Diving into the World of Ladies League Tennis: A Chat with Director Jeanne

Join me as I sit down with Jeanne, the director of Ladies Tennis at the Murrieta Tennis Club, and journey through her fascinating transition from a novice player to a seasoned coach and director. As she reminisces about her initial reasons why she chose to play tennis, explains the art of managing 15 USTA league tennis teams a year, and uncovers the complexities of the sport, you'll feel her passion for tennis that's as infectious as it is inspiring.

She unveils the challenging nature of teaching, and how she crafts strategies to improve performance. We discuss footwork, the subtle differences that separate a 3.0 from a 3.5 player, and how to use shot variety to your advantage. But the learning doesn't stop there. She also shares how understanding the 'why' behind each move can significantly enhance a player's performance and the effectiveness of private lessons.

But tennis isn’t just about the perfect serve or the artful lob; it's equally about strategy and mental gameplay. Jeannie shares insights into the dynamics of setting up a team, and how to adopt the right approach within the USTA. 

With an emphasis on the importance of footwork and the nuances of mixed team play, this episode is a deep dive into the world of tennis. Tune in for a conversation that's as much about strategy and technique as it is about the love for the sport.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
You are listening to your league tennis podcast with
your host, anthony Radonia.
Anthony is an avid weekendwarrior tennis player, just like
you.
Every week, he'll beinterviewing new and exciting
guests that will not only differin experience and skill level,
but also in age and physicalability.
Your league tennis podcast isabout making you a better tennis

(00:26):
player, whether you're abeginner or have been playing
for years, in your 20s or inyour 60s.
Now here is your host, anthonyRadonia.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
All right, unmute.
So we're unmuted, jeannie.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
That's always my favorite part.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, the applause, and that's an actual button.
I thought I want some peoplecheering, so there's an applause
button that I have to pressevery time.
It's pretty fun.
So, first of all, I alwaysspelled your name wrong until
very recently when I was textingyou about coming here and then

(01:09):
Denise was looking at my phoneshe goes this isn't right, but
my sister's name is Jean Regina,so for short, I always put Jean
G E N E.
But that is not you.
You are J E A N N E.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
Right, I'm like Jean, but it's Jeannie.
I'm named after my grandmother.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Oh, okay, and what do you do for short?
Is there any short?
Jean, jeannie, jeannie, there'sno short.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
No, let's see Jeannie Weenie, the queen.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Oh, okay.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
There's some who's not a meanie is what the kids?

Speaker 2 (01:45):
call me, oh well, not a meanie.
That's nice, not a meanie.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yeah, that's a compliment.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
My theater kid friends will love that.
Okay, but the Weenie part maybenot be a compliment.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
My mother called me Jeannie Weenie.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Oh, it did and rhymes .
I guess that works.
So we met at the club, theMarietta tennis club.
I mean, I don't even know howlong, maybe four or five years,
not really sure to tell you thetruth.
What do you think?
Is that a good guess?

Speaker 3 (02:10):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
I've been there 13 years You've been there 13 and I
barely got there in 18, I thinkso if I got there in 18, that's
probably how long we know eachother.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
And I probably didn't know you that well.
Yeah, yeah, I was in the fivemen's circle.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, and so you were always coaching there, or just
you joined as a what Like didyou just join to play and then
became sort of like coach slashrunning you know nothing about
me, do you?
I know absolutely nothing.
Jeannie.
I didn't even know how to spellyour name, obviously.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
I started playing tennis 13 years ago.
Oh wow, I was 40.

Speaker 4 (02:52):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (02:54):
And then my baby, baby Morgan, was turning two and
she was going to preschool andI wanted to do something for me.

Speaker 4 (03:01):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
Not just run around to errands and clean house.
So and I'd started businessesand done other crazy things, but
this was.
I wanted to do something for me.
So I said to a friend, let's golearn how to play golf, because
my oldest was in high school atthe time and she was playing on
the golf team.
So I thought this would be goodfor me to learn how to play golf
.
I could play with my daughter.

(03:24):
Of course, she would have neverplayed with me, not in high
school, now she would.
And my friend said no, I knowsomebody who's teaching tennis
lessons.
That would be Nate Bell at theMuriela to tennis club and he
has a beginner clinic onThursdays.
Let's go do that.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
And I said, okay, and then what was the racket choice
, the shoe choice, all thisstuff?
How did that work out it?

Speaker 3 (03:49):
was long pants, I was not showing legs, it was a hat
and I borrowed a racket, and atsome point, andy, who worked up
in the office, he helped me pickout a racket.
I had no clue, so I had startedwith the Babylon and I still
have a Babylon.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Did you actually wear tennis shoes at the time, do
you remember?

Speaker 3 (04:11):
I wore cross trainers .

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
That was as close as.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
I got, but it just grew from there and once they
invited me to the Tuesday classI thought I had made it.
That was the 2.5 to 3.0 class.
And I thought oh, here I'vearrived.
And then I remember Nateteaching me about the diagonal
Doubles, in me thinking I'mnever going to get this, but I

(04:37):
got it.
And I continued to grow and atone point I was running round
Robbins for the club for all thebeginning, ladies, we were
practicing playing matches, andone time I had a basket on the
court with me.
I thought that was reallyconvenient, it was sort of in my
way.
And Nate came by and saidJeannie, get the basket off the

(04:59):
court.
Oh geez, you can't play tennislike that.
So it was definitely a learningprocess.
And after that, andy and Scottapproached me and said you're
really good at organizing thisstuff.
Would you like to come work forus and learn how to run teams?
So I was just at that pointwhere I was on the team, and

(05:20):
then I got to be the captain,too, of all the teams.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
So you were at the 2.5 level at that time.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
Probably about 3.0 by then.
3.0, ok, and because I hadstarted taking privates, which
helps a lot, makes a bigdifference.
So, scott, he said I'll teachyou how to do this, and so I
started running the teams, whichwas a lot for somebody who was
just learning how to be on ateam, but I've been doing that
for about 10 years now.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Oh, wow.
So not that I want any of theparticulars, but are you then
actually working for the club,or is this just purely out of
fun?

Speaker 3 (05:57):
Oh yeah, I work for the club.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
Work for the club OK.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
So I work for the club.
I'm the director of LadiesTennis actually.
Oh, you are OK.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
Trust me, Jeannie, I know nothing 10 years.
I just show up and say give mea Gatorade and I go out in the
court.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
I have worked up in the office on a temporary basis
just to fill in, so I know howto do that job.
But that's not where I want tobe.
I want to be outside and my jobas the director of Ladies
Tennis is to run all the ladiesteams and help ladies get
started at the club.

Speaker 4 (06:29):
OK.

Speaker 3 (06:30):
So they'll give me all the new ladies information
and then I'll walk them throughhow we run everything, if they
want to do a clinic, how to getinto those clinics and so on and
so forth, and when they'reready to join teams, I'm the one
that says hey, you're lookingfantastic out here.

Speaker 4 (06:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
Do you have time on the weekend?
Would you like to play on ateam?
Is that something thatinterests you?
So that's how I grow our teamsat the club.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
What's our highest ladies team at the club right
now?
4.0.
, 4.0.
And our lowest is 2.5?
.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
No, we don't have a 2.5 team.
No, it's a different.
There's very few 2.5 teams outthere.
They're hard to find.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, that's probably tough.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
It's about as hard as finding a 4.5 ladies team.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
So probably is some 4.5s at the club.
You think Not right now.
Not right now, okay, no, wehave had many.

