December 27, 2024 • 24 mins
Ben Johns is no longer going to play with his brother, Collin, and is looking for a partner for 2025. It's a little bit sad in the sense that they're brothers, they play together and I imagine they love pickleball.
There's been a lot of opinions about who would be the best partner for Ben for 2025 and I thought it was a good time to talk about picking a perfect partner. In this episode we'll also talk about your journey, getting ready for the new year and what you want for yourself in 2025.
How do you pick a partner? What do you look for? If you play rec play, you can also use also these ideas conceptually;
i) Shared Goals. Be on the same page so you can put in the work necessary to achieve your objectives.
ii) Compatible play energy. Approach the game from an energy standpoint as you flow through different situations for better partnership.
iii) Complimentary skills. This applies more to competitive situations, although in rec you can just be aware of it. For instance if you have two players that are super hyper aggressive, attacking everything all the time, that's probably not going to be ideal. Same case applies when the two players super passive.
There's other factors you can consider in your decision making that are not strategically driven in terms of chances for success in partnership from a pickleball standpoint, but are certainly super important, such as good partnership.
The key takeaway here is doubles pickleball is a team sport, such as basketball, thus needs the performance of the individual player like being able to hit your dink, your serve, return, volleys etc.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Helloand welcome to Pickleball Therapy, the
podcast dedicated to yourpickleball improvement.
I hope you're having a great day, agreat week, and a great holiday season.
My name is Tony Roig.
I am your host of this weekly podcast.
This week's podcast, I wanted to talk toyou about finding the perfect partner.
Been a lot of scuttlebutt out there aboutBen Jones and Colin Jones' brother not
(00:28):
partnering for 2025 and Benlooking for new partners.
There's been a lot ofopinions being shared about who would
be the best partner for Ben for 2025.
I thought it was a good time to talka little bit about picking a partner.
How do you pick a partner?What do you look for?
And things like that.
(00:49):
We're going to do that in this week'spodcast as we get ready for 2025.
Then in the RIF,I'm going to talk to you a little bit
about the journey and maybe what isit that you want for yourself in 2025.
That might help inform whatyou're looking for in a partner.
(01:10):
As we dive into thepodcast, These podcasts are made possible
by the work that we do at BetterPickleball, including the
Better Pickleball Academy.
If you're thinking about2025 being a new year for you and
something different that you want to dofor yourself in your pickle game,
check out the Better Pickleball Academy.
(01:32):
You know it's going to be good content.
It's provided to you by the BetterPickleball Coaching Team, so you know that
the information in there is going to berelevant and actionable and
going to help your game.
You can check that out,the go to pickleball.
Com, just click on Academyand check the offerings there.
All right, let's diveinto picking a partner.
(01:52):
Again, as I mentioned at the beginning,Ben Johns is no longer going
to play with his brother.
It's the end of an era, if you will.
It's a little bit sad in the sense thatthey're brothers, they
get to play together.That's cool.
But I think for Ben and Colin, Iimagine they love pickleball,
(02:14):
but Pickleball is their business.
I don't know Ben that well.
I know him saying hello to him attournaments and things like that.
But I actually know Colin reasonably well.
I met Colin when he was firststarting out playing pickleball.
He started playing here in the Bay Area.
He used to play at a club called Bardemonthere, and with Damon, Marissa, and the
(02:35):
folks there, with Tom DiCaprio, myself,some of the other players that would
go out there and play with Colin.
Obviously, he was athletics very gifted.
He came from tennis, was a very, very goodtennis player, so he picked
up pickleball pretty quickly.
I've stayed in touch withhim from time to time.
He's a great thinker of the game.
(02:56):
He's been at our summit a couple ofyears, sharing some ideas and things.
He doesn't mind using terms that arenot sexy or clickbaity, like we do.
One of the summits he presented wasbasically about discipline and how
discipline is importantat all levels of play.
You can imagine a conversation aboutdiscipline doesn't get a lot of views, it
(03:18):
doesn't get a lot of traction, butit's a conversation that actually
will make a difference to you.
I have a lot of respect for Colin and forBen, obviously, as
ambassadors for our sport.
The conversation that we've been seeing onFacebook and videos and things,
everybody's been jumping on this podcast.
I think that Thomas at the Dink wasmaybe the one to break the story.
(03:40):
But the idea is that Ben islooking for a partner for 2025.
So all these ideas about different playersthat Ben can partner with and different
advantages and things like that.
Why not use this opportunity to explorewhat it is to...
What criteria we can to find a partner?
(04:01):
You can use this.
If you play rec play,you can use it conceptually.
I'll share a personal story about a recgame that I played a few days ago, the day
before Chris It was Christmas Eve morning.
We played in a mixed group, andI played with different partners.
They're all cool, but there was onepartner in particular who,
(04:24):
the way we jive on the court, helped usprevail in that match, and
I'll share I'll go with you.
You can use it in rec play in terms of howyou approach different partners
that you're playing with.
