A player I have known for years told me they did not think they could advance in the game. If that player believes it, others do too. So this week I want to be clear. There is no real limit on your growth as a pickleball player. Not age. Not ability. The only limit is your decision not to grow. What actually derails players is trying to do too many things at once. The fix is one thing at a time. Lock it in, let the positive feedback loop build, then move to the next one.Second, a conversation from our Boston-area camp about expectations on the serve side. Because of the two-bounce rule, the serve team starts every rally at a positional disadvantage. When you go back to serve, you are more likely to lose the rally than win it. Not because you did anything wrong. Because that is how the sport is built. Set your expectations with that in mind.Third, our Partner Play series starts at the end of September and we are collecting stories. Share up to three things a partner has done that rubbed you the wrong way. Post it in the comments, in the community, or email tony@tonyroigpickleball.com with "My Story" in the subject line. Improvement stories are welcome too.Camps for 2026 and 2027: https://tonyroigpickleball.com/camps Your Pickleball Coach: https://yourpickleball.coachPickleball Therapy: The Book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.Be well, Tony

A player I have known for years told me they did not think they could advance in the game. If that player believes it, others do too. So this week I want to be clear. There is no real limit on your growth as a pickleball player. Not age. Not ability. The only limit is your decision not to grow. What actually derails players is trying to do too many things at once. The fix is one thing at a time. Lock it in, let the positive feedback loop build, then move to the next one. Second, a conversation from our Boston-area camp about expectations on the serve side. Because of the two-bounce rule, the serve team starts every rally at a positional disadvantage. When you go back to serve, you are more likely to lose the rally than win it. Not because you did anything wrong. Because that is how the sport is built. Set your expectations with that in mind. Third, our Partner Play series starts at the end of September and we are collecting stories. Share up to three things a partner has done that rubbed you the wrong way. Post it in the comments, in the community, or email tony@tonyroigpickleball.com with "My Story" in the subject line. Improvement stories are welcome too. Camps for 2026 and 2027: https://tonyroigpickleball.com/camps Your Pickleball Coach: https://yourpickleball.coach Pickleball Therapy: The Book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Be well, Tony

A player I have known for years told me they did not think they could advance in the game. If that player believes it, others do too. So this week I want to be clear. There is no real limit on your growth as a pickleball player. Not age. Not ability. The only limit is your decision not to grow. What actually derails players is trying to do too many things at once. The fix is one thing at a time. Lock it in, let the positive feedback loop build, then move to the next one.Second, a conversation from our Boston-area camp about expectations on the serve side. Because of the two-bounce rule, the serve team starts every rally at a positional disadvantage. When you go back to serve, you are more likely to lose the rally than win it. Not because you did anything wrong. Because that is how the sport is built. Set your expectations with that in mind.Third, our Partner Play series starts at the end of September and we are collecting stories. Share up to three things a partner has done that rubbed you the wrong way. Post it in the comments, in the community, or email tony@tonyroigpickleball.com with "My Story" in the subject line. Improvement stories are welcome too.Camps for 2026 and 2027: https://tonyroigpickleball.com/camps Your Pickleball Coach: https://yourpickleball.coachPickleball Therapy: The Book is available on Amazon and Barnes &amp; Noble.Be well, Tony

Ep. 313 - Are You Limiting Yourself? PLUS Top 3 Worst Partner Play Stories

Doubles pickleball is a team sport just like football or basketball. Two players instead of 5 or 11, but the same dynamics apply: your team plays its best when both players are in sync.You cannot control your partner. But you can communicate with them, and there's a constructive way to do that. The second idea is sonder. Everyone on the court is walking their own path. Your partner included. That matters most in the small moments, like when someone apologizes after a miss. Tony explains why the "sorry" reflex tends to make the dynamic more uncomfortable, and what to say instead. The through line is simple. How you treat your partner shapes how they play. How they play shapes how your team plays. Partner play is a skill, and it's one you can hone.

Doubles pickleball is a team sport just like football or basketball. Two players instead of 5 or 11, but the same dynamics apply: your team plays its best when both players are in sync. You cannot control your partner. But you can communicate with them, and there's a constructive way to do that. The second idea is sonder. Everyone on the court is walking their own path. Your partner included. That matters most in the small moments, like when someone apologizes after a miss. Tony explains why the "sorry" reflex tends to make the dynamic more uncomfortable, and what to say instead. The through line is simple. How you treat your partner shapes how they play. How they play shapes how your team plays. Partner play is a skill, and it's one you can hone.

