November 15, 2024 • 46 mins
Pickleball isn’t just about hitting the perfect shot—sometimes, the real game is handling everything that’s happening around you and in your own head.
In this episode, we share what it’s really like to play pickleball when both the outside elements and your own mind are working against you. We talk about surviving the brutal Texas heat, the ways it can zap your energy and throw off your game, and what to do when your mental focus starts to spiral. We’ve all had those days when it feels like the court is out to get you — whether it's slipping grips or first-match jitters.
We reveal some of our go-to mental strategies and tips to reset and maintain focus, including how to “go blank” and the story behind our on-court personas (you won’t want to miss meeting Lauren’s alter ego). Plus, we discuss the importance of energy management and a team player mindset.
Join us for relatable stories, a few laughs, and actionable advice to keep your cool, improve your game, and make the most of your time on the court. You won’t want to miss this one!
Cheers,
Casie & Lauren
Let’s keep the conversation going! Connect with us:
Instagram: @dinksontap
Facebook: @DinksonTap Website: dinksontap.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello
Are we recording?
We are. Holy
cow, holy chaos. Lauren, may Ijust say that these
the martinis?
frozen olives
Yes,
are legit. Could you please dothat every time
I think, yes, if you know thisis the new way, listener, we are
(00:22):
talking about some self madefrozen olive juice cubes, is
what we're saying.
Can you give your recipe forthat? Is that important to this
pickleball?
It's not.
Dinks on tap podcast
and yet, seems really relevant.
I mean, if you play pickleball,you gotta know how to make a
good Martini.
I agree with that that sort ofseems standard.
(00:48):
Welcome to Dinks on Tap wherethe pickleball meets the
margarita or martini, because weenjoy a bit of both.We're your
hosts, Casie and Lauren, andeach week, we explore what makes
pickleball so darn fun. not tomention the community and the
connection that's built alongwith it.
Back to our regular, scheduledcontent. Casie, what are you
(01:11):
taking away from pickleball thisweek?
We have had a loaded couple ofweeks of pickleball, so there's
several things that are top ofmind for me. Yeah, so do we want
to start with a couple of weeks?Or, I think we're recording bi
monthly, bi weekly.
I think Casie, I'd like to hearparticularly this past week.
(01:36):
What's your takeaway frompickleball this past week?
The sun.
Oh my gosh,
It's been hotter than you knowwhat?
Guys it's brutal in Texas, lady,we're ready for fall. I mean,
burn your skin off brutally
To where we've had to check ifwe should actually have the
match based on the rules of ourleague,
in terms ofhealthand reallygnarly.
(01:59):
So for context for the listenerswe play, as we've noted in the
past, we play in a league, andthey do have some rules now that
I think they implemented lastseason, about if, based on the
weather channel, feels liketemperature, you can actually
call the match. So there was alittle bit of, I think, from our
(02:20):
captains checking in to see ifwe were in that zone, because it
was both weeks very, very hot.
It really was, and it kind ofzaps your energy, right? I mean,
honestly, being outside, playingoutside, the elements are
available. They're going to besort of the fifth and sixth
player on the court, and you'rehaving to deal with extra
(02:43):
elements that affect your game.
And I think we should back upand talk about that fifth or
sixth player on the court,because that is so important.
You talk about that a lot, and Ithink it's really important to
and I think it's true, it's liketalk a little bit about what
that means.
Well, I think a great segue intothat, and you're right. Is this
idea of energy? Guys, we alreadyknow that we come to the court
(03:06):
with a certain mind frame,right? Mindset, headspace. What
do we take into the court?
What do you bring in from youreveryday life?
Yeah, what came from happeningyour morning, your afternoon,
right? Are you shaking it off?Are you happy? Are you sad? Are
you energetic? Are you lowenergy? What's going on that's
coming with you? And guess what?Your partner, if you're playing
(03:26):
doubles, is also bringing someversion of that. How are they
showing up? What are theybringing in the court? Right?
And interestingly, tell me thisis not true. You can practice
all week long, all week longwith your partner. You can have
these great games, he's not sogreat. Whatever you're doing,
you're working out kinks, you'reworking on your vibe, your flow,
you're figuring out what yourpartner's doing, how you're
(03:48):
reacting to each other's shots,all that good stuff that you
practice with. And then it comesto a match, and all of a sudden,
some of that's out the window.
It's completely out the window.And I think this week was a
great example, because wepractice a couple times during
the week before our matches,right? And so what we played two
(04:08):
or three times, two or threetimes, and it was Wednesday, I
think we played and 4 30 in theafternoon, albeit raging heat,
complete. I mean, it had to been100 degrees. Fell apart, and we
looked like 1.0 players, 1.8players. I mean, we were
(04:29):
beginner. We were pickleball.101, guys. It was meltdown,
literally, physically, all ofit.
And it is, it's also, how arethe other people showing up with
their energy? So it's thisexternal factor of all the
elements at play, what you'rebringing, what your partner's
bringing, and what's on theother side of the net. So
sometimes what the other peopleare bringing is just throwing
(04:50):
your stuff off, right? That's areal deal. And I want to dive
into that in a minute, butbefore we do, I want to dive
into the elements that are atplay right, physical elements.
So this heat thing is a realdeal, certainly in Texas,
certainly in other parts of thecountry, certainly in the
summer. Can you describe we werebeginner players?
(05:12):
It's as if we forgot what to do.And What's strange about it,
what I felt that day is becauseI could actually feel, I mean,
you know it's hot and you'reyou're sweating and you know
you're exhausted, but I mean, Icould almost feel the sun
burning my skin, burning theskin. It was like you could
almost feel it-
(05:32):
so your paddle slipping out ofyour hand a little bit.
Yeah, your grips. And it wasthat day I couldn't decide, am I
reusing my glove, or am I usingmy rosin? Nothing seemed to be
working.
Right. Even these small littletricks we use to employ some
grip, we're failing. Your riskgets bent a little bit. So
everything just gets thrown off,right? It's like a golf swing.
(05:53):
You tweak one thing, and all ofa sudden the ball is just
heading off into the forestthere in the woods and the
trees. It's just the littlestmovement can kind of throw your
stuff off. So then what happensis that your head game gets
involved, right? Which is themost precarious partner on the
court. It's your headspace, yourmental awareness, your mental
(06:15):
focus. It's so precarious. Sothe minute your physical play
moves into a gear that'sforeign, or a gear that's not
operating in the way you're usedto. Your head just goes crazy
into what's wrong? Well, I don'tusually miss that. Well, I can't
do that again. Blah blahdy,blahdy, blah and then we're in
this dishwasher cycle of roundand round, and we don't like it,
(06:38):
and it's negative talk, negativeself talk.
Well, and then you look at eachother, and I know we did this at
one point, we said, do we needto quit like we never do that. I
never do that. I don't remembera time playing with you when
we've looked at each other andthought we are now wasting our
friends, our opponents time,because we are not an ounce of
(07:00):
good competition today. So wesaid, Should we just throw in
the towel? Do we need to reallybe out here? Is this?
And that's really a question foryou guys too. I mean,
ultimately, I value time, right?Nobody wants to really waste
time. And you think to yourself,can I pull up, the Jets going
down, like, Can I pull up, or amI calling this? What's one or
(07:23):
the other? And what we were ongame like three.
and we're already at Game threethinking
like and so the real questionis, what do you do when your
game, your mental game, yourphysical game, are spiraling out
of control?
We talk about this a lot becausein that moment it is so hard to
get out of it. Yeah, to findanother gear. Yeah, to say, what
(07:48):
do I need to do? And as I wastelling you before we recorded
this, listening to sportspsychologists talk about some
things that I know, that wepractice too, but it'd be
interested to hear people shootin some comments about what they
do to get out of the mentalspiral. Because, you know, you
have some great tricks thatyou've taught me and practice in
your everyday work that you dothat works on the pickleball
(08:11):
court. I was thinking about thisbefore I got here, like, what
makes us a good partnership? Andone thing I know that we do well
is sort of check in, right? Likewe seem to know it's like, what
you're bringing that day.
Yeah, that first energy sort ofcheck in, yeah. What are you
bringing in the court.
What do you bring in? Like, howyou feeling? We kind of know
what's been going on with eachother's weeks, but there's this
(08:33):
intuitive sense of what is todaygoing to look like.
Yeah, how are you showing up?How are you showing up? How you
showing up? In fact, easy asyou're talking, and feeling like
we could be more intentional.
We could be more intentionalabout asking. And I think it's
huge. It's you said somethingthe other day, and it's just
that 101, about life,communication is key, yeah, but
it's the same thing, right? Whenwe get to the court, it's like,
(08:54):
how you feeling today? What'sbeen going on? How's your day
going?
Yeah, what do you bring in?
What do you bring you?
You know, we should be, we canbe more intentional about we
could be, I think let's do that,and let's just make it a thing
right here. Now, let's justtears on that. Yeah, Pinky
promise. Pinky promise. It'sinteresting, guys, because what
you're bringing is actuallyimportant. And if we give it a
(09:15):
little bit of space, call itfive minutes or less, to
breathe, to just accept, then wecan decide to wipe it away if we
need to. However, if we'rebringing happy, if we're
bringing energy, if we'rebringing Hey, I'm feeling good
about to rock this court today,right? Bring it on. Okay, I'm
gonna share some of that like Iwould love it. If you brought
that cake. Did you bring that alittle bit more? Please. My
(09:38):
point is that, however, ifyou're bringing something else
that feels like it's not goingto serve you on the court, give
it a little room like I wouldlove if you said to me just I'm
annoyed I got this irritatingcall work with this colleague.
This is rubbing me the wrongway. They're not showing up the
way they could. Whatever it is,right? And you gave that a
(10:01):
little bit of space, and I couldshare that and help you, take it
off of you and just put it inthe space between us, and just
poke holes all through it so itjust releases its energy, its
gas, right? Boom, all right,cool. Now we're moving on. What
else you got? Let's pump youbacked up. Come on, let's go to
court, versus holding on tothat, keeping that in your body,
(10:23):
keeping that in your space,bringing that on the court,
letting that sit in your headspace, being a part of the game,
there's no room for that.