But if you're going to play competitively,whether in tournaments or league or
anything like that,this is a way to think about
how to select a partnerthat makes the most sense for you.
(04:44):
Because here's the thing, when you thinkabout pickleball doubles,
it's a team sport.
I would submit to you, it's as much a teamsport as any
sport that you think of traditionallybeing a team sport, like
basketball and things like that.
You need the performanceof the individual player.
You need the basketball player who caneither rebound, dribble, pass, shoot, do
(05:07):
the individual acts thatmake that basketball player
a good basketball player.Same thing in pickle ball.
You want to be able to hit your dink, hityour serve, hit your return, hit
your volleys, things like that.
But there's the second element to it indoubles, which is how well do
you play with your partner?
Court coverage, assignments, strategy,supporting each other, things like that.
(05:31):
Whenyou think about playing with another human
being, partnering with another human beingon a pickleball court, what is it that
makes for a good partnership?
The number one thing that I have onhere is shared goals on the list.
Shared goals basically means thatare you both looking for the same thing.
(05:55):
For instance, let's say thatyou both want to dominate.
You and your partner, your objective is,we just want to beat everybody in our
league or whatever you're playing in.That's our objective.
If that's your goal, that's yourobjective, then what does that translate
to in preparation for that event?
It translates intodrilling a lot, practicing a lot, really
(06:19):
honing your skillset, getting together andworking on playing together as partners,
working on timeouts, working on all sortsof things, the elements that will
take you to your shared goals.
In that situation, if you both share thatgoal, then that's going
to be a good partnership.
(06:39):
What if you both want toparticipate in those types of Events like
tournaments and league, butit's more about the experience.
Tournament could be you want to travel.
League play could just mean,I just want to go Tuesday.
I want to compete at a reasonably highlevel, but I'm not that concerned
about whether we win or not.
(07:00):
Then, as long as you and your partner areon the same page, that works too, because
you're both seeking the same thing.
When issues arise is when there's asplit in goals between the two partners.
You have one partner that wants to kickass, take names, to just destroy
everybody, and the other partner is thereto spend time with their
(07:21):
friend, just enjoy the moment.
In that case, that's where you could havejust a falling out, if you will, because
you have different interestsin why you're going to that.
For instance, the US Open is coming upin 2025, like it does every year.
There's different players trying to findpartners, and there's different
(07:44):
reasons to go to the US Open.
Maybe you just want to go to Naples and,again, enjoy the experience
and do the best you can.That's fine.
Maybe you want to, again, go down thereand you want to compete for a medal, and
anything less than a medalisn't satisfactory to you.
I don't know if that's a goodmetric for yourself, because,
anyway, that's another conversation.
But if you and your partner are on thesame page, at least you can put
(08:05):
in the work necessary to do that.
Number one, in terms of pickinga partner, would be shared goals.
You can do this in rec play because if youstep out on the court in open play and you
know that this player isa win-it-all cosplayer.
It's not to say you have to become awin-it-all cosplayer if that's not your
way of looking at things, but at leastyou know where they're coming from.
At least you can like, Okay,I know what to expect here.
(08:29):
You You're not going to besurprised when the other player gets upset
when your team misses ashot or something like that.
You know what you'regetting into, I guess.
The second factor that I think is It's acritical one, but it's a little
mushy, and it can be overlooked.
(08:51):
I'm calling it compatible play energy.
This is basically how the playersnavigate the game from an energy approach.
The best way to think about this islet's assume that you miss an easy ball.
How does your partner react to that?
Or when your partner misses an easy ball,how do you react to that?
(09:13):
Are you supportive of each other, tappingpaddles, or is it one player misses the
shot and the other player feels like,Oh, my God, my partner's mad at me?
How are you navigating theenergy of that situation.
Same thing.
(09:33):
When you're playing pickleball, you'regoing to have situations where
you are ahead, and so it's good.
Are you basically Are you both lettingyour foot off the pedal, so to speak, and
just coasting, and then they get introuble, or are you both keeping each
other in the right balance between notmaybe obsessing too much, but also not
(09:59):
Distancing, not distancing yourself,but basically getting off the core.
You're already at lunch thinking aboutwhat you're going to have at
the order from the menu.
And the same thing when you're behind.
You're behind, you're down 9:00 to 4:00.
Are you bothgoing to keep battling, or will one of the
(10:20):
players go, Well, it's 9:00, it's time tojust wrap this up and let's get moving,
and the other player is still battling?
That's not a good...
That's not very compatible, right?
How How you approach the game from anenergy standpoint as you flow through
different situations,the more compatible you are, the
better the partnership is going to be.
Again, going back to rec play,if you're playing with somebody
(10:42):
who you know is not going to give theirall when you're down, I'm not saying just
roll up your bags and go home, but eitheryou can try and reach them somehow, or
you just adjust your play accordingly andYou know you have another match waiting
for you as soon as youput your paddle down.
(11:03):
You're not trying to give it your allbecause your partner is not
going to give it their all.
