August 23, 2024 • 22 mins
The idea of strategic fluidity (wanting to be adapt to everything) and pickleball is a fine concept that sounds great in theory.
But how does that work in practice when it comes to pickleball rules and what rules to apply or not to apply?
Having an idea of the rules or guidelines can help you determine the best shot in any given situation, as opposed to a purely fluid approach that requires you to factor in all of the variables in a rally before you decide how to hit every single shot that you hit.
There are two ideas or suggestions I can recommend to give you a better understanding of the way a pickleball rally is constructed and how to deal with who takes what shot.
i) Look for sources who are serious about pickleball and are professionals. Check to see where a rule or suggestion comes from. Is it well thought out or from a source who is serious about pickleball?
ii) Be consistent with what you already know. There are times you're going to hear something that runs contrary to something else that you've heard and you have to figure out what to do.
Most advanced players have certain patterns and tendencies that they bring to the table.
And when you're playing, make sure that you're viewing all parts of the game or the big picture and not letting parts that you've already gotten better suffer because you're so hyper-focused on this one potentially smaller piece of the puzzle.
September Workshop- Discover the "Play Smarter, Not Harder" Strategies That Helped Over 2,000 Pickleball Players Elevate Their Games; https://betterpickleball.com/fall-2024/
Respect the X free guide: https://betterpickleball.com/respect-the-x/
Respect the X playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItFZ5JWm_hw&list=PLRe6hjjhF-o4tSBHKPscxPhJgBeQnc5oI
Forehand in the Middle. You’ve Heard it. But it is WRONG. Abandon this “rule” and play better; https://betterpickleball.com/forehand-in-the-middle-youve-heard-it-but-it-is-wrong-abandon-this-rule-and-play-better/
The Pickleball System class: http://thepickleballsystem.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello and welcome to pickleball Therapy,the podcast dedicated to
your pickleball improvement.
It's the podcast dedicatedto your pickleball mind.
I am your host of thisweekly podcast, Tony Roig.
I am a full-time pickleball professional.
This is what I do with all of my time isbreak down pickleball, provide pickleball
coaching, think about pickleball, how toteach it better, and record content like
(00:22):
this, YouTube videos and podcasts likethis, to hopefully bring some additional
value, some additional knowledge toyour pickleball game, to your pickleball
journey, to your pickleball relationship.
In this week's podcast, I'mgoing to be diving into rules.
If you're watching on YouTube, behind me,you'll see rules, rules,
rules written on the board.
(00:43):
And here's the thing about rules.
It is a rules-based game, but the ruleswe're going to be talking about today are
the rules that are likerules of the road, if you will.
Things that you hear from players at thecourt, like strategy rules, like maxims,
things like 400 in the middle, respect theex, get to the MVZ, all those things are
(01:03):
the type of rules we'regoing to be talking about.
And the reason is because rulescan be helpful, but they can also be
detrimental if you're following too manyrules or if you're
following the wrong rules.
So in this podcast, I'm going togive you some guidance
as to determining what rulesto follow and what rules may be to go,
not sure about that one.
(01:24):
Let me give that some thoughtbefore you dive right into it.
And then in the RIF, I'm going to talk toyou about About the forest from the trees.
Again, behind me on YouTube, you'llsee a tree and you'll see a forest.
So we'll talk about that in the RIF.
Let's go and dive straight into thecontent of this week's podcast or
the concept of this week's podcast.
And what we're dealing with is we'redealing with this idea
(01:45):
of these rules, right?
And this podcast,the reason I wanted to talk about it this
week is because there's been someonline chatter about rules, right?
And about the way thatyou think about rules.
And another coach who's fairly wellfollowed on Facebook, wrote a couple of
posts dealing withwhat he described as binary and rigid
(02:08):
rules, and that you shouldn't follow them,so you should follow this idea that
he referred to as strategic fluidity.
And in those rules that he describes asbeing too rigid and should
be applied was respect the X.
So that obviously came to my attentionbecause, I don't know if you know it or
not, but we're theoriginators of respect the X.
(02:29):
Back in 2018, I'm pretty sure, was whenthe first video on respect the X came out.
It survived the test of time.
It's a really great rule to understand,great guideline to understand,
as well as to understand when to useit and when to break it intentionally.
As as opposed to just reaching acrossand getting balls across the middle.
I'm not going to diveinto Respect the X here.
(02:50):
If you want to know more about Respect theX, the strategy of it, you can go to the
In2Pickle channel andcheck out our playlist.
We have an entireplaylist on Respect the X.
And then we're updating the Respect the Xguide that we have.
That's a free resource that youcan get at betterpickleball.
Com.
So just be on the look out for that whenit comes out and you
can get a copy of that.
It's going to be the most comprehensiveguide on Respect the X available.
(03:15):
But let's talk about this idea that thereare some rules that
basically we shouldn't followrigid rules or binary types of rules.
Here's the thing.
The idea of fluidity and pickleball,strategic fluidity, if you want to use the
terminology I was using the post,it's a fine concept.
In theory, it sounds great.I want to be fluid.
(03:36):
I want to be adapt to everything.Great.
But how does that work in practice?
How does that work when you're outthere actually trying to do it?
Who hits the ball?
That's what respect the X deals with.