And it's interesting. I thinkbecause Friday, when we played,
we were feeling good, and we'redriving to this match with our
teammates. Everybody's lively,just loose, having a good time,
right? And we get there, if wewould have checked in,
(10:46):
intentionally checked in witheach other, I think I would have
said, Yeah, I'm feeling good.This feels good. We drilled the
night before because of our daybefore a meltdown, literally,
yeah, the two day before, thetwo day before, crash and burn.
You know, I think we werefeeling much better. We did an
open play at a local club here,and we're feeling pretty good
about our game. It's like we gotour mojo back a little bit. And
(11:09):
then Friday comes, and I thinkif we would have been
intentional about that check in,I would have said, yeah, man,
feeling good, feeling great.Like, you know, it was an early
morning match, so there wasn't awhole lot to get in your head
space before that. Yeah, itwasn't a ton of everyday work
stuff, right? And then we startthe match. And what is it about
(11:30):
first match jitters? I want tocircle to that the time.
Guys, this is, let's think Ilove that. It is a thing, and
it's something I really let's dotwo things here. Let's pin that
because that's part of this.It's part of it. It is so part
of it. I want to just close theloop on. Yes, Casie and I melted
(11:50):
a few days before the match in apractice situation where we just
accepted the elements were toomuch for us. We literally said,
guys, this is not one of thosetimes where we have to employ
something to get through it.It's a practice. This is insane
heat. This is actually a littlebit dangerous.
Might be dangerous. Yeah, youstart to worry about, are you
(12:11):
gonna? Are we gonna get hurt?Like, are we gonna?
It's not helping our game. Theother team was feeling it too.
They weren't folding as hard aswe were. With their wonderful
players as well. They understoodwe were just all very
uncomfortable, and it just therewas no point in putting
ourselves through the struggle.So we kind of said, after four
or five games of just poorperformance, this day is not for
(12:35):
us. This day's and I'm actuallyproud of that, you know. But
sometimes those days happen.Sometimes you can call it, and
it doesn't have to reflect yourlevel of play. It doesn't have
to reflect your skills orcommitment or right. It can just
be what it is. And I'm notsuggesting that this is a rip
cord you pull all the timewhenever you feel like you're
off, because there's other waysto approach it, and we'll go
(12:56):
there. But this is rare for usto ever say, no, no, we do not
play at this level all the time.
Never. It was a rarity. And Ithink the key is, when you're
thinking about, am I going tohurt myself by continuing? Then
that's a everybody understandsthat
(13:18):
That's right. Plus, again, ifyou're not in competition, if
you're playing a friendly game,if you're with good people,
everyone understands, and youcan pull yourself out of a
moment that's not working foryou at any point. And I just
think that was one of our firstand only times we've done it,
where we just said, You knowwhat, this day is not for this
is not for us. And we acceptedthat, and we just said, Sorry
(13:40):
guys, thank you for coming out.Love you. But after a game like,
what was it? Four or five? Fouror five, we gave it a few k it
was just no competition.
And they were kind enough tosay, let's switch up partners
and just see what happens.
Let's put on some music. We'restill let's make it fun. And we
got back to-
We did. We got back to fun.
And we close out the sessionwith like, a week.
(14:02):
Normally, we would have played acouple more games or
Yeah. So that was a close now,circling back to what happens
when you show up to a match andyou've practiced all week a
certain way. You know how you'reshowing up. You've checked them
with your partner. They show upa certain way. You voice this,
you've given whatever's theresome room to breathe, and then
(14:24):
you've said, Okay, move out ofthe way. Now we're going to
focus. And you're dealing withwhatever the other people on the
other side of the net arebringing. And you feel like your
skill is starting to spiral.This place, I think, is real and
alive, and I want to talk aboutwhat to do, what we have done
(14:45):
and experimented with, to sortof fight abate this feeling,
this like sort of mental headspiral thing that gets in the
way of our physical performance.
Yeah, let's talk about that.Because. I think that is huge,
and I think that it helpsespecially, and I'm thinking
(15:05):
about Friday's match, forexample, we have those first
match jitters, and it's a littlebit of you're playing people
you've never played before, soyou've got to kind of figure out
how they play. There's you'renot warming up with them, you're
warming up with your team,right? And so then all of a
sudden, you're thrust into thisunknown, and you've got to
figure out what type of playersthey are. Are they bangers? Are
(15:25):
that well, how's their softgame? Are they going to hit out?
Are they tennis players? And dowe need to, like our coach says,
let a few balls fly, and it'sokay. What I get nervous about,
I think, and what gets in myhead is, this game is so fast,
yeah, unlike a lot of othersports, where you can find
yourself in the hole reallyquickly, and so it's kind of
(15:45):
like the week before last, wegot down 08 and then all of a
sudden, eight in our league, andat that point, and we're playing
their line three, which may notmake sense to our but we're
playing their least competitiveteam, and we're Down 08 and all
of a sudden we know we're betterplayers than these team, but all
of a sudden we are playingagainst ourselves.
(16:07):
We are, thank you for saying itthat way Casie, that's a great
way to say it. We are playingagainst
Playing against ourselves, notwe are like we have got to pull
ourselves out of this. And solet's just take that for
example, what did we do?
Okay, I love it. So the thing
we did, come back, listeners, wecame back and won that one
We did, we came back and won,guys. And so it's important,
(16:29):
it's like, nice to celebratethat, but also it's important to
talk about what we did. What didwe do with our headspace? So
first
We took a break. You said, pausetime the F out.
There is no way we need to belosing to this line. And because
the game before that, we hadbeat them considerably, right?
(16:50):
It was 11 one or something kindof wonderful. So this one was
going in the wrong directionfast, and we knew that we could
pull up this plane did not needto notice,
Nope. So okay, love your planeanalogies. Thank you for that.
Since I'm about to go on aninternational trip,
you're taking a little bird overa big blind Yes, you are my
(17:13):
friend. Good luck. Thanks. Itultimately, that's a great
analogy, though, because it is.It's like a pull like, how do I
pull up, I don't want to crash.How do I shift this gear? How do
I pull this plane up? How do Ilevel out? How do I see the
landscape again and get back tome, get back to equilibrium? So
yes, the first thing we did istake a time out. Take a break.
(17:33):
Time out. You got a minute ortwo. Gotta refocus recenter. So
one of the things that we'vetalked about, which is fun. It's
like one of my favorite thingsto do in life, in general. So
guys, you may not know this, butneurologically speaking, there's
a lot of science to back thisup. I won't go into it, but you
can look it up, a brain synapsecan be rerouted. So what that
(17:56):
means is, when you're thinking athought, you can follow that
thought. It can lead to adifferent thought, a different
thought, different thought.That's a synapse, right? Like,
that's a pathway, it's aneurological pathway, and each
thought is a different synapse.So a pathway can be formed and
followed for endless amounts oftime. And we often think we
(18:18):
don't have any control, likethose thoughts just come and we
just think them, and all of asudden we're just thinking a
different thought and adifferent thought and different
thought, and all of a suddenwe're down this spiral into
various thoughts that a don'tfeel good, or B, they could feel
good. I mean, look whicheverdirection you're in, right? But
oftentimes the ones we'rereferencing on the court, they
don't feel so good. It's this,oh my gosh, we're down 08 my
(18:40):
gosh. How are we gonna pull up?Oh my gosh, this team isn't good
with us. How do we get here? Myblack hand isn't performing, you
know, my overheads are all goingout. How is this possible? I
don't do it this way, right? Andit's just worse and worse and
worse, and you're self doubting,and you're just in this
uncomfortable space. So you canactually stop that train of
thought. It takes a littlepractice. It takes a little
(19:02):
effort. But here's theblueprint, if you stop that
thought for a total of 10seconds, literally wipe the
slate clean for 10 seconds, youhave autonomy, physiologically,
chemically, to start a newsynapse, a new pathway. What
that necessitates there for isthat wiping the slate clean of
(19:26):
10 seconds total, which I thinkthe easiest way to do is go what
I call blank. So Casie, youknow,
This is my favorite thing thatyou have taught me. And some of
our teammates recently asked me,What y'all have gotten
remarkably better, like, there'sbeen a huge leveling up of our
(19:49):
game as partners, right? Andwhat-
And I'm proud of us.
I know I'm proud of this goodjob. Awesome job. So what was
the difference maker? What didyou do? And I think it was. The
very first time we talked about,you have several tips for this,
but when you first talked aboutgoing blank, and I started
(20:09):
trying it, but truly like to putit in layman's terms, and I'll
just talk, from my experience,what I do is I will do that
count to 10, or I'll find myselfwhether it's a spiral, or maybe
I'm just not playing well for afew points, and I feel myself
about to lose that mentalcomposure, yeah. And I think,
(20:30):
okay. And we talk, what are youdoing? Going blank, okay. What
does that mean? And I canremember specifically a few
times maybe my serve is offwhere it's like, I've got the
yips all of a sudden with myserve, or whatever it is.
Listener, Casie has the mostinsane, aggressive serve. She
(20:51):
aces people often, PS,
Which a lot of pros will tellyou that means nothing.
Whatever it's wonderful. She'sgot a great serve. I will boast
about her, if she went out aboutherself, but it is a lot of
power. So sometimes it goes out.
Sometimes it goes out. And somaybe it was going out a lot,
whatever it was. And I thought,all right, I'm going blank. So
(21:13):
I'll stand at the service line,and I will take those 10
seconds, and they are theslowest. I will count to 10 as
slow as I possibly can, and thenI think of something benign
inside my body. And one of yourbest examples was think about
your pinky toes. Yep, and I willfeel my pinky toes at the very
(21:36):
edge of that ball of my shoe,and I will zone in those stinky
toes awareness goes there, yeah.And everything in my brain and
body thinks about that, and thenI serve the ball, yeah? And what
happens? And it, it's usually,it's an ace. No, it's not. But
then you teach that your bodyalready knows what to do, yeah,
(22:00):
you're blocking that mentalnoise, mental noise, or it's
getting negative.