Then that's not going to feel good for youwhen you're out there hustling and your
partner is just like,Whatever happens, happens.
That situation when you're super Socompatible play energy is another factor
that I think is really important whenyou're talking about partnerships.
Then the last one is complementary skills.
(11:24):
Now, this one applies more tocompetitive situations, although in
rec, again, you can just be aware of it.
But complementary skills are,let's say you had two players that are
super hyper aggressive, attackingeverything all the time, and that's
probably not going to be ideal.
Or if you have two playerswho are super passive.
And there's nothing wrongwith passive, by the way.
(11:45):
I I'm going to use that term negatively.
Just players who just want to set up andwant to keep the rally extended,
but don't really have anybody who...
Neither one of them really ever looksfor the kill shot when it's available.
Neither one of thoseis going to be optimal.
Optimal would be where you We have oneplayer who is
more of a setup a player, like plays areally controlled patient game, and
(12:09):
then another player who's the finisher.
When you look at the top two teams in bothmen and women's, you look at Ben and Colin
Johns over the last coupleof years, last few years.
That has been Colin is the setup player.
Colin plays defense.
It's almost everything soft.
He'll speed up a ball once in a blue moon.
Then Ben's the A passive player.
(12:30):
Colin is going to play a nicepatient game and let Ben be Ben.
Same thing with AnaleeWotos and Katherine Prentau.
You have Katherine Prentauis the setup player.
She'll attack a ball here and there, butfor the most part, that's not her role.
Her role is to play really good defense,anchor that right side, and then let
Analee, she plays left too, but anchor theside she's on, and then Analee will
(12:51):
basically be the one to finish.
Those are the teams that are the mostsuccessful out there when they're playing.
Complimentary skills can bea is a helpful factor to consider.
Now, that said, that's when you're lookingat it cold, objective, just off the
court, objectively looking at it.
(13:11):
When you're talking about playing withfriends and traveling
and things like that, there's a wholeslew of other factors to consider.
For instance, say youwant to play a tournament circuit.
You've decided, 2025, I'm going to go playsix tournaments in five states
plus mine, something like that.
(13:32):
Well, you need to find a player, or acouple of players maybe, who want the same
thing, who are willing to travel to thoseplaces, who are willing to commit the time
and money and energy to go to theseplaces and play in these tournaments.
Without that, the restof it just falls apart.
It doesn't matter.
Another thing I would suggest, and you canput this under compatible play energy,
but do you want to be with that person?Enjoy them.
(13:55):
If you don't enjoy theircompany, if you don't enjoy going to lunch
after you played or dinner or seeingthem in the morning before you...
Whatever.It's not the same as for pros.
It's business, right?
So pros can just say, Okay,we're going to play together.
Some pros don't They don't practice thatmuch together because they're not near
(14:16):
each other and things like that,so they practice when they can.
But for the most part, it's just,I'm here, let's play a couple of games,
and then they're ready to playthe next day in their tournament.
There's other factors that you canconsider in your in your decision making
that are not strategically driven or arenot driven in terms of what's going to
give me the highest chance for success inthis partnership from a pickleball
(14:40):
standpoint, but are certainly superimportant in terms of
making your decision.
But the key takeaway here isdoubles pickleball is a team sport.
Your performance as a doubles team willbe greatly impacted by the
(15:01):
chemistry between you and your partner.
The better you play together, themore likely it is that you will
be successful as a doubles team.
And in the RIF, I'll share a personalstory, and then I'll ask you a question
just to get your brain thinking about it,about what it is that you want for
(15:24):
yourself in terms of apartnership for 2025.
As we dive into the RIF,if you are looking to purchase any gear in
2025, paddles or anything like that,please consider going to our equipment
partner, that is Pickleball Central.
You'll get the best service, the bestpricing, the best every best, fill
(15:46):
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(16:08):
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(16:29):
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(16:50):
All right, let's go into the RIF.
I'll share a personal story, and thenwe'll talk about you thinking
for you for 2025 on this line.
The personal story is we were playing andplayed with several different players,
and I enjoy to play with all players.They're all different.
I know them very well, soI know their tendencies.
I like to rib them, especially when we'replaying this situation where
(17:15):
we're just mixing around.
But anyway, I know them all.
But there was one player in particular whoI was playing with, and we
were ahead in the match.
We were rally scoring to 21.
We were up, but we were getting...
The The other team was catching up withus, and we were starting to
falter some on the serve side.
The thirds weren't crisp anymore, andwe were getting smashed pretty early on.
(17:42):
But we were getting smashedbecause we were rushing.
We were hitting the third, andthen we were just running in.
I was doing it some.My partner was doing it.
I would submit more than I was in terms ofrunning up, and then we were
just getting smacked with balls.
I went to my partner and I said, Hey, whydon't we just
slow things down a little bit?Our ourselves.
Let's work on our third, a fifth, aseventh, but let's control our tempo.
(18:05):
If you've listened to this podcast before,you know that tempo is such a powerful
part of our performance in this sport.
