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Welcome to Pickleball Therapy,

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the podcast dedicated to your Pickleball improvement and your mental sanity.

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That's why it's called Pickleball Therapy.

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I am your host.

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My name is Tony Rogan.

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I am glad to be with you in this episode.

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Today, we take another step along our journey of understanding and

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of of mental strength,

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mental awareness,

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and, and health as we continue to grow as Pickleball players.

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What we're gonna do today is we are going to shift

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gears a little bit.

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Last, last week,

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we, we went into goal setting,

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talked about some goal setting,

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setting expectations for yourself in 2024,

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and hopefully you found that episode helpful.

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If you didn't get a chance to check out that episode,

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recommend you go back and check it out.

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It's a really good episode on framing goals in a more

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constructive way.

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This week,

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we're gonna shift a little bit of gears here.

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I gotten an email a while,

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a little while ago from Pickleball therapists.

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Therapists are players who have made a commitment to themselves and

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their mental health growth that,

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and they express that by becoming a therapist,

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Pickleball therapist.

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If you want to know more,

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you can send me an email at therapy at better Pickleball

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dot com and I'll send you the information and you can

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decide if it's right for you.

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But one of our therapists sent a question about open play,

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how to deal with certain situations that arise in open play.

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And there's a practical component to this.

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We're gonna talk about sort of like a strategic practical piece,

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and there's also a mental component to it.

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There's a part of it in terms of just framing how

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we feel about it and what happens when we play in

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these situations.

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So that's where we're gonna cover today.

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And specifically it has to do with when we're partnered with

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a quote unquote weaker player.

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And that happens,

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right? A player who may not be quite at the level

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of our level or the level of the game,

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who's getting targeted mercilessly targeted by their opponents.

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That's my word,

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not, not John's.

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And I'll breach John's email in a second.

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Before we jump into the podcast,

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a couple of things coming up,

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coming up that,

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that actually one's already out that I wanted to tell you

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about is the,

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we have a partner play course in our academy that I

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think you'll find really helpful if you want to know more

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about how to constructively play with partners.

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99% of you out there are playing Pickleball doubles.

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Primarily. That's your primary game.

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If you're playing doubles,

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you are playing a team sport.

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And, and as,

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as a team sport,

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there are aspects of the game that are really helpful to

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you to understand in terms of playing partner play and maximizing

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a partner play.

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Since that's what we're real with today.

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I wanted to make sure you knew that we had an

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entire course dedicated to that subject.

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It's a,

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it's a very good course.

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It's gotten a lot of good feedback from players who have

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benefited from,

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from hearing the concepts that are in that course.

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So checked out at the Better Pickleball Academy,

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you'll go to better Pickleball dot com and I'll put a

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link in the show notes as well.

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And if you have a minute,

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please consider rating and reviewing the podcast.

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If you enjoy the podcast,

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it helps us reach other players just like you who would

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benefit from hearing the words that you're hearing in this podcast.

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One other quick note here,

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if you're watching us on YouTube,

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we do have a YouTube channel.

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A lot of you know that or not,

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but we have a YouTube channel.

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It's called the same thing,

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Pickleball Therapy.

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So you go to YouTube,

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you type in Pickleball therapy,

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you'll see my face on there.

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So you're welcome to watch,

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watch on YouTube as well if you want to.

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If you're on there,

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please subscribe to the channel.

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It helps us for each other players.

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And also let us know what you think about the,

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this funky background that we're using in these few videos.

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I'm shooting these videos in front of a green screen,

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so just putting kind of a funky chill background and lemme

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know what you think down in the comments about it.

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Alright, let's jump into this idea of,

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or this,

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the question of how do we deal with certain situations,

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an open play.

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And let me start by reading you the email from John,

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one of our therapists.

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He says,

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I think it would be worth talking about how when we

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play with a weaker partner,

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even though he or she gets targeted by many who just

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want to win the game,

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I don't reciprocate,

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but in fact try to do the opposite and hit any

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balls that come my way to the stronger my two opponents

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when I can,

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I think some more discussion on that would be beneficial to

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all. So John,

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thanks for the question and thanks also for being mindful of

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when you're playing a a,

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a partner or against opponents who may be,

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you know,

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have a imbalance in their ability.

