medal, and
anything less than a medal isn't satisfactory to you.
I don't know if that's a good metric for yourself, because,
anyway, that's another conversation.
But if you and your partner are on the same page, at least you can put
in the work necessary to do that.
Number one, in terms of picking a partner, would be shared goals.
You can do this in rec play because if you step out on the court in open play and you
know that this player is a win-it-all cosplayer.
It's not to say you have to become a win-it-all cosplayer if that's not your
way of looking at things, but at least you know where they're coming from.
At least you can like, Okay, I know what to expect here.
You You're not going to be surprised when the other player gets upset
when your team misses a shot or something like that.
You know what you're getting into, I guess.
The second factor that I think is It's a critical one, but it's a little
mushy, and it can be overlooked.
I'm calling it compatible play energy.
This is basically how the players navigate the game from an energy approach.
The best way to think about this is let's assume that you miss an easy ball.
How does your partner react to that?
Or when your partner misses an easy ball, how do you react to that?
Are you supportive of each other, tapping paddles, or is it one player misses the
shot and the other player feels like, Oh, my God, my partner's mad at me?
How are you navigating the energy of that situation.
Same thing.
When you're playing pickleball, you're going to have situations where
you are ahead, and so it's good.
Are you basically Are you both letting your foot off the pedal, so to speak, and
just coasting, and then they get in trouble, or are you both keeping each
other in the right balance between not maybe obsessing too much, but also not
Distancing, not distancing yourself, but basically getting off the core.
You're already at lunch thinking about what you're going to have at
the order from the menu.
And the same thing when you're behind.
You're behind, you're down 9:00 to 4:00.
Are you both going to keep battling, or will one of the
players go, Well, it's 9:00, it's time to just wrap this up and let's get moving,
and the other player is still battling?
That's not a good...
That's not very compatible, right?
How How you approach the game from an energy standpoint as you flow through
different situations, the more compatible you are, the
better the partnership is going to be.
Again, going back to rec play, if you're playing with somebody
who you know is not going to give their all when you're down, I'm not saying just
roll up your bags and go home, but either you can try and reach them somehow, or
you just adjust your play accordingly and You know you have another match waiting
for you as soon as you put your paddle down.
You're not trying to give it your all because your partner is not
going to give it their all.
Then that's not going to feel good for you when you're out there hustling and your
partner is just like, Whatever happens, happens.
That situation when you're super So compatible play energy is another factor
that I think is really important when you're talking about partnerships.
Then the last one is complementary skills.
Now, this one applies more to competitive situations, although in
rec, again, you can just be aware of it.
But complementary skills are, let's say you had two players that are
super hyper aggressive, attacking everything all the time, and that's
probably not going to be ideal.
Or if you have two players who are super passive.
And there's nothing wrong with passive, by the way.
I I'm going to use that term negatively.
Just players who just want to set up and want to keep the rally extended,
but don't really have anybody who...
Neither one of them really ever looks for the kill shot when it's available.
Neither one of those is going to be optimal.
Optimal would be where you We have one player who is
more of a setup a player, like plays a really controlled patient game, and
then another player who's the finisher.
When you look at the top two teams in both men and women's, you look at Ben and Colin
Johns over the last couple of years, last few years.
That has been Colin is the setup player.
Colin plays defense.
It's almost everything soft.
He'll speed up a ball once in a blue moon.
Then Ben's the A passive player.
Colin is going to play a nice patient game and let Ben be Ben.
Same thing with Analee Wotos and Katherine Prentau.
You have Katherine Prentau is the setup player.
She'll attack a ball here and there, but for the most part, that's not her role.
Her role is to play really good defense, anchor that right side, and then let
Analee, she plays left too, but anchor the side she's on, and then Analee will
basically be the one to finish.
Those are the teams that are the most successful out there when they're playing.
Complimentary skills can be a is a helpful factor to consider.
Now, that said, that's when you're looking at it cold, objective, just off the
court, objectively looking at it.
When you're talking about playing with friends and traveling
and things like that, there's a whole slew of other factors to consider.
For instance, say you want to play a tournament circuit.
You've decided, 2025, I'm going to go play six tournaments in five states
plus mine, something like that.
Well, you need to find a player, or a couple of players maybe, who want the same
thing, who are willing to travel to those places, who are willing to commit the time
and money and energy to go to these places and play in these tournaments.
Without that, the rest of it just falls apart.
It doesn't matter.
Another thing I would suggest, and you can put this under compatible play energy,
but do you want to be with that person? Enjoy them.
If you don't enjoy their company, if you don't enjoy going to lunch
after you played or dinner or seeing them in the morning before you...
Whatever. It's not the same as for pros.
It's business, right?
So pros can just say, Okay, we're going to play together.
Some pros don't They don't practice that much together because they're not near
each other and things like that, so they practice when they can.
But for the most part, it's just, I'm here, let's play a couple of games,
and then they're ready to play the next day in their tournament.
There's other factors that you can consider in your in your decision making
that are not strategically driven or are not driven in terms of what's going to
give me the highest chance for success in this partnership from a pickleball
standpoint, but are certainly super important in terms of
making your decision.
But the key takeaway here is doubles pickleball is a team sport.
Your performance as a doubles team will be greatly impacted by the
chemistry between you and your partner.
The better you play together, the more likely it is that you will
be successful as a doubles team.
And in the RIF, I'll share a personal story, and then I'll ask you a question
just to get your brain thinking about it, about what it is that you want for
yourself in terms of a partnership for 2025.
As we dive into the RIF, if you are looking to purchase any gear in
2025, paddles or anything like that, please consider going to our equipment
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All right, let's go into the RIF.