The thoughts. Here's the thing,listener, it's so weird, but
it's so true. Our mental noise,the thought synapses that fire
off man at rapid succession, canget real loud and be really
(22:22):
interfering. They just do. It'snatural. It happens. It happens
to all this happens everywhere,all the time, and it happens on
the court. And so if you can goblank, and the best way to go
blank and Casie, you justpointed out just one of my
favorites, but it is just findsomething in your body, because
it's the most tangible place tofocus all of your awareness.
(22:43):
It's the easiest thing to sortof find, to send all of your
awareness in one direction thatfeels really benign, not
important to the context at handhas nothing to do with your
game. And that's the pointyou're stopping literal, the
mental pathway, you have topause it, right? So go think
(23:03):
about something else, somethingelse that's completely
unrelated, that's completelyagain, benign. And if you can do
that for 10 seconds, you willstop the aforementioned
neurological pathway. So theeasiest way to do it is to think
of something physical, right?Like you wiggle your toes. You
(23:24):
think about your pinky toes. Andour thing is to listen for the
furthest sound away from you,sound away.
I'll do that too. I almost dothem simultaneously. I'll think
about my pinky toes, and then Ithink, Okay, where is that bird
chirping in a tree? Far, faraway, right?
Agreed. And for me, it's workedalmost every time, because all
And when you do it, you areallowing for 10 seconds. Now it
has to be 10 seconds, but you'reallowing yourself to clear that
(23:47):
of a sudden I'm not thinkingabout bending my knees. I'm not
pathway, to clean the slate.After those 10 seconds, you have
empowerment, you have energy.You have the charge to direct
thinking about how far the ballis, how far back I'm bringing
your thoughts in whatever wayyou want, and I'm suggesting in
that moment you serve the ball.
the paddle, or if I'm gonnaserve it out, or I'm not
(24:08):
And all of a sudden, your bodytakes over. You've trained your
thinking about the score, right?It's just I'm thinking about my
pinky toes.
(24:30):
body. You've hit 1000 forehands,1000 backhands, 100 overheads,
right? Like you know how to hitthe ball. Your body remembers.
It's got muscle memory. It's gotbuild up. It knows what to do.
You've just cleared the pathwayto let it do what it can do
(24:51):
without you getting in the way.
It's incredible, because all ofa sudden you're we talk a lot
about you hear people say this,you know. Of people, even when
I'm not playing with you, andI'm a lot of people say this in
general, when you're justplaying doubles, they're like,
every ball, every point, and soyou're training your mind to
think, don't think about what wecan't control here. The score is
(25:13):
eight. Oh, and we cannot controlthe outcome of this point.
That's right, it's not aguaranteed win right of the
point.
But we can control what we'rethinking about and how we're
approaching the point.
It's giving us the bestopportunity to win the point,
the best opportunity. Not aguaranteed,
Not a guarantee, exactly. And soyou're less tentative in that
(25:37):
moment. And so I think goingback to those first match
jitters, and maybe this issomething that we do. It's like,
maybe we go blank in thebeginning. I haven't even
thought about that until justnow. It's like, maybe we're
thinking about, hey, we knowthat we're susceptible to those
first match jitters.
Yep, yep. It's a good thought.It's a good thought. It brings
(25:59):
me to the other thing that we'vetalked about doing. Now, let's
do this part is important,because honestly, Casey and I, I
know we've done this a lot, andit's fun to talk about it here,
because we've done it with somelevel of success. And this part
is kind of fun, right? Goingblank. Going blank is an easy,
sort of immediate way to again,stop the neurological pathway,
(26:24):
clean the slate, and move into apathway that works for it's an
easy go to.
It's an easy go to when we're introuble. It's usually the first
thing, yeah, I think aboutbecause of what you talk
because the game you mentioned,it is so fast paced, there's so
much happening very, veryquickly, that this is like the
first go to thing to do in acrisis, right? It's going to
give you the edge. It's going togive you the reset you're after
(26:47):
again. This is something that isforeign to a lot of people,
especially if you don't have anypractice going blank, and you
don't know what that means, youknow, maybe you don't have a lot
of practice with it, right? Alot of people who meditate might
be able to get there quicker,people that actually have a lot
of breathing time that practicethis, that have a formulated
muscle in this direction, mightbe able to pick it up faster.
But regardless of your practice,you can start to try it on and
(27:11):
see how it works for you.However, there's a disclaimer
here, like it's a muscle. Yougot to build it up. And the more
you build it off the court, bythe way,
we were talking about thatearlier. You have to practice
this in your everyday play.
Got it do it in your practice.Got to do in your practice, not
just for games.
You can't show up in the middleof a competitive match or a
(27:34):
tournament and think I betterkick in that mental stuff that
you haven't ever practiced.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, because whoknows it's gonna be flimsy at
that point. It's like a brandnew baby deer walking around
these little legs that areskinny and flimsy. And what? How
these work? Right? It's tough.It's tough to just go from zero
to 60 with it, sort of stuff.
(27:54):
So if you have these tricks inyour bag during that match or
during the tournament, andthings get a little dicey all of
a sudden, it's just like youwere going into maybe you have a
strong serve, or you have agreat forehand volley, or
whatever it is. It's like, well,then it becomes less about that.
It becomes, Hey, what's thatmental trick that's in my bag of
tools? Exactly I can go grabbecause I'm in trouble. That's
(28:17):
right. And I think it's moreimportant almost than your
physical at attributes at thatpoint.
Yeah, because, guys, it is yourmental space is part of your
game. It's part of your physicalplay, and it's part of the
energy that you put out rightkind of circling back to the top
of the call, it's like, yeah,what you're bringing to this
(28:41):
court, and how you'reinteracting with your partner
and how you're interacting withthe energy that the other side
of the court is bringing is allgoing to be filtered through
your mental space, right? Sofortifying that space, having
some tools in the belt to getback on track, should you get
pushed out of your normal focus,is essential to showing up and
(29:02):
staying competitive and andhaving fun.
Fun first girlfriend
Normally, my interpretation ofthis, this is also my favorite
Have fun, yep. Let's circle backto the notion of the first game
of six in a league match,because first game gonna have
all kinds of jitters, all kindof nerves, all kind of weird
energy spiraling that around. Soyes, practicing going blank at
(29:26):
one to practice when we're notin a competitive match, because
home, understanding how to like,just employ that tool
immediately, is important. It'svital. It could be really,
really helpful in the court. Butthe other thing that we have
tried to try on, right how wehave tried to play with and I
think it's definitely bettercultivated off the court, but it
you almost have to explain it tothe opponents and be like just
(29:49):
could also be an ally to you onthe court. Is this notion of
developing a character or apersona that you can access with
attribute? Use that you need inany given moment to support your
weaknesses on the court. So whatdo I mean with that?
(30:20):
so you know, you might see somecharacter development on the
other side of the court here,and you might be wondering what
the tarnation is happeningentirely our opponent. What's
going on over here? What's goingon over there? Because we're
embodying a character that wewant to personify, whether it's
someone of it could be anybody.Could be it could be anybody. So
(30:44):
somebody that is like, I mean,couple of mine usually have been
Charlie's throne
And, oh yeah, I like these,well, characters you embodies,
You know, we're, I'm justthinking of that, that strength
and the power and just sort ofbadassery of some character that
I'm, I'm just gonna channel,yes, like, you know, nobody's
(31:09):
business on the court, and it'slike, whatever comes up, and
sometimes they cuss a lot,sometimes they might jump around
a lot, or, you know.
I mean, listen, listener, I'llconfess I remember initially,
and this is the way that I sortof offer the idea of a character
(31:29):
to someone else. So Casie, youknow, I said listen for me. I
audited, personally, mentally,my physical game, where was I
showing up in a way that didn'tfeel fully 100% right. Like,
what was it? I'm not talkinglike your forehand versus your
backhand, punch versus youroverhead. Like, none of that I'm
(31:51):
talking about. Like, what is itabout showing up to a match, any
game, any match, recreationalfun versus any kind of league or
competition. Where do you thinkyou are less strong, right? And
for me, it was, I'll offerpersonally, I did not have a
(32:13):
aggressiveness to my game, likeit was very passive. It was only
if my partner wants to take theback hand, even though she's on,
you know, the right hand side,and it's my forehand. I'll just
let her that's a shot, by theway. We're gonna go into that
listener, because Casie owes melots of shots.
Lots of drinks.
We've instituted a shot penaltyoff
(32:35):
I take one of Lauren's shotsthat I'm not supposed to, which
is a lot of them. That's herMargarita, her whatever my word
for the season was, sharing,sharing. The middle,
sharing is caring.
And now I'm teaching my shots.Listener, yeah. And then when I
don't take one, she's like, Oh,that was mine, yeah.
(32:58):
How am I supposed to know?Because, and then she's like,
Oh, that's hers. And then Idon't know it's mine, and the
ball goes, right,
Yeah, working on that.
You've been there. We know it.Point being is I was
recognizing, certainly, in thefirst couple years of my playing
the sport, I just wasn't veryaggressive, like it didn't, you
(33:20):
know, whatever you want, youtake it. It's fine, which is
really a disservice, because Ican be quite strong, but it was
silly that I just wasn't takingthese particular balls.
Why do you think that was,
you know, it was aboutfriendliness. It was about the
community, which we love so muchin this sport, it was just
(33:42):
getting to know people at thetime. It was kind of a beginner
move really. And there'sprobably some deeper roots to
it, but that's the general.
Everybody knows what it's like.You've come out on the
pickleball court, maybe for thefirst time with a new partner,
and that person justautomatically starts giving you
advice, right? And it'sunsolicited. And you're like,
(34:05):
you've never done that, yeah,but you've gotten a lot more
communicative, which I like.