Respect the X, justreal briefly, respect the X is,
helps you deal with middle balluncertainty when you're playing doubles,
(03:57):
because that's where the problems arise.There's never a problem.
If the ball gets If the ball gets tothe outside of me, I know it's mine.
If the ball gets to theoutside of you, it's yours.
What happens with the balls in the middle?
Who covers those?
The ones that are coming across thatmiddle, that's what trouble it issues.
That's why that saying,the middle solves riddle.
Why do you think that came upbecause the middle is so powerful.
All sorts of confusion in there.
(04:18):
Respect the X was designed, I designed it,I should say, back in 2018 to deal with
that because I was playing pickleballand that forehand in the
middle wasn't working.
We have a video on the In2Pickle channelthat explains It means why forehand
in the middle is not a great rule.
You can check that out if youwant to know more about it.
But respect the X was designed todeal with this middle coverage issue.
How do you determine who gets the ball?
(04:39):
All things being equal,who should take the ball.
I don't believe it's a rigid rule, butit's certainly a rule that is there and
available to you to avoidconfusion between doubles partners.
Another rule that would be a rigid rule,if you want to call it that, is we're
trying to play the pickleball from thenon-volley zone line as much as possible.
(05:03):
I don't believe any coach who understandsthe game would disagree with that
principle that if you can, you want toplay from the non-volley zone line,
understanding that, strategicallyspeaking, the team at the non-volley zone
line, again, all things being equal,will defeat a team that's not
at the non-volley zone line.
Those are the types of rules that helpguide the way that we think about
(05:27):
pickleball.
Another rule, if you're thinking of yourassistant Remember, you're really familiar
with this, is the idea ofkeeping your opponents back.
It'sthe other side of the coin of you want to
play the non-volley zone line is youdon't want them to, your opponents.
The further you can keep themback, the better off you'll be.
Those are guidelines That's all the thingsthat you can use to help you determine
(05:47):
the strategies for your shots.
One more that I'll give you is angles.
Make angles, right?Beget angles.
Basically, if you're going to shoot anangle shot off, you better be
ready for counterangles back.
Those are all things that canhelp you have a better understanding of
the way that a pickleball rally isconstructed and how to deal
with who takes what shot.
(06:10):
So I believe it is helpful, big picture,as a player, to have an idea of these
rules or these guidelines that help youdetermine the best shot in any given
situation, as opposed toa purely fluid approach that requires that
you factor in all of the variablesin a rally before you decide what to
(06:35):
hit every single shot that you hit.
Here's the thing.
If you looked at it scientifically, arally, every time that you hit a shot,
particularly, let's say, deep in a rally,so you're hitting the
seventh shot in the rally.
There are many variables that you need tofactor in or compute to
(06:55):
determine the best shot.
Most players, even the pro players,I'm I'm working with pro players.
Even the pro players don't try and figureit out in the moment every single time.
It's just too much.We don't have enough bandwidth for that.
Our brains don't work that fast.
To be able to calculate exactly where theopponents are, exactly where you and your
partner are, exactly what shot got hityour way, exactly what your abilities are
(07:19):
with that type of shot, what you can dowith it, what you should do with
it, what the optimal shot is.
What most advanced players do isthey have certain patterns and
tendencies that they bring to the table.
Now, that's not to say that youcan't make adjustments as you go.
You're playing a game andyou're trying something...
You're trying strategy X, right?But I don't use X.
That's our strategy.It's strategy A, right?
(07:40):
And strategy A isn't working.
So you can pivot the strategy B.
You can modify strategyA and make it strategy B.
That's perfectly fine.
But this idea that we're not going to playbased on some
general appreciation of strategies,general appreciation of our own strengths,
general appreciation of our opponent'stendencies when we play, is
something I think is not...
(08:01):
Sounds great, right?
Fluid strategy, but inapplication, breaks down.
So when I read all this, it made me startthinking about,
what do you do if you're a player outthere and you're trying to
figure this out yourself, right?
Which you should.I mean, this is your journey, right?
How do I deal with this?
What rules do I apply?What rules don't I apply?
So I came up with some ideas here, someguidelines or some suggestions.
(08:25):
You can call them rules if you want to.
Which I'll help you determine what rulesHow to screen rules, how to filter rules,
and how to gatekeep, ifyou will, your own journey.
Because here's the thing, even if you'regoing to discard all the
other rules and then have...
Here's the irony.
So the suggestion is, let'sget rid of these rules.
(08:48):
And the thing is, there's no explanationas to why the rules shouldn't be applied,
which is going to beimportant in a second.
You'll understand.In a second.
If you're going to argue againsta rule, argue against the rule.
Why?It doesn't make sense.
Four hand in the middle, doesn't work.
We explained why it doesn't work.
We made a video on it, and here'sthe reason it doesn't work.
You can watch the videoand then make a decision.
You know what?
Tony's not right about that.
I'm going with four hand in the middle.
(09:09):
That's your right as a pickleball player.
But when there's just a suggestion thatthis rule shouldn't be followed because
it's binary or because it's rigid.
That's not a conversation.
Then the irony of it is then it's replacedwith another rule, which is use
fluid strategy, which is a rule.
(09:30):
You do this way without any explanation ofhow to do fluid strategy or how it works.
