[00:00:05.260] - Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to Pickleball Therapy, the podcast dedicated to your pickleball improvement. This is a special episode heading to the courts version of Pickleball Therapy. What I'm going to do in this episode, I'm going to give you three things that you can focus on to get ready for your pickleball all day. In fact, they're all aimed at helping you focus and also helping you play your best today, helping you keep your mind straight and avoiding potential distractions out on the court. If you like this podcast and it helps you on your way to the courts, I recommend bookmarking it so that next time you're heading out to the courts, you can just have it ready to go. It's going to be a fairly short episode because I want to give you enough to consider, but I don't want to overwhelm you and also want to give you time to complete it before you get to the courts. So let's go ahead and dive right in with the first thing we're going to talk about today. It's going to be three things a gain. The first thing we're going to look at today is, what is your focus today?

[00:00:56.420] - Speaker 1
So let's think about it a little bit, right? What is it you're going to focus on today while you're playing. If you're trying to improve, let's say you're trying to work on an improved volleyball, you're trying to improve your third shot, or your movement, or you're trying to hit your returns deeper, whatever it is that you're working on, that is going to be your focus today. And the important thing is this, and this is the hard part. You got to pick one thing, not three things, not 10 things, not I'm going to win, not I'm going to play better. It's fine to play better. The problem with playing better is you can't really measure it. And then it gets mushy up in the head and you start wondering, am I playing better? What does that even mean? Now, if you say to yourself, let's take an easy one. I'm going to try and avoid the net on my third shot drops. Now, if you hit the net with a third shot drop, you can say, Okay, that's not what I wanted. What do I need to do to avoid the net next time? Maybe it's some more energy.

[00:01:52.910] - Speaker 1
Maybe it's the trajectory of your shot. If you're not sure what energy and trajectory are, very difficult to fix your shots. Highly recommend you check out the pick and ball system because we include that in there and there's a lot of discussion in there on energy trajectory, explaining to you all the parts. But those are the ways that you can actually influence your play. And here's the thing. Let's say, let's continue with this third shot drop in the net. So your objective today, let's say, is I'm going to clear the net on my third shots. What will happen is you'll hit the net a few times because you're human beings, but you'll have something very specific that you can focus on and then that you can try and remedy as you continue to play. And what you'll do is you'll feel calmer because what you're going to do is when you pick the one thing you're going to focus on, everything else becomes secondary. And one way to think about it is, you know those on the cameras nowadays, it's pretty easy to do where you have a blurry background, so you can take a photo of somebody, they look crisp and crisp and clear, but the stuff around them is fuzzy?

[00:02:52.620] - Speaker 1
That's what happens. What happens is you're so focused on that third shot in clearing the net. Or let's take another example, hitting your returns deep. That when you hit the return short, it becomes very noticeable. It's very apparent to you. But the other things that are going on in the game, they're fine, but they're fuzzy. They're not super important in the sense of you paying attention to them. And so you're really focused on the one thing. And what will happen is this, as you start clearing the net more with your thirds, if that's what you're working on, or say you start hitting your returns deeper, guess what? You're going to play better. Your results are going to be better, but not because you're focused on the results. What you're focused on is the thing that you can actually control. So as you're moving towards the courts, whether you're walking there or driving there, give some thought to what it is that you're going to focus on today when you're out there playing. And what I recommend is that next time you go to the courts, if you're going to play tomorrow, you're going to play in a couple of days, think about it before you're in the car.

[00:03:54.020] - Speaker 1
Put this podcast on to remind you that this is what I need to be focusing on today. But give some thought to this, a couple of things that you want to work on over the next week or two weeks, and then you're going to pick one of them. You're going to say, You know what? I have three things on my list. I'm working on this, this and that. But today I'm going to work on that. I'm going to focus on that. And that will give you a lot of confidence when you're out on the court and really let you focus while you're out there playing. All right. In a second, I'm going to give you number two, and then we'll give you number three of the things you're going to consider heading out to the football courts. Stay tuned.

[00:04:26.820] - Speaker 2
If you're ready to break out and become the best big ball player that you can be, then the pickleball system is for you. If you're ready to make the commitment to yourself in your pickleball game, you can join us at thepickleballsystem. Com. I'll put the link in the show notes. If you're not sure whether you're ready for the pickleball system or just want to learn more about it, then join is for a three part mini series where you will learn some of the most important concepts that there are in the sport of pickleball. In addition to these concepts, you'll also learn more about the pickleball system. You can find the link to the three part mini series down below in the show notes, and we'll see you in class.

[00:05:00.800] - Speaker 1
All right, the second thing I want you to think about now, this is not conflict with the first thing, right? The first thing is what you're thinking about while you're playing. This is something I want you to think about, which is a little bit more general. What I want you to think about is, why are you on your way to the courts right now? Why are you in the car or why are you walking to the courts or biking there? Why are you on your way to the courts? Is it primarily because you want to get exercise? Is it you want to see your friends? Is it you just want to get out and do something? Whatever it is that is your reason for going to the courts, I want you to think about that on your way to the courts. And this is important. It's important, not just because it'll make you feel mushy and better. In other words, it's not just the mushiness of it. And the mushiness is great. Don't get me wrong. But it's not just a mushy, mushy, zen thing that, Okay, Tony's telling me to think about why I'm going to the courts, and that's going to put me in a zen mode.

