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The podcast dedicated to your pickleball improvement. We are here to help you achieve your pickleball goals, with a focus on the mental part of your game. Our mission is to share with you a positive and more healthy way of engaging with pickleball. Together let’s forge a stronger relationship with the sport we all love. With the added benefit of playing better pickleball too. No matter what you are trying to accomplish in your pickleball journey, Pickleball Therapy is here to encourage and support you.
[00:00:00.250] - Speaker 1
Hello, and welcome to pickleball Therapy, the podcast dedicated to your pickleball improvement. This is a special episode of the podcast. We're fortunate to have with us a special guest, the incomparable Sara Weiss. If you're watching me on YouTube, you can see me pointing to behind me. If you can't, you just hear it, which is fine, too. Remember that our podcast is available on YouTube as well as on this platform that you're listening to it on. It's a really good interview with Sara where we talk about the interaction between pickleball and life, how those two work together. You'll hear about Sarah's personal journey in pickleball, and also this concept of being an animal on the court. It's a really cool way of thinking about... It's like a self-to concept that you're familiar with the inner game of tennis or our teachings here at the pickleball system inside the pickleball system. But the idea of being an animal on the court is really interesting. So I'm going to jump into the interview with Sara Weiss. I hope you enjoy it. Sara, it's a pleasure to have you on the pickleball Therapy podcast. Thanks for taking the time.
[00:00:58.000] - Speaker 1
How are you doing today?
[00:00:59.970] - Speaker 2
I'm fantastic. Thank you so much for having me.
[00:01:02.520] - Speaker 1
Absolutely. It's a pleasure. I have known about you and your pickleball journey for a while now, and it's a pleasure to get you on the podcast and talk about your journey. I now know, I didn't know this back then, but I now know that you've worked and continue to work in the personal development, personal growth area field. And so it's awesome to have someone with your knowledge and your experiences on the podcast to be able to talk to us about that. So let's dive into pickleball, Sarah. So tell us, how did you get involved in pickleball? And talk to us a little bit about your journey so far through pickleball.
[00:01:41.640] - Speaker 2
Sure. Sure. Personal development is important in this. With all the distractions and the craziness. And for me, I don't come from sports. So my background is personal development. I had a life coaching business. Actually, I still do. I still life coach, but I've And I shifted it into the pickleball life coaching. And I was so busy. I lived on Zoom. This was about three years ago. I was living on Zoom in my dining room. I had this little office set up on my dining room table, and my kids' lives was happening right behind me. And I'm always shushing them because I'm teaching, I'm doing webinars, I'm running group calls and private calls. I'm teaching people how to live their best life while my kids' lives are happening behind me. And I was starting to resent that a little bit. I was making very good money, but I was burning out and not living the life I really wanted, which was to be present with my family and to serve my family more than I was serving all of my clients, which to me was really important. I had this purpose and this passion for something I loved, but it was also taking me away from doing that with my family.
[00:02:48.910] - Speaker 2
But one day, I'm sitting watching Netflix and I get this production anxiety. I wasn't being productive. I was watching Netflix in the middle of the day, and I'm 33 at this point, and I'm feeling that anxiety watching Netflix. I'm like, I don't know that that's how I want to feel right now. And I had this big introspection. I'm like, what's actually missing from my life? Because I'm living my purpose. I'm serving. I'm making impact. I'm doing something positive with my life, and I'm making good money doing it. And I'm sitting there, I'm like, what is it actually that's missing? Obviously, I want to spend more time with my family, but my heart said, you're not having much fun. You're not having fun. Go have fun. I was like, okay, well, what am I going to do? Go to a water park? I took my kids to a water park. And I was like, okay, this is cool, but I want more. And I think it was about two months later, someone invited me to try playing tennis, and they took me to what they thought was a tennis court and turned out to be a pickleball court.
[00:03:44.240] - Speaker 2
We had no idea what it was. He's hitting the ball to me. He's like, I'm pretty sure this isn't a tennis court, but I have no idea what it is. And he kept stopping like, It's bothering me. I don't know what this is. So we went home, we googled it, and we found out about Ben and Analee Waters playing the sport. One of the greatest female players was 14 at the time. I was like, What is this? How have we never heard of it? So we went to get these cheap paddles. We started hitting the ball. And again, I don't come from sports, so I'm like, Okay, whatever. I'll do this just to have fun with a friend. And every time I hit that ball and heard that sound, I was like, What's happening right now? Why am I liking this so much?
