Before we get into the podcast,
wanted to let you know that our holiday store is closing
soon. I am told that on December 6th,
the store will be closed so that all of the products
can be get gotten ready and shipped out in time for
the holidays.
So if you've been waiting to get a Pickleball therapy cap
shirt, sweater or something else,
now is your time.
I'll put a link down in the show notes.
Hello and welcome to Pickleball Therapy,
the podcast dedicated to your Pickleball improvement.
It's the podcast with you in mind.
My name is Tony Roy,
guy, I'm your podcast host.
Week to week hope to bring you information about the mental
part of this beautiful sport that we call Pickleball to help
you better play,
better feel,
and just have a deeper,
more fulfilling relationship with this awesome sport of Pickleball.
What we're gonna do in this week's podcast is we are
going to start a new format for the podcast us.
Usually you're used to having two subjects in each podcast.
One is like the main subject,
maybe not like the main subject.
It is the main subject.
And then the second subject usually be a riff of some
sort. What I want to try is I want to try
doing a single subject for the podcast.
The reason is there's a lot going on in in our
lives. There's a lot going on on the Pickleball court,
and there's just a lot to this process of improving our
mental fortitude when we,
when we en engage with the sport.
And so going to a single subject,
I think will allow us to really hone in on that
one subject,
have that one subject in mind when we go out to
play, and then riff episodes.
Those will come out from time to time.
Those will just be marked as special episodes.
Those will drop other days during the week,
but Fridays will be reserved for our single subject.
And this week what we're gonna di dive into is we're
gonna talk about navigating a game.
I think it's really helpful to have some better perspective when
we're out there on navigating a game.
And I'm gonna tell you a story that happened to me
during Nationals,
a game that I played in,
and how there's different ways of experiencing that.
And I'll tell you how I experienced it,
and then you can see what you think about,
about that process.
And I think it's something that you'll be able to apply
to your game as well.
As we dive into the podcast,
I wanted to let you know that we have our new
camp dates for 2024 or coming out if they're not out
already when you hear this.
So if you want to know more about that,
go to better Pickleball dot com,
check out the camps button or go to the camps and
then you'll see what's available to you.
We're, we're trying to,
we're gonna definitely have an additional camp in Tampa,
I believe.
There may still be some spots,
but I'm not a hundred percent sure because I know that
there was a waiting list for that.
And then we have our Tahoe camps in June,
and then we have some Sacramento camps.
So we're gonna be out in California somewhere in the Sacramento
area sometime in March.
So take A look at those when you get a minute
if you're interested in joining us for one of our camps.
All right,
so let's talk about navigating a game.
And I wanna focus here on a big picture.
In subsequent episodes,
we'll talk about more specific,
we'll fine tune it,
right? We'll go deep into like,
you know,
come coming back or,
or, you know,
closing out a game when you're ahead,
things like that.
But let's,
let's look at a big picture approach or a big picture
way of thinking about how we navigate a game of Pickleball.
And when you think about a game of Pickleball,
what what's happening out there is,
obviously we have a lot of rallies,
right? We're serving,
returning, hitting other shots,
and there's a series of rallies that occur,
some that result in points,
some that end up with no points at the end.
And then at the end of a certain amount of rall,
a certain number of rallies,
one of us is declared the victor,
right? One of us gets to 11,
usually that's what we're playing to,
right? So one of us ends up with 11,
and the other one ends up with some other score,
you know,
5, 6,
3, 9,
whatever it is.
And we're done.
We go to the,
to the,
to the net.
We tap paddles and our,
our experience is completed for that game.
I think that when you start thinking about Pickleball that way,
it gives you a better sense of,
of framing out what's going on when you're playing a game.
Because what happens is we get swept up in the score.
You know,
let's say that we're down eight one or we're up eight
one. That tends to have an effect on how we feel
during that,
that phase of the game.
And potentially also how we're playing in that at that stage,
right? In that point of the,
of the,
or that,
that stage of the,
of the game when really it shouldn't.
I have often mused about playing the game in a way
where we would simply go out to the court,
we would start the game,
we would play no score called other than the server,
you know,
server changing back and forth.
And then at some point there'd be like a light in
the middle of the,
of the court that would turn on like a red light
or something indicating game is over.
And we would walk up together,
we tap paddles,
we'd look at a,
at a a,
a display and it would say,
you know,
team A 11,
team B seven or whatever.
And that way,
you know,
it'd be much more enjoyable because that's really what we're doing.
It's just a series of independent rallies that wrap and conclude
that again,
some have scores,
some don't,
depending on on who,
what, right?
The serve team or the return team.
And then at the end we just,
you know,
have a number and one of us got to 11,
one didn't,
and it,
that way of playing would be,
we'd play better.