We started to control our tempo,and then we really locked it down.
We really locked the game down.
We forced a couple of errors by ouropponents on the return side
because we changed our approach.
They couldn't just hit one and doneand pass us on their fourth or six.
(18:29):
They had to keep working.So we forced some errors.
And then when we were able to make our wayup there, we made our way up to the
non-volley zone line under control.
We overcame our positional disadvantage,put pressure on them, and then
we're able to close out the match.
And the reason I'm sharing this with youis, you're welcome to take the strategy
part away as well, the tempo and all that.
But the real reason I'm sharing with youis in terms of this
(18:52):
podcast, the content of this podcast, isthat
this is a player who I've played withbefore and who is open to
strategic recommendations.
And that's something that I amparticularly good at.
That's actually one of my strong suitsis strategic adjustments in game.
And so to be playing with a player who Iknow I can make recommendations to and
(19:16):
who will take those recommendations.
It's not to say the playerneeds to blindly do what I say.
That's not the point.
But at least listen to what I'msaying and go, Okay, let's try it.
That makes sense.
And then we try it, and then thisplayer was like, Oh, that really worked.
I'm like, Yeah, it's a thought out.
I'm just thrown out there.
And so it changes my dynamic.
(19:36):
It makes me more engaged as well, becausenow I can bring to bear the parts of
the game that I am particularly good at.
It makes my play better.
He plays better, I play better,and our team plays better.
Again, not just because of the strategicconsiderations, those are important,
but also because weend rowing in the same direction.
(20:01):
There's openness and willingness toreceive the information,
process it, and then apply it,making us a much more formidable opponent.
That's my personal story on howthe strategy is important, but also the
way it impacts the team and theplaying together part of it.
(20:24):
It's as important as justthe strategic piece of it.
For 2025, what I would suggest you do interms of partnerships are
give this some thought.How are you as a partner?
In terms of what is itthat you're looking for?
What's your energy when you play?
(20:44):
Are you a supportive partner?
Are you bringing yourpartner down, potentially?
It happens.
We've had students' stories that they'veshared with us about not realizing
what they were doing to their partners.
Then once they realized it, they werelike, Oh, I don't want to do that.
Then they adjusted their behavior.
(21:04):
One tip I'll give you is a tip that C.J.
Johnson, my co-coach, always shares at thecamps, which is consider turning
inward when you're on the court.
Think about like you just finished a rallyand your partner missed a
shot, and you're not upset.You're fine.
Everything's fine.But you turn to the outside.
(21:25):
Basically, you turn your body toward thesideline instead of toward the
middle, towards your partner.
It's possible that your partner couldmisinterpret that situation
because you're turning away, and maybe youturned in a way that looked like you were
rolling a shoulder or you were rollingyour head or something like that.
So your partner isfeeling self-conscious because they just
They pop the ball up or theymissed an easy shot or whatever.
(21:46):
So they see an eye roll that obviously,you can't see because you're
looking away from them.
But those things, themind can play tricks.
That is avoided when youturn toward the middle.
So you turn toward the middle, you makeeye in contact with your partner, maybe
smile at them, tap their paddle,let them know everything's okay.
Changes everything.Changes the feeling of that.
(22:08):
If you just get into the habit of turningtoward the middle rather than turning
toward the outside,you'll turn to the middle, both
when it's maybe not necessary.
I mean, it's always goodto turn to the middle.
No downside to it.
But maybe your partner just did afantastic shot and you
turn to the middle, great.
But you'll also be turning to themiddle by extension or by habit.
You'll turn to the middle when yourpartner also makes a mistake, and so
(22:30):
everything will be better then as well.
So consider doing that for 2025.
Then give some thought to how you come tothe game as a partner, and perhaps what it
is that most works with youin terms of your partners.
That will help you when you're in asituation where you want to identify a
partner to play with in some a competitivesetting, and also help you navigate rec
(22:53):
play, because when you're in rec play,you can better deal with those partners
who maybe don't exactly jive with yourapproach, like your energy on the court
and things like that, and you go out onthe court prepared and ready to deal with
that, it makes it easier to navigate.
That's a good tip for you there for 2025.
Next week's podcast,I'm going to play with the idea of
(23:19):
your journey, your pickleball journey.
The Better pickleball Coaching team said,We need something written on this, so I
wrote something about it, andI We said, Well, that's a really good
thing to share with the podcast as well,the idea of your journey and when are you
going to get to where yougot to go in your journey.
So make sure you tune in next week forthat episode of pickleball Therapy.
(23:42):
If you have a minute to rate and reviewthe podcast, always helps us reach
additional players just like you.
Remember the pickleball Centrallink if you can use that.
And then our event coming up.
We have an event coming up on January16th, which is going to be a really cool,
basically, New Year in a You concept, butit's actionable stuff
(24:02):
that you can actually do.
So like roughly 10 minutes a day,and you'll see changes in your game.
So be on the lookout for registration forthat, and join us for that
event on January 16th.
