Unknown Speaker 0:00
Hello

Speaker 1 0:05
and Welcome to Pickleball therapy, the podcast dedicated to your pickleball improvement. You know that we focus on the pickleball mind in this podcast. My name is Tony Roig. I am the host of your podcast. It's a pleasure to be with you this week. Think you're really going to like this week's topic. We're going to talk about latent versus active errors, and it's an interesting way of framing the thought process around how you go about fixing parts of your game that you want to fix errors in this case, and how you think about it. And it comes from another content creators idea. You know, I I'm not just a content creator myself, I also consume content, and so in that process, I come across these ideas, sometimes, like this one, that I think you know, really can help us understand you. You know, we can apply it to pickleball and help us through our processes before we dive into the podcast. We are currently we have a pre order page for the pickleball therapy book that is ready to roll. The reviews so far have been awesome, which is cool, but I guess maybe not surprising, because it is a good book. I think I wrote it, so I guess I'm biased, though, but it is good, and it has a lot of really good information. And if you enjoy this podcast, you'll enjoy the book. It's the book's actually called pickleball therapy, the book. So if you want to check that out, I'll put a link in the show notes for that. All right, let's dive Oh, and I do have a riff today. I have a rift today about protecting your journey, which I think you'll enjoy. And as you I think you know by now, riffs are based on just things that have happened, that I've come across, that are interesting and that I think can help us also continue to build our resilience in a world full of inputs that sometimes are helpful and sometimes not. Well, one input that was helpful was this idea that I came across about latent versus active error. So I'm going to set it up for you, and then I'm going to talk about how it applies to your pickleball, specifically in all three pillars of pickleball, mechanical, strategic, athletic. We'll work on an example in each and let me set it up to start, and then I'll read the definitions of latent and active errors. So this is from a content creator who I enjoy watching his ideas about how we live as a society. That's an area of life that is of interest to me, how we interact with each other, and how we can maybe improve our improve how we do that. And so he, his focus is on urban, urban ideas, you know, not just urban, but also city ideas, like, how do we live together? You know, things like, you know, pedestrian walkways, you know, favoring cars over, over pedestrians, things like that. So in this particular episode, he was talking about an accident that had occurred in his in his city where he lives, where a bike, or a young, a young man on a bike hadn't been hit by a car. And you know, he talked about how the normal reaction to that in news coverage would be to either talk about the bike rider, so you know, the biker wasn't paying attention, or was, you know, swerved into the road, or something like that, the driver of the car, perhaps, you know, where the driver of the car was texting, or, you know, didn't give enough space to the bike, or something like that, right? So the like, where do we assign the blame for what happened? And the the assignation of the blame is usually to the last event that occurred before the the incident, which is current term the active error. But really, when you look at these types of situations, oftentimes you'll find what's called a latent error, which is really the thing that should be fixed. And then, in the case of like traffic accidents. You know, he was actually while he was filming, there was a fire truck pulled up behind him, because there was another biker that had got hit, like, while he's filming the episode on the previous bike accident. And then he shows a bunch of like, you know, debris from prior car accidents that are in the in that area. So it's clear that that intersection has some problem. What the problem? He didn't dive into the problem because I was in the problem because that wasn't the point of the of the of the episode, but was just to identify that oftentimes, when you see, when you see a problem, like in this case, a car hitting a bike, there may be some latent errors that underlie that that are really more at the root of the problem. And if you want to solve it, you look at the latent error. So let me give you the definitions, and then we'll dive into how this applies to pickable so these are just from the old the old Google searches. So active errors, immediate, direct failures that occur at the point of care and can potentially lead to adverse events, latent errors, underlying weaknesses or flaws in the system that remain undetected until they interact with active errors, creating conditions for accidents. So in the back to the bike incident, right, there certainly was some sort of an active error. Maybe the could be something as simple as the driver didn't see the biker. In that zone and hit the biker. It could be the biker swerving in front of the car. It could be, you know, a myriad of different active errors, but there's, in this case, likely on an underlying latent error that contributes to the the

Speaker 1 5:17