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One thing I would note here is be careful about over

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targeting the strong player too,

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right? So you gotta kind of balance it out,

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you know,

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if you're playing with an imbalanced team,

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you wanna make sure that both of them get to play.

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You know,

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both players get to play.

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So sometimes what we can do is we can overcompensate the

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other way.

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And I've done it myself where,

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you know,

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you're like,

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you, you don't want up a player to feel bad,

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so you end up hitting all the balls to the other

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player and then the player who is the weaker player doesn't

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get to play either.

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So kind of balance it out a little bit.

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But let's talk about some ideas when you're dealing in open

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play, when you're playing in an imbalanced situation and your partner's

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getting targeted.

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I'm gonna start with some practical advice I'll give you here.

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Made some three different notes that I wanted to share with

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you in terms of practical advice,

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practical things that you can do to play in a situation

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where there's a heavy imbalance and your partner is getting target.

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Number one is avoid targeting yourself.

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Now, I just,

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we just talked about that a little bit and John mentioned

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that in,

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in his email that it's something he doesn't do.

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It's, it's,

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it's, you know,

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it's easy to fall into that trap,

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right? Where,

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you know,

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you're in a game,

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the score gets a little tight,

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you know,

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seven, six or something like that,

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and you say,

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okay, I'm gonna just go to the,

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I'm gonna start targeting the weaker player.

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'cause you know that that's easier point,

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right? You,

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you kind of,

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you gotta do a little soul searching and think through a

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little bit in terms of what is it that you're trying

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to accomplish out there?

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What are you trying to do?

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You know,

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if you're trying to win the game then you know,

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target away.

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And I will say this,

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if you're playing in a competitive setting tournament,

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you know,

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a route robin,

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where it's competitive,

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kind of a,

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everybody understands this is a competition,

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Moneyball, things like that,

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league targeting is perfectly fine,

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okay? So targeting in and of itself is not a bad

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thing. Targeting sometimes.

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Not only is this a a okay thing you should target,

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right? If it's strategically correct to do in a Competitive setting,

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I will tell you that when I play tournaments,

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I will target and I will tell my partner or suggest

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my partner as our strategy that we target.

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We jokingly say sometimes you,

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when we're targeting one player over another in that kind of

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competitive setting,

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you know,

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the the saying is basically what we say is,

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is you know,

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if the,

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if the player who we're not targeting,

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right, if the other,

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the stronger player hits anything other than the serve or return

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to serve,

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then we made a mistake.

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So again,

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targeting in that context is fine.

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This question deals specifically with open play.

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In an open play situation,

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we do not advise targeting.

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We think it's,

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you know,

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it's just not,

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it's not good for the game.

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It's not good for anybody on the court.

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And it's frankly not good for the targeter,

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for the player doing the targeting because you're not getting the

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most out of that time that you have on the court.

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You know,

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we all have a limited number of games that we're gonna

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play in our lives.

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Let's make the most out of it.

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So avoid yourself,

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avoid targeting yourself when you're in,

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in these situations.

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And then the other,

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another practical piece of advice is make it harder for your

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opponents to target your partner.

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There's a couple things you can do.

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The main thing is this,

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the main thing is you can hit shots to places that

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makes it harder for them to be targeted.

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And what I mean by that is,

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is let's say you're,

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you're hitting your return of serve.

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If you hit your return of serve to a spot that

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is diagonal or cross court from the partner that you want

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to protect,

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you're making it easier for your opponents to hit to that

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player, right?

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Because players love hitting their third shots cross court diagonal,

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right? They love that shot.

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They like dinking diagonal too.

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They like it more than digging straight.

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So if you can put balls in front of the quote

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unquote weaker player,

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right? The targeted player by in front of them,

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I mean,

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so that the ball has to be hit directly towards them,

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you're making it harder for your opponents to target that player

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with dinks and with dirt shots and things like that.

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Now, they could speed the ball up to them potentially,

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and if the player doesn't know how to get outta the

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way, that's problematic.

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But it is a way to,

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to, to try and funnel balls in your direction by hitting

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balls diagonal to you.

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So putting balls that are cross court to you,

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inviting your opponents to hit balls into that spot that into

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diagonal spot.

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Another thing that you can do is you can put yourself

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in the position that your opponents are trying to target.

