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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.
[00:00:00.550] - Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to pickleball Therapy, the podcast dedicated to your pickleball improvement. I'm your host, Tony Roig. This is a special episode of the podcast where we're joined by several of our pickleball therapists. Pickleball therapists are players who have committed to themselves as well as to their communities to grow in the mental part of pickleball, to help others who maybe are struggling a little bit and things like that with the mental side of the game, and also to work on themselves. During the meeting with the therapist, we We talked about duper, we talked about personal growth, we talked about what is pickleball even. So we covered a lot of different subjects. I think you're really going to enjoy this special episode of pickleball Therapy. And then the second thing I have on there is what is pickleball? Now, You guys know me well enough, I think, to know that sometimes I'll come in a little bit sideways on something, meaning it'll be a little obtuse when I first put it up and like, What in the world are we talking about here? But I have a point. I have a reason I put it that way.
[00:01:00.360] - Speaker 1
I think the thinking there is that when we think about pickleball and our relationship with pickleball, another phrase that we use very intentionally, not just the more I play, because I don't play as much anymore, but the more that I'm involved with pickleball, the more that I'm engaged with Picaball, with these conversations and all this, I am of the mind that pickleball is not about what happens on the court. It's not about the shot we just hit. That is the vehicle that we use to express the thing, but it's not the thing. It's like saying, and this is something that's coming to be right now, so bear with me if it doesn't connect in immediately. But it'd be like thinking that the art of an artist is the brush stroke. It's not. It's the... There's something else that's happening with that process. The brush stroke is a necessary component of the resulting piece of art, but it is not the art. In pickleball, the hitting of the ball, the running around the core, the calling out the score, whatever, is all part and parcel of the thing, but it's not the thing. The thing is about...
[00:02:25.670] - Speaker 1
Pickleball is really about you, personally. And about your growth as a person. Your travel through this thing that we call life. To quote the late Prince, this crazy little thing called... Actually, crazy little thing called life is... Yeah, it was Prince. Crazy little thing called love is queen. As we travel through this thing called life, pickleball is a vehicle that we can use to grow as person. Emotions. Physically, we grow. We're out there physically working our bodies. Mentally, I would say in the functionality of our brains, meaning like, and I'm not an expert in this area, but again, I read and I listen and things like that. But when you're challenging yourself, whether it's pickleball or puzzle doing or whatever, you're challenging the mental synapses to fire and connect. It's good for your functionality of your mind, and also for your emotional IQ or your emotional development, which is what we generally tackle on this podcast, is that part of it. So that's the way I'm thinking about pickleball, is not the end, not the I want to perform well and I want to do the best that I can, but it's within the context of me as a human being and enjoying the best life that I can and growing in the best way that I can using pickleball as the vehicle to accomplish that.
[00:04:02.840] - Speaker 1
Because theoretically, you could do the same thing if you were playing tennis or if you were ballroom dancing or whatever the activity is, is not the primary driver. The primary driver is you and your experience as you make your way through this time that we have on this planet. Anyway, so that's the what is pickleball idea. And then I'll tease a couple of things, and then we can open up the mic. So a couple of things that I've been playing with. If you heard the podcast three weeks ago, four weeks ago, I think it was, I started talking about this idea of zero-sum game and not playing a zero-sum game. A zero-sum game is basically, I win, you lose, right? And that's the game that we play. We play a game where you have a winner, and the only way you can have a winner is to, by extension, have a loser. No loser, no winner. It doesn't work unless you have a loser. So the zero sum, obviously, is plus one for me, is minus one for you. So we're at zero. That's the zero sum. But I think that if we play around with that a little bit, we can get to a place where we don't need to play a zero-sum game, And I'm going to pick on Alan for a second because I saw him recently.
[00:05:18.240] - Speaker 1
But let's say that I'm playing against Alan. Alan and I are friends, right? And Alan has a nice victory against me. One of those really nice matches, back and forth, back and Everybody's had it. He ends up winning 11, 9, 12, 10, 13, 11, whatever it is, right? It's a really nice match. We play for a long time. I'm going to mute everybody. There's a little bit of background noise, so I'm not trying to be rude. Anyway, so we're playing, right? And so the question at the end of the day is, if Alan beats me, which he did, right? Should that be a plus one for Alan and a minus one for me? Or Can it be a plus one for Alan? And then can I gain some amount of happiness, some amount of positivity in my life, derivatively through Alan's victory? Understand understanding, as a sentient human being with a mind, that the only way that my good friend Alan can win that game is for me to lose that game. And to be clear, I'm not like a martyr. I'm not sacrificing myself on the altar of Alan to let Alan win. But I am, the minute I sign up for the game and I go out to the court and we call it the score and we play, I've signed up for a game where in order for Alan to win, I need to lose, and vice versa.
