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Hello and welcome to Pickleball Therapy,
the podcast dedicated to

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your pickleball improvement.

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Hope you're having a great week.

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I am your host of this
weekly podcast, Tony Roig.

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I am a master teaching professional as
well as a senior professional pickleball

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player and dedicated full-time
pickleball professional.

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This is what I do every day is
think of ways to hopefully help you have a

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more pleasant and fulfilling relationship
with this sport of pickleball.

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In this week's podcast, I'm going
to be talking to you about ratings.

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Ratings are one of those
double-edged swords, right?

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There's definitely a place for ratings in
our sport, but sometimes it can

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get to be a little bit too much.

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And so I'm going to talk about that.

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And this is in response to an email that I
received from one of our therapists,

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and we're going to talk about that.

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And then another email that I received
from one of our students

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talking about focus, right?

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How to maintain focus on-court.

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On-court focus is That's what is going
to be the second topic for today.

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Before we jump into that, I wanted to give
a shout-out, I should say,

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to a review that we got.

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I feel conflicted about
the username, Med Student Slave.

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So I'm sorry that you're...

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I appreciate you're
going to medical school.

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I know we need more doctors in our
society, but sorry you're

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feeling like a slave.

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I have family members who are doctors, so
I'm generally familiar with the

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idea of what you guys go through.

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But thank you for
dedicating yourself to that path.

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The review says, Thank you,
Tony, for this awesome podcast.

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I also enjoy your content on YouTube.

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Getting my mind in the right state is at
least half of the importance for the game

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of pickleball, and you do a
great job explaining this.

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It is my pleasure to do so.

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I do think that's really
a good way of thinking about it, right?

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How important the mind is to our
interaction with sport, our

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relationship with the sport.

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Not just in how we play, right?

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Not just in things like focus, which we're
going to talk about today, which are

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important, but also how we feel about
pickleball and how pickleball interacts

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with our mind and our mental state.

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So thank you Very much for that shout out.

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One more quick bit of housekeeping.

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If you're listening to this at or about
the time that it

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is published, our pickleball
system enrollment is closing now.

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It's closing.
It closes at the end of the month.

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On September 30th, it closes.

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So if you're interested in taking this
step in your journey, make sure that you

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take advantage of that now.

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This is the last class of 2024.

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Anyway, so those are
the housekeeping items.

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All right, let me read you this question
that got posed about ratings, and

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specifically, DUPR, because DUPR has,
to their credit, I would say DUPR has done

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a good job, right, from a marketing
standpoint of creating

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demand for something that wasn't
even known a couple of years ago.

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They've, again, credit to them for
creating this massive

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demand for their product.

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I think it comes with its
potential downsides, and we're

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going to talk about those today.
But no criticism of DUPR, right?

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They're doing what they're
doing, and it's working.

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So why would they not keep doing it?

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So the email and the
question is like this.

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So last summer, I did some DUPR events,
which was a mistake because they were very

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good players, and basically reduced
this player's rating on DUPR.

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And then this summer, the same
player got rated in person, right?

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So you can go get rated in person,
especially in certain communities, right?

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I I know, like in Arizona, there's a lot
of communities there that are driven by

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ratings, meaning you can only play on
certain courts if you

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have a certain rating.

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I know East Naples Park, where the
US Open is held, has gone to that.

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I know the villages, I believe,
does that as well here in Florida.

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So there are communities where
you need to have a rating.

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So these communities will usually have,
either have somebody there or put you in

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contact with somebody who can
do a visual rating for you.

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And so the player who wrote this
email in question got visually rated at 3.

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5.

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So continuing, it says,
I get to play all 3.

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5 events, verified and unverified at both
locations as they have

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verified and assessed me.

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Some folks were saying, I should
really do some duper here.

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So this player tried one where there
were some non-rated players

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who thought they were 3.
5.

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And then one day after playing with the
non-rated players, again, duper dropped.

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So now we're from 2.
9 to 2.

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3.
Yikes is what it says.

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By the way, these players are good, but
were non-rated, and they

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also were less than 3.

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0 after that day.

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I spoke to one of the pros here locally
where this duper round Robin occurred,

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and I was asked Basically, I was told that
if not playing tournaments,

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why worry about it?

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Because I can play my three, five where
I want to play, and I'm doing just fine.

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And then I continue to improve.

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And like I mentioned today on the call, I
played today at a different club with

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greater younger players,
and did just fine.

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My goals are to continue to
work on my game and improve.

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And now we get to the meat, the nub of
what's important to you as a player.