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By position,

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I mean the place on the court,

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more often than not,

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players are enamored with the left side of the core up

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at the naali zone,

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right? So the,

271
00:08:34,470 --> 00:08:37,050
the odd side of the court up by the naali zone,

272
00:08:37,180 --> 00:08:39,850
which is the right-handed backhand of the left,

273
00:08:40,150 --> 00:08:40,890
the player on the left,

274
00:08:41,290 --> 00:08:42,450
right-handed backhand,

275
00:08:42,450 --> 00:08:43,570
right? If there's a right-handed player,

276
00:08:44,110 --> 00:08:46,770
that's the preferred spot on the court for a lot of

277
00:08:46,770 --> 00:08:47,930
players at a lot of levels,

278
00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:51,090
they'll hit that spot mercilessly again and again and again.

279
00:08:51,550 --> 00:08:53,130
So if you want to protect somebody,

280
00:08:53,950 --> 00:08:54,250
you know,

281
00:08:54,250 --> 00:08:54,810
protect a player,

282
00:08:54,810 --> 00:08:56,450
what you do is you put yourself there.

283
00:08:56,710 --> 00:08:58,610
Now that does require some knowledge of stacking,

284
00:08:58,620 --> 00:09:01,690
right? Because if you're in a situation where you would normally

285
00:09:01,690 --> 00:09:03,330
be on the right and your partner would be on the

286
00:09:03,330 --> 00:09:04,970
left and you want to protect that player,

287
00:09:05,470 --> 00:09:07,810
you're gonna need to get over to the left side to

288
00:09:07,810 --> 00:09:09,090
cover that area of the court that,

289
00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:15,450
that player's favor making it more uncomfortable for your opponents to

290
00:09:15,450 --> 00:09:17,730
then hit to the weaker player.

291
00:09:17,790 --> 00:09:19,250
So those are a couple of things that you can,

292
00:09:19,250 --> 00:09:21,250
well, one is advice for you not to target.

293
00:09:21,750 --> 00:09:24,490
And then there's two things that advice there in terms of

294
00:09:24,790 --> 00:09:29,290
taking the ball off of your weaker players paddle sometimes or

295
00:09:29,290 --> 00:09:31,850
taking some stress off of them by hitting balls in front

296
00:09:32,010 --> 00:09:33,850
of them so that forcing the,

297
00:09:34,030 --> 00:09:37,290
the, your opponents to try and hit direct to the player,

298
00:09:37,570 --> 00:09:39,010
straight to the player as opposed to diagonal.

299
00:09:39,430 --> 00:09:42,130
And then the other thing is putting yourself in the position

300
00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:44,290
that is favored by your opponents.

301
00:09:44,290 --> 00:09:44,810
The one that they,

302
00:09:44,830 --> 00:09:45,970
the place they wanna hit the ball.

303
00:09:46,630 --> 00:09:49,530
And then another piece of advice when you're playing with the

304
00:09:49,530 --> 00:09:53,730
weaker player to make the game more competitive is you would

305
00:09:53,730 --> 00:09:58,810
then take more chances when you have the ball in front

306
00:09:58,950 --> 00:09:59,690
of you.

307
00:10:00,230 --> 00:10:02,170
So whenever you have a chance at the ball,

308
00:10:02,870 --> 00:10:06,250
you may need to be a little bit more aggressive,

309
00:10:06,370 --> 00:10:07,010
a little bit more,

310
00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:09,930
open up the game a little more for yourself,

311
00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:13,810
take more chances because you're only gonna get so many touches

312
00:10:13,950 --> 00:10:14,450
on the ball,

313
00:10:14,450 --> 00:10:15,730
you know that you're only gonna get,

314
00:10:16,630 --> 00:10:16,930
you know,

315
00:10:16,950 --> 00:10:19,610
to touch every one out of every five balls or six

316
00:10:19,610 --> 00:10:20,530
balls or four balls,

317
00:10:20,730 --> 00:10:21,050
whatever it is.

318
00:10:21,430 --> 00:10:23,130
And so when you get that opportunity,

319
00:10:23,190 --> 00:10:25,650
you're probably going to have to try and do something with

320
00:10:25,650 --> 00:10:26,210
it if,

321
00:10:26,710 --> 00:10:27,010
you know,

322
00:10:27,010 --> 00:10:29,490
in order to give yourself the best chance hidden the rally.

