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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.
[00:00:04.880] - Tony Roig
Hello and welcome to Pickleball Therapy, the podcast dedicated to your pickleball improvement. I'm your host of the weekly podcast, Tony Roy. Hope you had a happy New Year. Hope you had a great holiday break. We did take a break last week. Andrew, my son, who also produces the podcast, was like, I think that's the first time you haven't done an episode in a long time. And I said, Well, it's the holiday season and everybody's entitled to a break. So we took one as well. But happy to be back with you. We are in Camp Zvagenza Week. We're basically, we have two camps this week here in Tampa, Florida. Kylene Die from the Better Pickleball Coaching team is joining me here to teach these camps. We We finished. We wrapped up one of our camps yesterday. Had 12 awesome players during that camp, got to meet new players, share with them the awesome framework of pickle ball and how to play better. Everybody left with more information and ready for the next leg of the journey. And then today, we start a grad camp. We have two levels of camp now that we're going to be...
[00:01:13.240] - Tony Roig
That we teach. We're super excited to see these players today. These are players who we've worked with before and have a foundation of pickleball and are ready to take the next step. It's an exciting week for us here in our coaching world here. Today, what I'm going to do is we're going to talk about In and Out for 2026. I think it's a good time to have that pause, if you will, in terms of ourselves, and look at... Pick some things that we can say are out, and then replace them with something that's more positive as in. It seems to be a good trend that I've seen out there in 2026, so we're going to jump on that trend. As we dive into it, I wanted to give a shout out to several of you who have taken a moment to review our book, Pickleball Therapy, The Book. I just went to the oldest ones first, so I'm going to read a few of those, just the headlines, because they're very beefy, and I mean that in a positive way. I really appreciate the feedback on it. But Julie says, Best 27. 99 you can spend to help improve your pickleball overall experience.
[00:02:17.700] - Tony Roig
Thank you, Julie. I appreciate that. Knuitz says, Change your perspective and enjoy the game and life. I love that. More with Tony Roig's new book. Appreciate that. Jeff Renshaw, who also helped us put the book together, but he also believes in the content of the book. A must read for anyone who wants to improve their pickleball game and enjoy it more. And then Bill says, Fantastic insight into the mental aspects of pickleball. And Velinda D. It says, Awesome read. So really appreciate you all taking a moment to, or more than a moment, I guess, taking your time, I should say, to mention some words about the book on Amazon. As I mentioned during the last several podcasts. It helps us reach other players. We live in a computer world where computers got to decide what players and people just see in general. And so interacting with the information that you like helps others then reach that information as well or see that information. So I appreciate you doing that. If you haven't had a chance to do it yet, if you have a moment and have read the book and would like to share a review, please do so.
[00:03:25.560] - Tony Roig
I do have a little bit of a challenge here. I'm not suggesting you do this if you don't feel this way, but all of the reviews on Amazon are five stars, which is great and we appreciate it. But let's say you think it's three stars, go in there and give it as first three-star review because it doesn't have one yet. So feel free to do that. We take all feedback, whether it's five stars, one star, three stars, two stars. I appreciate you doing that. All right, let's dive into this In & Out for 2026. I have four different areas that I'm going to cover in this podcast. The first few, we're going to go quick because they're not that much to dive into. Then I have one at the end that I've made special for this, for Pizzabal Therapy, for therapy listeners. We're going to dive a little more deep into those. The first in and out for 2026, we're just going to talk about equipment for a minute here, three different areas. One is on your shoes. Check yourself on your shoes. I'm not trying to sell you shoes. We do have a shoe company that we've been worked with for the last three or four years.
[00:04:19.660] - Tony Roig
I'll mention them when I'm done with this, but you can wear any court shoe that you're comfortable with. The key is that you're wearing a court shoe, meaning a shoe that's designed for tennis or for some court activity, because pickleball involves a lot of lateral movement. You want to make sure that you have a shoe that supports not just your feet, but also your legs and all the joints that go up your body with lateral footwork. Just make sure you're wearing some court shoe. If you're going to wear a shoe that has a really thick heel, like a cloud shoe or a coca, I know there's other brands, but those are the ones that come to mind, basically the really high heel shoe, really cushiony shoe, I would just check first, check with your podiatrist, check with somebody who knows what they're we're talking about, about whether that shoe is going to be good for you with pickleball. There's at least one instance that I'm aware of a player who I knew that before they started wearing court shoes, had worn jogging shoes, which is similar, to play pickleball, and it basically damaged their knee because they...