[00:04:24.770] - Speaker 1
You were transforming, Sarah. I was transforming you, the pop, pop sound.
[00:04:28.490] - Speaker 2
In real time. So I started to just... Yeah, I was just enjoying something very simple. And all of a sudden, I wanted more. I was like, I wanted more. And I'm thinking about it as I'm going to sleep. I'm like, how can I better play this game? Because I'm getting my butt kicked by this guy. I was so uncoordinated. I was really, really terrible at it, but I was starting to get better and better, but I wanted to get better, faster. So I started watching videos. I started following the pros. And then I wanted to play doubles because it was just singles at that And we looked for people. We found a club. It was like all of a sudden, it was happening so fast. And I got invited into this group where I was always at the bottom of King's Court, and it drove me nuts. These Peter Pauls and Doris who are well-retired or kicking my butt. And I'm like, that's unacceptable. So I started to take it serious. And all of a sudden, I'm so consumed by this sport, this game. And I'm like, this is what I want my life to focus on right now.
[00:05:30.460] - Speaker 2
It feels so good. I feel amazing. I'm treating my clients better. My family is getting a better side of me. And I started to put my business of life coaching. I stopped building it. I stopped taking it so serious. I let my current clients stick with me and I stopped building the clientele. And I made a balance between pickleball and life coaching. And it has led me to this amazing place where now I'm playing pro-qualifiers. I'm well-sponsored. It's something that I I talk about a lot on my social media. I coach, and I'm like the pickleball life coach because as we all know, this becomes a lifestyle, becomes our lives. So I've now been able to marry my life coaching with pickleball, and it really does marry very well because when you're playing pickleball, it's like it amplifies everything you do in your daily life. So if you find yourself getting frustrated, maybe because of your partner, maybe because of distractions, that's how you treat your life. It's something that I've learned about myself through playing. It's like, well, if this is how I handle this distraction or this challenge or this opportunity, how do I do it in my daily life?
[00:06:39.960] - Speaker 2
And when you look at it, it's very similar. It's like, huh? So I've been able to not only coach myself through that and learn how to use my mind and my perspective and my focus on the court, but how to take what I'm learning on the court into my real life and help teach other people who I coach through pickleball. So it's been really cool. And here I am.
[00:07:01.110] - Speaker 1
That is awesome. And what's interesting to hear is how different... Everybody has their own story, how they came across this sport. Mine, I don't think I shared with you. Mine is basically just I play tennis and I met my wife playing tennis on a mixed doubles team, and a mutual friend who was the captain of our mixed doubles team took us to play pickleball one day. And I'm thinking this is in 2015. I'm thinking it's going to be some BS. Yeah, but I wasn't anti-pickleball, but I wasn't Because I didn't know what pickleball was. I wasn't like, there wasn't that yet. It wasn't the tennis versus pickleball. I was just like, okay, whatever. We're going to go on a court and pop a ball around with some more people and we'll have lunch. It'll be fine. And then I got my butt kicked by who was the local Back then, he was the local tennis and pickleball pro at that facility. Super nice guy named Steve. And he put a whipping on me and I started to think, I'm like, wait a minute, this is actually a sport? And so then that's where I went down my path.
[00:07:57.200] - Speaker 1
But what's interesting to hear your path is basically you're like... And it Think about it, it's just total happenstance, right? You go to a facility and you're like, you're going to play tennis. And thank God for you that your friend... I would have stepped out of court, but like, Oh, this isn't a tennis court. Let's go somewhere else. Because I know immediately I'm like, this is not right. But your friend was at And he's like, maybe. So you stuck around long enough to keep hanging out a little bit till you got the figured it out. But let me ask you this because a lot of pickleball players, and a lot of listeners of the podcast, by extension, are folks that that didn't come from either any racquet sports background or any athletic background, a serious athletic background. And so let me ask you a question on... Let's pivot away from the mental and we'll come back to the mental. What's one thing that maybe if you can think back to the beginning of your process, when you're at the bottom of King Court and all that stuff, is there something that was a wake-up moment for you in your progression as a player?