323
00:10:29,510 --> 00:10:31,770
So that's another thing that you can do from a practical

324
00:10:31,770 --> 00:10:36,050
standpoint, from a mental standpoint,

325
00:10:36,050 --> 00:10:37,290
right? When you're in these situations,

326
00:10:37,300 --> 00:10:39,050
let's, lemme give you three tips in,

327
00:10:39,070 --> 00:10:39,730
in that area.

328
00:10:40,470 --> 00:10:41,330
Number one is,

329
00:10:41,870 --> 00:10:43,890
is, is managing your expectations,

330
00:10:44,180 --> 00:10:47,490
right? You just need to manage the expectations when you're in

331
00:10:47,490 --> 00:10:48,170
these situations.

332
00:10:48,700 --> 00:10:50,370
Understand, you know,

333
00:10:50,370 --> 00:10:51,570
what's going on in the,

334
00:10:51,630 --> 00:10:52,090
in the,

335
00:10:52,350 --> 00:10:53,010
in the court,

336
00:10:53,030 --> 00:10:54,170
what's going on in the,

337
00:10:54,270 --> 00:10:54,690
in the,

338
00:10:56,070 --> 00:10:56,370
you know,

339
00:10:56,370 --> 00:10:56,890
in the game.

340
00:10:57,070 --> 00:10:59,610
And manage your expectations in that situation.

341
00:11:00,250 --> 00:11:00,570
You know,

342
00:11:00,570 --> 00:11:01,530
understand that your,

343
00:11:02,710 --> 00:11:06,730
you're obviously at a disadvantage if your opponents decide to heavily

344
00:11:06,830 --> 00:11:09,490
target your partner and your partner is in fact,

345
00:11:09,490 --> 00:11:09,890
there's a,

346
00:11:09,890 --> 00:11:11,970
there's a significant imbalance on the court.

347
00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:13,330
Yeah, yeah.

348
00:11:14,070 --> 00:11:17,210
Not realistic to expect that you're gonna succeed in that game,

349
00:11:17,210 --> 00:11:22,010
right? And even if winning and losing isn't your main metric,

350
00:11:22,010 --> 00:11:23,650
right? As we talk about it in this podcast,

351
00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:25,650
then you know,

352
00:11:25,710 --> 00:11:26,170
you, you,

353
00:11:26,190 --> 00:11:27,290
you at back of your mind,

354
00:11:27,290 --> 00:11:27,890
you're still like,

355
00:11:27,890 --> 00:11:28,970
you still wanna win.

356
00:11:29,050 --> 00:11:29,450
I get that.

357
00:11:29,710 --> 00:11:31,730
So you're gonna have to manage expectations when you're in the

358
00:11:31,730 --> 00:11:34,050
situations. Before I forget there,

359
00:11:34,050 --> 00:11:35,690
there's one more practical tip I'm gonna give you in a

360
00:11:35,690 --> 00:11:37,050
second. So let's get to two more mental,

361
00:11:37,070 --> 00:11:38,170
I'm gonna give you one more practical tip.

362
00:11:39,470 --> 00:11:40,210
So, you know,

363
00:11:40,210 --> 00:11:41,410
magic expectations is,

364
00:11:41,550 --> 00:11:42,690
is is important.

365
00:11:43,230 --> 00:11:45,370
The other thing that you can do,

366
00:11:45,430 --> 00:11:46,810
and it this depends on the,

367
00:11:46,990 --> 00:11:48,370
in the context that you're in,

368
00:11:48,370 --> 00:11:48,730
right? The,

369
00:11:49,110 --> 00:11:51,810
the, the ecosystem that you play in your facility and the

370
00:11:51,810 --> 00:11:56,250
other players have a conversation with the other players not in

371
00:11:56,250 --> 00:11:56,490
the moment,

372
00:11:56,490 --> 00:11:59,290
right? They'll make it awkward for the players being targeted,

373
00:11:59,790 --> 00:12:02,770
but if you're one of the better players in that facility,

374
00:12:02,770 --> 00:12:04,770
right? And that I assume you are,

375
00:12:04,770 --> 00:12:05,250
if you're,

376
00:12:05,350 --> 00:12:08,450
if your partners the one getting targeted in these situations,