And frankly,
we would just feel better during the process,
not worry so much about,
you know,
it being eight,
eight or nine two,
whatever the score is.
And so let me relate to you a story that I
Think will help flesh this out a little more.
And it had to do with a game we played at
Nationals. It's on the back draw,
so it's a game to 15.
And me and my partner Brian,
we were on a,
one of those,
they call 'em a blind date.
We knew each other from other tournaments we had,
you know,
we were acquaintances,
Pickleball acquaintances from tournaments and things like that.
Always said hi to each other,
but we had never played as partners in anything a a
tournament or not.
Our partner,
our respective regular partners for the tournament got in,
were injured,
so we are unable to play.
So we,
we joined up,
that's why they call it a blind date.
So we were in our fourth match of the day.
We had one,
two at that stage.
We had one,
two and lost one.
So we were in the backdrop.
So it's one game to 15,
and we're playing a very good team.
I just call 'em the Todds because it's,
it's Todd Robertson and Todd Curtis.
Both very good players,
just to give you a sense.
We were seat at number 18 in the tournament.
They were seated number 10 in the tournament.
So solid team.
And we raced off to a crazy start.
So we were up eight,
one, and at the game of 15,
you switched sides.
So we switched sides at eight one,
and we were able to extend the lead to 11 to
one. The Todds weren't going anywhere.
So they started to,
you know,
not started,
they had been fighting the whole time,
but they sorted themselves out and,
and, and clawed back.
But the score at its at its zenith,
if you will,
for us,
was we were up 13 to four.
So we had a score of 13 to four,
a nine point lead,
and a game to 15.
So only two points left to complete the,
the game.
You know,
I, I've gone back and looked at the video and,
and I'm gonna post a video in probably the next few
weeks here on the YouTube channel,
but I've looked at the video from the stage of the
game where we were up big,
right? 13 four to the end.
And I don't wanna spoil you.
So I'm,
I'm, I'm gonna hold,
I'm gonna hold back on what happened.
But, but what,
you know,
we played some rallies that were silently in our favor,
meaning we had the upper hand,
we, we had finishing shots,
so we thought,
and the Todds just were able to dig themselves out of
those holes.
And what ends up happening is we don't score another point.
So we're at 13,
they score a few points,
we're at 13,
they score a few more points.
We're at 13,
we just weren't able,
able to,
never able to break out of 13.
So we end up losing the game 15,
13. Now,
obviously, you know,
no one wants to lose.
I don't wanna lose,
you know,
you go out there,
you battle,
you do your best,
but it's part of the,
it's part of the,
it's just part of the game,
right? It's part of the process of playing Pickleball and part
of the experience.
And what I would suggest is that it's the,
it's not the score,
right? So Brian and I losing 15,
13 to Todd and Todd or the Todds is not a
big deal.
In other words,
that's okay.
I mean,
you know,
we didn't win that one.
15, 13,
that's a,
that's a Solid score.
What makes it,
you know,
and probably by now you're thinking to yourself,
oh my God,
you're up 11 one,
you're up 13 four.
And that's perfectly natural.
But that what makes it feel weird is the order in
which the scores were accumulated,
if you want to think about it that way,
because we knew that at one point in the game we
were up 13 to four and next thing you know,
we had,
you know,
the next nine points scored we're all scored by Todd,
right? Todd's there were nine zero the next points.
And what's interesting is,
is, you know,
I like to relate a story that a,
a friend who I used to play tennis with,
a gentleman named Chip and I were playing one time,
this is tennis days for me,
pre Pickleball,
but the lesson carried over and we were having a beer
after, after playing some singles.
And I had,
we walked off the court and that set and I had
just the set had finished 7.5
in favor of Chip.
And again,
not a big deal 'cause Chip was a very good tennis
player. And so losing 7.5
in a set to Chip,
not a big deal,
but I had been out five one in that,
in that set.
And so in conversation with Chip,
I said,
you know,
ah, you know,
I was kind of down on myself,
right? I was like,
oh, you know,
I was all five one,
I, you know,
I, yeah,
I can,
that, that was just as tough to whatever.
And Chip looked at me and he,
it was a great thing he said to me,
he said,
Tony, why are you able to have a five to one
run in the ca set,
but I'm not allowed to do the same thing.
Made me think,
right? What am I special or something?
Am I the only one who can do that?
And to be fair,
you know,
I have come back from,
you know,
I've won games where I've been down ten one before,
you know,
and not myself,
but me and my partner,
right? We've won games,
where're down 10,
one, I've,
I've won the tennis when I've been down and won Match.
I was down four one or something like that in the
first set and I ended up winning 6,
4, 6 0.
'cause I changed strategy.
So I've been on both sides of it.