[00:05:16.900] - Tony Roig
Too much to talk about today, but just check yourself on the shoe. Make sure you're wearing a court shoe. If you're not sure, Tyroll is a company that we use. You can go to betterpickleball. Com, click on the link. They'll take you to the company. I think there might even be a code or something. Not a code, but like a discount applied or something. But anyway, Tyroll is a really good company, but you can wear any court shoes. So out with shoes that don't apply to pickleball. Staying with shoes, out is waiting until your shoes totally wear out before you replace them. Keep an eye on your shoes, and particularly, you're looking at the mid-sole here. That's the cushion area of the shoe. What you'll start to see is you start to see that decrease. It's not the first crease you have to get rid of it, but when it starts to crease, when it starts to look worn, what that tells you is that you're not getting the cushion and support that you expect from the shoe, from the original shoe. Also, if it starts to feel bad or feel weird, probably time to change your shoe before it has a hole, before the top splits off the shoes.
[00:06:09.840] - Tony Roig
So take care of those feet. It'll take care of your legs and your body, be able to play longer. Also, out for 2026 is going to be paddle chasing. Now, listen, you want to buy paddles because it's your passion or something, knock yourself out. But if you're buying paddles with the idea that the paddle is going to help your game, that's mostly nonsense once you're in a certain group of paddles. There is If there's a jump you can make in paddles, you're playing with an Amazon paddle, and you're moving into a $100, $150 paddle, that's going to be a big difference. Sometimes, if you're a $100 paddle moving into $200 paddle, you may see a difference. There are $100 paddles that are better than $200 paddles. You have to know which one's which. Again, if you want to, not selling you a paddle, but I use PaddleTech. This is the one that I like, the 14 millimeter. We have it on the website. Welcome to check that one out if you want to. But the idea that I'm going to buy a paddle, and the paddle and the paddle is If I'm going to solve my play, that's out.
[00:07:01.580] - Tony Roig
That's not going to happen. Instead, what's in is focused on your game. Do something for yourself and your pickle ball, and you want to play better, that's how you play better, not with buying a new paddle. All right, we're going in and out now, partner edition. What's out for 2026 is rolling of the eyes, huffing, dropping the shoulders, all those types of things are out. What's in, looking at your partner, eye contact, paddle tap, a little smile. I'm going to give you two reasons to do it, but actually three reasons. Let's go with three. One is for yourself as a human being, being a better human being, right? Do a better a thing, great. Second, for your partner, right? It's better for them. They're not going to feel upset. They're not going to get stressed out. But the third one, pragmatic one, is you're going to have a better chance of performing better as a team in that game. If you have a partner who's stressed out, who's feeling down, who's feeling doubtful about their play, they're probably not going to play as well. So selfishly, you want to play better. Support your partner, paddle tap, smile, eye contact.
[00:08:01.140] - Tony Roig
What's out, partner edition number two is outward turn. So basically, turning away from the middle of the court, whether it's to the left if you're on the left, to the right if you're on the right. You may not be huffing or puffing. You may not be rolling your eyes or anything like that. I'm going to I did it here to my co-head coach at Better Pickleball C. J. Johnson. She brings us up in our camp trainings, which is basically when you turn out, what happens is there's the potential for misunderstanding between your partner and you. You turn away, your partner may misread it. How do you avoid that? Turn in, turn inward. If you're on the left, turn to the right. If you're on the right, turn to the left. Then go to number one, which is establish eye contact with your partner. A little smile, a little paddle tap. No misunderstandings. Roll towards the middle, not towards the outside. Next one for partner addition is excluding partners in open play. What I mean here is you get two paddles come up or four paddles come up. You see somebody that you don't want to play with.