I've already explained to you that theproblem I see with that is in application,
I don't really know how that works.
Also, now you have a further complicationbecause we're usually talking
about doubles in these situations.
What's my fluid strategy and what's yourfluid strategy is maybe
two different things.
(09:50):
So who gets to decide that?
But anyway, so here's some ideas on howyou can determine what rules to follow
and which ones not to.
Number one is the source.
Where does the rule orthe suggestion come from?
In this case, I would say the suggestioncame from a well-respected coach.
And so from a source standpoint, it's notproblematic because this coach been around
(10:14):
the block, been successfulas a player and as a coach.
And so you look at that and you go,Okay, the source source is good.
But there are many times, not this coach,but there's many times when you're getting
advice that the source is questionable.
An example are players at your courts.
And no offense to anyplayer out there, right?
But many times players at the courts don'thave a deep enough understanding of
(10:38):
pickleball to be givingadvice to other players.
Not only that, they don't reallyunderstand your game or what you need
or where you're at and things like that.
So That's the advice that youtake with a grain of salt.
Maybe you write it down or make a note ofit and think about it later or
double-check it if youwant to, things like that.
But don't just take advice you hear atthe courts and just go, Boom, I'm in.
(10:59):
Because I can tell you one thing.
When I was a new player,I got a lot of bad advice, just a lot of
bad advice from players at the courts.
And again, nothing against those players.They meant well.
They weren't trying to do anything wrong.
But I, as a sentient human being, havethe ability to say, You know what?
I appreciate it, but I'm not going to takethat into my game because I don't know if
(11:24):
you know what you're talking about, right?
And the other thing is, and the fact thatthey're a good player, or you hear it from
a potentially good player, doesn'tnot mean anything, but doesn't just
say, Okay, they're a good player.They must know what they're talking about.
Not the case.
There's many situations where you haveplayers who appear to be good players
because they are succeeding, in They'resucceeding in their area, they're
(11:48):
beating other players in the area.
But those players, once you face them togood players in other areas,
maybe not as good, also don't have theunderstanding of the game that is going to
be helpful to a player like you, and ifyou want to really understand the game.
So what you want to look for is you wantto look for sources who are serious about
(12:09):
pickleball, who are professionals, is whatI'd recommend, and who are
And if it's well thought out, well thoughtout advice, these one-line things,
respect the X is shorthand.
But respect the X isn't the wholething because alone, it's not enough.
To understand respect the X, you got tounderstand what it is and
also when you don't apply it.
(12:31):
So when you break theX is what we call it.
It's just respect the X.It's again, shorthand.
But a lot of times these rules getthrown out there like dogma, right?
Do this.But there's never any backing to it.
There's never any like,well, what does that mean?
And I'll get to that in a little more ina second because that's also important.
But is it a well-thought-outidea from this player?
Or is it just something that theyheard and they're parroting to you?
(12:51):
Just be careful with that.
I can tell you that in terms of sources, Iassure you that everything that we
provide to you a better pickleball iswell-thought-out and your source is solid.
Anything you hear on this podcast orBetter pickleball is something you
can take to the bank, so to speak.
Now, this one's tricky.The second one is tricky.
I'm going to get to the explanationof it in a second as the number three.
(13:14):
But number two is a tricky onebecause number two talks about it being
consistent with what you already know.
Now, that one cuts both waysbecause there are times you're going to
hear something that runs contraryto something else that you've heard.
And then you have to figure out, well,oh, man, now I got conflict here.
What do I do?
If the original source materialcame from a reputable source.
(13:37):
So let's say you came to one of ourworkshops, and we have another one coming
up in September that you'rewelcome to join this for.
But you come into one of our workshops andyou hear something about the most It's the
most important shot in pickleballthat we explain in the workshop.
And then someone at the courtsays, No, that's not right.
This is the most important shot.
So now you have conflict, right?
Inthat situation, you're going to discard
(13:57):
the player at the courts who's telling youdifferent than the trusted source
who told you the other thing.
It also works the other way.That's why it's tricky.
Because you may have heard, for instance,get to the non-visal line as soon as
possible when the third shot is hit.
That's a very common advice thatplayers get early on in their careers.
From us, you're going to hearsomething very different than that.
(14:20):
Now, you have to make a decisionbecause you have a conflict.
It's not like thesetwo are irreconcilable.
So you will have to pick one.
Our advice there is to pick ours because,again, we are the more trusted source.
We are the source that has abetter understanding of the game.
And also, we're going to explain itto you, which I'll get to in a second.
And the other one is simply like, Getup here, get up here, get up here.
(14:40):
But they don't really havea real explanation for it in that context,
other than the understanding that thenon-bolly's in the line is good, which is
true, but there's more context to thatwhen you're playing on the surf side.
So just be cognizant.
And I will tell you this, a lot of what weteach at Better pickleball is
going to be contrarian.It seemed contrarian.
It's going to seem like, Oh, man, theseguys are going against
(15:03):
what I've heard out there.
If we are, it's becausewhat you've heard is wrong.
And we're not just going to simply keepparroting or mimicking information that is
incorrect out there andnot give you what really matters,
because we're serious about what we do,and we believe that we have confidence in
you as a, again, essentially human being,and we want to communicate with you in
(15:25):
a way that will help you with your game.