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And this is something for
anybody out there, any player out there

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listening to this podcast
to think about for yourself.

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My My goals are to continue to
work on my game and improve.

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And then the question is, should I
just let this duper rating thing go?

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It was suggested that if I want to
increase my duper,

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the best thing to do is actually play in a
tournament as you get more

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points than Club Round Robbins.

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They also suggest that I
compete, if possible, at a 3.

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5 level as I can hold my own, and
this should increase my duper quickly.

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I think what's meant there is more points
means basically more waiting or more

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credit given to them.

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So there may be points at the end, but
really what it means is that a win in the

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tournament will give you
more, has more value inside the system.

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So the underlying question here is,
should I let this duper rating thing go?

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And then obviously, the difficulty that
chasing a duper rating can have in how

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you interact with the sport.

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So
let's talk about ratings for a second, and

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then I'll give you the
answer, what I would suggest.

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So ratings are just what a computer spits
out based on incomplete information.

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Now, obviously, the different ratings
organizations, including DUPR,

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they're trying to do their best, I'm sure,
to figure out the best,

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the right way to factor in.

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It used to be, you just got
factored in based on total results.

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I believe DUPR has gone to a
system that weighs scores as well.

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I think that's important because back in
the day, you would lose

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a really close match.
You could lose in three games.

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You could lose
13, 11, 11, 13, 14, 12, and it just

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counted as a loss, the same
as if you lost 11,1, 11,1.

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And those are two very different things.

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So they've finetuned it, right?

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But at the end of the day, it's still
incomplete information,

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and it's based on a computer
program, however well that's developed.

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The other thing is that it actually
doesn't say anything about how you play,

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if you think about it, right?

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It's a comparative number,
meaning, and even if If you read the

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email, it's talking about how I play with
certain people, I go up, certain

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people, I go down, and things like that.

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So it's really a comparison to
other players at the end of the day.

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If you play with a bunch of
players who duper says are 4-0 and

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you do well, then you're going to...

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DUPR should eventually take you to around
their level, a little higher, maybe even.

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But if that same group of players DUPR
believes it's 3-0, then you're not going

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to get the rating that
you think is correct.

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So a rating really doesn't say
anything about how you play.

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And we've said this for years,
that you're going to play the

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way you're going to play, right?

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You can say your number is 4.
2.

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If you play like a 4.
2 player, level of play, then great.

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But having a 4.

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2 doesn't mean you're going
to play at that level of play.

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So to me, it's a little bit of...

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This process ends up being a little bit of
tail wagging the dog, meaning

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we got to keep in mind What's important?

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What's important is the dog, not the tail.

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And so what's important is
what's important to you.

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And what this player said is my goals are
to continue to work on

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my game and improve.

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Other than whatever, if ratings are an
obstacle to you doing that,

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meaning we live in the real world.

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So if you're living in a community where
you have to have a rating

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in order to be able to play with a group
that you want to play with,

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then you'll need to do what you
need to do to get that done.

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I would suggest a visual rating is going
to be more a better solution for you than

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trying to chase a DUPR rating because
of the uncertainties of DUPR, et cetera.

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But ask yourself, why
do I need the rating?

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And the only reason you need the rating is
if it's consistent with the dog,

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consistent with what you want.

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So if you want to play tournaments, a lot
of tournaments You can self rate,

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especially local tournaments,
things like that.

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You can self rate and then start your
career there on the tournament stage.

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If the tournament requires a certain type
of rating, then you're going to have

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to comply with that requirement.
That's a tournament specific requirement.

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But always ask yourself,
why I need the rating?

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What's the rating doing for me
and what I want with the game?

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Is the tail wagging the dog or
is the dog wagging the tail?

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If you don't need the rating, or you
already have one that gets the job done,

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then I would say, Why chase something,
whether it's dupe or anything else,

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why chase this numerical thing?

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What really matters at the end of the day
is how good you feel

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about how you're playing.

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If you want to improve, if you're seeing
improvement in your play and your

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experience on the pickleball court, much
more important than this ratings game.

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And be careful with it because it
can become this vicious cycle, right?

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And what I wrote here is basically use
DUPR or any rating system, only as

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necessary to accomplish your objectives.

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And do not allow Duper or any
rating system to be the lead, right?

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Don't let it wag you, despite the
pressures that are created out there to

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do so, because again, full credit to DUPR.

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They're doing a great job of creating
these round Robbins and these different

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events that are all centered
around a rating system, right?

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Rather than around the play.