[00:06:05.560] - Speaker 1
I want you to think practically about it, pragmatically about it. Here's how it works. You're heading to the courts and you're going there because you want to see your friends. You know that John and Sue and Bob and Jane are going to be there, so you're going there to see them. And you get there and there's Bob and there's Sue and a couple of other people you didn't even think about being there. And so now you've gotten what you came for. Now you're going to get to play pickleball, which is amazing. But I asked you a question, why are you in your car heading to the courts? Why are you walking to the courts? Because of you fill in the blank. And if you got you fill in the blank, you got what you came for. And what that means is that whether you won the game or lost the game, whether you hit the crazy good shot or missed the easy put away, doesn't matter as much. Now that's going to have the mushy feeling better aspect to it. But it's also pragmatically, practically going to help you play better, because your mind is not occupied with the noise of, I missed the shot, or, We just lost that game and we were up 9 3, or something like that.

[00:07:25.710] - Speaker 1
Why? That's not what you came for. You didn't come here to win that game. You came here to see your friends or to get the exercise or get out the door. Now, that said, doesn't mean you don't compete. It doesn't mean you don't go out there and give it your all and do your best. But if you didn't come out there today to win that third game against so and so and so and so, then whether you won or lost that game is not paramount, is not central to your thinking or your feeling about your day on the court. So the second thing you need to do is think about why are you heading out to the courts to play pickleball? And as long as you got that, you're going to have a great day. All right, stay tuned. We're going to go over the third thing that I want you to do out there today that will help you keep your focus and further increase your enjoyment out there playing pickleball. Stay tuned. As a pickleball ball player, you are no doubt working on your game, but are you also working on your vision?

[00:08:25.860] - Speaker 1
Doesn't it make sense that better vision will lead to better pickleball ball? Not to mention better night driving. C. J and I rely on the experts of Visual Edge to help us track those balls so we don't ever miss a shot.

[00:08:37.980] - Speaker 2
If you're ready to take your vision and perhaps your.

[00:08:40.720] - Speaker 1
Game.

[00:08:40.900] - Speaker 2
To the next level, join us inside Visual Edge. I'll link.

[00:08:44.180] - Speaker 1
To it little bit more about it. We'll see you inside. All right, here's the last thing that I want you to do. Now, this you're going to do when you get to the courts. I'm going to lay it out for you. I'm going to set it out for you now or set it up for you now. But you're going to do it once you get to the courts. And I want you to do it two more times while you're out there. And I'll explain it. What I want you to do when you get to the courts, I want you to take a second, just a second, put your bag down, look around you and just find gratitude. Find just the beauty of you standing on or next to a pickleball court. Maybe the sun's out, maybe there's a bird flying by, some trees or plants if you like that as well. That's what I like to look at. Maybe you see a good friend you haven't seen in a while, somebody visiting from out of town, or someone who's been injured in his back at the courts, or someone's laughing, whatever it is. Find a moment of gratitude for your interaction with this sport, your interaction with the game.

[00:09:47.860] - Speaker 1
It's well established that the research on dopamine and the loop that your brain generates with it and things like that, it's all really well established stuff. And there's parts of your brain that are more primeval, right? Not lesser developed, but they're a little more primordial, right? They're just the ones that make you, I need food, I feel danger, those types of things, right? And those parts of your brain, it's not tricking them, it's just conditioning them. And so you can use your higher sentient abilities to feed information to the parts of your brain that are a little more primitive and to get a positive response from those. And one way of doing that is through gratitude. Is taking a moment, using your conscious mind to stop yourself, put your stuff down and force yourself to look around for a minute and find something to give gratitude for. And that will feed your subconscious or your primitive mind some positive messages. And then you'll have a positive dopamine loop with the whole process. Your relationship with the game and your relationship with that day. As I said earlier, is there a mushy benefit to that? Absolutely.

[00:11:06.940] - Speaker 1
Just like with the second suggestion about why you're heading to the courts or the second assignment you have today. You're going to feel better, but again, you're going to play better because you're going to feel better. When you feel better, you play better. You're more relaxed, you're more loose, and you're just going to execute better. Your shots are going to be better. You're going to be clearer of mind. It's just going to be a better day all the way around. When you get to the courts, take a moment, find some gratitude, find something to be grateful for. Then what I want you to do is I want you about halfway through the session, you know how long your session is, maybe it's after three games or four games, repeat it. Do the same thing. Find a second thing to be grateful for. Guarantee you can find something to be grateful for. Look around the courts. If you're just grateful for being on the pickleball court that day, being able to move around and have a good time out there, fantastic. Find gratitude there. Then then I want you to do it one more time. At the end of the session, when you're getting ready to go home, take a moment.

[00:12:05.990] - Speaker 1
Don't rush out there. Don't worry about it. Unless you have somebody like a doctor's appointment you got to get to or something that you got to rush out for, you have time. Take a minute for yourself. Stop and be grateful for your day on the pickleball court. The good, the bad and the ugly, whatever happened out there today, you got to play some pickleball. Think of how many people in the world today did not get to play pickleball. They have other things going on in their lives and whatever, and they simply don't get to do what you got to do. So try and find gratitude three times today. That will build a positive reinforcement for you. You're going to feel better and you're going to play better. Remember, bookmark this episode if you enjoyed it, if it helped you out. Listen to it when you're heading to the courts. If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate and review it. It helps us reach other players. And as always, if you enjoyed the podcast, share it with your friends. If you enjoyed it, they probably will too. Have a great time out there and we'll see you next time.