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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.
Hello and welcome to Pickleball Therapy, the podcast dedicated to your Pickleball improvement. I am your host, Tony Roig. Hope you're having a great week. This is a special episode of the podcast. I had the pleasure of interviewing former Major league baseball player, Eric Burns. Eric Burns played for the Arizona Diamondbacks, as well as the Oakland A. He was on the team,
in the team that was featured in the movie Moneyball with Brad Pitt, if you happen to see that movie. He was in that, he was on that team on the Oakland A's, and he is now a Pickleball player. He has migrated to Pickleball, which is one of the beauties of our sport. It's, you know, seeing how many folks with different backgrounds,
right? Whether it's no athletic background, no sports background, I would say to, you know, major League baseball players to former hockey Hall of Famers, things like that, all playing this awesome sport of Pickleball. During this episode, Eric talks to us about his journey as a Pickleball player. Also talks about a couple of concepts that I think you're gonna find super interesting.
One of them is, is one that we, that we, you know, we, we sort of try and fight with, with our, with our students sometimes, or with players sometimes in terms of, of understanding that they're in fact athletes. You know, that can be because that, that mental change, how we approach ourselves is, is important,
right? To see ourselves as we are. So we talk about that with Eric, and we talk about the mind and the body as well, right? So the mind and, and take care of the body. Eric is a spokesperson for KT Tape, which is a product that you can use that help you when you're injured, and also preventing injuries,
you know, in terms of keeping your muscles, keeping the, the circulation going in your muscles like that. I'll put a link down in the description notes if you want to try KT tape. I, I recommend it. I've used it myself before, and I, I, I know that it, it has worked for me. So if you wanna check that out,
I'll put a link down in the showed notes down below. You're gonna hear Eric is a very passionate athlete, very passionate player. I, I, I, I will tell you that some of the, the, some of the approach that he has is very specific to him. What I mean by that is he's an, an Ironman athlete, meaning,
like, you know, runs a hundred miles, does a lot of sort of extreme things in terms of taking care of his body. So some of the, the advice that you hear in this podcast may not be directly suited to you, but the, the, the spirit of it, the understanding that we can take care of our bodies, that we can push ourselves as hard as we wanna push ourselves,
is definitely present in there. And it'll help you with your framing of the game. And also just hearing Eric's interesting story about himself and how he came into Pickleball. This is a little bit longer podcast. Eric is a very passionate Pickleball player and there was a lot to cover. So, hope you enjoyed this week's podcast with this special episode. Should say a special episode podcast with Eric Burns.
Eric, it's a pleasure to have you on the Pickleball Therapy podcast. How's everything going today for you, Tony? Fantastic man. Got a nice pickle session in this morning, the early AM six 15 group, and then get to come on here. And look, man, I've done a lot of interviews and podcasts, radio shows, television, the whole bit.
I've never done one specifically about Pickleball. I've absolutely pumped. It's a good, This is gonna be your favorite podcast ever, Eric. This is gonna be number one on your list of, of podcasts or, or interview experiences in your life. So that's awesome. Eric, before we get into Pickleball, though, I know you had a, you have a storied background before your Pickleball days.
Just bring everybody up to speed a little bit, let them know Eric, a little bit. What'd you do before Pickleball? Well, I actually, I grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. Ended up going to college at UCLA and played baseball. So ended up getting drafted by the Oakland a's. Spent five seasons with the, a's during the Moneyball era.
So even if you're not a baseball fan, most people in this world have seen Moneyball. I, I was on that Moneyball team, I struck out at the very beginning of the movie. And then at the climax of the movie, like every most important part, right before Scott Attenberg gets a home run, I'm actually the guy that gets pinch hit for.
