August 1, 2025 • 21 mins
Improvement in pickleball, like most things, is cumulative. You can’t skip steps. Instead of chasing trendy shots or quick fixes, in this episode I walk you through a mindset shift on how to assess your current level with clarity—and how to focus your efforts on the “must-have” shots that matter most right now.
Show Notes: https://betterpickleball.com/255-what-do-you-need-to-play-better-pickleball
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hello and welcome to Pickleball Therapy, the podcast
dedicated to your pickleball improvement.
Hope you're having a great week.
Appreciate CJ Johnson steppingin last week for the podcast.
That was awesome.
It's always good to hear her perspectiveon what's going on with sports and and how
(00:21):
we can best engage with thebeautiful sport of pickleball.
This week's podcastI want to dive into a subject that I've
been thinking about and I'll explain,you'll understand as we piece it together.
But basically it's aboutfiguring out where we are and
what will do most work for us right nowin terms of our game and our development.
(00:45):
I think you'll find it an interesting wayof kind of refocusing ourselves and
what we're doing.
Before we get into that, acouple of quick notes here.
One, I've been trying out thenew paddle tech shape, relatively
new paddle tech shape, the GT O C.
And I, you know, I like it a lot.
(01:07):
I like it, I can't say I like it more thanthe traditional bantam, which is the
annalee waters bantam 14 millimeter.
But the GTOC is a different shape.
It's a little bit more elongated.
It's perhaps a little meatier ifyou want to think about it that way.
I don't know if that's a good term for apaddle, but that's why I think about it.
It's just a little moresubstantive when you swing it.
(01:28):
And I came from tennis and so that'ssomething that appeals to me, I would say.
That said, still highly recommend,my first go to recommendation is the
Annalee Waters 14millimeter bantam paddle.
AlWC, it's called.
That's my first go to for any player.That'll work for any player.
I use it.I love the paddle.
(01:48):
I've been playing withit for about a year.
If you come from tennis or you want toelongate and paddle feel,
the GTLC is a good option.
I would caution you though, if youit is going to feel heavier when you
swing it because of the shape of it.That's just natural.
But anyway, those are two options for youand we have codes at Better Pickleball
links I should say better pickleball.
com that'll get you a small discount ifthat's something that
(02:10):
you're interested in.
One other bit of housekeeping, we have ourstrategy clinic in August coming up.
It actually ties intotoday's presentation.
That's what spurred meon to think about this.
I was preparing some materialsrelative to that strategy clinic.
And it got me to thinking about how weas pickleball players sometimes can
get a little bit derailed in our.In our work.
(02:33):
And so I wanted to address that in today'sepisode of the podcast.
And then in the riff, I'm going to talkabout something that CJ reminded me about
that she and I talked about previously,but I had not brought up in the.
In the podcast, which iswe're going to use the Wimbledon women's
finals result to talk about,you know, how loss or losing, right?
(03:00):
And losing, you know, badly, if you wantto think about it that way, but
certainly losing by a lot of points.
How we should.
How we can frame that perhapsmore positively for ourselves.
So let's start into the main topic today,which is this idea of figuring out
where we are and what's goingto most help us with our games.
(03:23):
And the clinic that we have coming up isabout the must have
shots for 3.5level play.
And there's differentlayers to this thinking.
When you think about, you know,must have shots for three.
Five level play.
One, one layer is,you know, it's really honing in for.
(03:45):
For 3.5 level play,which I want to be clear.
3.5 level play is solid play, right?
3, 5 to 4, 0 is where.
Where a lot of pickleball players,you know, play their games.
And that's awesome.
Pickleball world to be in,obviously, you know, as pickleball
players, you know, it's good, I think, toalways strive to, you know,
(04:07):
can I learn something new?
Can I, you know, can Iimprove in an area, right?
Can I go deeper with the game?
Those types of things, those are all verygood, I think, great ways
to engage with the sport.
But the reality is that, you know, 3, 5to 4 oh is where a lot of play is played.
And that's good pickleball.
(04:27):
One other note here is that,you know, 3, 5, the term 3, 5
is much broader than it seems, meaning,you know, and we've talked about this in
prior podcasts, but, you know, 36to 3, 7 is a world of difference.
Like legit 3.6 to legit 3.7, legit 3.7 tolegit 3.8. A world of difference again.