fact that the active error results in an accident. If you think about it a different way, you can think of like, in going back to continuing the bike example, if you had a dedicated bike lane that was, say, like, you know, five feet off of the road, then what are the chances that a car is going to hit a bike in that section of the road? Probably almost none. So you could have all the quote, unquote, active errors in the world happening. You could have a biker that's just swerving all over the place. You could even have a semi drunk driver driving down the road, driver who's texting, a driver who's swerving. You know that you give that five inch them, sorry, that five foot buffer, right? That becomes like a margin for error, that then reduces the chances that any active errors are going to lead to an ultimate accident. So applying that to pickleball, let's apply it in the three pillars. Let's start with the mechanical so let's say that you're having difficulty with your block volley. Okay, and so the active error that you think happens when you get manged is that you're, you know you're, you're not seeing the ball, or you're not you know, you're, you're, you just missed the shot, things like that. But let's also assume that in the end your game, you have a problem with your foundation, and foundation is foot to court, so that's how your body connects to the how your body is set while you're hitting the ball, which is absolutely critical to your shots, and it particularly shows up in things like a block volley. You know, errors in your foundation will show up in a block volley because you're moving your body, your paddle ends up moving. You end up missing the shot. In that situation, you have a latent error. The latent error is your foundation. And if you want to fix your volleys, you're going to want to fix your foundation. If you don't fix your foundation, that latent error, then the chances of having active errors and your volleys is going to be way higher than if you fix the latent error. And let me just work this out a little more. To be clear with you, you're not going to eliminate all active errors. You'll still make errors in your shot. So the active part of, you know, hitting the ball with your paddle at the you know, at the time that you have to during a block of a bang, you'll still have errors in there, but your errors will be less. Your active errors will be less because you have addressed the latent error. If you don't address a latent error, such as a foundational problem, then you're likely to have more active errors as you play. So that's how you start thinking about like, can I identify the possibility of a latent error in that, in in my shots. If I'm having, you know, if I'm having, consistently, consistently having errors with my shots. And I'll give you a personal example for me, is I know that I have, I sometimes rush out of my defensive shots. So when I'm trying to reset, oftentimes I find myself coming out of it too soon, like trying to move to the next position too soon. And so that ends up, ends up with an error. I end up with an error in my reset. And but I know it right. I know that about myself. And so when it happens, it's fairly, at least easy to identify and then work towards correcting that. The next couple of times that I do it by really forcing myself to stay put, if you will, while I'm hitting the shot. That's an example of understanding that I have a latent condition or latent situation in my shot, which is that foundational issue about moving too soon that then results in an upward tick in my active errors on those resets. So that's how those two work together on the mechanical so if you're having mechanical problems in your game, you know, spend some time with it and see whether there's a latent error in your in your mechanics that might be causing the active errors to be more than they should be. And if you're in the if you're a pickleball system student, then you know, you know that we talk about energy and trajectory and doing error diagnostics. This is an area that really that will shine for you if you're going to look for latent errors, because you're able to work through your different pieces of your shot. You're also able to work through the parts about footwork, foundation and stroke mechanics to say, Okay, where is the where's this problem that might be underlying a lot of my shots, because if you fix that latent error, you're going to make a big, big improvement in your mechanics. Let's switch now to the strategic pillar. So that's, you know, the strategy of what shot day, when, how to be on the court and things like that. If you're getting attacked early in rallies, so you're getting peppered early on the return side, and you're getting banged a lot and getting, you know, you're just under a lot of duress, likely cause short return of surf. So what will happen in that situation? The active error might be you missed the volley right, going back to the volley again here, but let's say you missed a volley, but you didn't miss a volley mechanically, your mechanics are pretty good, and everything else like that. So. Yeah, you missed the volley because of the pressure that you allowed to be put on you and your team, because of the short return of serve. So the latent error there is the short return of serve. And I cannot tell you how many rallies I watch where I can trace the latent error the the root cause of the of the problem to the short return of serve. That then led to the X or the Y or the Z, led to the active error, the pop up, the