So it's like, Hey, Burney, grab a seat. Annenberg's hitting for you. So that was my big Hollywood debut. And then ended up getting traded. I got traded to the Colorado Rockies. I was there for two weeks. They loved me so much. They traded me to the Baltimore Orioles. They loved me so much. They released me a couple months later,
signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks and found a home there. I was there for four years, some tremendous years out there in the desert. And then 2010 was my last year. Had a short stint with the Seattle Mariners and then got into slow hit softball golf, trying to figure out what was next, and found triathlon and started doing sprints that led to Olympics to halves,
to Iron Mans. Ended up doing like 12 Iron Mans, which led to ultra running and doing the Western States 100, which was an amazing experience. And then a couple individual quests. One was a tri one across the country to raise money for a foundation that my wife and I started called Let Them Play. And then actually, it's kind of a fun side note.
It, there was a golf record that stood for 47 years, as most holes played in 24 hours. So I chased that thing down. It was quite a journey. 106 miles of running and 420 holes of golf later ended up in the Guinness Book of World Records. And other than that, started a let them play national travel team for, for baseball,
raising three kids, all ski racers out here in Lake Tahoe. Really super fun. And then just recently, I mean, it was literally like September, I played around with it the past couple years, just messing around, but really, really have fallen in love with Pickleball Tony. And it's been, it's been quite a journey and I, I've,
I'm really enjoying the process of just trying to improve on a daily basis. That's awesome. And we're gonna touch on, on the body in a little bit, 'cause I have that on my notes to talk to you about because you know, to, to you put your body through its paces for sure. And you still do, I understand you celebrated your 48th birthday recently and,
and ran 48 miles. I don't know if it was the same day of your birthday or around that time, but that's, that's an amazing treat I guess for your body. You know that in, in terms of how, you know, how you, how you put your body through the pace. So we're gonna talk about that in a minute, but let's talk a little about Pickleball.
Let's jump into Pickleball. So you say September, so you've been at it by my math, what, five, six months? Something like that. Tell us a little about how you got involved with Pickleball more heavily and, and what you think about it so far. Well, so I have some buddies out here in the community, one specifically that I would do a lot of running and biking and swimming with.
And he was always trying to get me to play. And I went out there a couple times and like, yeah, like this is okay. You know, I, I played tennis as a kid and it was actually my thing. It was, it got to the point where I had to choose between tennis and baseball 'cause they were the same season.
And ironically, the five guys that I used to compete against in tennis all ended up playing professionally. So it was real cool to, to watch them and follow their careers. But I loved, absolutely loved tennis and specifically, you know, loved doubles too and the social element of it and working together with the team. And so as I got into Pickleball,
and again, like you're hitting the ball around and you're trying to find the stroke, and he said, well, is it like tennis? Is it not? And trying to, you know, maneuver the ball all these different ways. And I, I think a lot of it was trying to figure that out, but I wasn't, I wasn't overly impressed with the sport.
And then I got invited to play in a higher level game and all of a sudden I saw the speed and it was like, oh, okay, now we're talking because as a baseball player, when you get up to the net and I got big long arms and I'm able to boom, boom, boom. And all of a sudden it's, is this is happening and we're talking about the reaction time of 90,
a hundred mile per hour fastballs. I'm like, okay, this is, yeah, this is something I know, this is something I love. And I think it was going through that and seeing how fast paced and intense that this could be, that's when I fell in love with it. And so from there, like, I'm not kidding when I say before September,
maybe Pickleball once a month messing around a little bit, and I would say since September minimum, five days a week, Definitely you can hear the, the passion that you have for Pickleball. You know, it, it it's, it's one of the few sports, Eric, where, you know, you hear the term addicted or obsessed as constantly, you know,
commonly thrown out with Pickleball. You know, I came from tennis, I played it since I was a kid. I, I love tennis as well. I, I, you know, I, I don't have anything against tennis. I haven't picked up a tennis racket in about eight years other than to play with my kids who still play tennis because I don't have an interest in playing tennis anymore because of Pickleball.
Right? And so, you know, it's, it's a fascinating aspect of this sport that I'm, I'm like you, I mean, I think, you know, I I was fortunate to be exposed to Pickleball the first time in a competitive se competitive setting. Meaning I played against a player who was way better than I was in Pickleball and he kicked my butt.