So we're going to buck thetrends whenever it's necessary.
And then the third component of it isgoing to be the explanation
that goes along with it.
How does it work?
How does it work underdifferent scenarios?
Let's explore it.
There's a term that, back in my priorprofessional career, you like blackboxing.
(15:49):
You blackbox something.
So you take an idea or an equation orsomething, and you run it through a black
box several times with different inputs.
And then you see what outputs come outand see whether the thing works or not.
If it makes sense or doesn't make sense.
Respect the X,I've explained it for six years.
We've explained it for six years.It works.
It's a great guidelineto apply for doubles.
(16:13):
It really simplifies things,makes things much clearer for both
players, and it still has enoughexceptions to it for
breaking the X intentionally.
It's an all-around awesome rule that stoodthe test of time, and we explain it
thoroughly in all different scenarios.
And I have yet tohave someone, a coach or another player,
(16:36):
challenge the Xfrom a functional standpoint, with any
substance, with any depth, that wouldExcuse me, that would undermine the
respect the ex.And I'll tell you this.
I'm going to take a sipof water real quick.
Had some popcorn a little bit ago.
I think I have a littlepea stuck in there.
I'll tell you this.
(16:57):
If it was shown to us that respect the exwas flawed, we would pivot
because we're not interested in advocatingpositions that are flawed, right?
But we know it works.That's why we keep on advocating it.
On the flip side, again, it's not acriticism of the coach who advocated this,
but I will tell you that the post that hadthis idea of strategic fluidity,
(17:19):
there's no real application of it.
It's just basically like, adapt to thesituations that are in
front of you at every time.
We all do that, and we all wantto do it, and we all do it.
When I drive down the road, I applystrategic fluidity because I'm like, The
driver in the right lane iscoming over a little slow.
I got to back up.I got to break.
(17:40):
There is a merge coming in.The light's turning red.
All these different factors are happening.That's strategic fluidity.
But I also have general rulesthat I apply when I drive.
I don't drive like a lunatic.
I keep some distance with other cars.
I know how to move my foot from the...
I know that the break stops the car andthe accelerator makes the car
go faster, things like that.Those are rules I drive with.
(18:02):
Within that, there's strategic fluidity,but it's very vague to just say strategic
fluidity in pickleball because there'sno real guidance on how to do that.
So conceptually, on paper, fantastic.
Application, not reallyseeing how that works.
And that's the stuff that when you get arule, when you get a thing, black box it.
How does this work?
How is it going to work when I'm playingwith Bob, when I'm playing with Mary, when
(18:24):
I'm playing with Sue,when I'm playing with Joe?
How does this work in practice?
Those Those are three different ways thatyou can think about rules that come in.
But be mindful of yourgateway, of your gate, right?
Of your gatekeeper yourself, because justhaving all these rules thrown at you and
just bam, bam, bam, bam, bama very difficult way to play pickleball.
(18:46):
It'll take you down some weird paths andcreate uncertainty in you, unnecessarily.
So hopefully these three will help you.
And listen, if you get posed with a rulein the future and you don't remember, come
back to this episode, check it out, andremind yourself of the three things,
and then test it, see what you think.
All right, let's divestraight into the RIF.
So the idea of the RIF is,sometimes when we are
(19:11):
playing or working on ourselves, workingon our game, sometimes we can lose
sight of the forest for the trees.
We get so hyper-focused on a tree thatwe lose sight of the bigger picture.
And here what I'm talking about are thingslike how you're going to approach a game,
how you're going to approach your play.
(19:32):
I am a huge fan of the fact thatpickleball is a complex sport,
and it's complex in a great way.It offers...
It has a lot of layers to it and a lot ofpieces to it, and
To master pickleball, if you want to thinkof it that way, or to become the best
player you can be, you're going to need towork in a bunch of different areas, a
(19:55):
bunch of different parts of thegame, which altogether make for an awesome
pickleball playing experience for you.
As you move forward with your growth as apickleball player, it's helpful to think
about yourself and the game big picture.
And and avoid gettinghyper-focused on a particular tree.
(20:19):
Now, that's not to say that if youidentify a tree in your forest that needs
work, so you need to work on avolley, then you put working on that.
But you don't lose sight of the rest ofthe game because you're
working on one shot.
So for example, you'reworking on your block volley.
And if you're a system member, youknow this process that we have inside.
(20:40):
So you're working on your block volley,and then you're going to you're going to
focus on that.
So you're working on thatblock, working on that block.
But then you start playing and you'reforgetting about your return of serve.
Well, your block volley isgoing to become a lot harder.
Your return to serve starts suffering.
So You don't want to forget the biggerpicture of the game that you're playing in
(21:03):
the different parts of itand hyper focus so much on one part of
it that the other parts deteriorate.
Again, to be clear, when you'repracticing, you can work on a tree.
You can prune the tree, right?
You can give it extra fertilized, whateveryou got to do for that tree, that's fine.
But when you go play, when you go engagein the full game of pickleball,
(21:25):
don't lose sight of the other parts of thegame that are just as important
to your overall performance.
And in fact, forwhich the particular tree you're working
on will benefit from because you're alsoimplementing the whole forest, if
you will, of your game when you play.
So that's this week's podcast.I hope you enjoyed it.