[00:06:40.860] - Speaker 1
We understand that for me to win, Alan needs to lose. That's how it is. Isn't it possible then for Alan to get plus one and for me not to get minus one? In fact, why do I have to get minus anything? Why can't it be a plus? Sorry to go decimals on you here, but why can't I have a plus 0.2 or a plus 0.1 even? Or even be neutral about it myself, a zero. If that's a zero to me because I feel like, Okay, I lost, but Alan won, so I feel neutral about it, it's not a zero-sum game. We net positive the game. That's something that I encourage you to think about. It's something that I'm still working on and fleshing out, but I think it's helpful. The other thing I'll tease out a little bit, but I don't want to go into too much detail because that's the podcast coming out this Friday, has to do with this idea. I bring it up because it correlates as zero sum. It was based on a post that I saw on Facebook from a fellow coach and fellow mental coach and playing coach. I took exception to the post because I think it does a disservice to how we engage with this sport.
[00:07:53.820] - Speaker 1
The premise, basically, is that you Gain. Basically, the idea is this. When you look across the net to your opponents, you're going to see them struggle. You're going to see them get pence and struggle and things like that. When that happens, it basically pumps you up. So it basically fills your tank of confidence. So the way the podcast is going to be called, it's going to say, Don't play vampire pickleball, right? Because that's what that is. Basically, my strength is predicated on your weakness. My strength is predicated on seeing you do poorly. Then I get stronger. And I just don't think that that is a good way of building a mindset for yourself in pickleball. And it also happened this last week, and I was at the... Last week, I was at the PPA in Atlanta, I witnessed it in a match with one pro, an older pro, not old old pro, but an older pro age-wise to the other pro, saying some things that were just not... They were mind game stuff. It's unfortunate because it's unprofessional. But beyond being unprofessional, it's just uncalled for. I would submit to you not a good way of approaching the game.
[00:09:27.480] - Speaker 1
Another example that came to mind recently was was a type of a serve that was being hit in a game, and whether it was legal, not legal. So I asked whether that was just the way the player had to serve it. And the answer was no. When I asked the player, the player said they did it so that they could screw with their opponent. And this is an older person. This is an older being, like our age older. And I'm sitting to myself going like, Oh, my God. Didn't we leave middle school back in middle school? Or are we still... Is that what we're doing on the pick-up walk? Anyway, so that's what we're going to talk Anyway, that's what I wanted to share with you all. I went to the gym today. I'll let you guys know. I treat myself to a diet cookie. Open mic. The easiest way to do this, if you can, is at the bottom, there's a little raise-hand thing. If no one raise their hand, you just want to unmute and start talking, that's fine, too. But if there's a bunch of you talking, then we'll do the hand thing, and I'll just...
[00:10:21.110] - Speaker 1
But open mic, if you guys have questions or things you want to talk about, share stories, whatever. Sharon, you're up. That was quick.
[00:10:29.910] - Speaker 8
So you were talking about the zero-sum game, and I think maybe I'm matured that I do see, even if I lose, I see something being positive in my game. And I'll share with the group this morning. The partner I usually play with, she just turned 70, and I'm 67. And we played with these 20-some girls today. And we had the best game, and they complimented. They won, but they complimented us because we gave them a good game. I don't know how the others on the call feel about this, but It's been really tough because I think the longer that I've been playing pickleball, people are getting into what's your duper score, it gets more competitive. I admit I get caught up in it. I don't know I try to say to some of my friends who are caught up in what's their duper and all of that. It's all about having fun, too. I don't know if other people are struggling with it. It seems like the longer you're in the game, the more competitive it has to get. I know that I can't win against a lot of 20-year-olds. I don't know what others on the call feel if they run into the same thing or Thank you, Sharon.