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And what you got to be careful about is
that becoming a vicious cycle and

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interfering with the reason for your
play and why you go out to the court.

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So the specific to the
question that was asked, right?

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I would let DUPR go.
In other words, don't worry about it.

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Let it be what it is.

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If you want to play tournaments, etc,
that need a DUPR, you can re-explore that.

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But I wouldn't do it
to drive a DUPR rating.

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All righty.

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So that's that one on ratings.

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Now we're going to talk about focus.

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So I'm going to read another email that we
received received from a student about

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a focus question.

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I don't want to call it a focus concern.
I don't think it's a concern.

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It's just a question about
how to maintain more focus.

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And obviously,
focus is important to us, whether we're

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playing pickleball or doing anything else.

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And so we're going to talk
about the process of focus.

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So let me read the message first.

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So after playing for about 45 minutes
today, suddenly everything

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seems to come together.

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I was totally Fully focused, made the
right shots, anticipating my opponent's

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moves correctly, and was in the
right place at the right time.

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Sounds like this player was in the zone.

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This went on for three or four games.

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Other noticed that I was, hot.

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Then suddenly, it was gone.

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In our club, we say the
switch has turned off.

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Sometimes the switch only
turns on for a few points.

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Sometimes it can last for days.

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Here's the question, what can a
player do to keep the switch on?

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Obviously, staying focused on the game and
not allowing distractions

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helps, but what else?

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I'd love to hear What are
your thoughts on this?

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It's a great question.

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Again, something that a lot of players
wrestle with, right?

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They wrestle with to figure out how to
stay in that zone, if you

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will say, in a moment.

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Now, I'm not going to spend a lot
of time on distractions per se.

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And I want to be clear here because
there's different types of distractions.

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What I'm talking about here are things
like a ball behind the court, a player

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doing the antics and stuff like that.

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Those can affect your focus.

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But what I want to talk about more
here is the baseline focus, right?

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The focus you can reasonably
bring to bear while you play.

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I'm going to talk about distractions, but
only as they tend to deal with your

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baseline focus, like the score,
and we'll get to that in a second.

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So
the main thing about focus, right, is is

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you want to try and bring your attention
to the thing that matters when you're

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playing pickleball in the
technical sense, right?

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We're talking about
focus on the play, right?

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In the technical sense, when you're
playing pickleball, the thing that

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matters is the little yellow ball.

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That's all that matters,
is that little yellow ball.

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Where is it?

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Where's it going?

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What am I going to do with it?

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That's what we're doing when
we're playing pickle ball.

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And you can think about it as a
form of mindfulness, if you want to.

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You've probably heard
about meditative breathing, mindfulness

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or breathing, and things like that.

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It's very similar when you're talking
about the pickleball experience,

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meaning staying focused on pickleball.

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The better you're able to stay in the
moment, if you will, to stay in the very

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specific minutiae that you're dealing
with, the more you'll be in the zone,

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because essentially, what you're doing is
you're looking at the ball, and the ball

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becomes like everything else fades away,
like the settings on the phones nowadays

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that you can have, where everything behind
it gets blurry, virtual background or

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blurry background,
and all that matters is the ball.

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All you see is the ball, and you see the
rough location of your opponents, your

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partner, where you're at, and it feels
almost like you're removed, right?

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It's an out-of-body experience,
where you're witnessing the rally as it

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plays out and seeing everything in slow
motion as you navigate through the rally.

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And the way to do that is
through this mindfulness, right?

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Through a process of focusing on the
minutiae that you're dealing with.

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Now, let me address a couple of big
picture distractions that can

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take you out of your focus.

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And these are not, again, not ancillary
things, or once in a while things.

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The couple of things that come to mind
that take you out of your focus, one,

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sometimes it's getting too
focused on the score, okay?

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If you think about it, if you step back
from your play, the

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rally plays the way the rally plays,
meaning the shot you should

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hit is not score dependent.

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So you're going to make decisions on what
shot to hit or hit the shot the certain

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way based on the conditions
on the court, not the score.

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But what ends up happening is the score
will end up impacting how we

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are performing while we play.

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So if we're up big, 10,1,
sometimes we take the foot off the gas.

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Sometimes we get a little sloppy, a
little lackadaisical with our shots.

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Next thing you know, they're serving it
like 8,10, and things get a little tight.

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The score shouldn't matter whether you're
up or whether you're down, because

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sometimes we're down 110, and then the
pressure becomes too much or even just the

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obstacle becomes too great.