377
00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:10,930
have a conversation with your,

378
00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:12,210
with your peers,

379
00:12:12,210 --> 00:12:15,050
right? With the other players that are at your level and

380
00:12:15,050 --> 00:12:17,530
have an understanding that you're not gonna freeze the player out,

381
00:12:17,530 --> 00:12:19,210
right? You're not gonna not hit to that player,

382
00:12:19,710 --> 00:12:22,370
but that you're gonna play more a more balanced game,

383
00:12:22,370 --> 00:12:24,810
right? You're gonna try and direct some balls to the better

384
00:12:24,810 --> 00:12:27,410
players when they're opposite you and then give some balls to

385
00:12:27,410 --> 00:12:30,850
the weaker player to get them involved in the game,

386
00:12:31,190 --> 00:12:32,930
but not targeting the weaker player.

387
00:12:32,950 --> 00:12:35,970
That's a conversation you can have as long as the ecosystem

388
00:12:36,170 --> 00:12:36,850
supports it,

389
00:12:36,850 --> 00:12:37,050
you know,

390
00:12:37,050 --> 00:12:37,370
you have,

391
00:12:37,770 --> 00:12:38,850
it's a friendly ecosystem,

392
00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:40,290
everybody understand each other,

393
00:12:40,680 --> 00:12:41,690
have that conversation,

394
00:12:42,230 --> 00:12:42,570
you know,

395
00:12:42,670 --> 00:12:43,250
off the court,

396
00:12:43,870 --> 00:12:44,170
you know,

397
00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:47,010
perhaps even before or after the session just to have a

398
00:12:47,010 --> 00:12:49,930
conversation about what to expect in terms of targeting.

399
00:12:50,730 --> 00:12:51,490
Because here's the thing,

400
00:12:51,490 --> 00:12:51,890
it, you know,

401
00:12:51,890 --> 00:12:53,330
what goes around comes around as they say,

402
00:12:53,330 --> 00:12:53,930
right? So if you,

403
00:12:54,150 --> 00:12:55,570
if you're getting targeted this time,

404
00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:57,370
then you know,

405
00:12:57,840 --> 00:12:59,770
whoever's doing the targeting may be the,

406
00:12:59,990 --> 00:13:01,050
the victim next time,

407
00:13:01,050 --> 00:13:02,250
right? Of that kind of a play.

408
00:13:02,510 --> 00:13:02,890
So it,

409
00:13:02,890 --> 00:13:03,930
it helps everybody out,

410
00:13:03,930 --> 00:13:04,210
you know,

411
00:13:04,210 --> 00:13:05,890
and it helps the new player or the,

412
00:13:05,910 --> 00:13:08,770
the weaker player feel more confident and get better and that,

413
00:13:08,770 --> 00:13:09,690
listen, at the end of the day,

414
00:13:10,470 --> 00:13:10,730
you know,

415
00:13:10,730 --> 00:13:11,650
we want to enjoy the game,

416
00:13:11,650 --> 00:13:13,570
but we also want to let other players enjoy the game

417
00:13:13,570 --> 00:13:13,890
as well.

418
00:13:15,030 --> 00:13:16,690
It also just from a selfish standpoint,

419
00:13:16,690 --> 00:13:18,650
you want other players to be able to get better because

420
00:13:18,650 --> 00:13:19,250
it helps you,

421
00:13:19,250 --> 00:13:21,250
right? You get more players to play against who are better

422
00:13:21,250 --> 00:13:21,930
and can push you.

423
00:13:22,230 --> 00:13:22,890
So, you know,

424
00:13:22,890 --> 00:13:24,730
that's a more positive environment for everybody.

425
00:13:25,830 --> 00:13:27,130
And then the,

426
00:13:28,230 --> 00:13:31,130
the other thing that you need to be really conscientious of

427
00:13:31,130 --> 00:13:32,010
when you're playing in a,

428
00:13:32,010 --> 00:13:34,650
in a heavily imbalanced situation is,

429
00:13:35,350 --> 00:13:36,930
is being extra supportive.