(21:46):
I hope it's, again, these rules, it'simportant to gatekeep and take a big
picture view of yourself from time totime and when you're playing, right?
When you're playing, make sure that you'reviewing all parts of the game and not
letting parts that you've already perhapsgotten better suffer because you're so
hyper-focused on this onepotentially smaller piece of the puzzle.
(22:07):
If you enjoyed the podcast, as always,please consider rating and reviewing it.
It helps us reach other players just likeyou who may benefit from the podcast and
share with your friends, because if youenjoyed the podcast,
they probably will, too.
Be on the lookout forthe next couple of weeks.
We have some announcements coming out, andthat therapist project will be coming up
in the next, I would say, next two weeks.That's the plan anyway.
(22:28):
We'll get it done and out.
And I look forward to seeingTherapists Inside the Therapist event.
Have a great week, and I'll see you atthe next episode of pickleball Therapy.
Be well.
Hello and welcome to pickleball Therapy,the podcast dedicated to
your pickleball improvement.
It's the podcast dedicatedto your pickleball mind.
I am your host of thisweekly podcast, Tony Roig.
I am a full-time pickleball professional.
This is what I do with all of my time isbreak down pickleball, provide pickleball
coaching, think about pickleball, how toteach it better, and record content like
(00:22):
this, YouTube videos and podcasts likethis, to hopefully bring some additional
value, some additional knowledge toyour pickleball game, to your pickleball
journey, to your pickleball relationship.
In this week's podcast, I'mgoing to be diving into rules.
If you're watching on YouTube, behind me,you'll see rules, rules,
rules written on the board.
(00:43):
And here's the thing about rules.
It is a rules-based game, but the ruleswe're going to be talking about today are
the rules that are likerules of the road, if you will.
Things that you hear from players at thecourt, like strategy rules, like maxims,
things like 400 in the middle, respect theex, get to the MVZ, all those things are
(01:03):
the type of rules we'regoing to be talking about.
And the reason is because rulescan be helpful, but they can also be
detrimental if you're following too manyrules or if you're
following the wrong rules.
So in this podcast, I'm going togive you some guidance
as to determining what rulesto follow and what rules may be to go,
not sure about that one.
(01:24):
Let me give that some thoughtbefore you dive right into it.
And then in the RIF, I'm going to talk toyou about About the forest from the trees.
Again, behind me on YouTube, you'llsee a tree and you'll see a forest.
So we'll talk about that in the RIF.
Let's go and dive straight into thecontent of this week's podcast or
the concept of this week's podcast.
And what we're dealing with is we'redealing with this idea
(01:45):
of these rules, right?
And this podcast,the reason I wanted to talk about it this
week is because there's been someonline chatter about rules, right?
And about the way thatyou think about rules.
And another coach who's fairly wellfollowed on Facebook, wrote a couple of
posts dealing withwhat he described as binary and rigid
(02:08):
rules, and that you shouldn't follow them,so you should follow this idea that
he referred to as strategic fluidity.
And in those rules that he describes asbeing too rigid and should
be applied was respect the X.
So that obviously came to my attentionbecause, I don't know if you know it or
not, but we're theoriginators of respect the X.
(02:29):
Back in 2018, I'm pretty sure, was whenthe first video on respect the X came out.
It survived the test of time.
It's a really great rule to understand,great guideline to understand,
as well as to understand when to useit and when to break it intentionally.
As as opposed to just reaching acrossand getting balls across the middle.
I'm not going to diveinto Respect the X here.
(02:50):
If you want to know more about Respect theX, the strategy of it, you can go to the
In2Pickle channel andcheck out our playlist.
We have an entireplaylist on Respect the X.
And then we're updating the Respect the Xguide that we have.
That's a free resource that youcan get at betterpickleball.
Com.
So just be on the look out for that whenit comes out and you
can get a copy of that.
It's going to be the most comprehensiveguide on Respect the X available.
(03:15):
But let's talk about this idea that thereare some rules that
basically we shouldn't followrigid rules or binary types of rules.
Here's the thing.
The idea of fluidity and pickleball,strategic fluidity, if you want to use the
terminology I was using the post,it's a fine concept.
In theory, it sounds great.I want to be fluid.
(03:36):
I want to be adapt to everything.Great.
But how does that work in practice?
How does that work when you're outthere actually trying to do it?
Who hits the ball?
That's what respect the X deals with.
Respect the X, justreal briefly, respect the X is,
helps you deal with middle balluncertainty when you're playing doubles,
(03:57):
because that's where the problems arise.There's never a problem.
If the ball gets If the ball gets tothe outside of me, I know it's mine.
If the ball gets to theoutside of you, it's yours.
What happens with the balls in the middle?
Who covers those?
The ones that are coming across thatmiddle, that's what trouble it issues.
That's why that saying,the middle solves riddle.
Why do you think that came upbecause the middle is so powerful.
All sorts of confusion in there.
(04:18):
Respect the X was designed, I designed it,I should say, back in 2018 to deal with
that because I was playing pickleballand that forehand in the
middle wasn't working.
We have a video on the In2Pickle channelthat explains It means why forehand
in the middle is not a great rule.
You can check that out if youwant to know more about it.
But respect the X was designed todeal with this middle coverage issue.
How do you determine who gets the ball?