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The mountain is too big to climb, so we
stop climbing, and we say, Okay, we're

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done with this game, and we
just want to get off the court.

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The better you're able to focus in
the moment and ignore the score...

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Actually, let me flip that around.

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The better you're able to ignore that
score, the better you're going to be to

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stay in the moment and
focus on what needs to get done.

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The other thing I would suggest to you is
that the more competent you become as a

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pickleball player, the
calmer your mind will get, and the better

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you'll be able to stay
focused and in the moment.

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What I would suggest to you is start
at the beginning.

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Start at the beginning of the rally,
and try and make your mind as calm as you

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can with at least the first couple of
shots that you have to hit during a rally.

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If you're part of our pickleball system,
you know that we focus a lot on the

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first four shots of every rally.

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So that would be the serve in the third on
the serve side, and the return

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in the fourth on the return side.

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If you can have clarity on those shots,
calm the mind, it'll get

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you into that groove.

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It's like, I just spent this last weekend
with the family at the beach, and we did a

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lot of boogie boarding or body surfing,
and you're trying to catch the wave.

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You can think of focus that way, perhaps
might help you, which is like

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that moment where the surfer gets on top
of the wave and then just

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rides the wave into the shore.

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That's what really good focus feels like.

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You get on top of the wave of the rally,
and then you ride the wave all

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the way in really nice and smooth.

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If you can get the groove
by focusing on the first couple of shots

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and get on the wave, the rest of
it becomes easier during the rally.

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Let's do the flip Let
me ride for a second.

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If you start the rally with your mind busy
or your mind distracted or just noisy

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right up there, then you're going to lose
the potential ability

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of catching that wave.

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You'll miss the wave and
be able to ride it in.

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The opposite is you'll
be fighting the wave.

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You're going to be thrashing about from
the very beginning, and it's really hard

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to find that smooth groove
that you want to ride on your focus.

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Focusing on the first couple of shots in
the rally will get you on

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the right path to more focus.

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Now, one other thing I wanted to mention
is you can also try and work on

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your process between rallies.

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That would mean taking a rest between the
rallies, meaning remove your paddle from

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your playing hand is one way of doing it,
going back to the fence, tapping your

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paddle, tapping your paddle with your
partner, doing something that will the

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last rally to conclude
before the next rally.

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Because pickleball all is
a series of rallies.

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Even though we're playing a game, and
sometimes we play a match in a tournament

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or in a competitive setting,
the game is we can't Rally the game.

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All we can play is the rally, and even
more specific to that, all we can do

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is the next shot or the next movement.

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Whatever it is that we have to do
right now is all we can actually do.

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But thinking about the game in terms of
rallies will help you keep it more

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discrete, and then you can stay in the
moment for that rally, and then worry

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about staying in the moment for the next
rally, worry about in the quotes, right?

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Just basically,
you're going to do your best this rally,

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and then the next rally, and
it's over in the next rally.

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So having an in between
is going to help you.

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And then you can give a thought between
the rally also in terms of how you want to

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address the next rally, getting you ready
for at least the first two shots

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in that rally.

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And then last I want to say is that
understand that no matter what you do

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on focus, you are definitely They're
going to have ebbs and flows.

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I wish I could tell you there's a way to
stay focused 100 % all

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the time, amazingly.
Not going to happen.

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Just not a thing.

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Even if you watch pro athletes in any
sport whatsoever,

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they have ebbs and flows.

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00:19:45,645 --> 00:19:49,520
The exception might be like a 100 meter
runner, because a 100 meter

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runner is running for 10 seconds.

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So you can keep focused for 10 seconds.

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But if you look at tennis players,
baseball players, top athletes, they all

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have ebbs and flows in their focus
when they're playing their sport.

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I think it's unrealistic to expect that as
amateur players, that we are also not

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going to have ebbs and flows in our focus.

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That hopefully will help you
with the focus in your game.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, as always,
please consider rating

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00:20:21,145 --> 00:20:23,000
and reviewing the podcast.

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00:20:23,025 --> 00:20:26,935
It helps others like you reach the
podcast, and as always,

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00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:28,320
consider sharing it with your friends.

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00:20:28,345 --> 00:20:32,215
If you enjoyed the podcast,
they probably will, too.

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00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,120
If you're interested in the pickleball
system, remember, you have

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a couple of days left.

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00:20:36,245 --> 00:20:40,760
Otherwise, I will see you, or
maybe you'll hear me in a week, in our

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00:20:40,785 --> 00:20:42,810
next episode of Pickleball Therapy.

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Until then, be well..