(04:48):
And I think sometimes, you know, wecan get bogged down in like, oh, three.
I've been in three, five forever.Well, that's.
You're navigating an entire universe ofpickleball between 3, 5
and 4, 0, and that's okay.
And then 4, 0 on same thing.
It's 40 to 4141 to 4 2.
But one one approach, you know, one oneaspect of this way of thinking about it,
(05:09):
you know, must have shots for three, fivelevel play, is that it lets us hone in on
what really mattersbased on where we are in the game.
And I'll give you guysa quick side story here.
So I was playing on,on Monday this week and before our camps,
and there was alocal player who,
(05:32):
you know, is really good friends, one ofthe players on the group,
I befriended her as well.
So she was watching some of our pointsand she's coming to the upcoming camp.
And I hit a ball winner basicallycranked it right next to the sideline.
It was close, but it was,it was in, but it was close.
And I kind of, I'm always like, oh, I was,you know, too close for
(05:53):
comfort kind of a thing.
And I looked at her and I go, okay, sodon't yell at me tomorrow when I'm talking
about margins for errorand suggesting that you use
a margin of a couple of feet.
And here's the difference.
If I'm playing 3.
5, right, and sometimes I'll play openplays, I don't need to take
(06:17):
that much risk with my shots.
It's just the reality, right.
I can allow my opponents to do a lot ofthe lifting for me
when I'm playing in this group.
This is a much more advanced group.
You know, if I, if I play it safer, if youwill, if I don't take risks, that
ball is just going to come back.
So when I get a shot that or get a ballthat I can do something with, I am
(06:39):
going to do something with it, okay?
But that's because it's relevant tothe level that I'm currently playing.
And what happens oftentimes is, you know,you'll watch 3.5level play and they're
trying to hit shots the same way that BenJohns hits it or Annalee Waters
or any pro that you like hits him.Right.
But you're not facing pros and so youdon't need to hit the balls the way
(07:01):
they hit them to end their rallies.
But we're trying to do it at3.5, andthat's not being aware of where
we're at right now in our games.
That also goes to theshots that you must have.
Right?
So you know what shots are absolutelycritical to playing 3.5
level pickleball, right?
And, and you know, we as coaches,part of our job is to
(07:25):
prioritize that for you, right?If we Can't.
If I can't tell you what's really going tohelp your game at 3, 5, then I'm not
sure exactly how I'm going to coach you.Right.
Or at 4o or based onunderstanding of the framework of
pickleball and things like that, it's.
It's nearly impossiblefor us to do our jobs.
So this project of like the must haveshots and we have it by
(07:47):
different levels, right.It.
It seeks to, to boil downthe things that are absolutely
critical to playing at that level.
And then what we did as well as we talkabout, we explored
shots that are optional.
So you have the must have shots, right.
And so you're good.There's.
(08:08):
Because again, they're must have withoutthem not going to be able to do the work
that you want to do at thatlevel to be successful.
So we have those.Then we can look at optional shots, right?
So what other shots could wework on that'll improve our
play but aren't must have shots?
They're not required to get the job done.
(08:29):
And then importantly, we also look atshots that are traps, right?
What to avoid, areas to avoid.
And those are the areas that I thinkare very costly actually for players
who are earnest in theirdesire to improve, right.
Who are earnest in their wish to becomemore competent pickleball players.
(08:51):
They end up getting bogged down in theseareas that are
not necessary, not going to help them,distracting them from
what they actually need.
So we explore that as well to help guidethe player in terms of the path that
they're going to,that they, that they, that they should
take if they wantoptimal improvement in their play,
(09:17):
you know, in the shortestamount of time, right?
If they, you know, if they end up in thedistraction, then they're not focused on
the must have shots and maybe they come toit later, but now they've spent a couple
years on stuff that really isn'tgoing to help them with their game.
As an example, you know,just throw one out here.
So three, five level play,you don't need a roll volley,
you know, listen, I know roll volleysare sexy and, you know, awesome.
(09:40):
Let's hit roll volleys, right?Good.
But you don't need it at 3.5.
It's not adding that much to your play andpotentially detracting you from other
areas that are more importantand also detracting you from.
The number one priority I wouldsay at 3.5 is consistency.
Nothing else, just consistency.
(10:01):
Just hit another ball, hit another ball,hit another ball in the court with
Intentionality right towardsa target and things like that.