Well, that's a good point.That's fine.
You'll say, I got the middle.
I don't have to get you overthere. Move, get your butt on
the sideline and cover it,
Stay in your lane. Caldwell,like you hear a lot better about
(34:25):
that, and
maybe I've gotten aggressivetoo, where I'm taking some of
your balls, where I hate metaking
I owe you a lot,
And I owe you. So that's the funpart about this. But you know
what? It's about, auditing yourgame. So yeah, going back to I
wasn't that aggressive, and itwas a disservice at some point,
right? Because I could havetaken some shots that really
(34:46):
could have served the team well,and could have gotten us the
point, and I was just being hohum about it. Oh, let that. Oh,
you know this passiveness. And Ithought to myself, I want to
change that. I want to actuallyfocus some energy there and
shift that. Because. I can be abetter player. Should I be more
aggressive?
And is that when they embody thecharacter came out?
Yeah. So I thought, You knowwhat? Let me look at this. This
(35:10):
is an area I want to improve.What could I channel to give me
that mindset, that energy? Howcan I take this and put it on
You gotta use the name
the court, put it into my game.And then I got a little playful.
I was like, Okay, I'm gonnachannel an actual character,
whether it fictional character,somebody that I know in real
(35:31):
life, who has these qualitiesthat I can sort of check into,
that I can kind of funnel fromright, like, put my syringe in
and just sort of soak up andthen inject into my game. And I
just got you know who would beaggressive, who would take this
middle ball, who would hunt forthe floater that comes over the
(35:52):
middle right, especially if I'mon the forehands or the left
hand side, right, to take itwith my forehand. And I
honestly, listener, I came upwith this character that was
like, just full blown hardcore,like street savvy. Could just
hustle and flow, like I wasgoing into the hustler baller,
seeing the landscape, takingadvantage. And I started
(36:16):
mosaicking this personality,this persona. It was one It
wasn't one particular character.It was sort of elements from a
bunch of characters I'd seen inmovies and read in books, you
know. And I just thought, Who isthis person? They're hardcore.
They're getting at it. And Ijust started thinking about and
(36:36):
then feeling this sort ofaggressive, like, oh, oh, yeah,
mine. And I was like, Okay, whatare they listening to? They're
listening to hardcore rap, likemetal music, okay, yeah. And it
was like, what are they wearing,right? They're wearing baller
outfits. They don't care who'slooking who's commenting. It
(36:57):
doesn't matter. They're wearingbold colors, right? Maybe a lot
of flashy jewelry. It was justbold, colorful, aggressive. And
then I gave them a name. Casieknows the name because
You give yourself, this idea,this image in your head that
conjures all of the elements youthink you need, right? And then
(37:23):
you have to kind of channel it.You channel it so feel it in
your body. This is the realticket. It's feeling that
aggression, which to me, atfirst, was kind of foreign. I
just don't show up that way. ButI gave myself permission.
Yes, you did.
To show up with this aggression.And it was like, oh, and like
the body language and thephysical manifestation of it I
(37:45):
was embodying. I was bringing infeeling it, like in my limbs,
you know? And then I thought, Isaid, Okay, this is how it
feels. This is how it looks.What can I call it to channel
immediately? What can I name it,that if hearing that name or
saying that name said back tome, or in my mind, would just
(38:06):
put me right back to thisphysical, emotional state. So I
found a name, and then I askedCasie to just say the name when
I needed to, and then what wegot into care. I said I'm doing
this before a match, like I'mgonna spend five or 10 minutes
before the match begins, and I'mjust gonna focus on this
(38:26):
character. I'm just gonna getinto it. And if you find me on
the court lacking, and I askyou, please say the name, and
it'll help me get back there,right?
Ladies and gentlemen, let meintroduce you to La Ronda.
Yeah, that's the name. I don'tknow it's a version of my name,
(38:48):
but it's different, and it justputs me in a state of mind where
I get to be fierce, I get to beassertive, I get to take balls
that I'm gonna slay
She is slaying, and she is aforce to be reckoned with.
It's so much fun, but that feelsgood, and it feels like a part
(39:09):
of me, like a part that I canelicit on the court. However, it
takes that cultivation off thecourt. It takes literal
intention and time, albeit, youknow, 510 minutes.
Yeah, it's not a what I'veobserved is that it's not a
light switch, right? It sort of,but it doesn't take long, but
(39:29):
it's usually when some momentumis, I think, if I'm thinking
about that right, and I'mrecalling when we usually
channel that energy on the courtis usually when we've got some
momentum going, or we'restarting to feel that energy of,
hey, we're rocking and rollinghere. We're in the zone, yeah.
And all of a sudden, La Ronda ison the court. She's present.
(39:53):
She's there. And guys, I kick itinto gear before the match,
during the match. Mm. Duringtime outs. Like, if I feel like
I'm losing that energy, I feellike the elements are are at
play and they're winning. Youknow, my face is melting off, or
(40:13):
I just my everything's slipping,like my energy's evaporating. I
have to go deep. I have to digin, especially if it's in a
league match or a match that'simportant and feels important,
or I really want to show up atmy best self. It's just another
tool. When going blank is not aseffective, or maybe it's
effective, but it needs somehelp. It's just another tool to
(40:36):
employ, and it's helpful. Itdoes work for me. It does.
I think the going blank for mehelps when your energy is sucked
out of the room a little bit.For me again, it's kind of like,
I think I might be in troublehere. Like it really was
something week before last, whenthe heat was bad on Friday, but
(40:57):
it was even more intense theweek before, yeah, and I mean,
it was like between games, I'mhaving to pour ice down my back,
right? You had the chills. I hadthe chills. I mean, body was
about to shut down, shut down ifI didn't do something. So
because we were rallying, andthankfully, we were able to kind
of pull it out, pull it out. Butfor me, that going blank tool
(41:21):
helps when things are sort ofspiraling. That's just my
experience. And then theembodying a character is almost
when you may not be winning, butyou know that you have every
reason to it's like it's morecompetitive. This is, again, my
experience, where I know thatI've got to channel something to
(41:41):
kind of even level up more,because, you know, your
opponents are man, they'releveling up, and I've got to
level up, and I've got, if I canembody that character, then it
just sort of helps me over thathump that's just been my
experience. Not to say that youcan't do that, maybe when you're
spiraling a little bit. But forme, it seems that it's when,
(42:03):
hey, the momentum could goeither way, but you've got some
momentum on your side, maybe, oryou're needing to channel a
little bit more momentum. So Idon't know there's a little bit
of a
Yeah, it's like when you arenoticing that you're not playing
at your potential. But you canget there. You can get there.
So, yeah, that opportunity toget there, this is like that
(42:25):
extra, you know, boost to getthere, as opposed to to stop the
noise that's getting in the way.Great point. Yeah, that's the
difference. Those are two veryseparate tools, or very separate
experiences on the court. I likeit. And you know, this is again,
when you're battling externalelements, like, literally, the
(42:46):
wind, the heat, the freezingcold, because that's possible,
the rain, the slickness,whatever you're playing in,
whatever external elementsconditionally are there. And
when you have this energetic,whatever that you can't see or
touch, but you can absolutelyfeel. You can feel it from the
(43:08):
other side of the court, right?Like you can't control because
you don't really know youropponents. You can't sit and be
like, how long are you bringingto the court today? Right?
That's not the same.
Let's talk about your wiener.
What have you experienced atwork this week that you have in
your partner. How is your homelife? Yeah, everything. Okay, at
home? Yeah. Marriage, not somuch fodder for conversation
(43:30):
before match.
But like with your partner, youcan have some of those
conversations, maybe dependingon how close you are and
depending on how important thosematches really at the end of the
day, guys like again, we arerecreational players. We were
having a good time, and that'swhat we're trying to preserve
here. It's like we don't need togo into that headspace that
spirals us into this crazy noisethat tells us we're not having
(43:51):
any fun. This is too important.Yeah, it's not that important.
Yes, and that's what we shouldtalk about on another episode.
Is what I'm learning, especiallyin the first match that we
experienced this season, was alittle bit of, I mean, talk
about some stuff that could getin your head space, pretty bad,
(44:11):
you know. And it could beanything. It could be a line
call. It could be how someoneapproaches a rule of the game,
or maybe they're unhappy becauseyou took too much time between a
match, or whatever it is, and itcan get into your head really
quickly. Yeah, and so what I'mtrying to learn in practice is
(44:31):
how you get into the mindset of,hey, we're out here having fun,
and maybe your opponents don'thave the best sportsmanship that
day, or whatever it is, but it'sreally gonna matter tomorrow,
yeah? Is it gonna matter in anhour for that matter, right?
Especially after that Margarita?Yeah, no, we going to have
(44:51):
margaritas. And so I have to doa better job when those flare
ups happen. Because it does. Imean, it's, you know. All of us,
to all of us, yeah, or in youropponent. I mean, even whether
it's us, our opponent, maybeeven someone on the team, or
whatever it is, it's like, is itenough, or is it important
enough to consume my energy,enough to where, you know, I
(45:14):
need to expend my energy onthis? It's right, and because
with lasting implications, and
Yes, and so is life. I mean,that's what's so interesting
about this game, is there's somany life lessons, or so many
lessons on the pickleball courtthat transcend over into life
lessons. So-
(45:34):
I love that. Let's circle tothat next time, for sure, it'll
be about sportsmanship and howto react to bad sportsmanship,
bad sportsmanship, on or offyour team, on or off the court,
Mostly off our team.
Of course, because we're neverbad, never bad sports, I think
we have a high rating for oursportsmanship. Guys. Our league
(45:56):
actually does a sportsmanshiprating, and I think that's a
good thing keep us allaccountable, even though it's
kind of wild that that'ssomething they feel necessary to
employ, right? Could saysomething about the level of
competition here in Dallas, butnonetheless, fodder for another
day. Case.