Speaker 3 (07:14):
Yeah, but right now not NTRP rated.
There might be some ladies whocan definitely hang at the 4.5
level.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, yes that's what .
I sort of meant because, as I'vedone this podcast, I've learned
it.
It is really tough to bump yourlevel up unless you're going
out and playing a tournament orwinning consistently in league,
which doesn't always happen,right?
I mean, even if you lose onematch here and there, people's
ratings are really high.
There are people's ratings foryears.
It's really tough to move.
It seems like, yeah, because Ithink the only reason I even got

(07:43):
to bump up is me and Adam.
We were playing opentournaments outside of league.
So that's probably what it was,because I don't think we were
doing anything different thaneveryone else in the 4.5 league.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
Really, there are different ways to get bumped up.
Playing tournaments is one ofthe quickest ways.
Obviously, playing better thanthe level you're at is the
number one way.
So you will get bumped upeventually.

Speaker 4 (08:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
But you have to play a lot of matches.
I was bumped because we went tosectionals and won.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
So when that happened , our entire team got bumped up,
so I was a 3-0.
We went to sectionalsaltogether for the Fall SCTA
doubles league and it was inJanuary.
But we won and because of thatwe all got bumped up.
I got bumped up two levels.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
You went to a 4-0.
Wow.
So are you playing right now onsome teams, or just your?
And it's which one?
The 3-5?

Speaker 3 (08:46):
No, I'm on the 4-0.
Because?

Speaker 2 (08:47):
you're on a 4-0 level .
You can't play a 3-5.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
Oh cool.
And then I play mixed doubles.

Speaker 2 (08:52):
You play some mixed and that's been fun too, like
watching Denise play mixed.
I think it's the 7-0.
Does that sound about right?
Because she's a 3-0.

Speaker 3 (09:02):
But Denise can play at a 3-5 level.
She's fine there.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah, she's so nervous to play, it's so funny.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
She just has to keep playing more matches.

Speaker 4 (09:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
Eventually even when I have to take a break for
whatever injuries happened and Igo back to playing.
I'm nervous again.

Speaker 4 (09:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
I can play a few more .
And then you're like, ok, thisisn't anything to be nervous
about, but she just hasn'tplayed enough matches.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
So prior to 40 years old did you do other sports or
anything?
I mean when high school college.

Speaker 3 (09:31):
Yeah, I was a track runner, oh.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
OK.

Speaker 3 (09:33):
I ran the half mile and I did.
I played a lot of basketball.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
Basketball, oh wow.

Speaker 3 (09:38):
That sure is crazy, bro, the minute we were done
with high school.

Speaker 4 (09:41):
Oh, okay.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
There's no.
I mean it's really hard to finda late basketball league.

Speaker 4 (09:45):
Oh, totally men yes.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
Yeah, I mean no that's true.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
So you know, I got married, I raised.
My kids are very far apart.
I have a 28 year old and I havea 15 year old 28.
Okay, wow 21 and 15, okay, soyou got three, and they were
every six years.
Yeah, so there wasn't a lot oftime for individual sports in
there yeah yeah, but once I I Ijumped onto the tennis wagon, I

(10:10):
was obsessed.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
That's how it happens .
For some reason yes, that's howDenise says she plays more than
me.
Now, yeah, I have to like goaround her schedule.
She used to go around mine, butnow it's like are you playing
today, babe, because I wouldlike to play.
That's what happens.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
Well, that's why I was on the court, yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, I love that.
And then your kids one of themplayed golf.
Mm-hmm, she was a golfer butnone of them played tennis when
they were young.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
Okay, no, I tried, but I didn't want to be pushy
about it.
Yeah, and they would all saymom, that's your thing, not ours
.
Yeah, yeah so okay, miles is aBand person, oh cool was in
marching band.
Yeah, and Morgan's my actress.
Oh, mary was my golfer.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
And how old is Morgan ?
15, 15.
So that's, that's the girl thatmy wife went and watched Yep,
okay, oh, that's awesome, andwhere's she going to high school
?

Speaker 3 (11:02):
You're at a valley.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Okay, oh, that's so cool.
So you're running these leaguesand I was only captain.
I think twice and that feltlike enough for me.
So not to obviouslyIntentionally pull drama where
there is none, but oh, maybethere is.

(11:25):
But like I mean, let's justtalk about that first.
How tough is it running oneleague, let alone a bunch?

Speaker 3 (11:36):
I it's, I Get paid to do it yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
Oh, that's true, that might be a little different
than most people don't get paid.

Speaker 3 (11:44):
Yeah, I in fact I've never met anyone else that has
been paid for yeah, I do.
I don't get paid a lot, yeah,but I do get paid for it.
So when it gets tough, I I sayto myself this is a job, yeah,
and I Don't get personallyinvolved, and I've learned that
most people are not my friendhmm, Just there to be their

(12:08):
coordinator and eithercheerleader and help them, you
know, and help put together theteams.
Yeah, I have at least 15 teamsa year.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Oh my gosh, that that it almost doesn't even seem
possible.
Running one team Was so toughto like.
Try to coordinate.
If we have a match Saturday,like I would start the week
before and go who's aroundSaturday and then Tuesday I'd be
a.
Is everyone's still aroundSaturday and then Thursday and
then so I can't even imaginethat many teams and the problems

(12:37):
.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
I have some software that helps.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
Oh, really you do that.
Oh, wow, okay.
Well, you're on a differentlevel than teeny.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
I've had to.
It costs money, but yeah, thesoftware and and imports USDA
information for me so I don'thave to upload it.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
I mean, I don't have to type it in.

Speaker 3 (12:54):
But once I have all that information in and I have
it ready and everybody's loggedinto it, they put their
availability and every Sunday Iremind everybody I already did
it today.
Send out a text to everybody oran email.
Yeah, upload your availability.
Make sure you update it.
Oh, I need to set the match byMonday or Tuesday.
Don't make me chase you down,please.
Yeah, and every week I willhave to chase down a number of

(13:16):
ladies yeah, who will?
Or men.

Speaker 4 (13:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:19):
I could captain the mixed and then they give me back
all their availability and thenI go through and I have pros
that back me up on my lineupsokay so I I know how to set a
lineup, yeah, but I have a NateBell, for example, helps me with
the 3.0 lineups.

Speaker 4 (13:38):
Hmm.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
Call me when you're ready.
Here's who is available.
Yeah these are players thatneed to play because of timing
or whatever, because I can lookahead.
Oh, they're not available in acouple of weeks, so I need to
make sure they play this weekand now.
Based on all of thisinformation now I get to pick
the team that's gonna win.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
So you're picking the whole, you're trying to do the
whole schedule at the beginningof League, maybe like well, at
least there Okay these peopleare at least giving their
availability ahead of time,ahead of time.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
So if, for example, denise is not available for the
next two weeks because you guysare on a trip, yeah she'll click
on not available and so whenI'm looking at this week, I kind
of look ahead Okay and I go ohwait, denise isn't available for
two weeks.
I got to make sure and get hera match now.
Yeah because it won't help nextweek if I go.
I need to go.
Wait, you're not here.
Yeah, yeah, so I do kind of haveto plan ahead.
I want it to be somewhat fair,while still trying to win

(14:30):
matches.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
Yes, complicated, yeah, no, that is the most
complicated because you want tohave fun, mm-hmm, like
everyone's there to have fun.
We all, like the people thatare playing usually have a
different job.
That's their tenant.
Tennis is not their job.

Speaker 4 (14:44):
Usually right.

Speaker 2 (14:45):
So you're trying to provide them with some fun, but
then you're also trying to winright.

Speaker 3 (14:48):
Yeah, that's the team aspect yeah, that doesn't
always fit in with the tennisideal.

Speaker 4 (14:54):
Yeah, and.