[00:12:02.500] - Speaker 1
That was very helpful. If anybody wants to... Minders, I'm going to come to you in a second, but if anybody has something to want to respond to that, I have a couple of thoughts on it, but let's open it up to the floor first, if anybody.
[00:12:11.180] - Speaker 6
I've got a thought, Tony.
[00:12:14.900] - Speaker 1
Samy, of course, you have a thought. I know Samy. Samy is a local guy. I know him really well, so Samy, shoot.
[00:12:20.760] - Speaker 6
So I put together... I have a group of 200 players, and I've put together over the last two and a half years, round Robbins that are recorded in Dupre. I have 800 games now in Dupre. It got to a point where I was realizing that the Dupre element, just like the last person said, I don't know your name, I'm sorry, the Dupre element became a negative. I have basically one rule for my group is you have to have fun. That negates anybody being angry or their egos. Some of that was starting to float to the top. Then I just decided I wanted a competitive game, so I decided to use Dupre to triage who plays, but to not record the games. All of a sudden, that game got very popular. People liked playing with their Their peers in the group. But the fact that I didn't record it in duper became a positive. I'm saying that because it became a popular game. I did mixed doubles, and you had to have a certain duper to get in, which is what my duper is, 3-7. But I had four players playing, and they just had a great time.
[00:13:59.710] - Speaker 6
It It's become way more popular. Then my regular duper game on Fridays for two and a half years just fell apart. People in my group are more excited to play with their peers I used the duper for a triage to get them in, but not having it recorded in duper became more fun for everybody. You got to understand what I'm saying.
[00:14:26.770] - Speaker 1
Interesting suggestion, Sam. I like it.
[00:14:30.330] - Speaker 4
I'd like to just jump in on this whole duper conversation. In the summertime, I live in Colorado, and I'm an hour and a half away from a good pickleball game. I'm willing to travel up to twice a week to go and do that because I love the sport so much. I enjoy playing people who are in my skill levels that makes it more fun games. There's a round robin that takes place on Thursday afternoon that is duper rated. All the games You're matched randomly with your partners, and it's a duper rating. A lot of times, some people who are, say, at a lesser duper rating come in and play in that group. What I found was when I'd win my average of games, as you talk about, Tony, the ones that I lost with lower players would bring my average down. I contemplated the idea of not going and not playing in those duper round Robbins. Then I remembered one of the the Pickleball Therapist podcast. That is that you're not there to worry about other people. You're not there to judge yourself. You're just there to enjoy the game and to get better. It was like, do I want to play and have fun with my peer group, or am I going to let these conditions get in the way?
[00:16:30.340] - Speaker 4
In the way. I just let go of it, and now I just go play, and I don't care if they rate it duper or not.
[00:16:39.980] - Speaker 1
Thank you, miners. That's super helpful. I don't know if anybody else wanted to jump in. I had to mute a couple of things. I was getting some See you back here. But if you wanted to jump in, jump in. I do have a couple of thoughts on it, sharing if I can share. One is, I think that's the magic of duper. I mean that in, I don't know, it's a negative way, but it's not. Basically, the idea is duper has done a great job of making us all duper, duper, duper, duper, duper. I think at some level, it serves a purpose like Sam was talking about, meaning I don't know the player, so I get a sense. But particularly in an established area with established players, it's like you know how the player plays. It's like the duper to me becomes less relevant if you know the players. It's just if I don't know the player, I can get a sense for where to put him. But yeah, I think it's something that is going to keep on happening, Sharon, whether it's duper or just clicks or whatever. And one thing I would remind you all, and maybe you already think about this, but remember that all of us At some point played with a better player that was better than us.
[00:17:51.710] - Speaker 1
And I always find it fascinating when you have, say, you have a three five that won't play with a three oh, they only play with a four oh. The question I always ask is, well, why How would the 4-0 play with you then? Does that only work that way? Then the 4-0 is looking at the 4-5, and the 4-5 is looking at the 5-0, and you keep going. And so no one ever plays. No one ever played with whatever level you are. No one ever played with you if they're higher than you. One other thing I'd say about levels real quick is I think we need to be careful with... As players, just be cognizant of the fact that between 3-0 and 4-0, even 3-0 to 4-5, let's say, at 1.5 level range, It's so much... There's so many gradients in there. And I think as pickleball players, we get hung up in like three, five versus four, and it's a little less of a duper because they have all those intervals. But if you give me a 3,6 team, 3.6 team, right? True 3.6, right? And the true 3.7 team, it's not even close.