And you're going to play great.
You're going to kick butt, as they say,without the need for all these other shots
that are just going tonot only distract you, but they're also
going to increase your inconsistency ordecrease your consistency, depending
(10:22):
on how you like to frame it.
But in either, neither event, all workingagainst you and you being the most
successful player that you can.
So one concept here is this idea ofhaving an understanding of
where I'm at right now and whereyou're at, that's where you're at.
(10:44):
It's fine.That's just life.
So that's where I'm at.
And thenpursuing areas of the game that are going
to mosthelp you continue to advance as a player
helps you then avoid getting aYouTube video that says, Become 5.
Oh, you know, 5.0 player in 90 days, whichis nonsensical unless you're a
(11:07):
4.95 when you watch the video.
You know, 99% of playerscan't handle this.
All these, these just clickbaitythings that you come across, right.
You know, that's likely not going to helpyou, and it's likely actually going to.
I don't want to use the word harm, becausenot really harm, but it
(11:28):
just, you know, it, It.It'll.
It'll delay you.
It'll pull you away from what you shouldbe focusing on again, if your objective is
to play the best you canwhere you're at right now.
So knowing where you're at,I think, is super valuable.
And, and keeping that focused on.On your.
Or keeping that in this.
In thecenter right of your, of your thinking
(11:50):
when you're looking atall this information coming your way about
what you should be doing with your play.
And then the other thing I think that'sreally important here is,
you know, we get.I think we get.
Sometimes we startthinking that, like, if.
If I say to you, you need these to play 3.
5, and let's assume right now you're a 4.
(12:12):
0, you're tuning me out.
You're like, I don't need that, right?He said three.
Five.So that's not for me.
Or let's take it another step back, right?
You're playing 3.
5, and I tell you, these are.
Must have shots for 3.0. All right?
You're like, yeah, that's not for me.
That's for 3.0. Here's the mistake there.
To play 4.0,you need the 3.5 shots and you need a 3.0
(12:34):
shots, and you need the 2.5 shotsto play 3.5. You need the 3.5 shots,
the 3.0 shots, and the 2.5 shots.
Because pickleball, as I would submit toyou, most everything in
life, it's cumulative, right?It's.
You're building onelayer on another on another.
(12:55):
You can't skip over what a 2.5 needsand then just say, okay, I'm going to add
these shots as a 3.5, and I'll be anawesome 3.5. That's just
not how the world works.
Excuse me.
You need to build.
You need to have the prior skills inorder to add the new skills, okay?
So when you hear something like these areshots that a 3, 0 must have and you're a
(13:19):
3.5, I would suggest, you know, from asource like us, who I believe is a
reputable coaching source, I would suggesttaking a moment and checking yourself,
all right, Do I have those shots?
Am I competent andproficient in those shots?
And if I'm not,maybe I take a moment and I.
I get those shots.
(13:40):
Because now might be those shotsthat you need to keep advancing.
Those may be the shotsthat are holding you back.
See what I'm saying?
So, like, you know, the shot from before,you didn't develop it,
and that's fine, right?No big deal.
You don't have it.
You have these other shots and youkind of piece these pieces together.
You know, let's just complete the picture.
So you need four things tobecome a 4, 0, just to use numbers, right?
(14:04):
And you have developed three of the four.
And so you're playing this3, 5 level, which is fine, right?
You're playing 3, 5 level with threethings, but the one that you're missing is
actually a 2, 5 skill that youjust never really fully developed.
And so you're being held back from youradvancement by a skill that is
(14:25):
in quote, unquote, in theory, behind you.
But is it really behind you?
And I would submit nobecause of the layering.
So the two concepts areone, here's where I'm at.
And again, it's fine.
Wherever you're at, you're at.
So these are the things that I needif I want to, in fact, advance.
And if I don't have the things behind me,I need those as well if I want to advance.
(14:46):
So those are.
Those are, I think, helpful concepts whenyou're trying to improve as a player
in order tobe efficient about your improvement
and also to do the things thatare actually going to help you.
Right.
As opposed to being distractedby things that likely will not.
All right, so that'sthe main message today.
Let me dive straight into the riff.
(15:07):
So what happenedin the Wimbledon final was
you had the American playerwho made it to the finals of Wimbledon
and it was super exciting for her.She had taken a break.