(46:17):
Think that wraps us up.
Cheers,
Cheers. My Martini is empty.You gotta make me another one.
Oh, time to pour anymore thoseice creams. I think I do. That's
a wrap for Dinks on Tap. Younext time. See you next time,
guys, thanks for tuning in,
And that's a wrap on thisepisode of Dinks on Tap. Thanks
(46:37):
for listening. And if you likedthe pod, leave us a review and
share it with your favoritedinking buddy. After all,
Pickleball is more fun withfriends, both on and off the
court.
Hello
Are we recording?
We are. Holy
cow, holy chaos. Lauren, may Ijust say that these
the martinis?
frozen olives
Yes,
are legit. Could you please dothat every time
I think, yes, if you know thisis the new way, listener, we are
(00:22):
talking about some self madefrozen olive juice cubes, is
what we're saying.
Can you give your recipe forthat? Is that important to this
pickleball?
It's not.
Dinks on tap podcast
and yet, seems really relevant.
I mean, if you play pickleball,you gotta know how to make a
good Martini.
I agree with that that sort ofseems standard.
(00:48):
Welcome to Dinks on Tap wherethe pickleball meets the
margarita or martini, because weenjoy a bit of both.We're your
hosts, Casie and Lauren, andeach week, we explore what makes
pickleball so darn fun. not tomention the community and the
connection that's built alongwith it.
Back to our regular, scheduledcontent. Casie, what are you
(01:11):
taking away from pickleball thisweek?
We have had a loaded couple ofweeks of pickleball, so there's
several things that are top ofmind for me. Yeah, so do we want
to start with a couple of weeks?Or, I think we're recording bi
monthly, bi weekly.
I think Casie, I'd like to hearparticularly this past week.
(01:36):
What's your takeaway frompickleball this past week?
The sun.
Oh my gosh,
It's been hotter than you knowwhat?
Guys it's brutal in Texas, lady,we're ready for fall. I mean,
burn your skin off brutally
To where we've had to check ifwe should actually have the
match based on the rules of ourleague,
in terms ofhealthand reallygnarly.
(01:59):
So for context for the listenerswe play, as we've noted in the
past, we play in a league, andthey do have some rules now that
I think they implemented lastseason, about if, based on the
weather channel, feels liketemperature, you can actually
call the match. So there was alittle bit of, I think, from our
(02:20):
captains checking in to see ifwe were in that zone, because it
was both weeks very, very hot.
It really was, and it kind ofzaps your energy, right? I mean,
honestly, being outside, playingoutside, the elements are
available. They're going to besort of the fifth and sixth
player on the court, and you'rehaving to deal with extra
(02:43):
elements that affect your game.
And I think we should back upand talk about that fifth or
sixth player on the court,because that is so important.
You talk about that a lot, and Ithink it's really important to
and I think it's true, it's liketalk a little bit about what
that means.
Well, I think a great segue intothat, and you're right. Is this
idea of energy? Guys, we alreadyknow that we come to the court
(03:06):
with a certain mind frame,right? Mindset, headspace. What
do we take into the court?
What do you bring in from youreveryday life?
Yeah, what came from happeningyour morning, your afternoon,
right? Are you shaking it off?Are you happy? Are you sad? Are
you energetic? Are you lowenergy? What's going on that's
coming with you? And guess what?Your partner, if you're playing
(03:26):
doubles, is also bringing someversion of that. How are they
showing up? What are theybringing in the court? Right?
And interestingly, tell me thisis not true. You can practice
all week long, all week longwith your partner. You can have
these great games, he's not sogreat. Whatever you're doing,
you're working out kinks, you'reworking on your vibe, your flow,
you're figuring out what yourpartner's doing, how you're
(03:48):
reacting to each other's shots,all that good stuff that you
practice with. And then it comesto a match, and all of a sudden,
some of that's out the window.
It's completely out the window.And I think this week was a
great example, because wepractice a couple times during
the week before our matches,right? And so what we played two
(04:08):
or three times, two or threetimes, and it was Wednesday, I
think we played and 4 30 in theafternoon, albeit raging heat,
complete. I mean, it had to been100 degrees. Fell apart, and we
looked like 1.0 players, 1.8players. I mean, we were
(04:29):
beginner. We were pickleball.101, guys. It was meltdown,
literally, physically, all ofit.
And it is, it's also, how arethe other people showing up with
their energy? So it's thisexternal factor of all the
elements at play, what you'rebringing, what your partner's
bringing, and what's on theother side of the net. So
sometimes what the other peopleare bringing is just throwing
(04:50):
your stuff off, right? That's areal deal. And I want to dive
into that in a minute, butbefore we do, I want to dive
into the elements that are atplay right, physical elements.
So this heat thing is a realdeal, certainly in Texas,
certainly in other parts of thecountry, certainly in the
summer. Can you describe we werebeginner players?
(05:12):
It's as if we forgot what to do.And What's strange about it,
what I felt that day is becauseI could actually feel, I mean,
you know it's hot and you'reyou're sweating and you know
you're exhausted, but I mean, Icould almost feel the sun
burning my skin, burning theskin. It was like you could
almost feel it-
(05:32):
so your paddle slipping out ofyour hand a little bit.
Yeah, your grips. And it wasthat day I couldn't decide, am I
reusing my glove, or am I usingmy rosin? Nothing seemed to be
working.
Right. Even these small littletricks we use to employ some
grip, we're failing. Your riskgets bent a little bit. So
everything just gets thrown off,right? It's like a golf swing.
(05:53):
You tweak one thing, and all ofa sudden the ball is just
heading off into the forestthere in the woods and the
trees. It's just the littlestmovement can kind of throw your
stuff off. So then what happensis that your head game gets
involved, right? Which is themost precarious partner on the
court. It's your headspace, yourmental awareness, your mental
(06:15):
focus. It's so precarious. Sothe minute your physical play
moves into a gear that'sforeign, or a gear that's not
operating in the way you're usedto. Your head just goes crazy
into what's wrong? Well, I don'tusually miss that. Well, I can't
do that again. Blah blahdy,blahdy, blah and then we're in
this dishwasher cycle of roundand round, and we don't like it,
(06:38):
and it's negative talk, negativeself talk.
Well, and then you look at eachother, and I know we did this at
one point, we said, do we needto quit like we never do that. I
never do that. I don't remembera time playing with you when
we've looked at each other andthought we are now wasting our
friends, our opponents time,because we are not an ounce of
(07:00):
good competition today. So wesaid, Should we just throw in
the towel? Do we need to reallybe out here? Is this?
And that's really a question foryou guys too. I mean,
ultimately, I value time, right?Nobody wants to really waste
time. And you think to yourself,can I pull up, the Jets going
down, like, Can I pull up, or amI calling this? What's one or
(07:23):
the other? And what we were ongame like three.
and we're already at Game threethinking
like and so the real questionis, what do you do when your
game, your mental game, yourphysical game, are spiraling out
of control?
We talk about this a lot becausein that moment it is so hard to
get out of it. Yeah, to findanother gear. Yeah, to say, what
(07:48):
do I need to do? And as I wastelling you before we recorded
this, listening to sportspsychologists talk about some
things that I know, that wepractice too, but it'd be
interested to hear people shootin some comments about what they
do to get out of the mentalspiral. Because, you know, you
have some great tricks thatyou've taught me and practice in
your everyday work that you dothat works on the pickleball
(08:11):
court. I was thinking about thisbefore I got here, like, what
makes us a good partnership? Andone thing I know that we do well
is sort of check in, right? Likewe seem to know it's like, what
you're bringing that day.
Yeah, that first energy sort ofcheck in, yeah. What are you
bringing in the court.
What do you bring in? Like, howyou feeling? We kind of know
what's been going on with eachother's weeks, but there's this
(08:33):
intuitive sense of what is todaygoing to look like.
Yeah, how are you showing up?How are you showing up? How you
showing up? In fact, easy asyou're talking, and feeling like
we could be more intentional.
We could be more intentionalabout asking. And I think it's
huge. It's you said somethingthe other day, and it's just
that 101, about life,communication is key, yeah, but
it's the same thing, right? Whenwe get to the court, it's like,
(08:54):
how you feeling today? What'sbeen going on? How's your day
going?
Yeah, what do you bring in?
What do you bring you?
You know, we should be, we canbe more intentional about we
could be, I think let's do that,and let's just make it a thing
right here. Now, let's justtears on that. Yeah, Pinky
promise. Pinky promise. It'sinteresting, guys, because what
you're bringing is actuallyimportant. And if we give it a
(09:15):
little bit of space, call itfive minutes or less, to
breathe, to just accept, then wecan decide to wipe it away if we
need to. However, if we'rebringing happy, if we're
bringing energy, if we'rebringing Hey, I'm feeling good
about to rock this court today,right? Bring it on. Okay, I'm
gonna share some of that like Iwould love it. If you brought
that cake. Did you bring that alittle bit more? Please. My
(09:38):
point is that, however, ifyou're bringing something else
that feels like it's not goingto serve you on the court, give
it a little room like I wouldlove if you said to me just I'm
annoyed I got this irritatingcall work with this colleague.
This is rubbing me the wrongway. They're not showing up the
way they could. Whatever it is,right? And you gave that a
(10:01):
little bit of space, and I couldshare that and help you, take it
off of you and just put it inthe space between us, and just
poke holes all through it so itjust releases its energy, its
gas, right? Boom, all right,cool. Now we're moving on. What
else you got? Let's pump youbacked up. Come on, let's go to
court, versus holding on tothat, keeping that in your body,
(10:23):
keeping that in your space,bringing that on the court,
letting that sit in your headspace, being a part of the game,
there's no room for that.
And it's interesting. I thinkbecause Friday, when we played,
we were feeling good, and we'redriving to this match with our
teammates. Everybody's lively,just loose, having a good time,
right? And we get there, if wewould have checked in,
(10:46):
intentionally checked in witheach other, I think I would have
said, Yeah, I'm feeling good.This feels good. We drilled the
night before because of our daybefore a meltdown, literally,
yeah, the two day before, thetwo day before, crash and burn.