[00:18:53.880] - Speaker 1
You see? Like 3.9 to 4.0, not even close. They'll get beat, right? That's how big those point-decibel gaps are. It's not just three five to 4.0, it's within, right? So if you're a three five, let's say you're a 3.55, getting from 3.55 to 3.6. And I'm talking about legit ratings, the hypothetical legit ratings. That's a lot, right? Going from three five to 4:0 is huge jump. And so I wish, frankly, we had more numbers, like one to 20 or one to 10 or something. But anyway, so just be cognizant as you're thinking about your game and pressures you're under to move up or whatever. And what's interesting, I found that less in tennis than I do in pickleball. When I played tennis, if you're a 3:5 tennis player, you just played 3:5, and it wasn't a big deal. If you're a 4:0 tennis player, 4:0 is no. If you got bumped or not, it didn't matter. In pickleball, everyone's like, I got to get from whatever number it is now to the next number or else I'm failing. And it's a very limiting way of thinking about it. So thanks, Sharon, for sharing that. You good?
[00:19:59.750] - Speaker 1
All All right. Minders, you had your hand up. Did you want to say something other than the thing you jumped in on?
[00:20:06.160] - Speaker 4
Yeah, just briefly. The thing that I've been really working on for my enjoyment of the game is the idea of switching the concept from how many games did I win or lose today to how well did I play? That comment was actually reminded to me by someone in a recent call that you guys had. But the thing that makes it really personal for me is that even if I have a bad day of playing, I learn some lessons that I can work on mentally and in my journaling that improve my game. It's not just if I played well that day, but But was I present in such that I could learn something to move my game forward?
[00:21:08.770] - Speaker 1
Thanks, Minors. That's definitely powerful. I'm going to share with you guys. I came up with this. I don't know if I... I just thought about it, and it might be a repeat from something else that I heard before. I have no idea. But I was at the PPA with Dylan in Atlanta, and I was trying to think of what's a good way to frame it for a young player that in a way that will help them with their game. Here's how it works. It says, Today, I will do my best to be my best. You have to think about it for a second because I said my best twice, but There are two different bests. One is doing your best, and the other one is being your best. There are days that you're going to go out there and it just doesn't click. You're tired, you have something happening in your family, whatever it is. It doesn't matter. You're just not focused, right? So if you're always trying to do your best, to be your best, there's nothing else to do, right? Whether you win or lose or whatever, it doesn't really matter. Quick side note, Denise, before I go to you.
[00:22:15.080] - Speaker 1
Darren, will you stop moving rooms, please? Because I had the clock behind you, and I was like, your clock was how I was doing time on this. I'm kidding, Darryl. You can move to whatever room you want. But we did notice that you moved rooms. All right, Denise, shoot. Thanks.
[00:22:29.880] - Speaker 8
My comment had to do with the zero-sum concept. I have a saying that I use when I'm not super-focused on duper, when I'm actually in a more healthy state of mind, is that every time I play, I learn something. So instead, I've replaced the, You win some, you lose some, with, you win some, you learn some. And there are days when I learn a lot.
[00:22:55.950] - Speaker 1
And that's beautiful. If you start thinking about pickleball as your vehicle for personal growth, then you're looking to learn, right? And I've said this before on various places, but the best matches that I ever played were matches that I lost. Meaning the best matches, meaning the most impactful matches to me and my growth as a player were matches where I got destroyed because it taught me everything I don't know. I didn't know that before. Before I was winning, so why would I have to learn or grow? Anyway, thanks, Anthony. Alan, you're brought up, believe it or not.
[00:23:34.940] - Speaker 5
Okay. Can you hear me? All right. A couple of things. One was when I first started playing pickleball, it was mostly just about the physical aspects. And since that time, and watching the podcast and doing the pickleball system, it seemed like it really has evolved to something that involves my whole life, socially, physically, emotionally. And I That resonated with me what you said earlier in the podcast. Right now, winning is secondary. I think in our society, they put so much emphasis on winners or losers. We get sucked into that mindset. And for me, I recently moved up to a different group of players who were better than I am. And my focus was on And I play well or up to the point where I'm not embarrassing myself and not really concerned about winning and losing. And it took so much pressure off of my playing and it allowed me to be relaxed. So getting that concept of winning and losing and making it way down on the list. I mean, if I lose, I feel bad for about 30 seconds, and then I start thinking about, what are the positive things I've done? What are the The things I need to work on?