And I, I I'm, we always say that if you're properly exposed to this sport, you, you can't turn away from it. So a high level athlete like you, best thing that can happen to you is to get your butt whooped in Pickleball because then you go, wait a minute. No, wait, wait, that's not supposed to happen.
I, I played professional baseball, I played tennis my whole life. I'm, what are you talking about here? But that's the best thing, right? Because then you go, huh, there's more to this game than, than beats the eye. So that, that's awesome that you got that, you got exposed to that. Let me ask you a question,
Eric, 'cause this is something that, that some of our, our listeners I think struggle with a concept that I think is so valuable for them to take away. You are clearly, you are the, the, the a par you're, you're an clearly an athlete, right? You're, you know, when you look up athlete, you look up Eric,
right? Because, you know, you come from a long line of sports, you play professional sports, there's no question that you're an athlete. A lot of the folks that that who we engage with and teach and speak with, sometimes they, they, they have this difficulty, you know, seeing themselves as an athlete, right? Maybe because they never played a sport.
Like, and certainly not at a professional level, but even at a, at a serious level, anything like that. But lemme tell you our definition and then let's play with this and you tell me what you think about it. Okay? You know, and this is something that, that that CJ Johnson, my co-coach inside our, our Pickleball world is very adamant about.
And she's been very clear about, which is this, if you play a sport for five, like you do five days a week, you study the game, you're paying attention to strategy, you're listening to a podcast like this, you're trying to grow as a player. I don't know, Eric, we call an athlete. I mean, what, what are your thoughts on that in terms of these folks who may not think they're an athlete because they didn't never played for the age of the Diamondbacks or anybody?
Yeah, I mean, an athlete's, just someone who's active and someone who's out doing things. I mean, it's, you know, one of the big things that I have a daily podcast called The Daily Hustle, and essentially, you know, the thing that we preach on a daily basis is just to stay active and, and to put your passion into movement.
And I think that is so imperative just in life. And it's not only what it does for the body, but what it does for the bind, you know, in a Pickleball perspective. And I think the reason why it's taken off is because not only is it just say low barrier to entry, right? I can go out and I can play this game with my wife and my daughters who haven't played a lot of Pickleball,
and we're gonna go out and we're gonna have a blast. I could go play with my kid who's 12, who's pretty good, like, legit legit. And, and we'll go, I mean, we'll go down to the Reno Convention Center and go run the top court, or we did, it was like eight, nine games the other day and it,
and he's 12. And so you look at all the different things and then in the meantime, remember this, you know, there's Dawn out at the re Truckee Wreck Center who's 78 years old and just a savage. And still every time I go up against him, like it is a, it is an absolute battle and it's just da da ta and he's just,
he's so, so precise with his shots. And I, it, it's so fun because yes, number one, every, if you're out there, you're, of course you're an athlete, but I think that when you take people, you could take so many people from so many different walks of life and you put 'em onto this court. And I think in a day and age when we're so disconnected in the physical world,
we're, we're all connected to our devices, we're all connected, you know, in, in the virtual world. But in the physical world, our connections have never been worse. And now all of a sudden, you know, it's six 15 in the morning and I'm with seven different people, eight different people that I would otherwise not be with. And I'm having conversations and I'm meeting new people and it just,
I, I don't know, it just feels right. And then, other than the camera that I put in the back to, I record the games just in case we have a point or two that had the potential to go viral or, you know, the, the the one that you could trash talk over and over with and the, but there's,
there's none of that, right? You're completely disconnected from that virtual world and you're in the real world. There's the world that we knew when we grew up and we actually, you know, would have to, you know, deal with this thing called boredom and then figure out how we were gonna, you know, break the boredom and then we go create something.
And that's what Pickleball I think has done for the United States, you know, ever since, I dunno if it was Covid that really brought it to light. And I know, you know, it sounds like you, Tony and the, the bunch of the OGs that have been doing this for a number of years. But I'm just grateful that I was able to find it and understand and,
and really grateful for all the people that I've met who have helped me out along the way. And I mean, I, the, the list goes on and on and on of people who have, you know, kind of opened their arms, the whole Pickleball community and said, Hey, look like, let me, let me, let me teach you this.