You know, I think we werefeeling much better. We did an
open play at a local club here,and we're feeling pretty good
about our game. It's like we gotour mojo back a little bit. And
(11:09):
then Friday comes, and I thinkif we would have been
intentional about that check in,I would have said, yeah, man,
feeling good, feeling great.Like, you know, it was an early
morning match, so there wasn't awhole lot to get in your head
space before that. Yeah, itwasn't a ton of everyday work
stuff, right? And then we startthe match. And what is it about
(11:30):
first match jitters? I want tocircle to that the time.
Guys, this is, let's think Ilove that. It is a thing, and
it's something I really let's dotwo things here. Let's pin that
because that's part of this.It's part of it. It is so part
of it. I want to just close theloop on. Yes, Casie and I melted
(11:50):
a few days before the match in apractice situation where we just
accepted the elements were toomuch for us. We literally said,
guys, this is not one of thosetimes where we have to employ
something to get through it.It's a practice. This is insane
heat. This is actually a littlebit dangerous.
Might be dangerous. Yeah, youstart to worry about, are you
(12:11):
gonna? Are we gonna get hurt?Like, are we gonna?
It's not helping our game. Theother team was feeling it too.
They weren't folding as hard aswe were. With their wonderful
players as well. They understoodwe were just all very
uncomfortable, and it just therewas no point in putting
ourselves through the struggle.So we kind of said, after four
or five games of just poorperformance, this day is not for
(12:35):
us. This day's and I'm actuallyproud of that, you know. But
sometimes those days happen.Sometimes you can call it, and
it doesn't have to reflect yourlevel of play. It doesn't have
to reflect your skills orcommitment or right. It can just
be what it is. And I'm notsuggesting that this is a rip
cord you pull all the timewhenever you feel like you're
off, because there's other waysto approach it, and we'll go
(12:56):
there. But this is rare for usto ever say, no, no, we do not
play at this level all the time.
Never. It was a rarity. And Ithink the key is, when you're
thinking about, am I going tohurt myself by continuing? Then
that's a everybody understandsthat
(13:18):
That's right. Plus, again, ifyou're not in competition, if
you're playing a friendly game,if you're with good people,
everyone understands, and youcan pull yourself out of a
moment that's not working foryou at any point. And I just
think that was one of our firstand only times we've done it,
where we just said, You knowwhat, this day is not for this
is not for us. And we acceptedthat, and we just said, Sorry
(13:40):
guys, thank you for coming out.Love you. But after a game like,
what was it? Four or five? Fouror five, we gave it a few k it
was just no competition.
And they were kind enough tosay, let's switch up partners
and just see what happens.
Let's put on some music. We'restill let's make it fun. And we
got back to-
We did. We got back to fun.
And we close out the sessionwith like, a week.
(14:02):
Normally, we would have played acouple more games or
Yeah. So that was a close now,circling back to what happens
when you show up to a match andyou've practiced all week a
certain way. You know how you'reshowing up. You've checked them
with your partner. They show upa certain way. You voice this,
you've given whatever's theresome room to breathe, and then
(14:24):
you've said, Okay, move out ofthe way. Now we're going to
focus. And you're dealing withwhatever the other people on the
other side of the net arebringing. And you feel like your
skill is starting to spiral.This place, I think, is real and
alive, and I want to talk aboutwhat to do, what we have done
(14:45):
and experimented with, to sortof fight abate this feeling,
this like sort of mental headspiral thing that gets in the
way of our physical performance.
Yeah, let's talk about that.Because. I think that is huge,
and I think that it helpsespecially, and I'm thinking
(15:05):
about Friday's match, forexample, we have those first
match jitters, and it's a littlebit of you're playing people
you've never played before, soyou've got to kind of figure out
how they play. There's you'renot warming up with them, you're
warming up with your team,right? And so then all of a
sudden, you're thrust into thisunknown, and you've got to
figure out what type of playersthey are. Are they bangers? Are
(15:25):
that well, how's their softgame? Are they going to hit out?
Are they tennis players? And dowe need to, like our coach says,
let a few balls fly, and it'sokay. What I get nervous about,
I think, and what gets in myhead is, this game is so fast,
yeah, unlike a lot of othersports, where you can find
yourself in the hole reallyquickly, and so it's kind of
(15:45):
like the week before last, wegot down 08 and then all of a
sudden, eight in our league, andat that point, and we're playing
their line three, which may notmake sense to our but we're
playing their least competitiveteam, and we're Down 08 and all
of a sudden we know we're betterplayers than these team, but all
of a sudden we are playingagainst ourselves.
(16:07):
We are, thank you for saying itthat way Casie, that's a great
way to say it. We are playingagainst
Playing against ourselves, notwe are like we have got to pull
ourselves out of this. And solet's just take that for
example, what did we do?
Okay, I love it. So the thing
we did, come back, listeners, wecame back and won that one
We did, we came back and won,guys. And so it's important,
(16:29):
it's like, nice to celebratethat, but also it's important to
talk about what we did. What didwe do with our headspace? So
first
We took a break. You said, pausetime the F out.
There is no way we need to belosing to this line. And because
the game before that, we hadbeat them considerably, right?
(16:50):
It was 11 one or something kindof wonderful. So this one was
going in the wrong directionfast, and we knew that we could
pull up this plane did not needto notice,
Nope. So okay, love your planeanalogies. Thank you for that.
Since I'm about to go on aninternational trip,
you're taking a little bird overa big blind Yes, you are my
(17:13):
friend. Good luck. Thanks. Itultimately, that's a great
analogy, though, because it is.It's like a pull like, how do I
pull up, I don't want to crash.How do I shift this gear? How do
I pull this plane up? How do Ilevel out? How do I see the
landscape again and get back tome, get back to equilibrium? So
yes, the first thing we did istake a time out. Take a break.
(17:33):
Time out. You got a minute ortwo. Gotta refocus recenter. So
one of the things that we'vetalked about, which is fun. It's
like one of my favorite thingsto do in life, in general. So
guys, you may not know this, butneurologically speaking, there's
a lot of science to back thisup. I won't go into it, but you
can look it up, a brain synapsecan be rerouted. So what that
(17:56):
means is, when you're thinking athought, you can follow that
thought. It can lead to adifferent thought, a different
thought, different thought.That's a synapse, right? Like,
that's a pathway, it's aneurological pathway, and each
thought is a different synapse.So a pathway can be formed and
followed for endless amounts oftime. And we often think we
(18:18):
don't have any control, likethose thoughts just come and we
just think them, and all of asudden we're just thinking a
different thought and adifferent thought and different
thought, and all of a suddenwe're down this spiral into
various thoughts that a don'tfeel good, or B, they could feel
good. I mean, look whicheverdirection you're in, right? But
oftentimes the ones we'rereferencing on the court, they
don't feel so good. It's this,oh my gosh, we're down 08 my
(18:40):
gosh. How are we gonna pull up?Oh my gosh, this team isn't good
with us. How do we get here? Myblack hand isn't performing, you
know, my overheads are all goingout. How is this possible? I
don't do it this way, right? Andit's just worse and worse and
worse, and you're self doubting,and you're just in this
uncomfortable space. So you canactually stop that train of
thought. It takes a littlepractice. It takes a little
(19:02):
effort. But here's theblueprint, if you stop that
thought for a total of 10seconds, literally wipe the
slate clean for 10 seconds, youhave autonomy, physiologically,
chemically, to start a newsynapse, a new pathway. What
that necessitates there for isthat wiping the slate clean of
(19:26):
10 seconds total, which I thinkthe easiest way to do is go what
I call blank. So Casie, youknow,
This is my favorite thing thatyou have taught me. And some of
our teammates recently asked me,What y'all have gotten
remarkably better, like, there'sbeen a huge leveling up of our
(19:49):
game as partners, right? Andwhat-
And I'm proud of us.
I know I'm proud of this goodjob. Awesome job. So what was
the difference maker? What didyou do? And I think it was. The
very first time we talked about,you have several tips for this,
but when you first talked aboutgoing blank, and I started
(20:09):
trying it, but truly like to putit in layman's terms, and I'll
just talk, from my experience,what I do is I will do that
count to 10, or I'll find myselfwhether it's a spiral, or maybe
I'm just not playing well for afew points, and I feel myself
about to lose that mentalcomposure, yeah. And I think,
(20:30):
okay. And we talk, what are youdoing? Going blank, okay. What
does that mean? And I canremember specifically a few
times maybe my serve is offwhere it's like, I've got the
yips all of a sudden with myserve, or whatever it is.
Listener, Casie has the mostinsane, aggressive serve. She
(20:51):
aces people often, PS,
Which a lot of pros will tellyou that means nothing.
Whatever it's wonderful. She'sgot a great serve. I will boast
about her, if she went out aboutherself, but it is a lot of
power. So sometimes it goes out.
Sometimes it goes out. And somaybe it was going out a lot,
whatever it was. And I thought,all right, I'm going blank. So
(21:13):
I'll stand at the service line,and I will take those 10
seconds, and they are theslowest. I will count to 10 as
slow as I possibly can, and thenI think of something benign
inside my body. And one of yourbest examples was think about
your pinky toes. Yep, and I willfeel my pinky toes at the very
(21:36):
edge of that ball of my shoe,and I will zone in those stinky
toes awareness goes there, yeah.And everything in my brain and
body thinks about that, and thenI serve the ball, yeah? And what
happens? And it, it's usually,it's an ace. No, it's not. But
then you teach that your bodyalready knows what to do, yeah,
(22:00):
you're blocking that mentalnoise, mental noise, or it's
getting negative.