Speaker 3 (14:55):
It does with the women.
Get it because most women arein the same position.
I am.
They didn't play in high school.
Yeah maybe they did a little,but they didn't play in college
per se and okay and make aserious effort at their tennis
career there.
This is kind of new for them.
So those ladies that played atthat level, they're probably

(15:15):
four or five and up.

Speaker 4 (15:17):
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:18):
So most ladies I can relate to because they started
tennis and their 30s or their40s and they're athletic and
they're doing great and so theywant to play team tennis, mm-hmm
.
So they get it.
But the team aspect is isdifficult because tennis is such
a solitary sport sometimes yeahand maybe you have a doubles
team but you don't play on ateam with other players yeah

(15:39):
it's just different, so it'sbeen hard for some people to get
the idea of well, I know that'snot gonna help your rating per
se playing line three, but Ineed you on line three for the
team.
Yeah because my goal is to geta team win, it's not to get you
up to three point, five or fourpoint.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
That's true, huh, because that's what we were
talking about earlier.
If you're playing at a Whateverit called slot three or
whatever and it's probably not athe best team, then you're
right.
Even if you beat them, it'sprobably not affecting your
rating.
If you want to bump up.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
True, yeah, but what's the?

Speaker 2 (16:15):
big deal about bumping up.
Yeah, no, it's true.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
Actually, most men don't love that idea.

Speaker 2 (16:21):
They want to win me and me and Adam.
Since we bumped up to 5.0 it'sbeen a nightmare like because we
were all the four or five teamwas the best.
We had the best time.
It was so fun.
You know Scott helped that teama lot and, oh my gosh, once we
got bumped it just sort of likenow what I have to go play open

(16:41):
tournaments like against somecollege.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
There's no 5.0 teams.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yeah, it's rare.
So I joined actually a SanDiego team recently, which is a
good team, but I had to go there, had to go San Diego or had to
go Orange County or somethinglike that, because it's hard.
You're right, 5.0 team.
It's very tough to find a lotof guys.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
Now I see someone like Denise wanting to get
bumped up just three, five,because those matches are
probably more Competitive forher.

Speaker 4 (17:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
And sometimes at the 3.0 level you're playing more
the lob game.
It's a little softer game andit's a little infuriating.
Mm-hmm and I.
Just the way I coach is.
Well then, learn how to takethat ball out of the air yeah
finish the point.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yeah, punish them, and so we work on stuff like
that.
We were just talking about thatbecause I had One of my losses,
like eight, nine months ago wasagainst a guy that I don't want
to call him a pusher, because Idon't even remember what a
pusher was.
When I was young we thoughtpushers were just flat lobs no
one's really doing flat lobs inin the 50 level.

(17:40):
But he definitely was lobbyingwith some spin and so me and
Denise were talking about that,how tough that is, and she's
like I know some, I play somematches and they're just
lobbying, and so we were talkingabout the strategy and stuff.
So, but I lost to this guy.
I thought.
I thought I was so much betterwhen we were warming up.
I'm like this is, this is gonnabe a pretty easy match and I

(18:02):
couldn't put the ball away on.
This guy was very quick.
That was another thing.
So he probably knew hisstrengths you know, he was
really quick.
He got every ball back, not evenreally that deep, but sort of
high.
So I was.
I felt like I was always in thewrong position, like I was,
like, do I scoot up, do I scootback?
Like it was really strange forme.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
You made you uncomfortable.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah, totally so.
But you are also coaching atthe club too, guess you do
privates, or is it just groups?

Speaker 3 (18:30):
I did privates for a while.
Okay, but there's a lot ofstanding on concrete and 80
bucks an hour sometimes isn'teven enough.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
You're right actually so I stopped.

Speaker 3 (18:40):
Yeah, it was.
It was getting in the way of meplaying tennis, yeah, and I
wasn't enjoying it.
I was starting to feel like itwas a job, so I Just went.
You know what I'm not?
It's not, this isn't me.
I'm also not a pro.
I don't have my USP TA.

Speaker 4 (18:58):
Okay certification.

Speaker 3 (18:59):
I'm just junior tennis certified, but some of
the ladies like to hear from myperspective.
Yeah and I know how to coach3035 tennis.
Yeah so you don't really needto be certified.
But you know, I just I stoppeddoing that, I started to coach.
At one point Scott said I thinkit's time you start coaching.
Hmm and he put me out on acourt with a racket and a chair

(19:22):
and said try to feed to thatchair.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
Okay, I was not.
You're gonna sit on the chair.

Speaker 3 (19:28):
No, no, I had to feed to the chair and he said I want
you to hit the ball from hereand Bounce the ball so that it
lands on the chair.

Speaker 4 (19:36):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (19:37):
I was a harsh thing I'd ever done.
Oh, heck.
Yeah, that seems pretty toughand then he brought somebody out
and said she's gonna hit theballs that you're feeding yeah
and I learned real quickly notto drop your head.
Yeah, after you got hit like oh, that's why you guys always
look up and you're just reachinginto the basket.
So now I'm just I do, honestly,I don't even teach the kids in

(19:59):
the afternoon.
Right now my kids schedule her,her schedule, so busy, I can't
okay.
So I just teach ladies tennis inthe morning with Nate Bell.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
Oh, cool, and I love it.
Yeah, you love it, mm-hmm.
And then your husband plays too.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
No, he played in high school, so we do play together.
Okay but I'm usually just onvacation.

Speaker 4 (20:18):
Yeah, with a beer.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's cool.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
No, that is fun.
We got to incorporate that moreoften.
More beers into the game, ohyeah.

Speaker 3 (20:27):
There.
In fact, when we go to PalmSprings, we play at Mission
Hills Country Club.
Okay on the grass courtsbarefoot, with one beer in this
hand.
Yeah right in that you can onlyput the beer down when you
serve.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
Oh my gosh, that's funny.
That is funny.
Grass court, huh, mm-hmmbarefoot.
Wow, that's nice, it's notslippery.
Oh that that this sounds sorelaxing.
I've never you know what.
I take that back.
I've played on the grass courtonce in high school.
Do you remember industry Hills?
Where did you grow up in thearea?

Speaker 3 (20:59):
I grew up in LA County.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
Okay, because it actually was probably prior to
you playing, but industry HillsTennis Club was huge when I was
young and then, so I forget whenit shut down.
I don't even know why it shutdown, but they have one grass
court, the only grass court I'veever even seen around here.

Speaker 3 (21:16):
Well, they have a mountain, the desert do they?

Speaker 4 (21:18):
yes, and they're nice , yeah, very nice, and it's so
low.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
Yeah, but the ball doesn't bounce.
That is a little bit annoying.
Yeah, your first swing isalways a miss.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
Have you played mini tennis?
Do you know what that is withthe?
The squishy ball, not, notPickleball, it's called mini
tennis.
Have you played that?

Speaker 3 (21:39):
Well, not technically , no, I mean I've played with
the squishy ball.
Yeah in with kids.
Okay so we play mini tennis inthe classes.
Yeah cuz it's.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
Actually it was getting big.
I think pickleball sort ofdestroyed it.
But um you, you're required toplay with the junior racket and
it's the heavy squishy ball andthey usually put it on grass,
sometimes on concrete, but thegrass ones are so cool.
You got to look that up onYouTube.
It's so fun and that's why Iwas like thinking next house we

(22:10):
get like we bought, we got tobuild like a little mini Tennis
court in the back because youcan hit the heck out of the ball
.
Doesn't really go anywhere soyeah, it is really fun.
They play sort of tennis rules,because you know pickleball
really isn't.
Do you play that at all?
Okay, we won't even get intopickleball then, me either.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
I've never tried it.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
I tried it once, it was yeah, whatever.