She had been dealing with some mentalissues and things like that.
And so, you know, and had,I think she had taken either a 7 month or
(15:31):
17 month break from tennis,had come back after
the break, and then had basically made itthrough, through the Wimbledon
championship in good form.
You know, in the quarterfinals she wasable to defeat the,
(15:54):
the number one player in the world, theArena Sabalenka, in three sets.
It was super exciting,super exciting match.
It was just a tremendous,tremendous effort by her.
And so she comes out of that superexhausted, I'm confident,
in the, in the semifinals.
(16:16):
Andthen she has to go into the finals and
she's, she's facing top player,former champion of multiple Grand Slams,
IGA Zweintek, I think it's pronounced.
And so, you know, it's just a,it doesn't go well.
(16:38):
Okay.She loses 606 0.
Anisimova loses 6,060 in thefinals and it's a big deal.
Right?Right.
Because she lost 606 0.Right.
Didn't score, didn't, didn'tcomplete a game against Vitek.
So the question I asked myself is,you know, you have a choice.
I'm going to give you a choice.
(17:00):
You can win the semifinals in three setsagainst the number one player in the world
knowing, let me clear about this.
Knowing that you're going to make it tothe finals and lose 6060,
oryou can lose the semifinal in three tough
sets and be lauded for being a greatwarrior and not have to deal
(17:22):
with the loss in the finals.What do you pick?
Winning in the semifinalsand getting trounced right.
In the finals, or losing the semifinalsand saving yourself the quote, unquote
embarrassment of the loss in the finals?
I would submit thatyou're the better answer.
The complete, the fuller answer iswhy don't you win the semifinal
(17:48):
and then accept whatever happens in thefinals in terms of even a 6060 loss?
I think that is the better approachas opposed to, oh my God, I don't
want to lose 6060 in the final.
So I will surrenderthe win in the semifinal to avoid myself
the embarrassment of losing in the final.
(18:11):
I think you'll have a more,more a stronger and more complete
relationship with the sport and yourability to compete in the sport with the
understanding that there are times thatyou're going to go out there and you're
going to get pickled,you're going to lose.
11 0, okay?
Because you're putting, every time you goout to play at level, you're putting
(18:33):
yourself at risk, if you will, right?
Meaning you're, you're putting some skinin the game and the possibility
is there that you will lose.11 0.
I've lost matches 11 0, 110 in my past,you know, in tournaments against pro
players when all the,everything was mixed together.
Seniors and young players were all likejammed together,
(18:53):
you know, and I've gone out there and I'vecompeted the best I can,
you know, but it happens.
And if you're not willing to put yourselfout there like that, you don't
have those, those growth moments.
You don't have thoseexperiences, those abilities.
And the other thing is this, right?
You don't have the chance ofpotentially even winning that game.
(19:13):
Right.
Anisa Mobile lost 6 060,but she was in the game.
She made it to the game.
And you know, I think thehand ringing afterwards with the 6060 is
kind of silly, frankly, givenher accomplishment
of taking care of herself first with themental health break that she took
(19:38):
coming back andmaking it to the finals of Wimbledon.
Second place at Wimbledonis pretty darn good.
Instead, a lot of the focus at the end,because that's how we live in society
these days, is, oh my God, 6060.
Oh, Lordy, 6060.
And that's again, that's an unfortunatesocietal, societal fault, not
(20:02):
a fault of Anisimova for sure.
And, you know, I think she handled it wellafterwards, you know, the
way she approached it.
And you know, it just, it happened andyou know, it is what it is.
But I think, you know, for us here, let'sthink about that for ourselves in terms of
our willingness to put ourselves onthe line, put ourselves out there.
(20:23):
There are times that we are going to havelosses that we are not
going to be happy about.
And that's just part of the deal aboutplaying any sport, including this
beautiful sport of pickleball.
So that's this week's podcast.
I hope you enjoyed the podcast.
If you did consider rating and reviewingit, even if you didn't rate and review it.
Right.
Share with everybody whatyou think about the podcast.
It helps us reach other players.
(20:43):
They can make an informed decision aboutwhether this podcast will help them out.
And as always, if this podcast resonatedwith you in some way, particularly if you
have a friend of yours who is flounderingout there chasing tip after tip after
tip every week and frustrate it.