Let me teach you this and, and then let me get you into this game and let me get you into this game. And that's basically how, how I've learned. And it's just, it's been a real cool experience. That's awesome. Yeah. And, and it's interesting, you, you said about the OG because the other day I was playing with some folks,
and I'll tell you in a second who they were. 'cause it it's an interesting melting pot concept too that Pickleball is. But so we're, we're out there playing and, and one of the, the folks who's really good friend of mine, we've been playing for a long time together, he ref one of the, the other players is newer to me.
We haven't played that much together. So he, he, my my friend looks to me goes like, he's one of the OGs, he's one of the OGs in this area. And that is true, I am one of the OGs now, but I still, there's other guys like Larry, Dave, other guys who are the OGs to me, right?
And it was, I, I refer to those guys as my OGs because those are the guys that, that I came up under, right? And the ones that taught me, and now it's like me and my friend Tom, who we came up together in our area, for instance. Now we're the OGs, right? Because we're the ones that are,
that keep bringing it forward. But that's, but the other thing that's interesting is what you mentioned, right? This thing, this, this idea that it allows us to connect in the real world. I like, I like the way you're, you're framing that, what I've been playing around with is this, and I think you'll relate to this as well.
'cause it's a similar concept. You know, I think that, that, if you look at us like historically, right? How we evolved as humans, you know, we, we used to be hunter gatherers, right? So we had, you know, some of, and it was just generally speaking, males would go out and hunt and, and the women would gather and,
and tend to things, right? But there was this connection, right, where you would have social connection and you did things as a community, right? Together. And we don't do it anymore, right? We don't, we don't, there's no, there's no, there's no common purpose, right? Where we all get together to, you know,
build a house as a community or whatever. And so I think Pickleball is really, it, it touches that nerve, right? It, it, it fulfills that need for us in terms of just how we're wired, you know, our our need to interact and we have a common purpose, you know, we're out there, you know, yeah,
we're batting the pack, you know, little ball around. But it's more than that, right? It's, it's connection that we feel when we do that as, as a community. So I think that's, that's, and I love the what you said about the real world, but let's go back to the melting pot for a second. What's interesting is,
like here in Tampa, you know, I, I've gotten to play with, you know, Gigi Fernandez, I've gotten to play with Dominic, k Ke Keffer, who's number 50 in the world in tennis. Freddie Modine is the guy that I was telling you about, you know, the the hockey player. He's, he's playing now, you know?
And so you get all these folks from different walks of life who probably would never have crossed paths, right? Except for Pickleball. That's what brings us, brings this beautiful group together. So let's talk about the body and mind as it applies to Pickleball, because I think players sometimes just overlook that part of, of the sport. And let's start with the mind.
I mean, let's talk a little bit about the mental, how you bring the, think about it mentally, the inner game of tennis. We talked about it before we started. Talk to us a little bit about that. Yeah, Tony. So when I was 12 years old, as I told you, I was really super into tennis and I was into baseball as well and karate and whatever,
but I had a real difficult time channeling my emotions. I was an emotional kid and I would often let them get in the way of my success. I was hard on myself. And my parents handed me the book, the Inner Game of Tennis, and they said, you're not gonna play another sport until you read this. And so it actually, I mean,
cover to cover is probably the first book I ever read in my life. And it changed my life. And I think from there I stopped with the judgments when things didn't go right. And instead of over analyzing, I would basically try to go back to just feeling what was, what was it that I had done in the past that allowed me to have success.
And so from there, you know, I went on and, and had this baseball career and I, I now look back upon it and there were some really good books that helped me with baseball as well, the Mental Game of Baseball by Harvey Dorfman and Carl Keel, who ended up being a big mentor of mine Heads Up baseball, Ken Revisa. That was another real good book that I delved into.