[00:08:56.840] - Speaker 1
I'm not talking about playing pro-qualified, which is fantastic. You're doing that. I'm talking about Further back on your journey, was there something that you were like, Wow, this is the thing that's changing things for me because now I understand fill in the blank with whatever it is?
[00:09:10.020] - Speaker 2
Well, there's so many pieces of that puzzle that made me get addicted as we all get. And I think one of the biggest pieces, and you'll probably hear this a lot, is the people, right? You're playing and you're socializing. And it's almost like it lets your guard down. And to be able to do something primal and instinctive. And that was new to me. I guess people who have played and come from a sport background are already familiar with that primal instinctive thing. That was new to me. Everything that I had done up until that point with my life coaching and whatever education and business entrepreneurial ventures I've done are calculated and you plan for it, you structure, all this stuff. I get to be on the court and I don't have to overthink. And I think about a lot of things. On here, before I get on this podcast, I'm thinking, what do I want to get out of this? What do I want to give out of this? How do I want to serve? How do I want to bring value? All that stuff. And who's showing up today? When I'm on the court, all that's gone.
[00:10:16.790] - Speaker 2
I just show up and I let the animalistic primal version of myself do things and respond in the moment and get competitive and have fun at the same time. And it's just very primal. That was that clicked with me. It's like, okay, I'm going to let the animal version of Sarah free today and not worry about what my kids are doing, what my business is doing, what I'm saying here, what I'm thinking here. I'm just going to show up and be an animal.
[00:10:53.590] - Speaker 1
That's interesting because it's like a respite for you from the constraints of civilized society. You want to think about it that way? The constraints of the- Freedom. Right. I'm thinking about, and I think maybe we talked about this, that book, The Inner Game of Tennis. I'm not sure if we talked about that in our last conversation. I recall talking about somebody recently, but maybe it wasn't you. I'm not sure. But The Inner Game of Tennis is That's the concept of self-two in there. Self-two is what you're describing, which is the part of us that just naturally knows how to do things without needing to be told every detail. You can think of something It's simple like getting up from where you're at now and going to another room. It's not like you're like, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, turn left, turn right. Whereas a lot of things in our life, we process. I think that's something that actually holds back players sometimes in their development is as players, they get so micro-focused on like, I must hold a paddle in exactly this. My fingers must look like this as I hold the paddle because if they're like this, then that's not correct.
[00:11:59.350] - Speaker 1
It's got to be like this. And so if you're listening to this in audio, not watching us in video, what I'm doing is I'm just changing my fingers a little bit in my hand. But literally, players do that micro thing. And I'll tell you, I took a friend of mine who hasn't played any sports ever, and she's around 70-ish. And so lost her husband recently. So I was like, Let's just go play pickleball. Frankly, I hadn't thought about this before I took her, but we were talking about some other things that she had done, and she doesn't do them anymore because it reminds her of him. They never played pickleball together. I'm like, This is something you can do where you can meet friends and not feel like... There's not these memories all over the course or anything like that. But anyway, so we went to do it. I'm walking her through one of the things on the serve, but when she played, it was a beginner group. She was like, I could see her just hyper-focusing on her paddle, not letting her animal, what you mentioned, the animal go be loose and be free.
[00:12:57.240] - Speaker 1
I think that's an interesting way of thinking about when you're playing. Yeah, exactly. If you're listening to audio, Sarah is given the tiger thing. Yeah, you got to do the audio, too, Sarah. We got to throw that in there for the audiolizumine. But let's talk a little bit about, and thanks for sharing. That's a really interesting way of framing it. Let's talk a little bit more about this idea of... Because you and I did, I know we spent some time talking about this, which was how... And you've mentioned a couple of times, like pickleball life, coaching, pickleball life. And I think that's something that... I think players have a suspicion of it. They know it's there, and you see the terms thrown out and stuff like that. But maybe let's talk about that a little bit more about the way that pickleball and life coexist in a very, I don't want to say dependent manner. I'm trying to think of the right way of saying it, but basically where they interlace, the two interlace together. And it's not you can go play pickleball separate from your life and that the pickleball is not going to then impact your life later.