missed shot, the ultimate loss of the rally by something else. But the latent error is the missed is the short return of serve. And if you don't identify the latent error in that situation, you just end up, you're like chasing pots of gold at the end of the rain, but you're chasing fantasies, right? You're trying to fix problems that aren't really there, because the error, even though there is an active error, meaning like you missed a volley, or you popped it up, or whatever, the active error is not what you need to fix. What you need to fix there is the latent error. So that's a strategic example. And then let me give you a quick athletic example, athletic pillar example. So the example I would use there is a clouded mind. So you miss a volley. Let's stick with the volley, right? You miss the volley. So the missing the volley is the act of error. But you miss the volley because your mind is clouded, because you were like, you're you're you're you're just obsessing about a alcohol that you think was wrong. You're, you're, they called out the score wrong. So you're thinking about that whatever it is, whatever is taking up your bandwidth in your mind is going to is interfering with your ability to process the ball traveling to you in this moment, and the result then, is a missed volley. The active error missing the volley. The latent error is a cloudy mind. And if you have a clouded mind, if you have a clouded mind, you're not going to play your best. And if you're just trying to, like, oh, I need to solve my volleys. I need that's not the problem, right? You're not You're not addressing the right problem, which in this case would be a clouded mind. So those are examples of how understanding that first understanding that there are, there are such things as latent errors, and that those latent errors underlie, or under underscore your play right underscore is not the right term, they, they, they sit there as you play. Basically they exist as you play. I'll come up with the under in a second, the the underworld. But they, basically they, they're in their present while you're playing these latent errors that they exist so a cloud at mind, short return of serve, foundational problem, if those exist in your game, and you're missing volleys and all you're chasing is, well, I need to get better at actually holding my paddle a certain way, my ready position, or other things like that, you're not going to be going to the source of the problem, which is a latent error that is happening in your play. And reading the definition of latent, again, it is a underlying weakness or flaw in the system. In this case, you write your your one of your pillars that remain undetected until they interact with active errors, creating conditions for accidents, right? So, in our in our parlance, that is a undetected weakness, right? Undetected situation going on that doesn't appear to, you know, be a thing until you have the active error, right? So, until you miss the volley, your clouded mind isn't going to be a problem, in quotes, right? Excuse me, until you miss a volley, your foundational problem isn't. Your foundational issues aren't going to be a quote, unquote problem. You know, until you miss a volley, the short return to serve doesn't seem like a big deal. But then when you miss the Bali, then you're like, oh, there's an underlying problem here that I need to address if I do want to, in fact, improve my chances for success and improve my play. So give that some thought, and your in your three different pillars, mechanical, strategic and athletic. And it's a it's a really powerful way to process your your game, so that you can tease out these types of latent errors. Which news flash are going to be present? News flash for you and everybody else they're going to be present everybody's game. You're going to have some latent errors, and if you can identify what those are, you'll make really big improvements in your play. And as always, you know if you're coaching, if you're being coached by us, our processes allow you to suss out those latent errors because of our focus on the big picture of pickleball. So yes, you work through these big picture concepts, you will suss out these latent errors will be revealed to you through your work, and then you'll solve them, and you'll play better. All right, let me dive into the riff. Before I dive into the riff, I wanted to let you know that we do have a

Unknown Speaker 14:51
we have an affiliate code or affiliate link. I should say, with pickleball Central, there are our equipment partners, and if you're going. To buy equipment, paddles, balls, anything that you need for pickleball. We recommend you check pickleball Central. They have the best customer service. You know, they have a paddle 30 day trial period. I mean, it's a really, really good company to work with. They've been, they are the largest retailer in our space, and they've been, so you know, forever since, since I've been around, and it's for a reason. Plus, if you use our link, it lets them know that you came from us, and it helps us continue to provide this kind of programming to you. You can go straight to better pickleball comm. If you click on Resources, there's a link to pickleball Central. If you use that link, then you get any applicable discount. There are some products that have discounts. As an example, the paddle that we that, that I play with, that we play with, the paddle tech, the the new paddle