If you enjoyed the podcast,remember to share with your friends.
If you enjoyed the podcast,they probably will, too.
Hope you have a great week, a happyNew Year, and I will see you in 2025.
(24:24):
Be.
Helloand welcome to Pickleball Therapy, the
podcast dedicated to yourpickleball improvement.
I hope you're having a great day, agreat week, and a great holiday season.
My name is Tony Roig.
I am your host of this weekly podcast.
This week's podcast, I wanted to talk toyou about finding the perfect partner.
Been a lot of scuttlebutt out there aboutBen Jones and Colin Jones' brother not
(00:28):
partnering for 2025 and Benlooking for new partners.
There's been a lot ofopinions being shared about who would
be the best partner for Ben for 2025.
I thought it was a good time to talka little bit about picking a partner.
How do you pick a partner?What do you look for?
And things like that.
(00:49):
We're going to do that in this week'spodcast as we get ready for 2025.
Then in the RIF,I'm going to talk to you a little bit
about the journey and maybe what isit that you want for yourself in 2025.
That might help inform whatyou're looking for in a partner.
(01:10):
As we dive into thepodcast, These podcasts are made possible
by the work that we do at BetterPickleball, including the
Better Pickleball Academy.
If you're thinking about2025 being a new year for you and
something different that you want to dofor yourself in your pickle game,
check out the Better Pickleball Academy.
(01:32):
You know it's going to be good content.
It's provided to you by the BetterPickleball Coaching Team, so you know that
the information in there is going to berelevant and actionable and
going to help your game.
You can check that out,the go to pickleball.
Com, just click on Academyand check the offerings there.
All right, let's diveinto picking a partner.
(01:52):
Again, as I mentioned at the beginning,Ben Johns is no longer going
to play with his brother.
It's the end of an era, if you will.
It's a little bit sad in the sense thatthey're brothers, they
get to play together.That's cool.
But I think for Ben and Colin, Iimagine they love pickleball,
(02:14):
but Pickleball is their business.
I don't know Ben that well.
I know him saying hello to him attournaments and things like that.
But I actually know Colin reasonably well.
I met Colin when he was firststarting out playing pickleball.
He started playing here in the Bay Area.
He used to play at a club called Bardemonthere, and with Damon, Marissa, and the
(02:35):
folks there, with Tom DiCaprio, myself,some of the other players that would
go out there and play with Colin.
Obviously, he was athletics very gifted.
He came from tennis, was a very, very goodtennis player, so he picked
up pickleball pretty quickly.
I've stayed in touch withhim from time to time.
He's a great thinker of the game.
(02:56):
He's been at our summit a couple ofyears, sharing some ideas and things.
He doesn't mind using terms that arenot sexy or clickbaity, like we do.
One of the summits he presented wasbasically about discipline and how
discipline is importantat all levels of play.
You can imagine a conversation aboutdiscipline doesn't get a lot of views, it
(03:18):
doesn't get a lot of traction, butit's a conversation that actually
will make a difference to you.
I have a lot of respect for Colin and forBen, obviously, as
ambassadors for our sport.
The conversation that we've been seeing onFacebook and videos and things,
everybody's been jumping on this podcast.
I think that Thomas at the Dink wasmaybe the one to break the story.
(03:40):
But the idea is that Ben islooking for a partner for 2025.
So all these ideas about different playersthat Ben can partner with and different
advantages and things like that.
Why not use this opportunity to explorewhat it is to...
What criteria we can to find a partner?
(04:01):
You can use this.
If you play rec play,you can use it conceptually.
I'll share a personal story about a recgame that I played a few days ago, the day
before Chris It was Christmas Eve morning.
We played in a mixed group, andI played with different partners.
They're all cool, but there was onepartner in particular who,
(04:24):
the way we jive on the court, helped usprevail in that match, and
I'll share I'll go with you.
You can use it in rec play in terms of howyou approach different partners
that you're playing with.
But if you're going to play competitively,whether in tournaments or league or
anything like that,this is a way to think about
how to select a partnerthat makes the most sense for you.
(04:44):
Because here's the thing, when you thinkabout pickleball doubles,
it's a team sport.
I would submit to you, it's as much a teamsport as any
sport that you think of traditionallybeing a team sport, like
basketball and things like that.
You need the performanceof the individual player.
You need the basketball player who caneither rebound, dribble, pass, shoot, do
(05:07):
the individual acts thatmake that basketball player
a good basketball player.Same thing in pickle ball.
You want to be able to hit your dink, hityour serve, hit your return, hit
your volleys, things like that.
But there's the second element to it indoubles, which is how well do
you play with your partner?
Court coverage, assignments, strategy,supporting each other, things like that.
(05:31):
Whenyou think about playing with another human
being, partnering with another human beingon a pickleball court, what is it that
makes for a good partnership?
The number one thing that I have onhere is shared goals on the list.
Shared goals basically means thatare you both looking for the same thing.