(04:39):
All things being equal,who should take the ball.
I don't believe it's a rigid rule, butit's certainly a rule that is there and
available to you to avoidconfusion between doubles partners.
Another rule that would be a rigid rule,if you want to call it that, is we're
trying to play the pickleball from thenon-volley zone line as much as possible.
(05:03):
I don't believe any coach who understandsthe game would disagree with that
principle that if you can, you want toplay from the non-volley zone line,
understanding that, strategicallyspeaking, the team at the non-volley zone
line, again, all things being equal,will defeat a team that's not
at the non-volley zone line.
Those are the types of rules that helpguide the way that we think about
(05:27):
pickleball.
Another rule, if you're thinking of yourassistant Remember, you're really familiar
with this, is the idea ofkeeping your opponents back.
It'sthe other side of the coin of you want to
play the non-volley zone line is youdon't want them to, your opponents.
The further you can keep themback, the better off you'll be.
Those are guidelines That's all the thingsthat you can use to help you determine
(05:47):
the strategies for your shots.
One more that I'll give you is angles.
Make angles, right?Beget angles.
Basically, if you're going to shoot anangle shot off, you better be
ready for counterangles back.
Those are all things that canhelp you have a better understanding of
the way that a pickleball rally isconstructed and how to deal
with who takes what shot.
(06:10):
So I believe it is helpful, big picture,as a player, to have an idea of these
rules or these guidelines that help youdetermine the best shot in any given
situation, as opposed toa purely fluid approach that requires that
you factor in all of the variablesin a rally before you decide what to
(06:35):
hit every single shot that you hit.
Here's the thing.
If you looked at it scientifically, arally, every time that you hit a shot,
particularly, let's say, deep in a rally,so you're hitting the
seventh shot in the rally.
There are many variables that you need tofactor in or compute to
(06:55):
determine the best shot.
Most players, even the pro players,I'm I'm working with pro players.
Even the pro players don't try and figureit out in the moment every single time.
It's just too much.We don't have enough bandwidth for that.
Our brains don't work that fast.
To be able to calculate exactly where theopponents are, exactly where you and your
partner are, exactly what shot got hityour way, exactly what your abilities are
(07:19):
with that type of shot, what you can dowith it, what you should do with
it, what the optimal shot is.
What most advanced players do isthey have certain patterns and
tendencies that they bring to the table.
Now, that's not to say that youcan't make adjustments as you go.
You're playing a game andyou're trying something...
You're trying strategy X, right?But I don't use X.
That's our strategy.It's strategy A, right?
(07:40):
And strategy A isn't working.
So you can pivot the strategy B.
You can modify strategyA and make it strategy B.
That's perfectly fine.
But this idea that we're not going to playbased on some
general appreciation of strategies,general appreciation of our own strengths,
general appreciation of our opponent'stendencies when we play, is
something I think is not...
(08:01):
Sounds great, right?
Fluid strategy, but inapplication, breaks down.
So when I read all this, it made me startthinking about,
what do you do if you're a player outthere and you're trying to
figure this out yourself, right?
Which you should.I mean, this is your journey, right?
How do I deal with this?
What rules do I apply?What rules don't I apply?
So I came up with some ideas here, someguidelines or some suggestions.
(08:25):
You can call them rules if you want to.
Which I'll help you determine what rulesHow to screen rules, how to filter rules,
and how to gatekeep, ifyou will, your own journey.
Because here's the thing, even if you'regoing to discard all the
other rules and then have...
Here's the irony.
So the suggestion is, let'sget rid of these rules.
(08:48):
And the thing is, there's no explanationas to why the rules shouldn't be applied,
which is going to beimportant in a second.
You'll understand.In a second.
If you're going to argue againsta rule, argue against the rule.
Why?It doesn't make sense.
Four hand in the middle, doesn't work.
We explained why it doesn't work.
We made a video on it, and here'sthe reason it doesn't work.
You can watch the videoand then make a decision.
You know what?
Tony's not right about that.
I'm going with four hand in the middle.
(09:09):
That's your right as a pickleball player.
But when there's just a suggestion thatthis rule shouldn't be followed because
it's binary or because it's rigid.
That's not a conversation.
Then the irony of it is then it's replacedwith another rule, which is use
fluid strategy, which is a rule.
(09:30):
You do this way without any explanation ofhow to do fluid strategy or how it works.
I've already explained to you that theproblem I see with that is in application,
I don't really know how that works.
Also, now you have a further complicationbecause we're usually talking
about doubles in these situations.
What's my fluid strategy and what's yourfluid strategy is maybe
two different things.
(09:50):
So who gets to decide that?
But anyway, so here's some ideas on howyou can determine what rules to follow
and which ones not to.
Number one is the source.
Where does the rule orthe suggestion come from?
In this case, I would say the suggestioncame from a well-respected coach.
And so from a source standpoint, it's notproblematic because this coach been around
(10:14):
the block, been successfulas a player and as a coach.
And so you look at that and you go,Okay, the source source is good.
But there are many times, not this coach,but there's many times when you're getting
advice that the source is questionable.
An example are players at your courts.
And no offense to anyplayer out there, right?
But many times players at the courts don'thave a deep enough understanding of
(10:38):
pickleball to be givingadvice to other players.