Well, I went back obviously because of the whole Pickleball thing, and I'm like, you know what I'm gonna listen to into the inner game of tennis and the whole concept of self one and self two, and you know, self one being the judgmental self, the one that has all the answers and everything else. And then self two, which is just the natural self,
right? The one that, that that feels it and knows it and learns it. And yet, you know, here we are, we want so much control and then we let self one take over and then as soon as self one gets involved, he screws everything up. So I think it is so pertinent and Pickleball right now because as I've learned and developed my game,
I think that I, like anybody else, is at their best when self one is completely outta the way and I'm just able to play my game free and fearlessly. And so as soon as I start overthinking a shot here, there, wherever, then that's what I get myself into trouble. I think that my advantage on the Pickleball Court is that I'm an athlete.
And so I think in anything in life, our goal should be to put ourselves in a position to succeed. So I constantly am asking myself, alright, you know, what is it that I can do to put myself in that position to succeed? And then if you think about Pickleball two, like some of the greatest points I know that I've ever had and most people ever had are points that we're just reacting.
There's no thought process that happens. So I know if I can get to the net and all of a sudden this turns into a firefight, like it's on, that's exactly where I want to be because I'm just reacting. There's nothing else but reaction and trusting self too. You don't have a chance. Like there's no room for self one to even get involved.
And so I've used that as a way in, you know, strategically, not to mention. So the developing the shots right from, from both sides and both hands. For the longest time I won, I would not force it. And I, there's there, there's no need. I'd like, if my left hand comes into play, that comes into play,
but I'm not going to force a left hand. And I think that same concept has really helped because all of a sudden I've, I've now just recently, within the past couple weeks, have found myself hitting balls with my left hand and not even thinking about it. And I'm like, okay, that's it. That's because if you're trying to force stuff,
it doesn't make any sense. And I love my backhand. I actually like it a lot at the net. I like my backhand. I, I like my backhand slice on returning serves. You know, I, I don't have a backhand drive, so, you know, so be it. Overrated shot. That's an over, that's an overrated shot,
Eric. The backhand drive. Yeah, it is, it is an overrated shot there because it's not nearly gonna be as powerful. The control with it is, is difficult. Now the picture thing with the, the left hand and where it's really helped is, I mean, I could be dinking cross court, dinking cross court, and then, you know,
even hit a backhand think this way, then the ball comes back and now I just go left hand straight ahead, freaking right at you on a, on a whack and pop. So that's a, again, like, you know, learning all of these different things, you know, it has, has taught me it's, it's, and this is a beautiful thing about Pickleball,
everyone, there's, I've never played two players that are the same. Everyone has their own style. And really Tony, it's an expression of, of who you are. And so I think that I've gone through a couple different phases where I just have to step back and be like, look man, I like to, I, I like to think of myself like I'm aggressive.
It, it's, it's who I am. It's, it's what I do. And so whether, you know, I went through like a real soft dinking phase, but I, I've started it, it's not, I'm not saying not to dink, I mean, obviously so much of the game has played at the net, but a soft lobby dinking game is not me.
I'm like, if I I'll, I'll go dink with the bass, but I'm gonna, I'm now gonna be hitting aggressive dinks hard cross court at your feet, back to the middle, working both sides. If I fail, I'm gonna fail that way. And if I bang it in the net or if I leave it up, hey, that's on me,
but I'm at least gonna fail doing it my way. And you know, it's, even with the drops, like, like, it's not like the drop the, their drop drops, they're not, I don't think it's a, like ev a lot of people wanna, and I, at first I was really trying to get a little touch in there and be so soft.