[00:08:57.220] - Tony Roig
Caviate here, side note, I'm not talking about players who you have the right not to play with because they are negative to you as a human being. I know those players who make you feel bad and things like that. You have agency, you don't have to play with that player. But if you're just opting not to play in a group or not to play with a player because they're not at my level or they don't hit the ball the way I want to and things like that, let's not do that in 2026. Let's play more inclusive in 2026. The way to think about it there is, I'm going to go in three again. It's good for you as a human being. Do good, right? Pay it forward, do a good thing. Two, it's It's good for the other player because they get to play with you. Presumably, you're a better player there. But number three, it's better for you as well, pragmatically, because if we live in a world where, let's say, a 4-0 won't play with a 3-5 or a 4-0 won't play with a 3-7, then why would a 4-2 play with a 4-0?
[00:09:47.300] - Tony Roig
In other words, let me put it more bluntly, if you won't play with them, then why would I, as a better player, play with you? Give that some thought. In 2026, let's be as inclusive as we can, particularly in open play environments. All right, the third edition or the third section, I should say, of In and Out is going to be on improvement. So what's out for 2026? Youtube, guys. Youtube. Using YouTube as your main source of information out. Youtube is an algorithm. I mentioned that earlier when we talk about reviews. It's just an algorithm. It knows nothing about you other than you like pickle and you like clicking on this type of content. That's all it knows about you. All it knows about the video, it doesn't even know what the video is about. In terms of this video is correct, this video is important, nothing. All it knows is a bunch of people have clicked on this video. It could be because of the thumbnail, it could be because of the content creator, it could be because of production. There's a lot of reasons why videos are clicked on. That's all the computer knows.
[00:10:46.480] - Tony Roig
And so what's feeding you, no idea whether it's worth anything, no idea whether it's right for you. If you want to really improve, you got to get away from the YouTube hamster wheel, as we refer to it. Instead, what you want to do is have some program. Okay, now we have programs. You're welcome to use our programs, the Pickleball System or a Better Pickleball Academy. You don't have to use those if you don't want to. There's other programs out there. There's other online programs, and there's also local coaches. Try and find a local coach who has some curriculum, some idea of how to progress you. There are very good coaches out there, and there's not so very good coaches out there. So do a little investigating before you pick a local coach if that's the route you want to take. If you want to do an online program, there's online programs. I can vouch for our online programs. I know they're very good. We think it through. We try and provide a curriculum that's going to help you with your play. Anyway, so out with YouTube and with some program. Out for 2026 on improvement is trying to do everything at once.
[00:11:42.820] - Tony Roig
Can't do it. It's just not possible, and you're just going to frustrate yourself. What's in for 2026? Pick one thing. One thing, get really good at it. Then you can pick another thing and get really good at it. By the end of 2026, maybe you've mastered a bunch of things, but don't try and do them all at one time. It's just not feasible. Also in in and out for 2026 on improvement is out or chasing things that aren't relevant for you. Now, this ties a little bit into the YouTube because that can happen from there, but it also can happen at your local court, meaning like, Fred or Barbara came up to you and said, You know what you need? I know what you need. You need to learn how to hit that fancy roll volley. You need to learn how to spin your dink to the outside or whatever. Do you? Really? Do you? And how are they qualified to tell you what you need? Same thing as YouTube, it's an algorithm. They don't really know either. So work on what's relevant for you where you are right now. There are things that are going to help you more now than other things.
[00:12:37.330] - Tony Roig
Identifying those is how you get the biggest bang for your buck, how you get the biggest forward steps. Again, going back to our trainings, that's how we do our stuff. So inside the Pimentball system, there's a step one and then a step two. I can tell you that step one is more important than step two, and also step one is a condition preceding to step two. So if you get a YouTube video that gives you step five in that sequence, and you don't have steps one through four, you're lost at sea. So let's focus on what's relevant for you in 2026. All right. Now, here's the special section for you. This is specifically designed for Pimentball therapy, and available nowhere else, I should say, in terms of 2026, in and out. Let's start with what's out is being disappointed in ourselves. Whether it's our performance that day, the wins, losses, whatever. Disappointment in ourselves when we engage in this beautiful The sport is out. What's in is welcoming the challenges that pickleball provides us. Pickleball is a challenge. Pickleball is a sport that you're engaging with. It's supposed to challenge you. It's supposed to push you.