Not only that, they don't reallyunderstand your game or what you need
or where you're at and things like that.
So That's the advice that youtake with a grain of salt.
Maybe you write it down or make a note ofit and think about it later or
double-check it if youwant to, things like that.
But don't just take advice you hear atthe courts and just go, Boom, I'm in.
(10:59):
Because I can tell you one thing.
When I was a new player,I got a lot of bad advice, just a lot of
bad advice from players at the courts.
And again, nothing against those players.They meant well.
They weren't trying to do anything wrong.
But I, as a sentient human being, havethe ability to say, You know what?
I appreciate it, but I'm not going to takethat into my game because I don't know if
(11:24):
you know what you're talking about, right?
And the other thing is, and the fact thatthey're a good player, or you hear it from
a potentially good player, doesn'tnot mean anything, but doesn't just
say, Okay, they're a good player.They must know what they're talking about.
Not the case.
There's many situations where you haveplayers who appear to be good players
because they are succeeding, in They'resucceeding in their area, they're
(11:48):
beating other players in the area.
But those players, once you face them togood players in other areas,
maybe not as good, also don't have theunderstanding of the game that is going to
be helpful to a player like you, and ifyou want to really understand the game.
So what you want to look for is you wantto look for sources who are serious about
(12:09):
pickleball, who are professionals, is whatI'd recommend, and who are
And if it's well thought out, well thoughtout advice, these one-line things,
respect the X is shorthand.
But respect the X isn't the wholething because alone, it's not enough.
To understand respect the X, you got tounderstand what it is and
also when you don't apply it.
(12:31):
So when you break theX is what we call it.
It's just respect the X.It's again, shorthand.
But a lot of times these rules getthrown out there like dogma, right?
Do this.But there's never any backing to it.
There's never any like,well, what does that mean?
And I'll get to that in a little more ina second because that's also important.
But is it a well-thought-outidea from this player?
Or is it just something that theyheard and they're parroting to you?
(12:51):
Just be careful with that.
I can tell you that in terms of sources, Iassure you that everything that we
provide to you a better pickleball iswell-thought-out and your source is solid.
Anything you hear on this podcast orBetter pickleball is something you
can take to the bank, so to speak.
Now, this one's tricky.The second one is tricky.
I'm going to get to the explanationof it in a second as the number three.
(13:14):
But number two is a tricky onebecause number two talks about it being
consistent with what you already know.
Now, that one cuts both waysbecause there are times you're going to
hear something that runs contraryto something else that you've heard.
And then you have to figure out, well,oh, man, now I got conflict here.
What do I do?
If the original source materialcame from a reputable source.
(13:37):
So let's say you came to one of ourworkshops, and we have another one coming
up in September that you'rewelcome to join this for.
But you come into one of our workshops andyou hear something about the most It's the
most important shot in pickleballthat we explain in the workshop.
And then someone at the courtsays, No, that's not right.
This is the most important shot.
So now you have conflict, right?
Inthat situation, you're going to discard
(13:57):
the player at the courts who's telling youdifferent than the trusted source
who told you the other thing.
It also works the other way.That's why it's tricky.
Because you may have heard, for instance,get to the non-visal line as soon as
possible when the third shot is hit.
That's a very common advice thatplayers get early on in their careers.
From us, you're going to hearsomething very different than that.
(14:20):
Now, you have to make a decisionbecause you have a conflict.
It's not like thesetwo are irreconcilable.
So you will have to pick one.
Our advice there is to pick ours because,again, we are the more trusted source.
We are the source that has abetter understanding of the game.
And also, we're going to explain itto you, which I'll get to in a second.
And the other one is simply like, Getup here, get up here, get up here.
(14:40):
But they don't really havea real explanation for it in that context,
other than the understanding that thenon-bolly's in the line is good, which is
true, but there's more context to thatwhen you're playing on the surf side.
So just be cognizant.
And I will tell you this, a lot of what weteach at Better pickleball is
going to be contrarian.It seemed contrarian.
It's going to seem like, Oh, man, theseguys are going against
(15:03):
what I've heard out there.
If we are, it's becausewhat you've heard is wrong.
And we're not just going to simply keepparroting or mimicking information that is
incorrect out there andnot give you what really matters,
because we're serious about what we do,and we believe that we have confidence in
you as a, again, essentially human being,and we want to communicate with you in
(15:25):
a way that will help you with your game.
So we're going to buck thetrends whenever it's necessary.
And then the third component of it isgoing to be the explanation
that goes along with it.
How does it work?
How does it work underdifferent scenarios?
Let's explore it.
There's a term that, back in my priorprofessional career, you like blackboxing.
(15:49):
You blackbox something.
So you take an idea or an equation orsomething, and you run it through a black
box several times with different inputs.
And then you see what outputs come outand see whether the thing works or not.
If it makes sense or doesn't make sense.
Respect the X,I've explained it for six years.
We've explained it for six years.It works.
It's a great guidelineto apply for doubles.
(16:13):
It really simplifies things,makes things much clearer for both
players, and it still has enoughexceptions to it for
breaking the X intentionally.
It's an all-around awesome rule that stoodthe test of time, and we explain it
thoroughly in all different scenarios.