Speaker 3 (22:32):
I part of my joy in tennis is hitting the heck out
of the ball yeah and I see thatand I think I can't hit it hard
enough.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
Yeah, it's so weird and I just learned you're not
allowed to serve in volleyballeither.
I mean, I knew the kitchen, butI also learned that you have to
when you hit a serve.
When they return, their returnhas to bounce.
I just was watching on YouTubelike is that real?
What's up with that?
So you can't even serve involley.
It's absurd.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
It's a fun part out.
Yeah, they took.
I'm sure everyone I've talkedto said it's really fun.

Speaker 4 (23:03):
Yeah, everyone loves it, and.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
I'm sure there will be a point in my life when I'll
play that.
Yeah right now, that's not it.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
I didn't.
Yeah, what's um, what's the bigthing you see from a 3.0?
That the 3.0 needs to get tothe 3.5.
Is there anything that's thatidentifiable?
Or they're sort of all together, 3.0's and 3.5's no, they're
not all together.

Speaker 4 (23:24):
Um.

Speaker 3 (23:27):
Consistency from every level matters and I would
say the difference between the3.0 and 3.5 in my experience is
footwork, 100% footwork,footwork, footwork, footwork,
and that's where my game grew.
I remember the day that thecoach said try taking seven or

(23:47):
eight steps before the ball getsback to you and see what your
game feels like.
Yeah and all of a sudden it was.

Speaker 2 (23:54):
It was infinitely different instead of like the
one or two big steps, and Ithink or hit and watch.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
Yes, okay, I mean the hit and watch, and then then
you start moving your feet whenthe ball comes back to you.
Yeah, it's too late, mm-hmm,and that's the one thing I try
to get through to the ladies isokay, you're not moving, you
just hit and now your heels aretouching the ground.
Do you feel that?

Speaker 4 (24:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (24:18):
Yes, it takes a second for the ball to get over
there, but if you're movingduring that second, it will help
you move faster on the way backand it make you get in a better
position.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
Yeah number one footwork, footwork the better
position to me thing is reallyinteresting because when I Focus
on, if I watch a pro match andI focus just on one side, it's
really Not strange anymore.
But at first it was verystrange to see where they're
positioning themselves,obviously with little quick feet
like we were talking about.

(24:46):
But I was so surprised to see,like, how, like Maybe it's
physics or geometry, I don'tknow which one geometry- there
you go.
But how, yeah, how, they wouldline up like, exactly like, to
make sure they're in the middleof where the other person can
possibly hit.

Speaker 3 (25:03):
So you know, because when you're growing up, you just
think you stand in the middle,right, yeah, you kind of mirror,
yeah, yeah, and if they're outwide, you even in doubles, you
know.
I try to tell them you got togo out wide.
Yeah, you see this angle, andsometimes we've actually brought
ropes.
Oh, that's cool, so they can seeit see it yeah cuz a lot of
ladies couldn't see, for example, going down the line when

(25:23):
you're way out far that angle togo down the line, is it
necessarily over the net?
And so they would still standway over here and they didn't
realize how easy it was to gostraight to the back of the
court From way off the court.
Oh, yeah, yeah, so we pulledropes out and we stood there and
went okay, so now look whereyou can hit.
Look at how easy this is to hitthis, and Now you see why you

(25:46):
have to follow the ball.
Yeah, I have to mirror it whenyou're in singles.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
So yeah, that is so awesome that that makes sense,
because that was one of thethings too when I, when I've
been hitting with some ladies Inthe last few months, they're
like, hey, just tell me where tostand and double, or not even
tell me.
We're saying what am I doingwrong in doubles.
I was like, oh, it's whereyou're standing.
It's like you don't realize theangles that returner has, like

(26:09):
you're covering this like onespot that they can hit and now
look at the rest of the courtyour partner has to cover, so
just positioning.

Speaker 3 (26:17):
You have to take away the easiest shots.
Yeah, you can't cover all ofthem, but yeah you want to make
them hit the hardest one.
Yeah yeah, whatever that one is.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
So footwork for 3035, 35 to 40.
Is there another one, or is itfootwork also?

Speaker 3 (26:38):
footwork more consistent, just like every
level, but now you see more of aDiversity of shots.
Now you're gonna see the slices.
Now you're gonna see someonethat can hit flat and spin, not
just one.
Yeah that's the difference.
And or somebody who has reallynice touch at the net.
All those shots are more, muchmore involved at 4.0.

(26:59):
Yeah so you'll see that in in3.5 it's a little more
cross-square, cross-square coachyeah and it ladies tennis.
I'd say 75% and up could be.
Up is done.
By point I mean the second time, the second time someone hits a
ball yeah it's like serve anddone, or serve return, done.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
Which is probably a lot of us, though I bet you a
bit, a lot of the points aren'tin doubles.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yes, yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah, yeah.
So you know what's crazy aboutthat too is the stuff you're
saying I'm thinking about,because it's the stuff lately
I've been practicing, becauseNot that I hit the same ball
every time, but I think I wassort of Maybe not instructed,
but just my thought process washit a good, clean ball and
lately I've been giving someDiversity to my shot and it's

(27:48):
been so helpful to hit like anice Spinny hard ball and then
to throw in a slice and then tosee the opponent have to move up
two steps or move back twosteps, and that's been huge for
me lately.
It's sort of changing that up.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
Yes, yeah, so knowing when to change it.
Yeah, yeah, a, which ballYou're?
Yeah, for me on the backhandside, and like the ones that I
should be slicing.

Speaker 4 (28:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
I don't necessarily slice those and I know I should
Because that that's a betterangle and it's a better shot.
Yeah but you know, on theforehand side I'm fine.
So yeah, it's like practicingthose and throwing it in and
keep working on it.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
Yeah, what about Serving?
So how, how tough it is like.
I've been watching a lot ofladies at the club, I think I'm
seeing a lot flatter Serves.
So it seems like maybe the nextlevel is probably some sort of
kick, some sort of topspin Serve, and I don't know what level it

(28:43):
changes to when you need that.
You think three, five or evenmore, because it seems like a
good flat servo work at a 3-0level.
You just get it in it.
You just get it and you'regoing to do well.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
I would say we always tell the ladies they never
practice, serve enough, becausewe do five minutes in a clinic
and that's not enough, andthat's all they do and I'm
thinking, no, but if we try todo more in a clinic, ladies will
actually quit practicing andwalk away.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
Well, it's like the putting thing right.
It's like you know, going togolf, You're not going to the
driving range to play, RightKind of thing.

Speaker 3 (29:21):
But if you can't serve efficiently, you're never
going to win your serve.
So it's the most important shot.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
Most important.
I can't imagine having such agreat serve and holding every
single time on my serve.
So now it just becomes a battleof breaking once and then you
literally will win.
Yep, literally will win thematch.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
There you go, it's pretty simple.

Speaker 4 (29:41):
Yeah, it is.

Speaker 3 (29:43):
But yet serving isn't .
You know it is a hard thing.
Yeah, you know, flat, get it in.
Great yeah, 3-5, you start tosee more, and then the diversity
starts to play every level.
I remember when I got bumped to4-0, my coach said that's your
serve.
That's not a 4-0 serve.

Speaker 4 (30:01):
I'm like oh no.

Speaker 3 (30:03):
And so I started working on it, and so I've been
working on it for years.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
Yeah, I've been working on it too.
I recently took one lesson fromGerald, one from Joe Jr and a
bunch from Doug, and each time Iwas like, just help me on my
serve.
And obviously every coach has alittle different style, a
little different opinion,absolutely.
So I was getting a little fromeach of them and I just felt
like my serve jumpedastronomically just by their

(30:28):
little, each person's littlehints and I'm like, oh my gosh,
and just thinking different too,like I never thought of it that
way, kind of thing you know,like when they tell you
something so yeah, serve huge.
I got to make my returns in.
So that's probably a big thingfor any level, yeah, and I'm

(30:48):
learning how to attack thosesoft serves as the level goes up
.