Share this podcast with them and maybeit'll help focus them and center them on
where they're at in their journey and whatthey need to actually make
(21:04):
improvement in their play.
I hope you have a great week and I willsee you next time on the next
episode of Pickleball Therapy.Be well.
Hello and welcome to Pickleball Therapy, the podcast
dedicated to your pickleball improvement.
Hope you're having a great week.
Appreciate CJ Johnson steppingin last week for the podcast.
That was awesome.
It's always good to hear her perspectiveon what's going on with sports and and how
(00:21):
we can best engage with thebeautiful sport of pickleball.
This week's podcastI want to dive into a subject that I've
been thinking about and I'll explain,you'll understand as we piece it together.
But basically it's aboutfiguring out where we are and
what will do most work for us right nowin terms of our game and our development.
(00:45):
I think you'll find it an interesting wayof kind of refocusing ourselves and
what we're doing.
Before we get into that, acouple of quick notes here.
One, I've been trying out thenew paddle tech shape, relatively
new paddle tech shape, the GT O C.
And I, you know, I like it a lot.
(01:07):
I like it, I can't say I like it more thanthe traditional bantam, which is the
annalee waters bantam 14 millimeter.
But the GTOC is a different shape.
It's a little bit more elongated.
It's perhaps a little meatier ifyou want to think about it that way.
I don't know if that's a good term for apaddle, but that's why I think about it.
It's just a little moresubstantive when you swing it.
(01:28):
And I came from tennis and so that'ssomething that appeals to me, I would say.
That said, still highly recommend,my first go to recommendation is the
Annalee Waters 14millimeter bantam paddle.
AlWC, it's called.
That's my first go to for any player.That'll work for any player.
I use it.I love the paddle.
(01:48):
I've been playing withit for about a year.
If you come from tennis or you want toelongate and paddle feel,
the GTLC is a good option.
I would caution you though, if youit is going to feel heavier when you
swing it because of the shape of it.That's just natural.
But anyway, those are two options for youand we have codes at Better Pickleball
links I should say better pickleball.
com that'll get you a small discount ifthat's something that
(02:10):
you're interested in.
One other bit of housekeeping, we have ourstrategy clinic in August coming up.
It actually ties intotoday's presentation.
That's what spurred meon to think about this.
I was preparing some materialsrelative to that strategy clinic.
And it got me to thinking about how weas pickleball players sometimes can
get a little bit derailed in our.In our work.
(02:33):
And so I wanted to address that in today'sepisode of the podcast.
And then in the riff, I'm going to talkabout something that CJ reminded me about
that she and I talked about previously,but I had not brought up in the.
In the podcast, which iswe're going to use the Wimbledon women's
finals result to talk about,you know, how loss or losing, right?
(03:00):
And losing, you know, badly, if you wantto think about it that way, but
certainly losing by a lot of points.
How we should.
How we can frame that perhapsmore positively for ourselves.
So let's start into the main topic today,which is this idea of figuring out
where we are and what's goingto most help us with our games.
(03:23):
And the clinic that we have coming up isabout the must have
shots for 3.5level play.
And there's differentlayers to this thinking.
When you think about, you know,must have shots for three.
Five level play.
One, one layer is,you know, it's really honing in for.
(03:45):
For 3.5 level play,which I want to be clear.
3.5 level play is solid play, right?
3, 5 to 4, 0 is where.
Where a lot of pickleball players,you know, play their games.
And that's awesome.
Pickleball world to be in,obviously, you know, as pickleball
players, you know, it's good, I think, toalways strive to, you know,
(04:07):
can I learn something new?
Can I, you know, can Iimprove in an area, right?
Can I go deeper with the game?
Those types of things, those are all verygood, I think, great ways
to engage with the sport.
But the reality is that, you know, 3, 5to 4 oh is where a lot of play is played.
And that's good pickleball.
(04:27):
One other note here is that,you know, 3, 5, the term 3, 5
is much broader than it seems, meaning,you know, and we've talked about this in
prior podcasts, but, you know, 36to 3, 7 is a world of difference.
Like legit 3.6 to legit 3.7, legit 3.7 tolegit 3.8. A world of difference again.
(04:48):
And I think sometimes, you know, wecan get bogged down in like, oh, three.
I've been in three, five forever.Well, that's.
You're navigating an entire universe ofpickleball between 3, 5
and 4, 0, and that's okay.