(05:55):
For instance, let's say thatyou both want to dominate.
You and your partner, your objective is,we just want to beat everybody in our
league or whatever you're playing in.That's our objective.
If that's your goal, that's yourobjective, then what does that translate
to in preparation for that event?
It translates intodrilling a lot, practicing a lot, really
(06:19):
honing your skillset, getting together andworking on playing together as partners,
working on timeouts, working on all sortsof things, the elements that will
take you to your shared goals.
In that situation, if you both share thatgoal, then that's going
to be a good partnership.
(06:39):
What if you both want toparticipate in those types of Events like
tournaments and league, butit's more about the experience.
Tournament could be you want to travel.
League play could just mean,I just want to go Tuesday.
I want to compete at a reasonably highlevel, but I'm not that concerned
about whether we win or not.
(07:00):
Then, as long as you and your partner areon the same page, that works too, because
you're both seeking the same thing.
When issues arise is when there's asplit in goals between the two partners.
You have one partner that wants to kickass, take names, to just destroy
everybody, and the other partner is thereto spend time with their
(07:21):
friend, just enjoy the moment.
In that case, that's where you could havejust a falling out, if you will, because
you have different interestsin why you're going to that.
For instance, the US Open is coming upin 2025, like it does every year.
There's different players trying to findpartners, and there's different
(07:44):
reasons to go to the US Open.
Maybe you just want to go to Naples and,again, enjoy the experience
and do the best you can.That's fine.
Maybe you want to, again, go down thereand you want to compete for a medal, and
anything less than a medalisn't satisfactory to you.
I don't know if that's a goodmetric for yourself, because,
anyway, that's another conversation.
But if you and your partner are on thesame page, at least you can put
(08:05):
in the work necessary to do that.
Number one, in terms of pickinga partner, would be shared goals.
You can do this in rec play because if youstep out on the court in open play and you
know that this player isa win-it-all cosplayer.
It's not to say you have to become awin-it-all cosplayer if that's not your
way of looking at things, but at leastyou know where they're coming from.
At least you can like, Okay,I know what to expect here.
(08:29):
You You're not going to besurprised when the other player gets upset
when your team misses ashot or something like that.
You know what you'regetting into, I guess.
The second factor that I think is It's acritical one, but it's a little
mushy, and it can be overlooked.
(08:51):
I'm calling it compatible play energy.
This is basically how the playersnavigate the game from an energy approach.
The best way to think about this islet's assume that you miss an easy ball.
How does your partner react to that?
Or when your partner misses an easy ball,how do you react to that?
(09:13):
Are you supportive of each other, tappingpaddles, or is it one player misses the
shot and the other player feels like,Oh, my God, my partner's mad at me?
How are you navigating theenergy of that situation.
Same thing.
(09:33):
When you're playing pickleball, you'regoing to have situations where
you are ahead, and so it's good.
Are you basically Are you both lettingyour foot off the pedal, so to speak, and
just coasting, and then they get introuble, or are you both keeping each
other in the right balance between notmaybe obsessing too much, but also not
(09:59):
Distancing, not distancing yourself,but basically getting off the core.
You're already at lunch thinking aboutwhat you're going to have at
the order from the menu.
And the same thing when you're behind.
You're behind, you're down 9:00 to 4:00.
Are you bothgoing to keep battling, or will one of the
(10:20):
players go, Well, it's 9:00, it's time tojust wrap this up and let's get moving,
and the other player is still battling?
That's not a good...
That's not very compatible, right?
How How you approach the game from anenergy standpoint as you flow through
different situations,the more compatible you are, the
better the partnership is going to be.
Again, going back to rec play,if you're playing with somebody
(10:42):
who you know is not going to give theirall when you're down, I'm not saying just
roll up your bags and go home, but eitheryou can try and reach them somehow, or
you just adjust your play accordingly andYou know you have another match waiting
for you as soon as youput your paddle down.
(11:03):
You're not trying to give it your allbecause your partner is not
going to give it their all.
Then that's not going to feel good for youwhen you're out there hustling and your
partner is just like,Whatever happens, happens.
That situation when you're super Socompatible play energy is another factor
that I think is really important whenyou're talking about partnerships.
Then the last one is complementary skills.
(11:24):
Now, this one applies more tocompetitive situations, although in
rec, again, you can just be aware of it.
But complementary skills are,let's say you had two players that are
super hyper aggressive, attackingeverything all the time, and that's
probably not going to be ideal.
Or if you have two playerswho are super passive.
And there's nothing wrongwith passive, by the way.
(11:45):
I I'm going to use that term negatively.
Just players who just want to set up andwant to keep the rally extended,
but don't really have anybody who...
Neither one of them really ever looksfor the kill shot when it's available.
Neither one of thoseis going to be optimal.
Optimal would be where you We have oneplayer who is
more of a setup a player, like plays areally controlled patient game, and
(12:09):
then another player who's the finisher.
When you look at the top two teams in bothmen and women's, you look at Ben and Colin
Johns over the last coupleof years, last few years.