tech, the LWC, the Bantam a LWC, as well as the gtoc paddles, all those paddles have a 10% discount of that applies automatically at checkout if you use our link. So appreciate you doing that if you are purchasing pickleball equipment. All right, let's talk about the riff. So the Rift, what I want to touch on in the riff has to do with your journey as a pickleball player. You can use this in life, too, and it the reason I wanted to talk about it is I play the game suite at the New York Times. I think it's a fun way to start the day. It gets my brain going. I do a few different things. Some would number, some with shape, some with letters, right? Because it helps trigger different parts of my brain. Is what I look at the world and But in that process, you know, I, I am subjected, and I know I'm being a little little, maybe a little extreme here, but I do feel strongly about this type of stuff. I think it's, it's that important to talk about. But I'm subjected to, like, conditioning, kind of messaging by the game program, things like, you know, if you, if you solve it in the thing in two or something, you get like, a message that says, Wow, you did impressive. Or, if you, like, take Wordle for a second, if you get to the if you, if it takes you six tries, it's like, literally, like, few like, A, P, H, E, W, like, whoo, wow. You know, baby, you barely made it. If you do multiple days in a row, you get a streak thing. Like, Oh, you're doing 78 day streak. Keep going, that kind of stuff. And I'm all in favor of, like, accountability type of stuff. And, you know, I know that it has a can play a powerful role and like, so you're trying to do, like, the gym or, you know, so having, like, being accountable for yourself is good. But I also think that there's a, you know, you got to live your life kind of a vibe that we need to respect. And so, you know, whenever I see whether it's apps like Duolingo or the New York Times and like that have like these like streak ideas, I think that can create undue pressure on folks. So I think you need to be, you know, aware of that and understand the psychology that they're using. And they're using very powerful psychological tools that are well researched and very effective to get you to behave a certain way, and if you're aware of them, right and what they're doing, then you can choose to engage with them or choose to disengage your brain from them, more so than if you're not aware of what they're of the games that they're playing. I guess pun intended there, but the you know, I just think it's important for you to be aware of these types of things as you go through life, because otherwise you end up, perhaps subconsciously, maybe feeling less than if you finish a wordle in six because of the message you get or feeling, I would say, Not. Not justifiably, great if you solve it in one, for instance, right? To me, solving a word all in one is pointless because it's, there's no it's just a guess, right? And but you got a great like, Oh my God, that's the most amazing thing ever. You solved it in one, which doesn't make any sense to me to send that message, but you know, just be aware of that. And you know, it extends out to other things, like, you know, wins and losses at pickleball and and other inputs that you get as a human being. But I just thought it was important to just point that out and just be aware of those types of the puppies are excited about something the you know, those kinds of inputs that you're going to receive from time to time, whether it's a game app or something else, and and be protective of yourself and your journey and your mental health by not allowing those types of things to have too big of a role in your in how you feel about yourself. So So that's this week's podcast. Hope you enjoyed the podcast. I hope you get a chance to if you're into it, to pre order the our book. I think you will enjoy the book a lot. And if you don't enjoy the book, you can always send me. You send me an email at Tony, betterpickleball.com. Let me know you didn't like the book, and I will make sure that you get your money back for the book, because it's, you know, we do charge for the book because we have expenses to pay, but you know, we're. All about delivering as much value, if not, oftentimes, a lot more than than the dollar amount. So, you know, you can always take a look at the book without feeling there's a risk. I think the price is only like, I don't know, nine or 10 or 13 or something like that, for pre order. So it's pretty, pretty novel anyway, particularly for what you're getting. But anyway, so take a look at that. I hope you get a chance to check that out. And if you have a minute to rate and review, I really appreciate some of you have rated and reviewed the podcast lately, and really appreciate you doing that. It does make a difference. I like reading them, tell you that much, but it also makes a big difference in terms of other players being able to access the podcast. And lastly, the most direct thing you can do to help somebody else, if you know that they're enjoying pickleball or maybe not enjoy pickleball so much as they should be, but you think they can enjoy it more by listening to the podcast. Share it with your friends, because if you enjoyed the podcast, they probably will too. I hope you a great week, and I will see you during the next episode of Pickleball therapy. Be well. You.

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