[00:14:06.940] - Speaker 1
So maybe let's play with that a little bit, Sarah, and let's talk about how you view the interaction of pickleball and the overall life experience of players.
[00:14:17.400] - Speaker 2
Well, I had this mentor once, and one of the biggest things that they mentioned to me was how you do one thing is how you do everything. And if you really look at how you respond and react to certain scenarios and you ask yourself, well, where else do I do this in my life? You'll notice that it matches up. And sport and pickleball gives us such a good opportunity to check how we handle situations instinctively. Like I was saying, how we become animalistic. And it's you rely on your instincts in a moment because as that ball is attacked at you, you have to have reflexes. You're not calculating it. It's something that you respond and react to. And that happens when a It all rolls onto your court for the fifth time in two rallies. And how do you feel? Now your emotions are involved and you start to have reactions, which are different from responses. Responses are calculated, reactions are instinctive and happen really quickly, and usually they're emotional. So a couple bad out calls. How do you react? A partner who's weaker than you and is not helping you win the game. How do you react to that?
[00:15:24.410] - Speaker 2
How do you treat them? All these little moments, I mean, obviously for someone me on social media, I get a lot of things said my way and directed. Most people know a little bit about my past and where I stand in this sport. So I have to deal with that. And we all have things in our lives that are happening in the background, and we sometimes bring our stress onto the cord. And there's all these little things. It's like, you got to ask yourself, how am I doing this in my other side of my life? Because, again, this amplifies it. You get more emotional on the court. Anyone ever see someone throw a hissy or throw a paddle. It's emotional. It really pushes us, and we get to feel all our emotions times 10. So I love looking at when I overreact on something. And let's all be honest, we all get to see these versions of ourselves, this animalistic version that maybe overreacts, overfeels, over-expresses. And I always ask myself, well, where else am I doing this in my life? And I remember the moment that I was starting to get good, I was getting around 4.0, and I started to then go from, oh, this is just fun to now I'm competitive.
[00:16:36.090] - Speaker 2
Now I have a bit of an ego because I have expectations for how good I am and who I should be able to beat and who I shouldn't lose to. And I've got this partner who's a little weaker than me. And I start feeling that huffy puffy, like eye roll attitude in me. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, who am I being right now? And I had to check myself and go, do I do this in my daily life? Is there anyone in my life who I I maybe mistreat or look down upon because they're not who I need them to be or expect them to be? And I looked in my life and I noticed a couple spots where it's like, oh, I'm doing that. And it was a big wake up call for me. And I had to ask myself, who do I want to be on the court and outside of the court? Who do I want to show up? How do I want to serve people? And the big answer to that was like, I want to be that supportive, encouraging cheerleader that I put myself out there as to my clients.
[00:17:30.750] - Speaker 2
And it brought me to this place where it's like, okay, that's a shift that I need to make not only on the pickleball court, but in my whole life. And I noticed how where certain situations would cause me to feel like, okay, you're not living up to who you are supposed to live up to. Instead of feeling that frustration about it, it was like, how can I encourage you to do so? How can I be there for you, support you, and cheer you on? So the big answer to me was, I want to be a cheerleader. I want to cheer my friends on. I want to cheer my clients I want to cheer my partners on. And what happened in my life was amazing. And what happened on my court was amazing. I would play with players weaker than me. And we would end up winning games that we, on paper, shouldn't win because instead of getting frustrated, I'd be like, that's okay, you got this.
[00:18:16.270] - Speaker 1
And all of a sudden- You view them with your confidence and they're playing with you, so they're playing more confident. So I think that cheerleader thing, Sarah, is super, super... I mean, imagine a world in which everybody was a cheerleader, right? It'd be amazing. I cheerlead you, you cheerlead me. Where sometimes I think people feel that they need to tear down other people in order... I guess, in order to feel better. I'm not sure what the motivation is, because you can't really fill in a proper motivation at the end of that paper.
[00:18:45.670] - Speaker 2
It's a way to blame them for us losing, right? So it's not on us.