And then 4, 0 on same thing.
It's 40 to 4141 to 4 2.
But one one approach, you know, one oneaspect of this way of thinking about it,
(05:09):
you know, must have shots for three, fivelevel play, is that it lets us hone in on
what really mattersbased on where we are in the game.
And I'll give you guysa quick side story here.
So I was playing on,on Monday this week and before our camps,
and there was alocal player who,
(05:32):
you know, is really good friends, one ofthe players on the group,
I befriended her as well.
So she was watching some of our pointsand she's coming to the upcoming camp.
And I hit a ball winner basicallycranked it right next to the sideline.
It was close, but it was,it was in, but it was close.
And I kind of, I'm always like, oh, I was,you know, too close for
(05:53):
comfort kind of a thing.
And I looked at her and I go, okay, sodon't yell at me tomorrow when I'm talking
about margins for errorand suggesting that you use
a margin of a couple of feet.
And here's the difference.
If I'm playing 3.
5, right, and sometimes I'll play openplays, I don't need to take
(06:17):
that much risk with my shots.
It's just the reality, right.
I can allow my opponents to do a lot ofthe lifting for me
when I'm playing in this group.
This is a much more advanced group.
You know, if I, if I play it safer, if youwill, if I don't take risks, that
ball is just going to come back.
So when I get a shot that or get a ballthat I can do something with, I am
(06:39):
going to do something with it, okay?
But that's because it's relevant tothe level that I'm currently playing.
And what happens oftentimes is, you know,you'll watch 3.5level play and they're
trying to hit shots the same way that BenJohns hits it or Annalee Waters
or any pro that you like hits him.Right.
But you're not facing pros and so youdon't need to hit the balls the way
(07:01):
they hit them to end their rallies.
But we're trying to do it at3.5, andthat's not being aware of where
we're at right now in our games.
That also goes to theshots that you must have.
Right?
So you know what shots are absolutelycritical to playing 3.5
level pickleball, right?
And, and you know, we as coaches,part of our job is to
(07:25):
prioritize that for you, right?If we Can't.
If I can't tell you what's really going tohelp your game at 3, 5, then I'm not
sure exactly how I'm going to coach you.Right.
Or at 4o or based onunderstanding of the framework of
pickleball and things like that, it's.
It's nearly impossiblefor us to do our jobs.
So this project of like the must haveshots and we have it by
(07:47):
different levels, right.It.
It seeks to, to boil downthe things that are absolutely
critical to playing at that level.
And then what we did as well as we talkabout, we explored
shots that are optional.
So you have the must have shots, right.
And so you're good.There's.
(08:08):
Because again, they're must have withoutthem not going to be able to do the work
that you want to do at thatlevel to be successful.
So we have those.Then we can look at optional shots, right?
So what other shots could wework on that'll improve our
play but aren't must have shots?
They're not required to get the job done.
(08:29):
And then importantly, we also look atshots that are traps, right?
What to avoid, areas to avoid.
And those are the areas that I thinkare very costly actually for players
who are earnest in theirdesire to improve, right.
Who are earnest in their wish to becomemore competent pickleball players.
(08:51):
They end up getting bogged down in theseareas that are
not necessary, not going to help them,distracting them from
what they actually need.
So we explore that as well to help guidethe player in terms of the path that
they're going to,that they, that they, that they should
take if they wantoptimal improvement in their play,
(09:17):
you know, in the shortestamount of time, right?
If they, you know, if they end up in thedistraction, then they're not focused on
the must have shots and maybe they come toit later, but now they've spent a couple
years on stuff that really isn'tgoing to help them with their game.
As an example, you know,just throw one out here.
So three, five level play,you don't need a roll volley,
you know, listen, I know roll volleysare sexy and, you know, awesome.
(09:40):
Let's hit roll volleys, right?Good.
But you don't need it at 3.5.
It's not adding that much to your play andpotentially detracting you from other
areas that are more importantand also detracting you from.
The number one priority I wouldsay at 3.5 is consistency.
Nothing else, just consistency.
(10:01):
Just hit another ball, hit another ball,hit another ball in the court with
Intentionality right towardsa target and things like that.
And you're going to play great.
You're going to kick butt, as they say,without the need for all these other shots
that are just going tonot only distract you, but they're also
going to increase your inconsistency ordecrease your consistency, depending
(10:22):
on how you like to frame it.