It's like, no, like whack like feel it, right? Like just feel it and let, let that thing, let that thing drop in there. And so I think that's just been, that's been huge. So yeah, bottom line is you gotta trust yourself, trust your training. I said, my kids are racing right now, and I,
I left a note from this morning. He says, clear eyes, full heart, can't lose. Trust your training, trust your training. I, I, I spent hours on that board hours downstairs. And for two reasons, number one, I wanna improve my Pickleball game and I love Pickleball, but number two, I just love hitting, I love,
I love just in messing around and, you know, between the lake shots and everything else, like I really have fun with it. So it's enjoyable. What I love Eric, is, you know, you're talking about your, you know, it's like your identity as a player. And I agree with you 'cause I've gone through different variations. I,
I also tend to be a more aggressive player. That's my style of play, you know, I'll go down swinging when I play. But I, you know, I've gone through phases where I've tried to play softer, but then I get sometimes over soft. But, you know, finding that balance that works for you. But I think sticking to your,
your identity as a player is, is really, really important. Eric, let's talk a little bit about the, well, before we do, I wanted to switch to the body, but I have a note that I, I understand that you have a book. So you've taken the, your mental process, your mental journey, and you've actually put,
and you, and you, you reminded me when you said, you said, you know, playing, I think it's free and fearless is the term you used, you coined. And so tell us a little bit about the book you wrote and, and kind of the general principle that that guides that book. Yeah, Tony. So basically the name of the book's called Let Them Play,
it's a, oh, it's right here. I heard it. It's A, It's field. It's a, it's a parenting and coaching guide to eSports. It's actually a playing, parenting and coaching guide to eSports. And so the book was written because there was four guys, good buddies of mine that we all played the big leagues and none of us had coached our kids.
And a, a few years ago, it just got to the point where we all got together and we're having this conversation and we've seen the same thing over and over and over again. And it was over coaching the kids at such a young age. And I don't know the reason behind it, maybe because the coach just wants to put their footprint on the kid.
They wanna feel like they're relevant. Yeah, here's four guys that did it the highest level. And we're looking at this going like, no, no, no, no. That they like, the more, sometimes we're, we're just giving too much information. So we built a team, we created a team, and we called the team, let them play.
And the concept and idea was exactly what you said. That have the kids go out there, pray, play free, play fearless, and then fight for the inches, fight for the details. I mean, it's, you know, a great analogy of Pickleball too. But like, everything matters. Where you stand on the court matters. Positioning matters where you're breaking it down when the ball's coming back and you know,
on the other side of the net, like all of this matters. So that was our real big focus. And then I've noticed through coaching this team, which is now developed into an organization, a top national travel ball organization, is that we get the absolute best out of the kids when we let them play. When we give them simple cues, see the ball,
see the ball outta hand, A to B, A to B. It's a concept in baseball where this is the, A position launched, ready to go B positions right here. It's bearable ball, A, B, A B. And so we've simplified it. And then what, you know, within this is basically just a, an approach to have from,
you know, not only a psychological perspective, but we also have 22 codes of conduct for the players, for the coaches, for the parents. And you know, when you read something like this and it was a, the process of putting this thing together, it's just a handbook. It's a, it's a handbook for, for all of us to be able to follow.
And again, this goes back to doing everything we could do to, to help and, and to be, you know, somebody who is going to be a supporter of the journey as opposed to a hindrance and too often and use sports. And whether it's tennis, you know, Pickleball, you got, you know, baseball obviously I've seen this on a firsthand basis by us over coaching.
We inhibit it. And so I think, you know, even when you're giving your partner advice, look, there'll be days for you guys to work on the specific techniques of certain things and you know, but when we're in the battle of competition, we wanna keep it as, as, as as simple as possible. And yeah, it's, it's been fun.
It's been fun watching these boys grow because it's, it's constantly a, a some sort of like psychological slash science experiment, whatever you want to call it. But it, again, it's, it, all of it is, is with the idea of maximizing their potential at the moment. And you know, the potential is you can you, the only day we have is today,
right? And so how can we be our best today with what we're dealing with? Yeah. And I love that concept of that concept as well as, you know, less is more is often the answer, right? It is like this, like simplicity is usually gonna be the answer. And, and, and you know, avoiding overburdening ourselves with too many instructions,
it's impossible to get through them. Eric, I'd be remiss not to chat about how we take care of our bodies. 'cause you are a, you know, you are, you are a level of athlete that, that most of us, you know, are not on a day to day. But that means your body also has, you know, takes on a lot of punishment,
right? With the 48 miles the other day. I mean that's, so talk to us a little bit about how you, you know, what you do to prepare before you play Pickleball. Let's say, let's maybe keep it to Pickleball a little bit more just because of, you know, what do you do before you play? What do you do something after you play to,
to kind of keep your body going and not get, not get an injury? So the day I ran 48 miles, I did this, call it the first, oh, 20 something miles. Part of it was done on the treadmill. I did a big loop around the community where we live. It got another 12. So I, I was like 20 something miles in and then I ran down to the Pickleball court and played three hours of Pickleball.