[00:18:50.050] - Speaker 1
That's one aspect, though. But I was talking bigger picture, where people go out of their way to tear down somebody else. And you're like, what's the play in? Who are you getting out of it? Right. You don't get anything out of it. All you're doing is tearing somebody else down for no reason. And we're get to lead each other. But I think what you said about the way you do one thing is the way you do everything. I think it's interesting also to maybe flip that on its head a little bit, right? Which is... One thing, I mean, obviously, if you're noticing behavior, you're doing a pickleball court, like you said, makes sense, right? You're probably doing it off the pickleball court, too, right? With your family, with your friends, with your coworkers, things like that. But the other thing, and this is something that I think, the more I've gone down my own mental journey in pickleball, the more I understand that what I can fix in pickleball extends the other way. So it's like I can use pickleball as a microcosm to improve myself and to improve my behavior to stop the eye rolls and things, because I used to do the same thing.
[00:19:56.470] - Speaker 1
I used to have the eye roll thing and stuff like that. I'm I'm not saying I never do it. I'm not perfect, but I can tell you that it's not the same as it was before. Plus, I catch it quicker. I'll give you a quick story in a second. But the idea is that you can fix it in a pickleball court, it reverberates beyond the pickleball court. So that's the beautiful thing about this microcosm. But the story I share with you is I was playing with this two weeks ago, something like that. I'm playing with a group of friends of mine, and we're really nice games. And there's one of the players in the same name as me, the guy named Tony, Tony P. And so we have a good relationship where we can trash talk and mess around with each other in a constructive way, in a friendly way. Enjoy that, to be honest. Yeah, if you're doing it, if it's coming in from a good place, everybody's fine. And so Tony has a habit of hitting out balls. He knows he has a ton of outfalls. And so we're in one of these MLP style, back and forth, crazy.
[00:20:56.900] - Speaker 1
We'd come back from a deficit, and we're in that freeze, doing the thing, and freeze back and forth. And so we're ahead, and we get basically his match point. And it goes to him, and I'm like, No. And he hits it for the fifth time in the game. And so in the middle of the rally, I'm like, No, he needs to be like, Jesus. And we keep playing. So at the end, I was laughing. I was like, I think that Jesus... That one was called for, I think, Tony, right there, that Jesus. Anyway, but that's an example of behavior that under normal conditions wouldn't be It's inappropriate for me to yell at him, but in that case... And then the wait was done. Anyway, so Sarah, let me ask you one last thing. I know we're going to be wrapping up the conversation soon, But I wanted to ask you for one more day. I really like the idea that you shared with folks about the animal letting yourself permission to be free, perhaps, as the way I think about it. Go out in the court and give yourself some freedom and just Have fun and just enjoy the moment.
[00:22:02.370] - Speaker 1
I like the animal thing. I'm going to start using that. But with our students and stuff like that, especially when they're working on their game, like drills and stuff, is we tell them to spend some time, pretend like you're five again. I handed you a ball and a paddle and just said, You know what? Just have fun. Just learn how to hit the ball. As opposed to going back to like, Okay, I must hold up. It's such an adult way of approaching it as opposed to more of a childlike way of approaching it. But what I wanted to ask you for is if you have maybe one one nugget you could share, and you can go anywhere you want with this, but one nugget you want to share or you'd like to share with folks out there who maybe... Let's lean into this area, the area of I'm not having fun anymore, or I'm frustrated, or I'm disappointed, because I will tell you this, for me, the number one thing that I strive to avoid, if I can, for a player is for them to leave the sport unless they're leaving it for a good reason.
[00:23:03.990] - Speaker 1
If you're leaving it for a good... And the only good reason I can think of is you don't like it. Don't like it objectively, not don't like it because of how you feel because they're mixing things. So if you objectively don't like pickleball, hey, listen, there's other things you can do. Have a good time. I don't know anybody who fits that. And that's always my, I don't want to say my fear, but that's my worry, is that players may feel a little bit frustrated or maybe it's whatever, and they end up leaving the sport. That's terrible for them. So anyway, so maybe if you want to talk about that for a little bit, and maybe you have something you can share, personal or not, your choice, but in that area.