430
00:13:37,270 --> 00:13:38,690
And what I mean by this is,

431
00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:40,010
generally speaking,

432
00:13:40,310 --> 00:13:43,610
the weaker player is gonna know that they're the weaker player,

433
00:13:43,660 --> 00:13:45,570
right? They're gonna know that they're,

434
00:13:46,230 --> 00:13:46,530
you know,

435
00:13:46,530 --> 00:13:48,810
they're, it's kinda like the old Sesame Street thing where they

436
00:13:48,810 --> 00:13:49,090
have the,

437
00:13:49,110 --> 00:13:51,810
you have the four objects and then like,

438
00:13:51,810 --> 00:13:53,930
which doesn't fit in this situation.

439
00:13:54,650 --> 00:13:57,210
A lot of times a weaker player is aware that they

440
00:13:57,340 --> 00:14:00,130
don't exactly fit on the court in that situation.

441
00:14:00,950 --> 00:14:05,090
And so they're gonna be particularly sensitive potentially to any negative

442
00:14:05,330 --> 00:14:06,290
feedback that you per that,

443
00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:07,410
that they may perceive.

444
00:14:07,410 --> 00:14:08,490
Even if you're not giving it to 'em,

445
00:14:08,490 --> 00:14:10,050
they may perceive negative feedback.

446
00:14:10,510 --> 00:14:12,330
So try and be extra careful with your,

447
00:14:12,550 --> 00:14:12,850
you know,

448
00:14:12,850 --> 00:14:13,530
your shoulders,

449
00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:16,370
your head moving and things like that when the mistakes happen

450
00:14:16,370 --> 00:14:17,290
because you expect them to happen,

451
00:14:17,290 --> 00:14:22,570
right? And one recommendation there would be to really make sure

452
00:14:22,570 --> 00:14:24,810
you turn towards your partner in that situation.

453
00:14:24,870 --> 00:14:25,330
In other words,

454
00:14:25,330 --> 00:14:26,930
turn towards the middle after every rally,

455
00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:28,290
make eye contact,

456
00:14:28,750 --> 00:14:29,290
tap paddle,

457
00:14:29,420 --> 00:14:30,650
smile, whatever works for you.

458
00:14:30,910 --> 00:14:33,170
But do something to let them know that everything's gonna be

459
00:14:33,570 --> 00:14:35,370
a okay and not to,

460
00:14:35,670 --> 00:14:35,970
you know,

461
00:14:36,230 --> 00:14:36,770
and certainly,

462
00:14:36,830 --> 00:14:37,090
you know,

463
00:14:37,090 --> 00:14:40,330
to try and avoid the possibility that they're gonna think that

464
00:14:40,330 --> 00:14:41,210
you're upset or,

465
00:14:41,350 --> 00:14:41,650
you know,

466
00:14:41,650 --> 00:14:43,010
disappointed in them somehow.

467
00:14:44,010 --> 00:14:44,890
Alright, so what,

468
00:14:44,890 --> 00:14:45,530
let give you one more,

469
00:14:45,530 --> 00:14:46,570
those are three mental sides.

470
00:14:46,570 --> 00:14:47,890
Lemme give you one more practical tip,

471
00:14:47,940 --> 00:14:48,650
which is this.

472
00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:52,850
When you're playing with a potentially weaker player,

473
00:14:53,890 --> 00:14:58,730
consider your position on the court to be more defensive.

474
00:14:59,030 --> 00:15:02,410
So I'm gonna use a baseball analogy slash metaphor here,

475
00:15:02,420 --> 00:15:05,370
which is think of yourself as being sort of like a

476
00:15:05,370 --> 00:15:06,050
center fielder.

477
00:15:06,110 --> 00:15:07,370
And football would be like a safety,

478
00:15:07,370 --> 00:15:08,090
right? Where you're,

479
00:15:08,510 --> 00:15:14,530
you're taking a more neutral defensive kind of position because what

480
00:15:14,530 --> 00:15:18,170
you're, you expect is that the weaker player when they're put

481
00:15:18,170 --> 00:15:20,850
under stress is gonna result in some sort of a pop-up,

482
00:15:20,870 --> 00:15:23,290
or they're gonna try and hit an attack ball that's gonna

483
00:15:23,290 --> 00:15:24,210
get countered and things like that.

484
00:15:25,550 --> 00:15:28,090
Put yourself in a position where you can do the most

485
00:15:28,230 --> 00:15:30,410
to help defend against that situation.