The the positive side and the negative side of the,
of the,
of the coin,
if you will,
in terms of,
you know,
my my Pickleball and tennis background.
But going back to the,
the Todd's game,
we were up big,
Brian and I were up big,
we're up 11 one.
But why are,
do we have like a,
a monopoly on that,
on on scoring,
on making big runs?
Because I'm gonna suggest to you that that's not how the
world works.
You know,
if you're playing at level,
and I would suggest to you,
we're playing at level,
we're all senior pro players and,
and if you look at it objectively,
they were a higher seed than we were.
It's natural to expect that you will perform and score points
and do good things and do things that aren't,
aren't great,
right? We did a prior episode,
pretty sure we did a prior episode about Pickleball being messy.
If we didn't,
I'll make sure to record it next,
but I'm pretty sure it's out there.
And so,
you know,
we're gonna do some things that are good,
some things that are not great,
but so are they.
And so When you're playing,
when you're navigating a game,
understand that the order of the points being scored isn't that
important. In other words,
you know,
you being up,
you know,
nine three or nine two and then them making a comeback
isn't a thing.
You know,
obviously at some point we end the game,
right? That's where that light idea comes up.
The, the one where the red light just goes on.
But it's not about,
it's not about I scored nine first and they scored only
two, and then at the end of the day they ended
up scoring the next nine and I could score zero.
So like a nine two run in my favor.
And then they go on a nine zero run.
That's just part of the game.
And the score is going to have some runs again,
that'll be your favor and there's gonna be some runs in
the favor of your opponents.
And at the end of the day,
once that bell,
that bell gets rung or the light goes off and one
of you got to 11 or in,
in the case of the,
the game that I recounted to you,
15, that's it,
that's the end of the game and you're done.
And getting caught up on the order of the score during
a game can be potentially distracting and sometimes even having negative,
negative carryover because you may feel like you failed or like
you, you did something wrong because the order of the score
makes you feel that way,
not the final result of,
of the game and not how you performed.
Because when I looked back at the video,
you know,
did Brian and I play perfectly when we're up 13 four?
No, of course not.
We did not.
But did we play poorly?
I don't think we played that poorly.
What I do think happened was that the Todds played much
better and they played flawless Pickleball.
Again, if you go back to a score of 13 four,
what does that tell you?
It tells you the Todds did not gift us a single
point from,
from that phase of the game to the end,
right? They didn't miss a return of serve,
they didn't miss a silly four shot.
We put a lot of pressure on them.
There was a lot of balls they had to hit.
And you know what?
They hit them and they hit them all and they hit
them well and then they were able to,
to string some points together here and there until they got
to 15 before we're able to get there.
So when you're navigating the games,
understand that,
that if you're playing at level,
you have to be you,
you, you need to be playing in an environment where there's
a chance you're gonna lose.
If you're playing Pickleball in an environment where there is a
0% chance that you're gonna lose that game,
you're not playing at level,
you're not frankly,
to to,
to my way of viewing the game.
You're not really doing anything because you need to be in
a situation where there's a chance that you might lose that
game for it to really mean something to you.
And when you think about games and you think reflect back
on games that mattered normally,
most of the games that mattered and that you remember are
the tough ones,
are the ones where you were behind and,
and, and,
you know,
dug deep and came back.
Were the ones where you were ahead and they came back
and you had to dig deep again.
You had to go back into the,
well, those are the ones that,
that really stand out.
So cherish those games that are close,
win or lose.
'cause sometimes you're gonna win and sometimes you're gonna lose.
Remember, that's the,
that's the deal when you go out there to play Pickleball.
And, and as you play,
try and keep that longer lens view of,
of the game and the,
and the,
and the sport.
And when you're playing a rally,
focus on execution in that rally.
Not so much what's the current state of the score because
you just gotta keep battling until that bell gets wrong or
that light gets lit up on the court.
Alright? So that's this week's podcast.
Hope you enjoyed the single format of the single subject.
I think it's,
it's gonna be a really good way to focus on one
thing at a time as we continue to work on the
mental aspect of the game,
on what we refer to as the athletic pillar at Better
Pickleball and inside our flagship course,
the Pickleball system.
But you know,
that athletic pillar is,
is one of those areas that's often overlooked.
Obviously, if you listen to this podcast,
you know,
good on you because you're,
you're spending some time focusing on a part of the game
that most players ignore and my,
from my perspective to their detriment,
not just in terms of how they feel about Pickleball,
but also how they're going to perform out on the Pickleball
court. As always,
if you enjoyed the podcast,
please consider rating and reviewing it.
It really helps us reach other players like you and share
with your friends.
'cause remember,
if you enjoyed the podcast,
they probably will too.
I'll have a great week and I'll see you next time.