[00:23:40.270] - Speaker 2
I love this topic so much. And I've coached a lot of my clients. I actually do remote coaching with pickleball players, and most of them, their biggest issue is getting stuck in their head or getting frustrated, and it takes them away from winning. And you said something actually the other day that I really love, and I talk about it now with my clients, is If you're playing people your exact skill level, how many games should you win? You know, answer being 50 %. And I talk a lot with my clients and anyone, friends of mine. It's like, if you want to get better, you have to not only be okay, but embrace losing. You have to embrace it because those are where your greatest lessons come from. If someone's beating you because they have skills that you haven't developed, those are the people you need to learn from. So if they're kicking your butt using those skills, pay attention and be okay with that, embrace that. So I find that we get really caught up in our thought, which takes us out of being present and being animalistic and instinctive. If we drill, a lot of people who are touching 4.5 and going up.
[00:24:45.710] - Speaker 2
So when I'm talking with competitive players and even rec players who just want to be able to beat their friends, which feels good, it's that we get caught up.
[00:24:54.970] - Speaker 1
Fifty % of the time, Sarah.
[00:24:56.170] - Speaker 2
I'm just kidding. Right. Only 50 %.
[00:24:57.740] - Speaker 1
Maybe 52 52%, and then you're in good shape. You're doing 52%, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I couldn't resist.
[00:25:06.420] - Speaker 2
I couldn't resist when you said, Beat your friends.
[00:25:10.020] - Speaker 1
I'm like, 52% a time.
[00:25:11.330] - Speaker 2
Yes, only 50%, but we want to get better. Sometimes we hire coaches, sometimes we watch the pros, sometimes we do the things, we think, Okay, well, now I've got to make sure that my paddle face is facing this way and not the net. I don't want to hit the net, and I don't want to overshoot balls. I don't want to overswing. We think about all these things. We get caught up in thought. And that takes away from our instincts, which we drill. When we drill, this is the funny thing, when I talk to people who drill, it's like, well, when I drill, I do great. But then in the game, I get messed up. I'm like, that's where I've talked about many times, when you When you play, it's 80 % up here. It's 20 % mechanical. Eighty % controls the 20 %. It's how you think, how you feel. It's your comfort level, your emotional regulation. So when you're out there, the more you're thinking, typically the worse you're playing. So I've done research on what they call the zone. And if you've ever been in the zone, it's thoughtless, it's emotionless. You just perform and everything flows and clicks.
[00:26:07.950] - Speaker 2
It's amazing. When you talk to people who played with Kobe Bryant, when Kobe Bryant got on the court, he would score 40 to 80 points in a match. And I remember watching this interview with one of Kobe Bryant's teammates, and they said, How does he do it? What do you see in Kobe that makes him have this ability to do that? And they say, Well, first of all, he doesn't He doesn't get emotional, including celebrating. He doesn't celebrate each shot, and he doesn't get frustrated if he misses a shot. He goes out there and he's present. He's present and hyper-focused. He's not thinking about what's going on in the background of his life. He's not thinking about all the fans who are cheering for him. He's not thinking about the fact that he missed a shot or made a shot. None of that matters because he's in the moment. If he's thinking about the shot he just missed, that'll mess him up. If he's thinking about the shot he just got, that'll mess him up, too. So both ways. He stays so present and so focused that he can't be taken off his train of thought, which is just hyper-focusing on the ball, putting it in the net, doing it again.
[00:27:11.480] - Speaker 2
So he ends up staying in the zone. He gets in the zone and he maintains the zone. So in all my research on this, my understanding of it, it's about being present and hyper-focused. Those two things, when you add that, when you're present and hyper-focused, you can get in the zone, you can maintain the zone. What takes you out of the zone? Thinking, thinking and emotions. If you think about the mistake you made, and you might think, well, it's innocent because I'm just thinking about the adjustments I need to make. Trust me, the animal and you knows the adjustments. You don't have to remind yourself. You don't have to say, stupid, Sarah, you know you have to follow through on that. Move to the ball. Dang it. You don't have to remind yourself, especially in an aggressive way. Your instincts know. So stay focused. So the technique that I give to people is to get grounded and present and out of your head where you're off in the mist. Just think of it this way. When you're thinking about things, you're not here, you're in the mist. I don't know where that is, but you're not here.