Speaker 4 (30:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:53):
Taking advantage of that.
Srio doesn't even see that.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
Yeah, they just hit it back.
Hit it back in, yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:01):
Instead of going and like seeing it with their eyes
really big, yeah, yeah.
So as you go get at higherlevel, they start to recognize
the different balls that theycan take advantage of.

Speaker 4 (31:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:11):
I try to get people to come in on a short ball.

Speaker 4 (31:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:15):
And they don't necessarily see that.

Speaker 4 (31:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:17):
And see why.
And so we talk about that a lot.
Why would you want to come inon a short ball?
What does that do for you?

Speaker 4 (31:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
So Nate has all these lectures.

Speaker 2 (31:27):
By the way, the why is sometimes the most important
Because you know, I teach aclass on Wednesday night on Zoom
.
It's a law school class and sowe go over these rules and I've
learned over the years thatthere's these things called
comments on the rules and thecomments are sort of the why,

(31:49):
like why the rule came intoeffect anyways, like what
problems people were having,like why this rule even exists.
And once you learn that stuff,the rule's so easy and so it has
to be the same in tennis, likeyou tell someone what to do and
like robotically they'll do it.
But if they don't understandwhy they're doing it, it might
be in when you're out the other,they might not fully grasp like

(32:13):
what's the point?
So that's really interesting.
So you will do that likeexplain sort of why we're doing
this kind of thing.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
Absolutely.
Nate has this whole lecturethat we go over, and sometimes
he has me give the lecture andhe's like you do it today.
But it's the same lecture aboutwhy do we go to the net with?
The balls in front of you.
Why do you pull back?
What's the diagonal?
Why is it there If you'retrying to memorize where you
should be on?
the court you're going to forgetIn the middle of a point.

(32:44):
It won't make sense.
You have to understand whyyou're where you're at.
Why are you being aggressive?
Why are you being defensive?
What's going on?
So, we talk about it a lot andthen we try to practice it.
But, that's how those ladiesprogress.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
But I think, like you were saying earlier, with the
serving, the serving and the why, it's probably not the like,
the funnest thing to do.
You just want to go out thereand smack the ball Like when
you're practicing.
It's probably the boring part,but maybe the most important.
I love it.
Yeah, I love it too.

Speaker 3 (33:12):
But see that practicing a serve going out
with a basket by myself, that'sboring.
They do like to work with mycoach, zach, after I do a group
lesson and then I stay for aprivate and half of that private
, half of that private and Ilike it because it's a half an
hour, but I don't waste any timewarming up.
I've already been warmed up andwe go right into the serve

(33:33):
immediately.
And he's been working with meon the slice and every time I
look at him okay, what are wedoing today?
He goes slice.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
You're taking from Zach at the club.
Yeah, oh, you do Okay.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
Every week I do at least 15, 20 minutes and he
corrects what I'm doing.
I'm like okay, serve at the tee.
So okay, now go out wide.

Speaker 4 (33:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:53):
Now jump.
I mean a kick serve.

Speaker 4 (33:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:55):
Kick serve to the tee .
Now, okay, we're on thebackhand side.
Go out wide to the backhand.

Speaker 4 (33:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
And I want to see you do that when I tell you to do
it, not just by accident.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
Yeah, yeah.
And so that's another key thing, obviously and I think you
mentioned earlier which istaking lessons, because you know
, a lot of times in lessonswe're doing drills right.
It doesn't.
We're not necessarily doing howdo I say this the shot that you
would hit in a match, butyou're doing stuff like probably

(34:24):
bad example, but I was watchingSteph Curry, the basketball
player, dribble two basketballs.
Obviously, you're not going todo that in a basketball game,
but there's a point to the drill, right, right, the hand-eye
coordination.
So that's why lessons are soimportant, because you're doing
stuff that is helping you learn,I guess, to do stuff in the
match that you won't have achance to do in the match.

Speaker 3 (34:48):
But I don't know, I also play against the coach and
we hit against each other andthen he'll say, okay, well, why
did you choose to do that?
What was your thought processthere?
And then he'll tell me I'mwrong.

Speaker 4 (35:01):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
Or you know if I can beat him, you know, yeah, it was
a good day.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
So have you played a set against anyone in a while?
Do you like just straightsingles?

Speaker 3 (35:12):
No, no, no, no, no, no no, if I want to continue to
play in these knees.
Single, single, single singlesare out, so I stay with dubs.

Speaker 2 (35:19):
Yeah, that is getting harder and harder for me lately
.
I've had two knee surgeries Twoknee surgeries on same knee or
one each.

Speaker 3 (35:26):
One each.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
And Doc says oh yeah, you can play singles, and then
I'll see you back here next year.

Speaker 4 (35:33):
Oh, okay.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
Or you can continue to play doubles and maybe you
won't have to have a kneereplacement before you're 60.
Oh my gosh, yeah, so I justplay doubles.

Speaker 2 (35:42):
No shoulder problems, nothing like that I have.
Yeah.
Haven't we all that's what Iwas going to say.
It seems like everything, so Ihaven't.
I had a bad knee injury incollege, but besides that, my
knees have been great.
My ankles are always hurting,though.
My shoulders are bad.
My elbows are bad.
It's hard All the joints.
Yeah, it's hardcore, you'reright.

Speaker 3 (36:02):
The one thing I've learned and actually Van Der
Huyden shared this with me atone point not to play only
tennis.
And I learned that when I wasobsessed with tennis and played
six days a week and she said tome at some point you're going to
mess something up, you need towork on other muscles in your
body besides that forehand.

(36:23):
You know, basically and she wasright Pilates has helped me
stay healthy and cycling and notplaying tennis every single day
, so I can play two or threetimes a week without hurting
myself, but after that I can'tdo it.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
No, you're right.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
As we get older.
I mean some of these young kids, man they can play every day,
oh yeah.
And the important if you wantto be healthy at tennis is to
not just play tennis.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
Yeah, totally makes sense.
So you are cycling, though youride some bikes sometime Indoor,
indoor.
Oh, you're doing the indoorbike.
That's cool, it's good for theknees.
What's the thing, peloton, youdo Peloton or just a I?

Speaker 3 (36:58):
didn't pay for that.
Yeah, I know, I just ride thebike.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
That one's a little interesting to me.

Speaker 3 (37:03):
It's just a lot of money for the same thing that I
already have.
Yeah, yeah, and you?

Speaker 2 (37:06):
have an iPhone.
Yep Works just as well.
Yep, it's that big screen.

Speaker 3 (37:10):
And during COVID Peloton, let you use all their
programs.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (37:14):
It was great fun.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
Yeah, they were doing good.
People were making money onPeloton stock during COVID, huge
amounts of money and then itsort of turned sideways on them,
unfortunately.
Well, so you were talking alittle about your kids and your
husband.
You said your husband does notplay tennis, but what's he doing
?

Speaker 3 (37:32):
He's working or just relaxing.
He's a hiker.
He's a pilot for the HighwayPatrol, oh, is he really?

Speaker 2 (37:37):
Yeah, helicopter.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
A fixed wing.
Oh wow, yeah, he loves to go tothe bus of that and then he can
retire, but he loves to hikeand surf and kayak.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
Wow, and so fixed wing probably just is what Like
speed, like I'm seeing who'sspeeding on the freeway, or what
does fixed wing?