And so if you're moving the whole time within those three hours, you could get a about two miles per hour is, is, is is what it is, what it equates to from a a steps perspective. But I, if I had my ideal day and how I would plan, say the warmup for the Pickleball and everything else, it would be literally starting.
And I, I think remember this and I typically almo almost every player, almost every player, the real experience ones I feel, I feel they have this crazy innate ability to warm up really quickly. But for the most part, say, say take someone like me. I need a game. I need two games. I need to like get in the where,
where I'm bam, I'm hammering my drives, I'm getting the right spins on the ball. I'm doing everything that I need to do to put myself in a position to succeed. Well, if I had it my way, like I would go downstairs and I would spend 15 minutes solid, like nonstop, take two paddles, one in my left hand, one in my right hand now,
and I start with just some dinks dinks at the net. And then I'm gonna do some forehand rolls, you know, from both sides. Then I'm gonna hit back in here, back in here, back in here, back in here, back in here, here. Now I'm going to back it up, then I'm gonna work it back in and then speed it up at the end after about 15 minutes,
put the bag on, run down on the courts. I'm two miles from the courts, run down on the courts. Got a nice ski flow going, get there. Now what you have to remember, and this is why I think you guys, I've seen a lot of injuries in the sport of Pickleball, is that it's a zero to 90 sport where it's kinda like baseball,
a lot of seen standing around and then, whew, I gotta do everything I can to go try to freaking pull this a TP off, right? And so all of a sudden, you know, that's why you've dealt with whatever injuries that people have dealt with. I think one of the things that all Pickleball players should do that would really help at least train the body for these moments,
box jumps, grab a box. It doesn't have to be high, but just, it, it gets the explosiveness number one. 'cause I think explosiveness is really big and Pickleball. And then just make sure that blood's flowing. That's it. Make sure, make sure you, you, you, you know, motion is lotion e every single day. And you know,
the feeling once you guys get going is just like, yeah, the, the body's lubricated. Well understand that's where, that's where you want to get your body to when you, when you're out on that court. And then from a recovery perspective, it, it's really figure out what you have to do to, it's kind of like a, a slowdown,
right? Because if you finish and then just sit down and then all of a sudden you get up 30 minutes later you can't move and you're like, ah, that, like, that's the problem. We as a society, we've always, we're grow hard, hard, hard, hard, hard. And then we stop and then, you know, all the blood rushes to the area because we just taxed our body.
I've always been, no matter if it's been the Iron Man's a hundred mile runs of world record stuff, whatever, I've always been a huge proponent of constantly moving. So this isn't, this isn't a, a one hard type of workout. And then done active recovery. Active recovery, active recovery. It's big. Awesome. Yeah, that could sort of cool down to get your body kind of back into the,
you know, back into rhythm, right? And then definitely, yeah. And then the explosiveness of the sport is definitely an explosive sport for sure. But Eric, no matter what we do, you know, hard to avoid an injury and we were talking about this earlier, I've used it before. I, I believe you're a big proponent of it is that,
and I know everybody's seen it, if you watch pro players, that that half of 'em wearing out there is that, you know, that that tape kinesiology, tape kt tape is the most well known, I think brand of it. I think you got Oz, you got some right there. Awesome. So yeah, I mean, yep, there you go.