[00:13:44.200] - Tony Roig
It's not supposed to It's not easy. It's not supposed to be walking the park. Walks in the park are great. I'm hoping to, when I'm done here, take the dogs out for a little walk around the neighborhood. Lovely, right? That's not pickleball. Pickleball is a challenge. You're trying to do your best. They're trying to do their best. They're challenging you. They're pushing you. You're pushing them. That's the nature of the beast, right? So let's get rid of disappointment, and let's embrace the challenges or welcome the challenges that pickleball provides. And if it helps you, if you're watching, you can see behind me here, a bowl of ice cream behind me. Check out the bowl of ice cream episode. I think you can just Google bowl of ice cream, pickleball therapy. It'll pop up. And listen to that one if you're not sure what I'm talking about. But let's get away from disappointment and move towards welcoming challenges. Next is being upset when you miss a shot. Listen, you're going to miss shots in 2026. I'm sorry to be the bearer of this. It's not even bad news. I was going to say bearer of bad news, but why am I saying bearer of bad news?
[00:14:39.820] - Tony Roig
I'm just the bearer of reality for you if you don't think you're going to miss shots in 2026. You're going to miss shots in 2026. How do you prepare for that? Well, use the Oops Bucket. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, we did an episode on that. I think the Oops Bucket's in the title. Just search Oops Bucket, Pickleball Therapy. Find the episode on that, listen to that, have a tool available to you so that you can avoid feeling frustrated or upset at yourself when you miss shots, which again, will happen in 2026. We also actually have a guide. You can get it. I'm not sure exactly how you can get it, we'll put a link in the show notes. That's what we'll do. We'll put a link in the show notes to a guide that we've created that has to do a pickleball therapy. The UPS bucket is in there as well. You can see a visual of it if you want to. So that should help you out. And then the last one is out for 2026, being frustrated with yourself, right? Being frustrated that you can't do the things that you expect to do when you're out there playing pickleball.
[00:15:43.620] - Tony Roig
Embrace the fact that you are willing to push yourself. Going back to the challenge a little bit here, but more not about the game being challenging, but about you. Embrace the fact that you are willing to put yourself out there and support that developmental approach that you have, that mindset that you have of saying, You know what? I'm going to put myself out there. I'm going to test myself. I'm going to try. So be happy that you're doing that, right? As opposed to feeling frustrated or feeling let down when the things don't go exactly the way that you envision them going. So out for 2026 is some of these negative trends that we sometimes have. In for 2026 is a more positive approach to the game and more positive approach to ourselves, right? Because we want to be kind to ourselves. You're your best ally, or you should be, your best ally. I'm sure you have people in your life who care about you and support you and love you and things like that. But at the end of the day, this is your journey. Obviously, if you think it'll help you, and I think it will, check out the book that I mentioned earlier, Pickleball Therapy, the Book, if you haven't done so already.
[00:16:52.120] - Tony Roig
Hey, you can go read the reviews. The reviews are on Amazon. You can see what other players are saying. They're very in-depth reviews. So you have plenty to read there about what the book meant to them, and you make a decision whether that's right for you. So I hope you enjoyed the first episode of Pickleball Therapy for 2026. I look forward to bringing you another, I guess, probably 51 weeks left. I didn't count them, but I'm guessing there's 51, maybe 50, maybe 52. I don't know. But let's say 51 weeks left. So I look forward to bringing you the next 51 episodes of Pickleball Therapy this year. And for some of you, I look forward to seeing you inside some of our coaching vehicles, whether it's a camp, pickleball system, academy, anywhere else that we do coaching. I look forward to seeing you there. To a great 2026, let's kick out those negatives. Get the good ones in. Share with your friends at the beginning of 2026. If you enjoy the podcast, I probably will, too. I'll see you next time.