[00:25:00.800] - Speaker 5
Doing the three, two, one that C. J. Talked about at the camp, that really has helped me. So get rid of the winning and losing attitudes, and don't make that your goal at all. In fact, I was taking a group lesson with an instructor, and the instructor asked us what our goals were, and I'm not going to remember exactly what I said. But after I stopped, she said, You're the first person that didn't mention winning and losing. And that was surprising because I'm around different people like you, all the group here that believes winning and losing, it should not be the goal. And it makes pick a ball much more enjoyable. Whether you win or lose, it doesn't matter. You're out there enjoying yourself, running around, getting physically fit, mentally fit, and socially fit. So that's just my It's hard not to...
[00:26:00.620] - Speaker 1
When you look at it objectively, Allen, it's hard to look at a pickleball game and say, Hey, this is not good, right? Just look at it objectively. You're like, I'm not here playing pickleball. What is wrong with that, right? What could be wrong with that? And one thing I would suggest to you is it's interesting that you brought that up because I hadn't heard that before about you being the first one to answer it that way. When we ask the question the way we ask it inside the system and in our camps, I have gotten a, I like to We can answer one time out of thousands of times we ask this question, including in our webinars and stuff. But the way we frame the question is not what are your goals? We frame the question as, why do you play pickleball? What makes you get out of bed to go play pickleball? And that's where you get the real answer. The real answer is, it can be anything, exercise, whatever, whatever, whatever. But that's where you don't get the winning answer. And that's the problem. When we frame it like, what's your goal? Then the goal is winning because that's how we've been beaten up with that.
[00:27:00.780] - Speaker 1
Our whole lives, we've been beaten, win, win, win. So that has to be the goal. The goal is not have fun. But when you ask a player, Why do you play? I play to have fun, or I play for social, or I play for whatever. Never winning. So framing is really important, and how you get to that. So thanks, Alan, for sharing that. John, I think I got you up next on the open mic.
[00:27:23.520] - Speaker 2
Yeah. So I'm going to eventually respond to Sharon because that's why I put my hand up. But I'm going to give you a little backstory story. So like most of us, I don't know about you, Tony, because I know you came from tennis, but I started playing pickleball during the pandemic when we couldn't do anything else. And my wife and I got a temporary net and we'd play on our driveway, and it was just fun. We didn't even know the rules. We use the divider on the cement to be a kitchen line because it was roughly seven feet. And then as time goes on, you get to improve, you become a better player. You become a better player, you start then focusing on your rating and playing in league and playing in tournaments. Then every game was about winning and losing. I think what I really appreciated about your podcast, and when I just stumbled upon it, literally right after I started playing pickleball, was that it would ground me back to what really is important. It's about playing, it's about having fun. I'll admit that I got to the point about four, five, no, about six months ago where it was all about my duper, right on the cusp of 4-0.
[00:28:38.570] - Speaker 2
I don't want to play in this manner. When it's open play, no problem. I'll play with anybody. But if it's a match that I know is going to get counted, then I don't want to play that match unless I think I have a good chance to win. Honestly, I would think that way in my head. And then this is the part that I think is going to drive it home. It's like About five months ago, a little over, I tore my ACL in a tournament right before the US Open. And so I haven't played pickleball in five months. I haven't played a match, a game of pickleball in five months. At first, it was like the seven stages of grief. I didn't even want to even have anything to do with pickleball. I didn't want to go out to the courts. I didn't want to look at anybody playing pickleball. I did go to the US Open. I didn't see you. Sorry, I didn't see you when I came by your temp, but I saw your wife. And then I was like, but that's because my wife was playing and I wanted to support my buddy you are supposed to play with in the US Open.
[00:29:40.480] - Speaker 2
And then since then, I've tried to find other ways to still engage with the sport. So I think what you shared earlier about it's much more beyond the game, right? It's like a lifestyle. So I still now capt in all the teams. I can't play. I capt in a two, a three, five men's team, a 3-5 men's team, a 7-0 mix team. And I make sure that we've got our lineups to play against our other communities. I'm becoming a referee, so I'm attending the referee training just so that I could be involved because I can't get out there and play for another five months. And I think when you have, I don't wish that upon anybody, but when you've got something like that happened to you, when I sit there on the courts and I'll go watch people play and they're complaining about, I don't want to play with so and so because he's not good enough. I just want to play. I'll even say out loud to them, I'm like, I can't believe that you're that all about yourself when I would die to go out there and walk on that court and be able to play.