Doubles pickleball is a team sport just like football or basketball. Two players instead of 5 or 11, but the same dynamics apply: your team plays its best when both players are in sync.You cannot control your partner. But you can communicate with them, and there's a constructive way to do that.&nbsp;The second idea is sonder. Everyone on the court is walking their own path. Your partner included. That matters most in the small moments, like when someone apologizes after a miss. Tony explains why the "sorry" reflex tends to make the dynamic more uncomfortable, and what to say instead.&nbsp;The through line is simple. How you treat your partner shapes how they play. How they play shapes how your team plays. Partner play is a skill, and it's one you can hone.

Ep. 312 - Optimized Partner Play

There is a lot going on in a pickleball game. Four players, several rallies inside every rally, the lob, the dink, the banger, the volley you got jammed on. And underneath all of it, a conversation running in your head about the score, your partner, the wind, the shot you should have made.That's all sound. No silence anywhere.The week before a live coaching call, Tony visited an art exhibit called "Silence Before Sound." One room, roughly the size of a small house, held three pieces of art. That was intentional. They could have filled it, but filling it would have defeated the point.Your brain works on the same principle. Give it three things to see, and it sees all three. Give it fifty-three, and it sees none of them.In this episode, Tony connects negative space to the Tap Into Your Flow series inside the Tony Roig Pickleball project, shares what players reported after using The Blue Danube as an anchor, and offers a practice you can start before your next session. Not on the court. In the car, before you get out.Learn more about Your Pickleball Coach at https://yourpickleball.coach

There is a lot going on in a pickleball game. Four players, several rallies inside every rally, the lob, the dink, the banger, the volley you got jammed on. And underneath all of it, a conversation running in your head about the score, your partner, the wind, the shot you should have made. That's all sound. No silence anywhere. The week before a live coaching call, Tony visited an art exhibit called "Silence Before Sound." One room, roughly the size of a small house, held three pieces of art. That was intentional. They could have filled it, but filling it would have defeated the point. Your brain works on the same principle. Give it three things to see, and it sees all three. Give it fifty-three, and it sees none of them. In this episode, Tony connects negative space to the Tap Into Your Flow series inside the Tony Roig Pickleball project, shares what players reported after using The Blue Danube as an anchor, and offers a practice you can start before your next session. Not on the court. In the car, before you get out. Learn more about Your Pickleball Coach at https://yourpickleball.coach

Ep. 310 - Silence Before Sound

Christine Hobson retired at 60. Two days later, she ran her first marathon.She has run more than 100 since. Every continent. A world record in Antarctica. And when she describes it, she does not lead with the marathons. She leads with what the first one taught her: she had been underestimating herself the whole time.That is the topic this week.We do this as humans. We try something, it does not go well, and we file it away as evidence. Enough of those and we start building a case against ourselves. I hear it constantly when I suggest pickleball to somebody. I'm too old. I'm too out of shape. I'm too late. Fill in the blank.There is a second story in the episode that lands the same point from a different angle. A woman on a date says, almost by accident, that in another universe she would be a stand-up comedian. She had never said it out loud before. Her date asks the obvious question back: why not in this universe? She gave him the list of reasons. He kept peeling them back. She became a stand-up comedian.So here is the pickleball version. You have a picture of yourself out on the court. The player who sees the game better, who puts the ball where they meant to put it, who feels good walking on. If that player is a 3.5 and you are a 2.5, there is nothing structural stopping you. Not tomorrow. Maybe not in six months. But in eighteen months, with a clear plan and a clear sense of what you are working on, absolutely.To be sure, some things really do impede you. Bad information impedes you. Bad guidance impedes you. Coming at the game from a purely technical angle, where you need to know the exact paddle angle and exactly where each toe points, impedes you, because that is not how the brain learns to play. Those are real.Everything else on your list, you put there.And to be clear, none of this is a directive. Nobody needs to reach a level. If you are happy playing exactly the way you play now, that is a fine place to be. But if there is a version of you out ahead that you actually want, do not be the one blocking the path.**The riff: two ways to handle adversity**Missing a shot is an adverse event. Small on the scale of adversity, but real inside the game.First situation. My partner and I are stacked. The return of serve comes back hard, with spin, into the far corner. He has to cover a lot of ground and hit a very difficult backhand. He catches the top of the net. Good effort, hard shot, no issue.He apologizes. I tell him there is nothing to apologize for, that it was a great return and a tough ask from that position, and that I am not upset. He apologizes again. Then he says it: I shouldn't miss that.He processed it the same way today that he processed it a few years ago. It is a loop, and it costs him something every time.Second situation. Last game of the day, court one, score somewhere in the fours, evenly matched. My focus wandered off. I do not know where it went, but it left. I missed a few shots I do not normally miss.I could have hunkered down and demanded that focus come back. But there is no switch to flip. Ebbs and flows in attention are the most natural thing in the world. They happen to full-time professional athletes in every sport.So I told my partner: pick me up, I'll be back in a few minutes. And I was. We lost that game, but we tightened it up and made it competitive down the stretch.Same category of event. Two very different relationships with it. The second one gives you a calmer mind, and a calmer mind sees the court better and hits the next ball better. That is not a soft benefit. That is the mechanism.**Extra coaching tip**Notice who your partner is apologizing to. When a player says sorry after a difficult miss, they are usually not apologizing to you. They are apologizing to the version of themselves who was supposed to make that shot. That is why reassurance from you does not land. You cannot answer an expectation you did not set.What you can do is name the difficulty of the shot out loud, once, and then move on to the next point with your own body language completely neutral. You are not arguing with their standard. You are just declining to feed it.Be well,Tony