I'll share a personal story, and then we'll talk about you thinking
for you for 2025 on this line.
The personal story is we were playing and played with several different players,
and I enjoy to play with all players. They're all different.
I know them very well, so I know their tendencies.
I like to rib them, especially when we're playing this situation where
we're just mixing around.
But anyway, I know them all.
But there was one player in particular who I was playing with, and we
were ahead in the match.
We were rally scoring to 21.
We were up, but we were getting...
The The other team was catching up with us, and we were starting to
falter some on the serve side.
The thirds weren't crisp anymore, and we were getting smashed pretty early on.
But we were getting smashed because we were rushing.
We were hitting the third, and then we were just running in.
I was doing it some. My partner was doing it.
I would submit more than I was in terms of running up, and then we were
just getting smacked with balls.
I went to my partner and I said, Hey, why don't we just
slow things down a little bit? Our ourselves.
Let's work on our third, a fifth, a seventh, but let's control our tempo.
If you've listened to this podcast before, you know that tempo is such a powerful
part of our performance in this sport.
We started to control our tempo, and then we really locked it down.
We really locked the game down.
We forced a couple of errors by our opponents on the return side
because we changed our approach.
They couldn't just hit one and done and pass us on their fourth or six.
They had to keep working. So we forced some errors.
And then when we were able to make our way up there, we made our way up to the
non-volley zone line under control.
We overcame our positional disadvantage, put pressure on them, and then
we're able to close out the match.
And the reason I'm sharing this with you is, you're welcome to take the strategy
part away as well, the tempo and all that.
But the real reason I'm sharing with you is in terms of this
podcast, the content of this podcast, is that
this is a player who I've played with before and who is open to
strategic recommendations.
And that's something that I am particularly good at.
That's actually one of my strong suits is strategic adjustments in game.
And so to be playing with a player who I know I can make recommendations to and
who will take those recommendations.
It's not to say the player needs to blindly do what I say.
That's not the point.
But at least listen to what I'm saying and go, Okay, let's try it.
That makes sense.
And then we try it, and then this player was like, Oh, that really worked.
I'm like, Yeah, it's a thought out.
I'm just thrown out there.
And so it changes my dynamic.
It makes me more engaged as well, because now I can bring to bear the parts of
the game that I am particularly good at.
It makes my play better.
He plays better, I play better, and our team plays better.
Again, not just because of the strategic considerations, those are important,
but also because we end rowing in the same direction.
There's openness and willingness to receive the information,
process it, and then apply it, making us a much more formidable opponent.
That's my personal story on how the strategy is important, but also the
way it impacts the team and the playing together part of it.
It's as important as just the strategic piece of it.
For 2025, what I would suggest you do in terms of partnerships are
give this some thought. How are you as a partner?
In terms of what is it that you're looking for?
What's your energy when you play?
Are you a supportive partner?
Are you bringing your partner down, potentially?
It happens.
We've had students' stories that they've shared with us about not realizing
what they were doing to their partners.
Then once they realized it, they were like, Oh, I don't want to do that.
Then they adjusted their behavior.
One tip I'll give you is a tip that C. J.
Johnson, my co-coach, always shares at the camps, which is consider turning
inward when you're on the court.
Think about like you just finished a rally and your partner missed a
shot, and you're not upset. You're fine.
Everything's fine. But you turn to the outside.
Basically, you turn your body toward the sideline instead of toward the
middle, towards your partner.
It's possible that your partner could misinterpret that situation
because you're turning away, and maybe you turned in a way that looked like you were
rolling a shoulder or you were rolling your head or something like that.
So your partner is feeling self-conscious because they just
They pop the ball up or they missed an easy shot or whatever.
So they see an eye roll that obviously, you can't see because you're
looking away from them.
But those things, the mind can play tricks.
That is avoided when you turn toward the middle.
So you turn toward the middle, you make eye in contact with your partner, maybe
smile at them, tap their paddle, let them know everything's okay.
Changes everything. Changes the feeling of that.
If you just get into the habit of turning toward the middle rather than turning
toward the outside, you'll turn to the middle, both
when it's maybe not necessary.
I mean, it's always good to turn to the middle.
No downside to it.
But maybe your partner just did a fantastic shot and you
turn to the middle, great.
But you'll also be turning to the middle by extension or by habit.
You'll turn to the middle when your partner also makes a mistake, and so
everything will be better then as well.
So consider doing that for 2025.
Then give some thought to how you come to the game as a partner, and perhaps what it
is that most works with you in terms of your partners.
That will help you when you're in a situation where you want to identify a
partner to play with in some a competitive setting, and also help you navigate rec
play, because when you're in rec play, you can better deal with those partners
who maybe don't exactly jive with your approach, like your energy on the court
and things like that, and you go out on the court prepared and ready to deal with
that, it makes it easier to navigate.
That's a good tip for you there for 2025.
Next week's podcast, I'm going to play with the idea of
your journey, your pickleball journey.
The Better pickleball Coaching team said, We need something written on this, so I
wrote something about it, and I We said, Well, that's a really good
thing to share with the podcast as well, the idea of your journey and when are you
going to get to where you got to go in your journey.
So make sure you tune in next week for that episode of pickleball Therapy.
If you have a minute to rate and review the podcast, always helps us reach
additional players just like you.
Remember the pickleball Central link if you can use that.
And then our event coming up.
We have an event coming up on January 16th, which is going to be a really cool,
basically, New Year in a You concept, but it's actionable stuff
that you can actually do.
So like roughly 10 minutes a day, and you'll see changes in your game.
So be on the lookout for registration for that, and join us for that
event on January 16th.
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Hope you have a great week, a happy New Year, and I will see you in 2025.
Be.