But in either, neither event, all workingagainst you and you being the most
successful player that you can.
So one concept here is this idea ofhaving an understanding of
where I'm at right now and whereyou're at, that's where you're at.
(10:44):
It's fine.That's just life.
So that's where I'm at.
And thenpursuing areas of the game that are going
to mosthelp you continue to advance as a player
helps you then avoid getting aYouTube video that says, Become 5.
Oh, you know, 5.0 player in 90 days, whichis nonsensical unless you're a
(11:07):
4.95 when you watch the video.
You know, 99% of playerscan't handle this.
All these, these just clickbaitythings that you come across, right.
You know, that's likely not going to helpyou, and it's likely actually going to.
I don't want to use the word harm, becausenot really harm, but it
(11:28):
just, you know, it, It.It'll.
It'll delay you.
It'll pull you away from what you shouldbe focusing on again, if your objective is
to play the best you canwhere you're at right now.
So knowing where you're at,I think, is super valuable.
And, and keeping that focused on.On your.
Or keeping that in this.
In thecenter right of your, of your thinking
(11:50):
when you're looking atall this information coming your way about
what you should be doing with your play.
And then the other thing I think that'sreally important here is,
you know, we get.I think we get.
Sometimes we startthinking that, like, if.
If I say to you, you need these to play 3.
5, and let's assume right now you're a 4.
(12:12):
0, you're tuning me out.
You're like, I don't need that, right?He said three.
Five.So that's not for me.
Or let's take it another step back, right?
You're playing 3.
5, and I tell you, these are.
Must have shots for 3.0. All right?
You're like, yeah, that's not for me.
That's for 3.0. Here's the mistake there.
To play 4.0,you need the 3.5 shots and you need a 3.0
(12:34):
shots, and you need the 2.5 shotsto play 3.5. You need the 3.5 shots,
the 3.0 shots, and the 2.5 shots.
Because pickleball, as I would submit toyou, most everything in
life, it's cumulative, right?It's.
You're building onelayer on another on another.
(12:55):
You can't skip over what a 2.5 needsand then just say, okay, I'm going to add
these shots as a 3.5, and I'll be anawesome 3.5. That's just
not how the world works.
Excuse me.
You need to build.
You need to have the prior skills inorder to add the new skills, okay?
So when you hear something like these areshots that a 3, 0 must have and you're a
(13:19):
3.5, I would suggest, you know, from asource like us, who I believe is a
reputable coaching source, I would suggesttaking a moment and checking yourself,
all right, Do I have those shots?
Am I competent andproficient in those shots?
And if I'm not,maybe I take a moment and I.
I get those shots.
(13:40):
Because now might be those shotsthat you need to keep advancing.
Those may be the shotsthat are holding you back.
See what I'm saying?
So, like, you know, the shot from before,you didn't develop it,
and that's fine, right?No big deal.
You don't have it.
You have these other shots and youkind of piece these pieces together.
You know, let's just complete the picture.
So you need four things tobecome a 4, 0, just to use numbers, right?
(14:04):
And you have developed three of the four.
And so you're playing this3, 5 level, which is fine, right?
You're playing 3, 5 level with threethings, but the one that you're missing is
actually a 2, 5 skill that youjust never really fully developed.
And so you're being held back from youradvancement by a skill that is
(14:25):
in quote, unquote, in theory, behind you.
But is it really behind you?
And I would submit nobecause of the layering.
So the two concepts areone, here's where I'm at.
And again, it's fine.
Wherever you're at, you're at.
So these are the things that I needif I want to, in fact, advance.
And if I don't have the things behind me,I need those as well if I want to advance.
(14:46):
So those are.
Those are, I think, helpful concepts whenyou're trying to improve as a player
in order tobe efficient about your improvement
and also to do the things thatare actually going to help you.
Right.
As opposed to being distractedby things that likely will not.
All right, so that'sthe main message today.
Let me dive straight into the riff.
(15:07):
So what happenedin the Wimbledon final was
you had the American playerwho made it to the finals of Wimbledon
and it was super exciting for her.She had taken a break.
She had been dealing with some mentalissues and things like that.
And so, you know, and had,I think she had taken either a 7 month or
(15:31):
17 month break from tennis,had come back after
the break, and then had basically made itthrough, through the Wimbledon
championship in good form.