Speaker 3 (37:55):
do that's back in the day.
Oh, now it's pursuits, andstreet takeovers, oh really.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
It's kind of a thing now Like people taking over
street, people in groups takingover street.

Speaker 3 (38:06):
Daily, really, yeah, haven't you seen it on the news?

Speaker 2 (38:08):
I don't know a little , I guess, wow, really.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
And so they're trying to break up that stuff.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (38:14):
That's all he does.
He's up there chasing bad guys.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
Oh, I would think that's better for a helicopter,
I wonder.
I mean, I don't know anythingbut.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
It can be, but if the weather means you have to be
lower than yes.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
Oh, okay.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
But he has a really good camera on that.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
Okay, and that's true .
If you don't, if helicopter,you probably know someone's over
your head staring at you.
The fixed wing is differentthan that's probably the real
reason.
Okay, that makes sense.
Yeah, cause I'm thinking aboutthese house parties when I was
in high school.
I'm thinking about I think wecall them the the get over.
Yeah, the helicopter was theget over, and the helicopter

(38:52):
just sat over your party andshined your light.
That was more to kick the kidsout, go home.
I think.
Right, that was probably justto scare us.
I'm positive.
Yeah, yeah, okay, wow, that'sso crazy.
So, highway California, highwayPatrol, that's so cool.

Speaker 3 (39:07):
Yeah Well, he doesn't .
He doesn't love the drive toFullerton from here.

Speaker 4 (39:14):
Oh, okay.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
That's three hours a day of driving, so.

Speaker 2 (39:18):
Yeah, cause you got to go up to the 91 and then back
around.
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 3 (39:22):
It's horrible.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
Yeah, that's tough yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:24):
But you know, in general, that's the job.
I remind him every day, that'syour job.
Not flying, cause he loves tofly.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
He loves to fly, so no airports out here he can do
it from.

Speaker 3 (39:34):
Not for highway patrol.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
Not for highway patrol, okay.

Speaker 3 (39:38):
We have an airport that's right next to your house.

Speaker 2 (39:40):
Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
That's where you trained out ofFrench Valley.
Is that what's called?
Yeah, yeah, oh my gosh, we werelooking for a house right now
in French Valley.
By the way, I love that area.
Where are you?
You're in Marietta.
Where Off the.

Speaker 3 (39:52):
Clinton Keys.
Do you know where Bear Creek?

Speaker 4 (39:55):
is yeah.

Speaker 3 (39:55):
Yeah, right there.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
You're next to Bear Creek or in it.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
Across from Bear Creek.
But when I say Bear Creek,everyone knows where it is.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
Have you played in Bear Creek?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's nice.

Speaker 3 (40:08):
We're interesting to play on, but now USTA doesn't
allow that.
That has to be hard court.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
But we used to play on the clay courts when I first
played league.

Speaker 2 (40:15):
We'd play clay court over there.
Oh my gosh, that wasinteresting.

Speaker 3 (40:18):
Have you played clay?

Speaker 2 (40:19):
So I've played on green clay.
Me and Adam actually went to atournament in Atlanta last year.
We played on green clay, whichwas so fun, and I think Bear
Creek has green clay right.
Do you know the?
Color it was gray back in theday it's gray, I don't know what
it is now, because they redidthem.

Speaker 3 (40:32):
But it might be green and I know that makes a
difference.

Speaker 2 (40:36):
It does.
That's all I was going to say.
Do you know the difference?
I don't know what thedifference is, I just know that
it makes a difference.
Yeah, it does.

Speaker 3 (40:42):
Yes, but I can walk to Bear Creek.
So yes, I've played there, ohcool.
And that's fun that it's soclose.

Speaker 4 (40:48):
But you have to live there to play there.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
And I don't live in the community Just outside
Because they have, I think, twoor three clays right and then
some hard Wow.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
Used to be six clay, I think years ago.
But, like I said, I haven'tplayed clay in a long time.
I didn't like how the slide.
Yeah, I don't like that.

Speaker 2 (41:06):
But the big thing for me was I never played clay
growing up.
Adam did, but he was teachingme how to slide into the hit.
I was hitting and sliding outof the hit or something If that
makes sense.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
Yeah, it does.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
Yeah, and I had once.
He told me that it blew my mindBecause then everything changed
.
I said I didn't realize that Iwas trying to get to the ball,
hit and sort I don't know, doingeverything backwards, but he
was having me slide into the hitand then you're sort of
positioned when you hit.
It was really strange.
I got killed when I played onthe, when I played.

Speaker 3 (41:38):
Well, you just already used to it.
Yeah, it was fun.

Speaker 4 (41:41):
It was a different game.

Speaker 3 (41:43):
And then the way it hits the tape.
Whenever it hits the tape, itgoes flying in a different
direction.

Speaker 4 (41:46):
You just have to accept that.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
Oh my gosh.
So you plan on doing thisleague stuff for a while.
Then you plan on it.
It sounds like you're happy.

Speaker 3 (41:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
I mean, it's a job.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
It's putting my middle kid through college, so
we just, whatever I make, I puttowards that.

Speaker 4 (42:05):
Oh, that's good.
It helps pay for college, whichis good, that's a great thing.

Speaker 3 (42:09):
There are days when I don't want to do it anymore.

Speaker 4 (42:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (42:12):
Yeah, like I said, you learn how your friends are.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
Yeah, what's the craziest story?
So, one of the stories, weactually two stories.
We had the Joes I think I don'twant to go into crazy detail,
but the Joes were getting sortof mixed up on their results
because they have the same exactname and the league got mad.
Usta got mad.
Somehow One was reported hereand it wasn't even our fault,

(42:38):
but somehow one was reportedwith a loss, one was reported
with a win, something like that,and they got in trouble.
And then the other big storywas we played sectionals against
this team that we all sort ofknew for a fact.
The guy playing was not the guythat they had listed and he
kept saying that was his nameand we never proved it.
But we knew for a fact.

(42:58):
It was like that you are notthis person.
So anything, any funny storiesor crazy stories like that.

Speaker 3 (43:05):
There was a mixed doubles male who had played in
college.

Speaker 4 (43:09):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (43:11):
And Raiden himself at two five.

Speaker 4 (43:13):
At two five.

Speaker 3 (43:14):
Two point five.

Speaker 4 (43:15):
Oh no.

Speaker 3 (43:16):
And when he played, it was so obvious he wasn't a
two point five and one of theother captains.
She lost her mind about it.
She just completely lost hermind and I just kept saying,
well, I don't know if he's gonnacheat, and this means so much
to him, whatever I mean.
Did she show me all thecuttings from the newspapers of?

Speaker 2 (43:38):
you know, she looked him up.
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 3 (43:41):
He played in college.
Here's his record.
This is what he did.
I said I report him.
I don't know what to say and soshe did.
She filed a grievance, but he's, and they looked at him and
said, yeah, you need to be athree-0.

Speaker 2 (43:54):
At least a three-0.
I thought if you played collegeyou're probably a four-0.
Yes, you are.
Oh my God.

Speaker 3 (43:58):
So, but they never went any further with it and
that team went to nationals andI always thought well to me.
I wouldn't want to win that way.
If that's what you need to doto win, then yeah.
So, but I've encountered a lotof that stuff at 15 teams a year
.
I think I'll have 17 this year,probably.
So you run into a lot of thatstuff and I just learned not to

(44:19):
get fired up about it.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
Well, I mean the, the .
The radiant system is tough,like you have to go in and
answer these questions and stuff.
I sort of remember, right, isthat what you do on that?

Speaker 3 (44:29):
Right, and I always say don't embellish.

Speaker 4 (44:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (44:32):
Because if you play three times a week, all of a
sudden you become a 3.5.