The thoughts. Here's the thing,listener, it's so weird, but
it's so true. Our mental noise,the thought synapses that fire
off man at rapid succession, canget real loud and be really
(22:22):
interfering. They just do. It'snatural. It happens. It happens
to all this happens everywhere,all the time, and it happens on
the court. And so if you can goblank, and the best way to go
blank and Casie, you justpointed out just one of my
favorites, but it is just findsomething in your body, because
it's the most tangible place tofocus all of your awareness.
(22:43):
It's the easiest thing to sortof find, to send all of your
awareness in one direction thatfeels really benign, not
important to the context at handhas nothing to do with your
game. And that's the pointyou're stopping literal, the
mental pathway, you have topause it, right? So go think
(23:03):
about something else, somethingelse that's completely
unrelated, that's completelyagain, benign. And if you can do
that for 10 seconds, you willstop the aforementioned
neurological pathway. So theeasiest way to do it is to think
of something physical, right?Like you wiggle your toes. You
(23:24):
think about your pinky toes. Andour thing is to listen for the
furthest sound away from you,sound away.
I'll do that too. I almost dothem simultaneously. I'll think
about my pinky toes, and then Ithink, Okay, where is that bird
chirping in a tree? Far, faraway, right?
Agreed. And for me, it's workedalmost every time, because all
And when you do it, you areallowing for 10 seconds. Now it
has to be 10 seconds, but you'reallowing yourself to clear that
(23:47):
of a sudden I'm not thinkingabout bending my knees. I'm not
pathway, to clean the slate.After those 10 seconds, you have
empowerment, you have energy.You have the charge to direct
thinking about how far the ballis, how far back I'm bringing
your thoughts in whatever wayyou want, and I'm suggesting in
that moment you serve the ball.
the paddle, or if I'm gonnaserve it out, or I'm not
(24:08):
And all of a sudden, your bodytakes over. You've trained your
thinking about the score, right?It's just I'm thinking about my
pinky toes.
(24:30):
body. You've hit 1000 forehands,1000 backhands, 100 overheads,
right? Like you know how to hitthe ball. Your body remembers.
It's got muscle memory. It's gotbuild up. It knows what to do.
You've just cleared the pathwayto let it do what it can do
(24:51):
without you getting in the way.
It's incredible, because all ofa sudden you're we talk a lot
about you hear people say this,you know. Of people, even when
I'm not playing with you, andI'm a lot of people say this in
general, when you're justplaying doubles, they're like,
every ball, every point, and soyou're training your mind to
think, don't think about what wecan't control here. The score is
(25:13):
eight. Oh, and we cannot controlthe outcome of this point.
That's right, it's not aguaranteed win right of the
point.
But we can control what we'rethinking about and how we're
approaching the point.
It's giving us the bestopportunity to win the point,
the best opportunity. Not aguaranteed,
Not a guarantee, exactly. And soyou're less tentative in that
(25:37):
moment. And so I think goingback to those first match
jitters, and maybe this issomething that we do. It's like,
maybe we go blank in thebeginning. I haven't even
thought about that until justnow. It's like, maybe we're
thinking about, hey, we knowthat we're susceptible to those
first match jitters.
Yep, yep. It's a good thought.It's a good thought. It brings
(25:59):
me to the other thing that we'vetalked about doing. Now, let's
do this part is important,because honestly, Casey and I, I
know we've done this a lot, andit's fun to talk about it here,
because we've done it with somelevel of success. And this part
is kind of fun, right? Goingblank. Going blank is an easy,
sort of immediate way to again,stop the neurological pathway,
(26:24):
clean the slate, and move into apathway that works for it's an
easy go to.
It's an easy go to when we're introuble. It's usually the first
thing, yeah, I think aboutbecause of what you talk
because the game you mentioned,it is so fast paced, there's so
much happening very, veryquickly, that this is like the
first go to thing to do in acrisis, right? It's going to
give you the edge. It's going togive you the reset you're after
(26:47):
again. This is something that isforeign to a lot of people,
especially if you don't have anypractice going blank, and you
don't know what that means, youknow, maybe you don't have a lot
of practice with it, right? Alot of people who meditate might
be able to get there quicker,people that actually have a lot
of breathing time that practicethis, that have a formulated
muscle in this direction, mightbe able to pick it up faster.
But regardless of your practice,you can start to try it on and
(27:11):
see how it works for you.However, there's a disclaimer
here, like it's a muscle. Yougot to build it up. And the more
you build it off the court, bythe way,
we were talking about thatearlier. You have to practice
this in your everyday play.
Got it do it in your practice.Got to do in your practice, not
just for games.
You can't show up in the middleof a competitive match or a
(27:34):
tournament and think I betterkick in that mental stuff that
you haven't ever practiced.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, because whoknows it's gonna be flimsy at
that point. It's like a brandnew baby deer walking around
these little legs that areskinny and flimsy. And what? How
these work? Right? It's tough.It's tough to just go from zero
to 60 with it, sort of stuff.
(27:54):
So if you have these tricks inyour bag during that match or
during the tournament, andthings get a little dicey all of
a sudden, it's just like youwere going into maybe you have a
strong serve, or you have agreat forehand volley, or
whatever it is. It's like, well,then it becomes less about that.
It becomes, Hey, what's thatmental trick that's in my bag of
tools? Exactly I can go grabbecause I'm in trouble. That's
(28:17):
right. And I think it's moreimportant almost than your
physical at attributes at thatpoint.
Yeah, because, guys, it is yourmental space is part of your
game. It's part of your physicalplay, and it's part of the
energy that you put out rightkind of circling back to the top
of the call, it's like, yeah,what you're bringing to this
(28:41):
court, and how you'reinteracting with your partner
and how you're interacting withthe energy that the other side
of the court is bringing is allgoing to be filtered through
your mental space, right? Sofortifying that space, having
some tools in the belt to getback on track, should you get
pushed out of your normal focus,is essential to showing up and
(29:02):
staying competitive and andhaving fun.
Fun first girlfriend
Normally, my interpretation ofthis, this is also my favorite
Have fun, yep. Let's circle backto the notion of the first game
of six in a league match,because first game gonna have
all kinds of jitters, all kindof nerves, all kind of weird
energy spiraling that around. Soyes, practicing going blank at
(29:26):
one to practice when we're notin a competitive match, because
home, understanding how to like,just employ that tool
immediately, is important. It'svital. It could be really,
really helpful in the court. Butthe other thing that we have
tried to try on, right how wehave tried to play with and I
think it's definitely bettercultivated off the court, but it
you almost have to explain it tothe opponents and be like just
(29:49):
could also be an ally to you onthe court. Is this notion of
developing a character or apersona that you can access with
attribute? Use that you need inany given moment to support your
weaknesses on the court. So whatdo I mean with that?
(30:20):
so you know, you might see somecharacter development on the
other side of the court here,and you might be wondering what
the tarnation is happeningentirely our opponent. What's
going on over here? What's goingon over there? Because we're
embodying a character that wewant to personify, whether it's
someone of it could be anybody.Could be it could be anybody. So
(30:44):
somebody that is like, I mean,couple of mine usually have been
Charlie's throne
And, oh yeah, I like these,well, characters you embodies,
You know, we're, I'm justthinking of that, that strength
and the power and just sort ofbadassery of some character that
I'm, I'm just gonna channel,yes, like, you know, nobody's
(31:09):
business on the court, and it'slike, whatever comes up, and
sometimes they cuss a lot,sometimes they might jump around
a lot, or, you know.
I mean, listen, listener, I'llconfess I remember initially,
and this is the way that I sortof offer the idea of a character
(31:29):
to someone else. So Casie, youknow, I said listen for me. I
audited, personally, mentally,my physical game, where was I
showing up in a way that didn'tfeel fully 100% right. Like,
what was it? I'm not talkinglike your forehand versus your
backhand, punch versus youroverhead. Like, none of that I'm
(31:51):
talking about. Like, what is itabout showing up to a match, any
game, any match, recreationalfun versus any kind of league or
competition. Where do you thinkyou are less strong, right? And
for me, it was, I'll offerpersonally, I did not have a
(32:13):
aggressiveness to my game, likeit was very passive. It was only
if my partner wants to take theback hand, even though she's on,
you know, the right hand side,and it's my forehand. I'll just
let her that's a shot, by theway. We're gonna go into that
listener, because Casie owes melots of shots.
Lots of drinks.
We've instituted a shot penaltyoff
(32:35):
I take one of Lauren's shotsthat I'm not supposed to, which
is a lot of them. That's herMargarita, her whatever my word
for the season was, sharing,sharing. The middle,
sharing is caring.
And now I'm teaching my shots.Listener, yeah. And then when I
don't take one, she's like, Oh,that was mine, yeah.
(32:58):
How am I supposed to know?Because, and then she's like,
Oh, that's hers. And then Idon't know it's mine, and the
ball goes, right,
Yeah, working on that.
You've been there. We know it.Point being is I was
recognizing, certainly, in thefirst couple years of my playing
the sport, I just wasn't veryaggressive, like it didn't, you
(33:20):
know, whatever you want, youtake it. It's fine, which is
really a disservice, because Ican be quite strong, but it was
silly that I just wasn't takingthese particular balls.
Why do you think that was,
you know, it was aboutfriendliness. It was about the
community, which we love so muchin this sport, it was just
(33:42):
getting to know people at thetime. It was kind of a beginner
move really. And there'sprobably some deeper roots to
it, but that's the general.
Everybody knows what it's like.You've come out on the
pickleball court, maybe for thefirst time with a new partner,
and that person justautomatically starts giving you
advice, right? And it'sunsolicited. And you're like,
(34:05):
you've never done that, yeah,but you've gotten a lot more
communicative, which I like.
Well, that's a good point.That's fine.
You'll say, I got the middle.