And I have yet tohave someone, a coach or another player,
(16:36):
challenge the Xfrom a functional standpoint, with any
substance, with any depth, that wouldExcuse me, that would undermine the
respect the ex.And I'll tell you this.
I'm going to take a sipof water real quick.
Had some popcorn a little bit ago.
I think I have a littlepea stuck in there.
I'll tell you this.
(16:57):
If it was shown to us that respect the exwas flawed, we would pivot
because we're not interested in advocatingpositions that are flawed, right?
But we know it works.That's why we keep on advocating it.
On the flip side, again, it's not acriticism of the coach who advocated this,
but I will tell you that the post that hadthis idea of strategic fluidity,
(17:19):
there's no real application of it.
It's just basically like, adapt to thesituations that are in
front of you at every time.
We all do that, and we all wantto do it, and we all do it.
When I drive down the road, I applystrategic fluidity because I'm like, The
driver in the right lane iscoming over a little slow.
I got to back up.I got to break.
(17:40):
There is a merge coming in.The light's turning red.
All these different factors are happening.That's strategic fluidity.
But I also have general rulesthat I apply when I drive.
I don't drive like a lunatic.
I keep some distance with other cars.
I know how to move my foot from the...
I know that the break stops the car andthe accelerator makes the car
go faster, things like that.Those are rules I drive with.
(18:02):
Within that, there's strategic fluidity,but it's very vague to just say strategic
fluidity in pickleball because there'sno real guidance on how to do that.
So conceptually, on paper, fantastic.
Application, not reallyseeing how that works.
And that's the stuff that when you get arule, when you get a thing, black box it.
How does this work?
How is it going to work when I'm playingwith Bob, when I'm playing with Mary, when
(18:24):
I'm playing with Sue,when I'm playing with Joe?
How does this work in practice?
Those Those are three different ways thatyou can think about rules that come in.
But be mindful of yourgateway, of your gate, right?
Of your gatekeeper yourself, because justhaving all these rules thrown at you and
just bam, bam, bam, bam, bama very difficult way to play pickleball.
(18:46):
It'll take you down some weird paths andcreate uncertainty in you, unnecessarily.
So hopefully these three will help you.
And listen, if you get posed with a rulein the future and you don't remember, come
back to this episode, check it out, andremind yourself of the three things,
and then test it, see what you think.
All right, let's divestraight into the RIF.
So the idea of the RIF is,sometimes when we are
(19:11):
playing or working on ourselves, workingon our game, sometimes we can lose
sight of the forest for the trees.
We get so hyper-focused on a tree thatwe lose sight of the bigger picture.
And here what I'm talking about are thingslike how you're going to approach a game,
how you're going to approach your play.
(19:32):
I am a huge fan of the fact thatpickleball is a complex sport,
and it's complex in a great way.It offers...
It has a lot of layers to it and a lot ofpieces to it, and
To master pickleball, if you want to thinkof it that way, or to become the best
player you can be, you're going to need towork in a bunch of different areas, a
(19:55):
bunch of different parts of thegame, which altogether make for an awesome
pickleball playing experience for you.
As you move forward with your growth as apickleball player, it's helpful to think
about yourself and the game big picture.
And and avoid gettinghyper-focused on a particular tree.
(20:19):
Now, that's not to say that if youidentify a tree in your forest that needs
work, so you need to work on avolley, then you put working on that.
But you don't lose sight of the rest ofthe game because you're
working on one shot.
So for example, you'reworking on your block volley.
And if you're a system member, youknow this process that we have inside.
(20:40):
So you're working on your block volley,and then you're going to you're going to
focus on that.
So you're working on thatblock, working on that block.
But then you start playing and you'reforgetting about your return of serve.
Well, your block volley isgoing to become a lot harder.
Your return to serve starts suffering.
So You don't want to forget the biggerpicture of the game that you're playing in
(21:03):
the different parts of itand hyper focus so much on one part of
it that the other parts deteriorate.
Again, to be clear, when you'repracticing, you can work on a tree.
You can prune the tree, right?
You can give it extra fertilized, whateveryou got to do for that tree, that's fine.
But when you go play, when you go engagein the full game of pickleball,
(21:25):
don't lose sight of the other parts of thegame that are just as important
to your overall performance.
And in fact, forwhich the particular tree you're working
on will benefit from because you're alsoimplementing the whole forest, if
you will, of your game when you play.
So that's this week's podcast.I hope you enjoyed it.
(21:46):
I hope it's, again, these rules, it'simportant to gatekeep and take a big
picture view of yourself from time totime and when you're playing, right?
When you're playing, make sure that you'reviewing all parts of the game and not
letting parts that you've already perhapsgotten better suffer because you're so
hyper-focused on this onepotentially smaller piece of the puzzle.
(22:07):
If you enjoyed the podcast, as always,please consider rating and reviewing it.
It helps us reach other players just likeyou who may benefit from the podcast and
share with your friends, because if youenjoyed the podcast,
they probably will, too.
Be on the lookout forthe next couple of weeks.
We have some announcements coming out, andthat therapist project will be coming up
in the next, I would say, next two weeks.That's the plan anyway.
(22:28):
We'll get it done and out.
And I look forward to seeingTherapists Inside the Therapist event.
Have a great week, and I'll see you atthe next episode of pickleball Therapy.
Be well.
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