[00:30:43.440] - Speaker 2
I can't come out there and play. I'd play with anybody any time right now. I think it takes that.
[00:30:53.110] - Speaker 1
You'd play on the driveway with your driveway with a- That really has helped me. You'd play on the driveway with a temporary How do you get right now if you could, right? Just whatever. Sign me up.
[00:31:05.050] - Speaker 2
Yeah, I'd play against the wall if my surgeon gave me the okay to move more than one foot to the right or the left. I'm pretty good going straight, but I still can't do lateral movement.
[00:31:15.120] - Speaker 1
Yeah. Well, sorry for your injury, but listen, I guess the bright side, that you pointed out is that it's forced you in quotes, right? But it's gotten you to think about the game more broadly and explore other ways of engaging with pickleball, which is awesome. But just remember, I would suggest this, whenever a player says that to you, I wouldn't play with them. The question I would have is, then why would that player play with you or us, right? I mean, it's just the fallacy is so evident once you see that. And there's a rule that another content creator, Jessie's assignment, mentioned several years ago that we rely on, which is the 80-10-10 rule that might help. Basically, 80 % at level, 10 % above, 10 % below. So that's a good way. You can do 60, 20, 20, whatever. But the idea is like, you want to play mainly level, that's fine. But also, you can play up some, and you can also play down some if you want to. So thanks a lot, John, for sharing that. So Helen, I got you up next on the Wheel of Fortune. I will unmute you.
[00:32:23.600] - Speaker 1
There you are. Got you unmuted.
[00:32:25.480] - Speaker 7
Okay. I'm from Western Canada, and during the summer, spring, fall. We basically play outdoors. A lot of our courts are outdoor hockey rinks. So we have temporary nets that we put up, four nets per rink, and the way we go. I'm relatively new to pickleball. I've been playing, gosh, a year and a quarter, and I've moved up in levels. But what I have learned for myself is the, I don't know, arrogance or the pride that people display sometimes of, Oh, I don't want to play with that group or whatever. I've added something to my own reflection list. At the end of each week, I ask, How did I contribute to my Picaball community? By that, it's like going and helping setting up the nets, but it's also going and helping just play with... People would say downplay, but play with the beginner's group or play with the 2.75 or whatever group happens to be. I find it keeps me, number one, grounded. But also people are so thrilled that my husband and I go and play with them still, even though we're in a different league. Okay, we're retired. We've got all the time in the world.
[00:34:04.480] - Speaker 7
But it really helps bring joy to my day to see people not just helped by it, just socializing with people and getting some reflection from them. Wow, that really helped me in my game today. I just wanted to share that little wee thing from... I'm not a 4.5 or a 4.0, but I'm enjoying getting better and better every time, and I have my second tournament coming up this weekend.
[00:34:39.070] - Speaker 1
Well, have fun during it. Enjoy yourself. I agree. And I'm going to mention that in the regular podcast If you don't mind the idea of how did I contribute to my pickleball community this week, or this day, or whatever, that's helpful, because I do think thinking bigger picture is a good way of doing it, and perhaps reframing it from playing down or playing whatever. Just what What are you doing to make the whole pickleball experience better for everybody? So that's awesome. So thank you very much, Helen. Julie, what's happening?
[00:35:10.590] - Speaker 3
I wanted to share a brief story, if I can. And that is, my husband and I went… Well, first of all, I live in New England. I'm about a half an hour north of Austin, and we went over to Niagara Falls for four days. And four days is long time to be away from your home, Pippleball area. So we brought everything with us. And we went over to the Canadian side and went to look for Pippleball sports and found some that were not being utilized, and we were really very surprised by that. So we just did some drilling with each other and just to stay active. Well, this young couple comes over. They're probably 20 years younger than us. They came over to hit the tennis ball around. This husband was teaching his wife tennis My husband, Michael, went over and said, because we were desperately looking for... I mean, this is selfish, but we were desperately looking for someone to play with us because this has been the third day that we haven't played pickleball. We went over and said, Hey, do you play pickleball? They said no, but they were interested. We said, Hey, no pressure, but we do have two extra paddles with us.