That has been Colin is the setup player.
Colin plays defense.
It's almost everything soft.
He'll speed up a ball once in a blue moon.
Then Ben's the A passive player.
(12:30):
Colin is going to play a nicepatient game and let Ben be Ben.
Same thing with AnaleeWotos and Katherine Prentau.
You have Katherine Prentauis the setup player.
She'll attack a ball here and there, butfor the most part, that's not her role.
Her role is to play really good defense,anchor that right side, and then let
Analee, she plays left too, but anchor theside she's on, and then Analee will
(12:51):
basically be the one to finish.
Those are the teams that are the mostsuccessful out there when they're playing.
Complimentary skills can bea is a helpful factor to consider.
Now, that said, that's when you're lookingat it cold, objective, just off the
court, objectively looking at it.
(13:11):
When you're talking about playing withfriends and traveling
and things like that, there's a wholeslew of other factors to consider.
For instance, say youwant to play a tournament circuit.
You've decided, 2025, I'm going to go playsix tournaments in five states
plus mine, something like that.
(13:32):
Well, you need to find a player, or acouple of players maybe, who want the same
thing, who are willing to travel to thoseplaces, who are willing to commit the time
and money and energy to go to theseplaces and play in these tournaments.
Without that, the restof it just falls apart.
It doesn't matter.
Another thing I would suggest, and you canput this under compatible play energy,
but do you want to be with that person?Enjoy them.
(13:55):
If you don't enjoy theircompany, if you don't enjoy going to lunch
after you played or dinner or seeingthem in the morning before you...
Whatever.It's not the same as for pros.
It's business, right?
So pros can just say, Okay,we're going to play together.
Some pros don't They don't practice thatmuch together because they're not near
(14:16):
each other and things like that,so they practice when they can.
But for the most part, it's just,I'm here, let's play a couple of games,
and then they're ready to playthe next day in their tournament.
There's other factors that you canconsider in your in your decision making
that are not strategically driven or arenot driven in terms of what's going to
give me the highest chance for success inthis partnership from a pickleball
(14:40):
standpoint, but are certainly superimportant in terms of
making your decision.
But the key takeaway here isdoubles pickleball is a team sport.
Your performance as a doubles team willbe greatly impacted by the
(15:01):
chemistry between you and your partner.
The better you play together, themore likely it is that you will
be successful as a doubles team.
And in the RIF, I'll share a personalstory, and then I'll ask you a question
just to get your brain thinking about it,about what it is that you want for
(15:24):
yourself in terms of apartnership for 2025.
As we dive into the RIF,if you are looking to purchase any gear in
2025, paddles or anything like that,please consider going to our equipment
partner, that is Pickleball Central.
You'll get the best service, the bestpricing, the best every best, fill
(15:46):
in the blank, in the industry.
And you also help support this podcast andthe other initiatives that we have to help
strengthen pickleball through thetransfer of pickleball knowledge.
There is a link and a code, and the codeactually adds a discount when applicable.
It doesn't apply to all products orsome products that don't have discounts.
(16:08):
But when there is a discount available,you will get it by using this code.
Rather than give you the code and the linkand make you write it down and things
like that, just go to betterpickleball.
Com, click on the top bar.
There's a button for resources.
You click there, thenthat'll open up a page.
You'll see, pickleball Centralhas its logo right there.
(16:29):
You click on Central, andthat'll take you to their page.
The code will be availableto you at betterpickupall.
Com/resources because thecode does change over time.
If you do that, we certainlywould appreciate it.
Your pricing is the same, knowing thatyou're supporting, hopefully, among
your top three content creators.
(16:50):
All right, let's go into the RIF.
I'll share a personal story, and thenwe'll talk about you thinking
for you for 2025 on this line.
The personal story is we were playing andplayed with several different players,
and I enjoy to play with all players.They're all different.
I know them very well, soI know their tendencies.
I like to rib them, especially when we'replaying this situation where
(17:15):
we're just mixing around.
But anyway, I know them all.
But there was one player in particular whoI was playing with, and we
were ahead in the match.
We were rally scoring to 21.
We were up, but we were getting...
The The other team was catching up withus, and we were starting to
falter some on the serve side.
The thirds weren't crisp anymore, andwe were getting smashed pretty early on.
(17:42):
But we were getting smashedbecause we were rushing.
We were hitting the third, andthen we were just running in.
I was doing it some.My partner was doing it.
I would submit more than I was in terms ofrunning up, and then we were
just getting smacked with balls.
I went to my partner and I said, Hey, whydon't we just
slow things down a little bit?Our ourselves.
Let's work on our third, a fifth, aseventh, but let's control our tempo.
(18:05):
If you've listened to this podcast before,you know that tempo is such a powerful
part of our performance in this sport.
We started to control our tempo,and then we really locked it down.
We really locked the game down.
We forced a couple of errors by ouropponents on the return side
because we changed our approach.
They couldn't just hit one and doneand pass us on their fourth or six.