You know, in the quarterfinals she wasable to defeat the,
(15:54):
the number one player in the world, theArena Sabalenka, in three sets.
It was super exciting,super exciting match.
It was just a tremendous,tremendous effort by her.
And so she comes out of that superexhausted, I'm confident,
in the, in the semifinals.
(16:16):
Andthen she has to go into the finals and
she's, she's facing top player,former champion of multiple Grand Slams,
IGA Zweintek, I think it's pronounced.
And so, you know, it's just a,it doesn't go well.
(16:38):
Okay.She loses 606 0.
Anisimova loses 6,060 in thefinals and it's a big deal.
Right?Right.
Because she lost 606 0.Right.
Didn't score, didn't, didn'tcomplete a game against Vitek.
So the question I asked myself is,you know, you have a choice.
I'm going to give you a choice.
(17:00):
You can win the semifinals in three setsagainst the number one player in the world
knowing, let me clear about this.
Knowing that you're going to make it tothe finals and lose 6060,
oryou can lose the semifinal in three tough
sets and be lauded for being a greatwarrior and not have to deal
(17:22):
with the loss in the finals.What do you pick?
Winning in the semifinalsand getting trounced right.
In the finals, or losing the semifinalsand saving yourself the quote, unquote
embarrassment of the loss in the finals?
I would submit thatyou're the better answer.
The complete, the fuller answer iswhy don't you win the semifinal
(17:48):
and then accept whatever happens in thefinals in terms of even a 6060 loss?
I think that is the better approachas opposed to, oh my God, I don't
want to lose 6060 in the final.
So I will surrenderthe win in the semifinal to avoid myself
the embarrassment of losing in the final.
(18:11):
I think you'll have a more,more a stronger and more complete
relationship with the sport and yourability to compete in the sport with the
understanding that there are times thatyou're going to go out there and you're
going to get pickled,you're going to lose.
11 0, okay?
Because you're putting, every time you goout to play at level, you're putting
(18:33):
yourself at risk, if you will, right?
Meaning you're, you're putting some skinin the game and the possibility
is there that you will lose.11 0.
I've lost matches 11 0, 110 in my past,you know, in tournaments against pro
players when all the,everything was mixed together.
Seniors and young players were all likejammed together,
(18:53):
you know, and I've gone out there and I'vecompeted the best I can,
you know, but it happens.
And if you're not willing to put yourselfout there like that, you don't
have those, those growth moments.
You don't have thoseexperiences, those abilities.
And the other thing is this, right?
You don't have the chance ofpotentially even winning that game.
(19:13):
Right.
Anisa Mobile lost 6 060,but she was in the game.
She made it to the game.
And you know, I think thehand ringing afterwards with the 6060 is
kind of silly, frankly, givenher accomplishment
of taking care of herself first with themental health break that she took
(19:38):
coming back andmaking it to the finals of Wimbledon.
Second place at Wimbledonis pretty darn good.
Instead, a lot of the focus at the end,because that's how we live in society
these days, is, oh my God, 6060.
Oh, Lordy, 6060.
And that's again, that's an unfortunatesocietal, societal fault, not
(20:02):
a fault of Anisimova for sure.
And, you know, I think she handled it wellafterwards, you know, the
way she approached it.
And you know, it just, it happened andyou know, it is what it is.
But I think, you know, for us here, let'sthink about that for ourselves in terms of
our willingness to put ourselves onthe line, put ourselves out there.
(20:23):
There are times that we are going to havelosses that we are not
going to be happy about.
And that's just part of the deal aboutplaying any sport, including this
beautiful sport of pickleball.
So that's this week's podcast.
I hope you enjoyed the podcast.
If you did consider rating and reviewingit, even if you didn't rate and review it.
Right.
Share with everybody whatyou think about the podcast.
It helps us reach other players.
(20:43):
They can make an informed decision aboutwhether this podcast will help them out.
And as always, if this podcast resonatedwith you in some way, particularly if you
have a friend of yours who is flounderingout there chasing tip after tip after
tip every week and frustrate it.
Share this podcast with them and maybeit'll help focus them and center them on
where they're at in their journey and whatthey need to actually make
(21:04):
improvement in their play.
I hope you have a great week and I willsee you next time on the next
episode of Pickleball Therapy.Be well.
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