Christine Hobson retired at 60. Two days later, she ran her first marathon. She has run more than 100 since. Every continent. A world record in Antarctica. And when she describes it, she does not lead with the marathons. She leads with what the first one taught her: she had been underestimating herself the whole time. That is the topic this week. We do this as humans. We try something, it does not go well, and we file it away as evidence. Enough of those and we start building a case against ourselves. I hear it constantly when I suggest pickleball to somebody. I'm too old. I'm too out of shape. I'm too late. Fill in the blank. There is a second story in the episode that lands the same point from a different angle. A woman on a date says, almost by accident, that in another universe she would be a stand-up comedian. She had never said it out loud before. Her date asks the obvious question back: why not in this universe? She gave him the list of reasons. He kept peeling them back. She became a stand-up comedian. So here is the pickleball version. You have a picture of yourself out on the court. The player who sees the game better, who puts the ball where they meant to put it, who feels good walking on. If that player is a 3.5 and you are a 2.5, there is nothing structural stopping you. Not tomorrow. Maybe not in six months. But in eighteen months, with a clear plan and a clear sense of what you are working on, absolutely. To be sure, some things really do impede you. Bad information impedes you. Bad guidance impedes you. Coming at the game from a purely technical angle, where you need to know the exact paddle angle and exactly where each toe points, impedes you, because that is not how the brain learns to play. Those are real. Everything else on your list, you put there. And to be clear, none of this is a directive. Nobody needs to reach a level. If you are happy playing exactly the way you play now, that is a fine place to be. But if there is a version of you out ahead that you actually want, do not be the one blocking the path. **The riff: two ways to handle adversity** Missing a shot is an adverse event. Small on the scale of adversity, but real inside the game. First situation. My partner and I are stacked. The return of serve comes back hard, with spin, into the far corner. He has to cover a lot of ground and hit a very difficult backhand. He catches the top of the net. Good effort, hard shot, no issue. He apologizes. I tell him there is nothing to apologize for, that it was a great return and a tough ask from that position, and that I am not upset. He apologizes again. Then he says it: I shouldn't miss that. He processed it the same way today that he processed it a few years ago. It is a loop, and it costs him something every time. Second situation. Last game of the day, court one, score somewhere in the fours, evenly matched. My focus wandered off. I do not know where it went, but it left. I missed a few shots I do not normally miss. I could have hunkered down and demanded that focus come back. But there is no switch to flip. Ebbs and flows in attention are the most natural thing in the world. They happen to full-time professional athletes in every sport. So I told my partner: pick me up, I'll be back in a few minutes. And I was. We lost that game, but we tightened it up and made it competitive down the stretch. Same category of event. Two very different relationships with it. The second one gives you a calmer mind, and a calmer mind sees the court better and hits the next ball better. That is not a soft benefit. That is the mechanism. **Extra coaching tip** Notice who your partner is apologizing to. When a player says sorry after a difficult miss, they are usually not apologizing to you. They are apologizing to the version of themselves who was supposed to make that shot. That is why reassurance from you does not land. You cannot answer an expectation you did not set. What you can do is name the difficulty of the shot out loud, once, and then move on to the next point with your own body language completely neutral. You are not arguing with their standard. You are just declining to feed it. Be well, Tony