[00:36:42.890] - Speaker 3
If you're interested, We'd love to go out there and play with you. It wasn't even 30 seconds later. They both said, We've heard so much about this. They came on over and they took us up on the offer. It was The best way to learn something is to teach it, I think. Just to be the teacher in that 30 minutes that we spent going over until we started actually doing it on the court was really powerful for me anyway, because all the little details that we take for granted. It wasn't long before they were just killing it. They were doing so well. The wife was like, Get it, get it, get it. We were joking because it was like an international event because we're American and they're Canadian. We had this sport, and then We had some of the neighbors coming by and watching to see what was going on. It just made me love the sport even more because that never would have happened had we not taken advantage of this sport. I can see it being a big part of our traveling life. I know that's true for many people, but that was the first time I've experienced it, and it was very powerful.
[00:38:11.920] - Speaker 3
I'm looking forward to becoming a pickleball therapist because I feel like I had my first two customers, so to speak.
[00:38:20.940] - Speaker 1
I love it.
[00:38:21.570] - Speaker 3
Over in Naga Falls, and it was so rewarding. I just wanted to share that story.
[00:38:29.560] - Speaker 1
Thank you, That was awesome. And thanks for sharing this sport with us. That's the other thing, right? It's like, you never know who you're going to run across, who you can share this wonderful sport with, because I don't know about you all, but someone shared it with me and my wife, and I'm sure that you may have seen it somewhere, but most of us got introduced to it by somebody. And so you have that power, right? That power resides in you to share it with somebody else and get them into this great sport. Obviously, See, it's important to you. Otherwise, you wouldn't have spent the last roughly hour with the rest of us on this call. Why not give that gift to somebody else in the future? Anyway, with that, listen, I really appreciate you all sharing of yourself. I appreciate you all being a therapist and being champions, not just for pickleball, but for your friends, to help them out and to to keep growing this awesome sport and growing them. John, I was going to say to you that you said you stumbled on this podcast, so here's what you got to do is if anybody in your group ever says, Oh, yeah, I listen to that podcast, too, you'd be like, Why didn't you tell me about it?
[00:39:43.980] - Speaker 1
Tony always says, If you enjoy the podcast, are we not friends, man? Because anyway. I appreciate you all continuing to share the podcast all the time.
[00:39:51.690] - Speaker 2
I share your podcast all the time.
[00:39:52.670] - Speaker 1
I appreciate that. I appreciate. And if you guys will continue to do that, that's the most powerful way to get this podcast to other folks. And as I say, and I mean this, if you find the podcast helpful to you, then feel free to share it with others because they may be in the similar spot to where you were prior to starting to think about your game differently. And then continue working on yourselves. I got to tell you, I'm still working on the book, unfortunately. Well, fortunately, I'm not going to look at it. I wish it was already out, but it's just time consuming. One other quick note, I guess I should have mentioned this earlier. If you all want to be like, reviewers of the book or something like that, shoot us an email. Please don't send it to me directly. Not because I don't want to hear from you, just because I got too many things right now. If you can send an email to support at betterpickaball. Com, just put down a Pickaball Therapy book in the subject line and let them know, and then I'll figure out the right way to do that.
[00:40:53.530] - Speaker 1
We're still talking to the book people on how that's done, but happy to have you guys take a look at it early in the process and stuff like that. But what I meant to say, the reason I brought that up is because even just the process of doing that has helped me with my continuing to work on myself and my mental, not just pickleball. That's the thing. I don't even talk about it, pickleball. It's just my navigating life stuff. I look forward to continuing to deliver the podcast to you and continuing to receive information from you as therapist. And I'll try and schedule another. If you guys enjoyed this, we'll try and do another one. Everybody good with this thing? We'll do another one, maybe after February or something like that, we'll figure something out and schedule something if that works. And then maybe you all will bring a friend, and we'll have 30 something people here. Therapists, that is. So anyway, it's a pleasure, everybody. Barry, thanks for the note in the chat. And it was good seeing everybody. And I'm going to go record the podcast for this Friday now on the vampire thing.
[00:42:01.800] - Speaker 1
You guys join me on Friday for that. Thanks, everybody. See you next time.