Speaker 4 (44:36):
Oh Not necessarily true.

Speaker 3 (44:37):
You know, maybe you play three times a week for the
last three weeks, but you justlearned you're not a 3.5.
And then I have to tell themyou're going to need to appeal
that they won't listen to us aspros or coaches or anything.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
You have to deal with that yourself.

Speaker 3 (44:49):
The person has to appeal it, yeah, and usually
most players are where theyshould be I would say most
players and if not, they will beafter December 1st.
You know if you've playedenough?
Some people know how to hidebehind stuff.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
Whatever, yeah Are people?
Do people routinely get bumpeddown, Like if they're playing
where they think they should beand then they're losing?
Let's say every time, Do you?

Speaker 3 (45:15):
get bumped down.
It happens.
Yes, I went down for a seasonafter my knee surgeries.
I didn't have a great yeartrying to get back into it.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
Because you didn't play a lot of matches or because
you lost.

Speaker 3 (45:27):
It's not about winning or losing.
It's about how well you playagainst the players you're
playing.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
Oh really.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
Yeah, USTA, the algorithm looks at you and where
you should be playing.
And even if you lose, butyou're playing against a much
higher rated player say you gotfour games each set against a
higher rated player, you'regaining ground.

Speaker 4 (45:48):
Oh OK.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
You're still lost, but you did better and he came
down dynamically.
So it's not just winning,although winning helps because
obviously you're doing betteragainst the players you're doing
.
How many games did you winagainst them?
Usta looks at the total numberof games you should win rather
than wins or losses.
But yes, I got bumped down.
I wasn't playing that much, butwhat I did play, I didn't play

(46:11):
that well, so I got bumped down,which?
Was really fun Because.

Speaker 1 (46:15):
I'd never been a 3.5.

Speaker 3 (46:17):
And my partner, who I've been practicing, was a 3.5.
So we went out and had a verygood year it was quite fun, but
we're now four O's again.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
And has your team that you played on?
Have you guys been tosectionals?

Speaker 3 (46:29):
You said I've been yeah, I've been many times, and
the one that we won I was a 3-0when we won.
I haven't won since then.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
And then you went to nationals, obviously when you
won, or was there no nationals?

Speaker 3 (46:40):
for that team.
No nationals for that team.

Speaker 2 (46:42):
Because it was a 3-0, or because that particular year
or something.

Speaker 3 (46:45):
Because that particular league is a Southern
California only league.
And they always warn you thisis doubles only, it's only
Southern California.
You will not go to national.
Bummer, that's the one we won.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
Oh dang, so you haven't been to nationals.
Then, on a league you played onNot, yeah, no.

Speaker 4 (47:01):
And that's fine.

Speaker 3 (47:03):
It's OK.
It's not my ultimate goal andI've met people that I know
captains, that that's whatthey're working towards and
they're recruiting for that.
I cannot do that when you workfor a club.
If you're a member of our team,you have to be a member of the
club.

Speaker 4 (47:21):
Yes, OK.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
It's kind of like paying to play and you're paying
$79 a month to be a member ofour club, which is a great deal.
However, I need to play you,regardless of your level or how
good you are.
I need to find you a place foryou on my team.
So I can't go over to you andsay hey, would you like to come
play on my team?

Speaker 2 (47:41):
Oh, by the way you have to be a member, yeah, yeah,
yeah, that's a little differentKind of throwing that in there.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
Yeah, oh yeah for three months, and so it's a
little hard for me to recruitplayers.
I can't go out and recruitplayers to build this team,
which is what a lot of the teamsI play on sometimes do.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
Like the 5-0 team I played on that we did out of the
club last time the teams weplayed against.
I would look these guys up andbe like wait, this guy's from
Ohio and I would look them allup, I go what.

Speaker 3 (48:10):
And they would just bring them Super team.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:12):
They would just show up for a week or to play, and I
was like oh my gosh, I'm verylimited, I cannot put together a
super team it is.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
I'm limited to those that are members of our club.
That's it.
We do not allow anyone outsideof the club to play on a team.

Speaker 2 (48:25):
OK, but that's how it should be probably Seems like
Sure.

Speaker 3 (48:28):
That's our club and so I'm happy to do that.
We don't tend to go as playersget better.
They tend to leave because ofthe money.

Speaker 4 (48:38):
I can play on this team for $25.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
So I don't want to go play that.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
So that we'll play somewhere else.

Speaker 3 (48:43):
But 3-0,.
Every now and then I'll get ateam where I've developed the
team to the point where we'reand we're at that right now with
one of the 3-0 teams, that's,at least five of the ladies are
ready to get bumped up to 3.5.
Those ladies are going to leadthis team and when you go to

(49:03):
sectionals you have to be atthat level to do well you have
to do the verge of the nextlevel and you can't have just
one or two ready to be there.
You have to have a good portionof the team ready to be there,
and that's why we won.
A good portion of our team wasreally on the verge of going to
3.5.
And so you win at 3-0.
To do that for a 3.5 team, youhave to have a good portion be

(49:24):
at 4.0 just about there and tohave everybody grow all at the
same rate, it's rare anddifficult to develop a team, at
least from my perspective, withwhat I can choose from.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
No, I totally get what you're saying now and
everything you're saying totallymakes sense, because I was
surprised, though, at the 4.5level.
But now, thinking back on it, alot of the people we were
playing did end up gettingbumped up, so it's exactly what
you're saying.
I think everyone was at thatlevel.
That little yeah Right there,yeah, right there, right there.

Speaker 3 (49:56):
And all of them were.
That's the team you fear.

Speaker 4 (49:59):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (50:00):
Not that one guy.
Ok, well, we'll take that loss.
He's going to be just atsingles line one.
All right, no problem, we canwin all three doubles.
We got this.
So that's where the team aspectcomes in.
You do the best you can withwhat you have and USTA.
There's some strategy involved.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
Yeah, you know that.
So, just like the leagues Iplayed in, you guys have some
singles, some dubs.
It's not just pure dubs, true,oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (50:26):
Our spring league yeah, it's the same thing, 18
and over in spring is Twosingles, three doubles.
Okay, so it's eight playersevery match.
That's a lot of playing tennis.

Speaker 2 (50:38):
Yeah that's so cool.
Okay, jeannie, I'm gonna askyou a few Tough tennis questions
.
Okay, this isn't a pop quiz,actually this is.
I tell everyone, like when I dothis podcast, it's actually
just to help me.
This is like a way to cheat andget free lessons.
So so what?

Speaker 1 (50:58):
oh for me yeah from anyone this is what I do.

Speaker 2 (51:01):
I get everyone's perspective.
Okay, so you, you know, I'm a5-0, jeannie.

Speaker 3 (51:08):
Which is why I couldn't have you on my mixed
team.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
Yeah, so there, yeah, what would the mixed team be?
Is there mixed 5-0s out therelike a 10-0?
Is there a 10-0 team, a 5-0grown a?

Speaker 3 (51:17):
5-0.
Not in early, yeah, but thereis well.
You could play 9-0.
Okay, I'll be interesting, I'llbe fun.
Yeah, I mean we'll get there.

Speaker 4 (51:27):
Yeah, that'd be cool.

Speaker 3 (51:29):
I have my eye on you.

Speaker 2 (51:32):
So I'm, you know I play all the time.
I love playing.
I don't know I'm not quiteGetting the wins that I want to
get, you don't?
It's probably mental.
You pointed right at your headYep, and that was not a gun.
No no, that was just pointingat your head.

Speaker 3 (51:50):
Okay, good, 100%.
It's okay good, yeah, 100%.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
I've seen you play you're fantastic player.

Speaker 3 (51:56):
You just have to get past your own head.