Ep. 307 - Don't Underestimate Yourself

Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.Carol, a member of our community, posted about a pattern in her weekend group. After almost every point, someone apologizes. She keeps telling them there are no sorries in pickleball. It isn't sinking in.In this episode, Coach Tony invited Coach Kyleen from the TRP coaching team to join him in the conversation. Kyleen has lived the experience Carol conveyed. She started playing with a group of women who were all new to the game. Same level, same mistakes. They still apologized to each other. We see it at our camps too, especially on the first morning.Mistakes are built into this sport. Your partner is going to make them. So are you. So are professionals. We talk about why the "sorry" habit sticks and a simple way for a group to break it together.Then a harder question. Are you good enough to play with this group? Coach Tony shares the story of a player who, while traveling, approached a group of men, was asked her level, and was turned away. Tony talks about what he told her to say next time.The bigger point is simple. Someone welcomed every one of us into this sport. If they hadn't, we wouldn't be playing.Kyleen and Tony will be in Tampa this October for two camps, including a women's camp on October 22 and 23. If you're curious, book a call with Kyleen. She'll give you the facts, and you can decide if it's right for you: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/appointments/schedules/AcZssZ1kdoeYXFOcUDj4tGqrzJAXwC9bD5kZr4qWMhBWUn9KoHhTbVhWGRv0xwoCgij4L1wM_QV2QRV-——————————————————————Coach Tony Roig helps players understand the game instead of just collecting tips: strategy, the mental game, and the decisions that decide pickleball rallies.🌐 Website: tonyroigpickleball.comWe recommend Pickleball Central for your pickleball needs. Using our affiliate link at https://pickleballcentral.com/tonyroig helps fund content like this. Customers will get up to a 10% discount. Discounts may vary by product, and some exclusions apply. We earn a commission on purchases.🛒 Tony's Amazon storefront — books, training tools, and gear Tony uses: https://www.amazon.com/shop/tonyroigpickleballformerlyin2pickle?ccs_id=77992b29-49a7-48a5-a01b-9035a0cc01a2 As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.Contact: hello@tonyroigpickleball.comConnect Instagram: @bestpickleballcoach Facebook: @tonyroigpickleball TikTok: bestpickleballcoach

Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Carol, a member of our community, posted about a pattern in her weekend group. After almost every point, someone apologizes. She keeps telling them there are no sorries in pickleball. It isn't sinking in. In this episode, Coach Tony invited Coach Kyleen from the TRP coaching team to join him in the conversation. Kyleen has lived the experience Carol conveyed. She started playing with a group of women who were all new to the game. Same level, same mistakes. They still apologized to each other. We see it at our camps too, especially on the first morning. Mistakes are built into this sport. Your partner is going to make them. So are you. So are professionals. We talk about why the "sorry" habit sticks and a simple way for a group to break it together. Then a harder question. Are you good enough to play with this group? Coach Tony shares the story of a player who, while traveling, approached a group of men, was asked her level, and was turned away. Tony talks about what he told her to say next time. The bigger point is simple. Someone welcomed every one of us into this sport. If they hadn't, we wouldn't be playing. Kyleen and Tony will be in Tampa this October for two camps, including a women's camp on October 22 and 23. If you're curious, book a call with Kyleen. She'll give you the facts, and you can decide if it's right for you: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/appointments/schedules/AcZssZ1kdoeYXFOcUDj4tGqrzJAXwC9bD5kZr4qWMhBWUn9KoHhTbVhWGRv0xwoCgij4L1wM_QV2QRV- —————————————————————— Coach Tony Roig helps players understand the game instead of just collecting tips: strategy, the mental game, and the decisions that decide pickleball rallies. 🌐 Website: tonyroigpickleball.com We recommend Pickleball Central for your pickleball needs. Using our affiliate link at https://pickleballcentral.com/tonyroig helps fund content like this. Customers will get up to a 10% discount. Discounts may vary by product, and some exclusions apply. We earn a commission on purchases. 🛒 Tony's Amazon storefront — books, training tools, and gear Tony uses: https://www.amazon.com/shop/tonyroigpickleballformerlyin2pickle?ccs_id=77992b29-49a7-48a5-a01b-9035a0cc01a2 As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Contact: hello@tonyroigpickleball.com Connect Instagram: @bestpickleballcoach Facebook: @tonyroigpickleball TikTok: bestpickleballcoach

Ep. 314 - Sorry NOT Sorry with Special Guest Coach Kyleen Dye

Want to improve as a pickleball player? Three tips you can do right now. And a brief rif about stacking (I think). Let us know what you think. Share it. Stay safe. Tony 

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Want to improve as a pickleball player? Three tips you can do right now. And a brief rif about stacking (I think). Let us know what you think. Share it. Stay safe. Tony --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pickleballtherapy/support

Want to improve as a pickleball player? Three tips you can do right now. And a brief rif about stacking (I think). Let us know what you think. Share it. Stay safe. Tony 

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Three tips for better play | The Official WeArePickleball Podcast | Episode 1

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Pickleball Therapy  (Trailer)

The podcast dedicated to your pickleball improvement. We are here to help you achieve your pickleball goals, with a focus on the mental part of your game. Our mission is to share with you a positive and more healthy way of engaging with pickleball. Together let’s forge a stronger relationship with the sport we all love. With the added benefit of playing better pickleball too. No matter what you are trying to accomplish in your pickleball journey, Pickleball Therapy is here to encourage and support you.

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