[00:28:11.040] - Speaker 2
To get here again, you've got to, first of all, realize that You're somewhere you're happy. You got to look around. I tell people, find your gratitude for the things that are right in front of you. Look around. It's a beautiful day out. I'm so grateful I'm outside. I'm so grateful I'm around people I enjoy. I'm so grateful I have this opportunity to compete at something that I never would have thought I would ever be doing at my age or in this position in my life. And just look around and be grateful for what's in front of you. And you'll realize you're already winning because otherwise, where would you be? Watching Netflix or on your bud or whatever. Be grateful for where you're at and hyper focus on the ball. That just grounds you, brings you back because it's very easy to get stuck on the bad out calls or a partner who's not playing well or whatever it is. There's tons of things that can you and take you out of the zone in pickleball. You got to come back, come back to Earth. Be grateful you're here because it gives you that sense of, okay, I'm winning.
[00:29:08.850] - Speaker 2
I'm already winning, whether I win or lose, I'm winning because this is amazing. So it takes that pressure off, takes the stress off. Find that gratitude, and look at that ball and make best friends with that ball. Hyper focus on it. That's where we're here. That's where we're at right now. We're hitting the ball over the net. Hit that ball over the net. Let your instincts do the rest. Don't overthink it and just have fun. Show up. When you're loose, when you're relaxed, when you're happy, you're going to play better than when you're tense. That's what causes the pop-ups, guys, when you're tense and stressed and pressured. So have fun. Enjoy what you're doing and you'll play better and you'll win more games. Lose, which is funny because you think you got to put this pressure to win. And it's really it's the opposite. It's the pressure that will make you lose.
[00:29:52.220] - Speaker 1
It's counterintuitive for sure. That's a great way of framing it, Sarah. Thanks for sharing that. Sarah, I know that some folks who may be either watching this on YouTube or listening to the podcast may want to follow what you're up to, connect with you and things like that. What's the best way for someone out there to stay in touch with Sarah and see what's happening?
[00:30:11.290] - Speaker 2
Yeah, of course. So Facebook is my social media platform of choice. I also have Instagram, but you can find me, Sarah Weiss on Facebook. I've got a YouTube channel. So my brand is Heck Yeah, Pickleball. You can go to heckyeappickleball. Com and see my website. You can book courses or lessons there. I've got the YouTube YouTube channel, Heck Yeah, Pickleball. So my favorite shot in the game, and Tony will laugh, is the Ernie, because he says it's not a needed shot. I agree that you don't need that.
[00:30:41.630] - Speaker 1
It could be still your favorite shot. It could still be your favorite shot. Particularly Luckily, it's not necessary. It can be your favorite shot. I know some things aren't mutual.
[00:30:49.190] - Speaker 2
You don't need it to go and kick button, Pick a Ball. But ever since I saw it happen to me, I was like, Oh, I'm going to figure out how to do that. I love it. It's something that I'm really good at because I've put a lot of time into it. If you go to my YouTube channel, I have a tutorial on how to hit it. So, Tony, you don't need to send anybody there. But if you want to, heck yeah, pickleball, I'll show you how to earn it even as a beginner. I just have fun, guys. This game, life is so short. This game is so fun.
[00:31:19.550] - Speaker 1
You and I are going to do... We'll do a video on your YouTube channel on both the YouTube channels where we can go back and forth and discuss the already and the pros and cons of the earning. You can give the pros, I'll give the cons, and then we'll let players do whatever they want to do with that information. I like it. It was a pleasure having you on the podcast. Really appreciate what you're doing to help promote the sport of pickleball, obviously. And obviously, good luck with all the ventures you're on. And I appreciate you sharing your wisdom and your experiences with the folks at the pickleball Therapy podcast.
[00:31:51.460] - Speaker 2
Oh, Tony, it's been such a pleasure. Everything you do is amazing. So if you guys are following Tony, look at what they offer. They got ways to make you a better player 100%. So thank you so much, Tony. Really appreciate you. Thanks.