So t talk to us a little bit about how we can use that to, to alleviate the injury and just keep us, keep us going when we're playing. Yeah, Tony, it's huge. So I think the best thing we could do is figure out what we need to help support the journey, the journey of life that is right. So if you're going to ask a lot out of your body,
oftentimes you're gonna deal with muscle soreness along the way. Again, this goes back to keeping the blood flowing in the body at all times. And so I'll give you an example. I thank goodness or knock on wood that, you know, I, I have not dealt with anything major recently at all. But one of the things is that, like my hip from the years,
it, it actually, the years of the cycling in the arrow position, I don't think help, right? It's kind of pinch here. But every now and again when I drive i'll, it, it'll just, it'll just lock up. Now if I'm running, no problem. If I'm playing Pickleball, no problem. But for whatever reason I sit down and I drive and the blood stops flowing.
So I got a van. So I've, I've learned how to get a little movement where I'm kind of standing up and driving almost at the same time, especially if I put that thing on cruise control. But just even the other day I took a piece of the KT tape and I put it on my hip before I had a long drive down to the Bay Area.
And for the first time in the longest time, nothing abso it was almost like I was waiting for it. I'm like, this is crazy. So what the tape does is it lifts the skin, it then promotes blood flow to the area, decreases inflammation and alleviates pain. It the si like the science of this is, it's simple and I never really understood what it was.
I had never, to be totally honest, I had never used it until I became a spokesman for them. And they went through, we went through this process where it's like, look, send me out some tape. Lemme try it. Let me see if I like it and if it's a fit, it's a fit and I'll, I'll definitely, you know,
it's just sing sing to the heavens and back about how great t kt tape is. But I, even more than that, I, my daughter is a gnarly, you know, both of 'em are gnarly ski racers and she, you know, they, they deal with, they're growing one's 13 one's, one's 13, one's 15, my son's 12.
Well they deal with these nagging injuries all the time. And my daughter who's racing right now has it on her back and she just, she loves it. She, she loves, she says two things. It feels like the support and then also she feels like it helps keep the back warm as is continuing to promote blood flow to the area. That's awesome.
Yeah, and CJ and I have both used KT Tate before and, and have had success with it. So yeah, that's definitely something to, to keep you in the journey. 'cause I think, you know, echoing what you say, I mean, if we can keep our bodies in motion, there's a, there's another really good book that I've read recently called Move Your DNAI don't know if you've read it yet or not,
but if not, I'll send you the link to it. 'cause I think she's gonna enjoy it. It's, it's right along the lines of what you're thinking about body motion and the mind and all working together and just keeping the, she actually goes to the genetic level with movement. So it's really good. So Eric, it was a pleasure having you on the podcast.
Really appreciate hearing your thoughts on, on the Body and the Mind and your Pickleball journey and your journey before Pickleball. Love it that you, you, you, you are now fully invested in Pickleball and or obsessed and addicted to our sport and I look forward to hopefully one day being able to play with and or against you and see that ambidextrous style. 'cause that's gonna be awesome to check out.
So Eric, really appreciate you joining us, Tony. Thanks, man. It's been, it's been an awesome journey thus far and just looking forward to continuing to improve the game and not, not only that, just like continue to spread the love of the game. It's, it's so cool to see all these different athletes from all these different sports getting into this.
And I think you guys are doing great things with the pod and spreading the love of the Pickleball and yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's a, it's a pretty cool thing. I hope you enjoyed my interview with Eric. I mentioned at the beginning, Eric is a very passionate player and also passionate about life and everything. So you could see that in the,
in the podcast inherited his voice. If, again, if you are interested in trying that KT Tate that we talked about with Eric, put a link down below. You can check that out. Remember when you use those links, they are affiliate links. So we do get a small commission, but that doesn't change your price and it helps us continue to bringing this sort of content to you.
If you enjoyed the podcast, if you know any baseball players out there that, that particularly watch Moneyball and are Pickleball players as well, they're probably gonna enjoy this podcast to hear from Eric transitioning from baseball to Pickleball. I hope wherever you're at in the world, you're having a great day, a great week and I'll see you and our next regular podcast.