486
00:15:30,910 --> 00:15:33,810
And generally what I'll do in those situations is I will

487
00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:38,210
play towards the middle and then a little bit behind the

488
00:15:38,210 --> 00:15:39,050
non volley zone line.

489
00:15:39,110 --> 00:15:39,890
So maybe like a,

490
00:15:40,050 --> 00:15:42,050
a step or two off the non volley zone line.

491
00:15:42,650 --> 00:15:42,850
You know,

492
00:15:43,010 --> 00:15:45,130
whenever my partner hits the ball and I see something that

493
00:15:45,130 --> 00:15:47,450
looks a little bit suspect right?

494
00:15:47,450 --> 00:15:48,210
Coming off the paddle,

495
00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:49,330
I'll take a step back,

496
00:15:49,470 --> 00:15:52,050
get myself nice and centered on the court and give myself

497
00:15:52,090 --> 00:15:54,130
a chance to work on my defense and trying to reset

498
00:15:54,130 --> 00:15:54,890
the ball after that.

499
00:15:54,990 --> 00:15:55,650
So those are,

500
00:15:55,820 --> 00:15:57,690
those are some things you can do when you're playing open

501
00:15:57,690 --> 00:15:58,970
play. At the end of the day,

502
00:15:58,970 --> 00:16:00,530
just remember that it's one game,

503
00:16:00,530 --> 00:16:02,850
right? Or a couple of games during a session that you're,

504
00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:03,530
that you're,

505
00:16:03,590 --> 00:16:03,850
you know,

506
00:16:03,850 --> 00:16:04,650
in that situation,

507
00:16:04,650 --> 00:16:05,890
it's not the end of the world.

508
00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:08,330
There's, there's a lot of games to be played.

509
00:16:08,790 --> 00:16:09,130
You know,

510
00:16:09,420 --> 00:16:10,770
enjoy your moments on the court,

511
00:16:10,860 --> 00:16:11,970
enjoy your time on the court.

512
00:16:11,990 --> 00:16:12,850
In that situation,

513
00:16:13,410 --> 00:16:15,050
if you could have an understanding at your,

514
00:16:15,190 --> 00:16:17,890
at your facility in terms of how you're gonna deal with

515
00:16:17,890 --> 00:16:19,570
situations, the better.

516
00:16:20,270 --> 00:16:21,130
But even if you don't,

517
00:16:21,510 --> 00:16:21,810
you know,

518
00:16:21,810 --> 00:16:22,410
those are a couple,

519
00:16:22,510 --> 00:16:24,570
the few things that you can do to give yourself the

520
00:16:24,570 --> 00:16:29,170
best chance to in those games and to help minimize the

521
00:16:29,170 --> 00:16:31,970
amount of targeting of your partner.

522
00:16:32,870 --> 00:16:36,490
So hopefully those tips will help you and open play.

523
00:16:37,270 --> 00:16:38,130
And as you know,

524
00:16:38,130 --> 00:16:41,410
and it's just another step along our understanding or thinking about

525
00:16:41,410 --> 00:16:42,050
the game,

526
00:16:42,830 --> 00:16:44,090
our application of,

527
00:16:44,310 --> 00:16:46,010
of sound concepts,

528
00:16:46,010 --> 00:16:46,770
sound ideas,

529
00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:51,570
when we're out there playing this awesome sport of Pickleball.

530
00:16:53,110 --> 00:16:53,650
As always,

531
00:16:53,990 --> 00:16:55,090
if you enjoyed the podcast,

532
00:16:55,590 --> 00:16:57,170
please share with your friends.

533
00:16:57,630 --> 00:17:01,210
If you know a player who's on the journey and would

534
00:17:01,210 --> 00:17:02,530
benefit from hearing these words,

535
00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:05,770
then if you enjoyed the words and they helped you,

536
00:17:06,310 --> 00:17:08,210
I'm gonna bet they're gonna help that.

537
00:17:08,830 --> 00:17:09,290
As always,

538
00:17:09,290 --> 00:17:10,410
keep enjoying this gift.

539
00:17:10,410 --> 00:17:14,010
Keep enjoying this beautiful game that is Pickleball and I'll see

540
00:17:14,010 --> 00:17:14,370
you next time.