Speaker 2 (51:59):
Wow See, that's good and bad, though, because it
means I can easily do it.
It's not a talent thing, right?
You're not?
You're probably.
You didn't just say no, you gotto get better, like you.

Speaker 3 (52:10):
You didn't say that, you said mental but I could say
that about Almost everyone.
Yeah and even the ladies todaywho I was coaching.
After, you know, after theirmatch, I asked him what did you
love about your match?
What did you do?
Great, yeah.
And and then they theyimmediately tell me all the
things they did wrong, and I'mlike okay.
Hold on hold on, we'll getthere.

(52:31):
Yeah what did you do Well?
Can you please just tell me onething you did well.
Yeah it's really hard to getthem to do that, but once they
do, and then okay, what did youwant to work on?
And I was so nervous, my, myrack, I, I just got tight.
Yeah and I'm like were youswinging like you do in practice
?
Were you?
Yeah, no, probably not.
Yeah it's about they're beingtight and that's the first level

(52:53):
of being tight, but at yourlevel it's more about, probably,
you know you start thinking toomuch about what your plans are
and where you're gonna put thisball in, how you're gonna beat
this guy and what the heck is hedoing.

Speaker 2 (53:03):
That's so funny.
You said that genie becausethat's exactly the issue I was
just talking to young Gavin onour club too about it, and we
were both saying that we thinktoo much.
It's exact thing we just spokeabout, and I never thought that
would be a problem, because it'snot really a problem in life,
usually like at work or I getout of your head yeah, yeah, cuz

(53:24):
I'm thinking like that whenyou're at work.

Speaker 3 (53:27):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (53:27):
Yeah, and actually going to work in like thinking
about Multitasking and things.
These are all good things like,but on the court I started
thinking about four differentshots right before I hit.
That's a disaster every singletime.
Yeah, so I'm trying my best tonot do that.
I don't quite know how yet.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
I don't know how to coach you.
Yeah your level for that.
Talk to Scott.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
No, but that's but it's really nice that you can
see that though, because it justhelps me realize Exactly where
I need to put my focus, becauseI go out there, I'll do forearms
, or you know, that's not.
That's not changing anything.

Speaker 3 (54:03):
No, but I think that the presence During a point
there's something to be saidabout the presence of mind, to
really focus on that ball.
You say watch the ball Okay.
Yeah what does that mean?
Or stay in that point.
What does that mean to you?
Yeah it's important for you tofind that place.
That's then yeah and I havelittle tricks that I give the

(54:24):
ladies at my level and at thelower levels and it's something
like a Watching the ball andsaying out loud I teach him this
thing where they the ballscoming over the net and they see
it bounce, and they actuallysay bounce and as the balls
coming up, they actually say hitand then, as it goes over, I
tell them say split, when you'resupposed to split stuff and

(54:48):
when you're doing that, I justwant you to do that just for a
little while.
Oh no, I don't hear you sayingit.
Try.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
Say it out loud.

Speaker 3 (54:53):
I know it sounds stupid, but say it out loud.
Yeah and then all of a sudden,this rhythm develops with them,
because I'm not thinking aboutwhere and how.
They just let all that, allthat muscle memory take over.
Yeah now, that's kind of alower level thing, but it gets
them out of their head.
Yeah so you have to learnsomething that works for you.
Yeah, get you out of your headwhile still focusing on that one

(55:16):
shot you want to hit.

Speaker 2 (55:17):
Yeah, during that point.
Yeah, gosh, I don't.
The crazy thing is is I don'tknow what to do, like, but but I
think that thing you're sayingis might help, because I don't.
I don't, to tell you the truth,most of time I don't really see
the ball.
That doesn't make sense, right,because it's tennis.
But now that I think about it,I'm not looking at the ball like

(55:38):
even when it bounces.
I, I'm almost positive I neversee a bounce.

Speaker 3 (55:41):
Now that you say that , or you're not aware of it.
Maybe you're not aware of it.
Okay, about all the thingsyou're the other stuff do with
the ball.
Try to be.
It's a zen thing I guess morepresent.
Yeah about watching that balland then be just practicing that
to get your Mind out a littlebit out of it.
Yeah, we're thinking everything.

Speaker 2 (56:02):
Yeah, just something to try oh no, I'm definitely
gonna try it and I'm gonna tryto see the bounce, which I can't
imagine.
That's so funny.
I've never, actually probably,but you, like you said, I
probably didn't notice it.

Speaker 3 (56:13):
You are watching it, yeah?

Speaker 2 (56:14):
I'm watching it somehow.

Speaker 3 (56:15):
But the fact that you know when I'm and I've done it
when I start to get a littletight or out of my head.
We're doing stupid things in amatch.
Yeah, I go back to split bouncehit.

Speaker 2 (56:25):
I say really quietly yeah, you don't say it out loud
during the match, not really.

Speaker 3 (56:30):
No, but I'm I.
That's what I'm focusing on.
Yeah until I get into therhythm of the point, and then
everything kind of Works itselfout.
Yes because I know where to hitthe ball when I get that winner
shot.
I know to go at their feet orgo away from the player or
whatever.
Yeah but it's kind of more thatCross-court or full court
ground strips that we tend toget in our head.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
Yeah, yeah for me.
Oh, that's so cool.
I appreciate that.
See this, this free lesson wasalready worth it, and I'm glad
you didn't tell me to shoot myhead, because that I was a
little worried when you point atyour head, you said it, tony,
it's over for you.
Yeah, there's no hope.

Speaker 3 (57:08):
Oh I well, I think that that's sort of an
elementary way of of working onpresence.
But yeah it's.
It's a place to start.
That's all, and it has workedfor other ladies and it works
for me.

Speaker 2 (57:18):
I promise I'm gonna try that.
Let me give you a little giftbefore we get off.
So yeah, I recently opened abox of it's called tops chrome.
You probably don't follow cards, so this is like foreign to you
, but I opened.
I got two pretty cool cards.
I want to give you these firstones cocoa goffs and she's she's
she's a US open winner.
Mm-hmm.
And the other is a person who Iactually watch on YouTube all

(57:41):
the time.
Obviously, you know the nameprobably Martina Hengis, one of
the best like doubles andsingles players ever I know, but
I watched her play doublesdouble.
She was a maniac.
I saw her play.
Oh really.

Speaker 3 (57:52):
Yeah, she's amazing.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
Oh my gosh, I love her yeah she's good and then I
bought a few of these Carloscards, so I've been giving these
out to this.
This one's gonna be good.
It's not great price right now,but I think it's a good price
like 50 60 bucks, but I think itcan be more, depending in the
world wait.

Speaker 4 (58:08):
Yeah, so you save that one, that one's a good one
at over 30.

Speaker 2 (58:12):
Yeah, yeah, seriously , but that that should be a good
one.
I bought a bunch of those, andso I've been handing those out
too.

Speaker 3 (58:18):
So yeah, I felt very privileged.

Speaker 2 (58:20):
Yeah, but thank you, jeannie, I really appreciate it.
Like Seattle, time flies is anhour.
Seriously yeah, 59 around 59well, that's great.

Speaker 3 (58:29):
I hope I said something worthwhile listening.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
You said a lot, Jeannie.
I really appreciate your leagueperspective, which is huge,
obviously, and then how hard youwork on these leagues.
I mean it's it's actually niceto hear, because sometimes I
think people that are in theleagues don't really appreciate.
You know how hard you captainswork.

Speaker 3 (58:47):
It's a think list, yeah.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
Yeah, so, but that's why I like when you speak about
it, because everyone really seesyour perspective and and I just
appreciate you coming, jeannie,so thank you so much for
everything, thanks so much yeah,definitely you, you.