I don't have to get you overthere. Move, get your butt on
the sideline and cover it,
Stay in your lane. Caldwell,like you hear a lot better about
(34:25):
that, and
maybe I've gotten aggressivetoo, where I'm taking some of
your balls, where I hate metaking
I owe you a lot,
And I owe you. So that's the funpart about this. But you know
what? It's about, auditing yourgame. So yeah, going back to I
wasn't that aggressive, and itwas a disservice at some point,
right? Because I could havetaken some shots that really
(34:46):
could have served the team well,and could have gotten us the
point, and I was just being hohum about it. Oh, let that. Oh,
you know this passiveness. And Ithought to myself, I want to
change that. I want to actuallyfocus some energy there and
shift that. Because. I can be abetter player. Should I be more
aggressive?
And is that when they embody thecharacter came out?
Yeah. So I thought, You knowwhat? Let me look at this. This
(35:10):
is an area I want to improve.What could I channel to give me
that mindset, that energy? Howcan I take this and put it on
You gotta use the name
the court, put it into my game.And then I got a little playful.
I was like, Okay, I'm gonnachannel an actual character,
whether it fictional character,somebody that I know in real
(35:31):
life, who has these qualitiesthat I can sort of check into,
that I can kind of funnel fromright, like, put my syringe in
and just sort of soak up andthen inject into my game. And I
just got you know who would beaggressive, who would take this
middle ball, who would hunt forthe floater that comes over the
(35:52):
middle right, especially if I'mon the forehands or the left
hand side, right, to take itwith my forehand. And I
honestly, listener, I came upwith this character that was
like, just full blown hardcore,like street savvy. Could just
hustle and flow, like I wasgoing into the hustler baller,
seeing the landscape, takingadvantage. And I started
(36:16):
mosaicking this personality,this persona. It was one It
wasn't one particular character.It was sort of elements from a
bunch of characters I'd seen inmovies and read in books, you
know. And I just thought, Who isthis person? They're hardcore.
They're getting at it. And Ijust started thinking about and
(36:36):
then feeling this sort ofaggressive, like, oh, oh, yeah,
mine. And I was like, Okay, whatare they listening to? They're
listening to hardcore rap, likemetal music, okay, yeah. And it
was like, what are they wearing,right? They're wearing baller
outfits. They don't care who'slooking who's commenting. It
(36:57):
doesn't matter. They're wearingbold colors, right? Maybe a lot
of flashy jewelry. It was justbold, colorful, aggressive. And
then I gave them a name. Casieknows the name because
You give yourself, this idea,this image in your head that
conjures all of the elements youthink you need, right? And then
(37:23):
you have to kind of channel it.You channel it so feel it in
your body. This is the realticket. It's feeling that
aggression, which to me, atfirst, was kind of foreign. I
just don't show up that way. ButI gave myself permission.
Yes, you did.
To show up with this aggression.And it was like, oh, and like
the body language and thephysical manifestation of it I
(37:45):
was embodying. I was bringing infeeling it, like in my limbs,
you know? And then I thought, Isaid, Okay, this is how it
feels. This is how it looks.What can I call it to channel
immediately? What can I name it,that if hearing that name or
saying that name said back tome, or in my mind, would just
(38:06):
put me right back to thisphysical, emotional state. So I
found a name, and then I askedCasie to just say the name when
I needed to, and then what wegot into care. I said I'm doing
this before a match, like I'mgonna spend five or 10 minutes
before the match begins, and I'mjust gonna focus on this
(38:26):
character. I'm just gonna getinto it. And if you find me on
the court lacking, and I askyou, please say the name, and
it'll help me get back there,right?
Ladies and gentlemen, let meintroduce you to La Ronda.
Yeah, that's the name. I don'tknow it's a version of my name,
(38:48):
but it's different, and it justputs me in a state of mind where
I get to be fierce, I get to beassertive, I get to take balls
that I'm gonna slay
She is slaying, and she is aforce to be reckoned with.
It's so much fun, but that feelsgood, and it feels like a part
(39:09):
of me, like a part that I canelicit on the court. However, it
takes that cultivation off thecourt. It takes literal
intention and time, albeit, youknow, 510 minutes.
Yeah, it's not a what I'veobserved is that it's not a
light switch, right? It sort of,but it doesn't take long, but
(39:29):
it's usually when some momentumis, I think, if I'm thinking
about that right, and I'mrecalling when we usually
channel that energy on the courtis usually when we've got some
momentum going, or we'restarting to feel that energy of,
hey, we're rocking and rollinghere. We're in the zone, yeah.
And all of a sudden, La Ronda ison the court. She's present.
(39:53):
She's there. And guys, I kick itinto gear before the match,
during the match. Mm. Duringtime outs. Like, if I feel like
I'm losing that energy, I feellike the elements are are at
play and they're winning. Youknow, my face is melting off, or
(40:13):
I just my everything's slipping,like my energy's evaporating. I
have to go deep. I have to digin, especially if it's in a
league match or a match that'simportant and feels important,
or I really want to show up atmy best self. It's just another
tool. When going blank is not aseffective, or maybe it's
effective, but it needs somehelp. It's just another tool to
(40:36):
employ, and it's helpful. Itdoes work for me. It does.
I think the going blank for mehelps when your energy is sucked
out of the room a little bit.For me again, it's kind of like,
I think I might be in troublehere. Like it really was
something week before last, whenthe heat was bad on Friday, but
(40:57):
it was even more intense theweek before, yeah, and I mean,
it was like between games, I'mhaving to pour ice down my back,
right? You had the chills. I hadthe chills. I mean, body was
about to shut down, shut down ifI didn't do something. So
because we were rallying, andthankfully, we were able to kind
of pull it out, pull it out. Butfor me, that going blank tool
(41:21):
helps when things are sort ofspiraling. That's just my
experience. And then theembodying a character is almost
when you may not be winning, butyou know that you have every
reason to it's like it's morecompetitive. This is, again, my
experience, where I know thatI've got to channel something to
(41:41):
kind of even level up more,because, you know, your
opponents are man, they'releveling up, and I've got to
level up, and I've got, if I canembody that character, then it
just sort of helps me over thathump that's just been my
experience. Not to say that youcan't do that, maybe when you're
spiraling a little bit. But forme, it seems that it's when,
(42:03):
hey, the momentum could goeither way, but you've got some
momentum on your side, maybe, oryou're needing to channel a
little bit more momentum. So Idon't know there's a little bit
of a
Yeah, it's like when you arenoticing that you're not playing
at your potential. But you canget there. You can get there.
So, yeah, that opportunity toget there, this is like that
(42:25):
extra, you know, boost to getthere, as opposed to to stop the
noise that's getting in the way.Great point. Yeah, that's the
difference. Those are two veryseparate tools, or very separate
experiences on the court. I likeit. And you know, this is again,
when you're battling externalelements, like, literally, the
(42:46):
wind, the heat, the freezingcold, because that's possible,
the rain, the slickness,whatever you're playing in,
whatever external elementsconditionally are there. And
when you have this energetic,whatever that you can't see or
touch, but you can absolutelyfeel. You can feel it from the
(43:08):
other side of the court, right?Like you can't control because
you don't really know youropponents. You can't sit and be
like, how long are you bringingto the court today? Right?
That's not the same.
Let's talk about your wiener.
What have you experienced atwork this week that you have in
your partner. How is your homelife? Yeah, everything. Okay, at
home? Yeah. Marriage, not somuch fodder for conversation
(43:30):
before match.
But like with your partner, youcan have some of those
conversations, maybe dependingon how close you are and
depending on how important thosematches really at the end of the
day, guys like again, we arerecreational players. We were
having a good time, and that'swhat we're trying to preserve
here. It's like we don't need togo into that headspace that
spirals us into this crazy noisethat tells us we're not having
(43:51):
any fun. This is too important.Yeah, it's not that important.
Yes, and that's what we shouldtalk about on another episode.
Is what I'm learning, especiallyin the first match that we
experienced this season, was alittle bit of, I mean, talk
about some stuff that could getin your head space, pretty bad,
(44:11):
you know. And it could beanything. It could be a line
call. It could be how someoneapproaches a rule of the game,
or maybe they're unhappy becauseyou took too much time between a
match, or whatever it is, and itcan get into your head really
quickly. Yeah, and so what I'mtrying to learn in practice is
(44:31):
how you get into the mindset of,hey, we're out here having fun,
and maybe your opponents don'thave the best sportsmanship that
day, or whatever it is, but it'sreally gonna matter tomorrow,
yeah? Is it gonna matter in anhour for that matter, right?
Especially after that Margarita?Yeah, no, we going to have
(44:51):
margaritas. And so I have to doa better job when those flare
ups happen. Because it does. Imean, it's, you know. All of us,
to all of us, yeah, or in youropponent. I mean, even whether
it's us, our opponent, maybeeven someone on the team, or
whatever it is, it's like, is itenough, or is it important
enough to consume my energy,enough to where, you know, I
(45:14):
need to expend my energy onthis? It's right, and because
with lasting implications, and
Yes, and so is life. I mean,that's what's so interesting
about this game, is there's somany life lessons, or so many
lessons on the pickleball courtthat transcend over into life
lessons. So-
(45:34):
I love that. Let's circle tothat next time, for sure, it'll
be about sportsmanship and howto react to bad sportsmanship,
bad sportsmanship, on or offyour team, on or off the court,
Mostly off our team.
Of course, because we're neverbad, never bad sports, I think
we have a high rating for oursportsmanship. Guys. Our league
(45:56):
actually does a sportsmanshiprating, and I think that's a
good thing keep us allaccountable, even though it's
kind of wild that that'ssomething they feel necessary to
employ, right? Could saysomething about the level of
competition here in Dallas, butnonetheless, fodder for another
day. Case.
(46:17):
Think that wraps us up.
Cheers,
Cheers. My Martini is empty.You gotta make me another one.
Oh, time to pour anymore thoseice creams. I think I do. That's
a wrap for Dinks on Tap. Younext time. See you next time,
guys, thanks for tuning in,
And that's a wrap on thisepisode of Dinks on Tap. Thanks
(46:37):
for listening. And if you likedthe pod, leave us a review and
share it with your favoritedinking buddy. After all,
Pickleball is more fun withfriends, both on and off the
court.
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