(18:29):
They had to keep working.So we forced some errors.
And then when we were able to make our wayup there, we made our way up to the
non-volley zone line under control.
We overcame our positional disadvantage,put pressure on them, and then
we're able to close out the match.
And the reason I'm sharing this with youis, you're welcome to take the strategy
part away as well, the tempo and all that.
But the real reason I'm sharing with youis in terms of this
(18:52):
podcast, the content of this podcast, isthat
this is a player who I've played withbefore and who is open to
strategic recommendations.
And that's something that I amparticularly good at.
That's actually one of my strong suitsis strategic adjustments in game.
And so to be playing with a player who Iknow I can make recommendations to and
(19:16):
who will take those recommendations.
It's not to say the playerneeds to blindly do what I say.
That's not the point.
But at least listen to what I'msaying and go, Okay, let's try it.
That makes sense.
And then we try it, and then thisplayer was like, Oh, that really worked.
I'm like, Yeah, it's a thought out.
I'm just thrown out there.
And so it changes my dynamic.
(19:36):
It makes me more engaged as well, becausenow I can bring to bear the parts of
the game that I am particularly good at.
It makes my play better.
He plays better, I play better,and our team plays better.
Again, not just because of the strategicconsiderations, those are important,
but also because weend rowing in the same direction.
(20:01):
There's openness and willingness toreceive the information,
process it, and then apply it,making us a much more formidable opponent.
That's my personal story on howthe strategy is important, but also the
way it impacts the team and theplaying together part of it.
(20:24):
It's as important as justthe strategic piece of it.
For 2025, what I would suggest you do interms of partnerships are
give this some thought.How are you as a partner?
In terms of what is itthat you're looking for?
What's your energy when you play?
(20:44):
Are you a supportive partner?
Are you bringing yourpartner down, potentially?
It happens.
We've had students' stories that they'veshared with us about not realizing
what they were doing to their partners.
Then once they realized it, they werelike, Oh, I don't want to do that.
Then they adjusted their behavior.
(21:04):
One tip I'll give you is a tip that C.J.
Johnson, my co-coach, always shares at thecamps, which is consider turning
inward when you're on the court.
Think about like you just finished a rallyand your partner missed a
shot, and you're not upset.You're fine.
Everything's fine.But you turn to the outside.
(21:25):
Basically, you turn your body toward thesideline instead of toward the
middle, towards your partner.
It's possible that your partner couldmisinterpret that situation
because you're turning away, and maybe youturned in a way that looked like you were
rolling a shoulder or you were rollingyour head or something like that.
So your partner isfeeling self-conscious because they just
They pop the ball up or theymissed an easy shot or whatever.
(21:46):
So they see an eye roll that obviously,you can't see because you're
looking away from them.
But those things, themind can play tricks.
That is avoided when youturn toward the middle.
So you turn toward the middle, you makeeye in contact with your partner, maybe
smile at them, tap their paddle,let them know everything's okay.
Changes everything.Changes the feeling of that.
(22:08):
If you just get into the habit of turningtoward the middle rather than turning
toward the outside,you'll turn to the middle, both
when it's maybe not necessary.
I mean, it's always goodto turn to the middle.
No downside to it.
But maybe your partner just did afantastic shot and you
turn to the middle, great.
But you'll also be turning to themiddle by extension or by habit.
You'll turn to the middle when yourpartner also makes a mistake, and so
(22:30):
everything will be better then as well.
So consider doing that for 2025.
Then give some thought to how you come tothe game as a partner, and perhaps what it
is that most works with youin terms of your partners.
That will help you when you're in asituation where you want to identify a
partner to play with in some a competitivesetting, and also help you navigate rec
(22:53):
play, because when you're in rec play,you can better deal with those partners
who maybe don't exactly jive with yourapproach, like your energy on the court
and things like that, and you go out onthe court prepared and ready to deal with
that, it makes it easier to navigate.
That's a good tip for you there for 2025.
Next week's podcast,I'm going to play with the idea of
(23:19):
your journey, your pickleball journey.
The Better pickleball Coaching team said,We need something written on this, so I
wrote something about it, andI We said, Well, that's a really good
thing to share with the podcast as well,the idea of your journey and when are you
going to get to where yougot to go in your journey.
So make sure you tune in next week forthat episode of pickleball Therapy.
(23:42):
If you have a minute to rate and reviewthe podcast, always helps us reach
additional players just like you.
Remember the pickleball Centrallink if you can use that.
And then our event coming up.
We have an event coming up on January16th, which is going to be a really cool,
basically, New Year in a You concept, butit's actionable stuff
(24:02):
that you can actually do.
So like roughly 10 minutes a day,and you'll see changes in your game.
So be on the lookout for registration forthat, and join us for that
event on January 16th.
If you enjoyed the podcast,remember to share with your friends.
If you enjoyed the podcast,they probably will, too.
Hope you have a great week, a happyNew Year, and I will see you in 2025.
(24:24):
Be.
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