Are you ready?? A Special Edition Sweet Lobs Episode!

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Skye's prettier. She's in front of me, and you're not. [00:00:04] Speaker B: I'm ahead of the game. [00:00:08] Speaker A: I'm ahead of the game. Right. I'm here with the lovely, sweet love on the Sweet Loves podcast. How are you this evening, Skye? [00:00:17] Speaker C: I'm good. Hello, listeners. [00:00:19] Speaker A: Yes, hello, all three of you. I'm sure there's more because, well, our podcast app tells us that there's more. It's growing, and we're grateful. Thank you so much. We're actually here tonight at the last minute. Like, the last minute. Hey, wait a minute. [00:00:37] Speaker C: Special episode. [00:00:37] Speaker A: We should do a special episode because it's tournament time. Yeah, baby. The state tournament. The PPA sponsored, if you will, state tournament for Indiana is this next weekend. Friday, Saturday, Sunday. A friend of ours said, hey, you guys need to do a podcast on tournaments. We're like, yeah, we are. We're going to be at the tournament with our equipment, like, doing live streaming, and we'll turn into a podcast. He's like, no, tournament prep. [00:01:04] Speaker C: Such a great idea. [00:01:05] Speaker A: So we made him join us here at the studio. Ladies and gentlemen, Luke Gibson. Hey, that's all you can expect for just a little bit. We'll get him to talk more here in a second, I'm sure. All right, so, I put together some notes, which we don't normally do, but some notes on what we should cover for tournament prep. I'm a seasoned tournament player. I'm not necessarily a seasoned, on the stand tournament player, like, after the tournament's over, but I'm a seasoned tournament player. I've played in a heck ton of tournaments. I love them. You've not played in too many sky, is that correct? [00:01:37] Speaker C: I have not, but I am a certified personal trainer, and so I know how to prepare people for an event. [00:01:43] Speaker A: Well, you've also been a tournament director. [00:01:45] Speaker C: And I've been a tournament director a couple times. [00:01:47] Speaker A: I've been a tournament director several times. So we have some, I think, fairly good insight for you. So let's kick it off with some of the things that are the most important. Luke, I'm gonna throw it to you first. What do you think's the number one thing somebody should do to prepare for a tournament? [00:02:03] Speaker B: I like to drill a little bit right before a tournament. You know, finalize your shots that you want to try to execute. [00:02:10] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:02:10] Speaker B: For your plan. Depends on if you're playing men's feeling, play mixed, you know, I like the drill quite a bit. [00:02:16] Speaker A: Are you playing singles in this tournament? [00:02:17] Speaker B: I am not. [00:02:18] Speaker A: Okay. That's the first night. That's why I'm asking the question. [00:02:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:20] Speaker A: So those people that are getting ready, and the first ones up on the chopping block, so to speak, are the singles players. Sky, as a nutritionist, as a certified nutrition, certified in personal training, certified in nutrition coach, all that stuff. What is your recommendation on the days and week people leading up to a tournament that's, you know, gonna be pretty intense? [00:02:42] Speaker C: Well, I agree with Luke about drilling and getting some of that extra practice in, but always stretch afterward. And so when people are preparing, sometimes they overwork themselves, and so a lot of times they hurt themselves going into a tournament. So make sure you're getting that good amount of stretching in after you're done with your workout. Before your workout, do things like dynamic stretches. I can put some notes in to our facebook page so that you can see what I mean by that, and then also hydration. So, with tournaments, one of the things that I see the most for injuries are Achilles injuries and sometimes cramping. [00:03:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:03:26] Speaker C: Like cramps. So bad. Yeah. [00:03:29] Speaker A: You might as well keep going down the path then, because we learned when a friend of ours got very dehydrated a few years back that hydration is really not just water, and we knew that. But what are your recommendations on the best way to hydrate? [00:03:43] Speaker C: First of all, you want to start three days prior to your event, especially if it's an outdoor event and it's going to be warm. So that means drinking regular water. Stay away from the sugary drinks that are going that say that they're a hydration drink. Most of them are not. They're mostly just dessert, but also incorporate watery fruits and vegetables. Watermelon can dehydrate a little bit, but, you know, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, you know, add some. Some vegetables and fruits in there. That will also help with hydration. Um, try to stay away from caffeine, stuff like that. [00:04:24] Speaker A: Super. And then let's, since we're on sort of the hydration or what you put in your body component of today's conversation, what about how we fuel our body as well? [00:04:33] Speaker C: Absolutely. So, again, you've probably heard of carb loading, and sometimes that's our advice. [00:04:39] Speaker A: I heard car loading. Carb, carb, carb. So let's just, for our listeners sake. [00:04:47] Speaker C: My Indiana accent coming out. Sorry, y'all. No, it's carb loading. And so back in high school, that would be our excuse to eat pizza before a big tournament. I wouldn't necessarily recommend that at our age. So cinnamon rolls work? No, no, no, no. But you do want to eat healthy fats, good sources of carbohydrates, whole grains, stuff like that, so that your body's actually going to convert into. [00:05:18] Speaker A: Luke, you're a young pup, and probably you eat converts into food. You're still in that teenage space where I could eat anything. [00:05:25] Speaker C: I know I missed Sonic. [00:05:26] Speaker A: 30,000 calories. I was fine. Do you have a go to meal before your tournament or something you want during that week? [00:05:32] Speaker B: I try to go for chicken and rice a lot of times. [00:05:34] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, that's actually pretty good. [00:05:36] Speaker B: Get a lot of protein in before I play. [00:05:38] Speaker C: Yep. [00:05:39] Speaker A: Good choice. All right. Wow, look at this smart kid we got here on the podcast. [00:05:42] Speaker C: I know. I would say that this generation is much more conscious about nutrition. [00:05:48] Speaker A: I'm going to throw mine in. I think my biggest thing is sleep. Get good sleep, not just the night before, but two, three nights before. Do whatever you can to get on a good schedule and get really good rest. [00:06:01] Speaker C: And that can be tough when you're traveling on a tournament, but you take your own pillow. [00:06:06] Speaker A: I do. [00:06:07] Speaker C: Sorry. If I have my own blanket, I'm. [00:06:11] Speaker A: Like Linus from the peanuts or whoever the heck that is. You. [00:06:13] Speaker C: Do you bring your own blanket and pillow because you know you'll get good sleep? [00:06:16] Speaker A: I do. I have. It's just a fleece blanket, but I think I always sleep with a fleece blanket. So if I have a fleece blanket, I'm comfortable, and I'm already in an awkward bed in an awkward room in an awkward city, maybe or something. I'm not familiar with a little bit of that home comfort, which is just a pillow and a blanket, it actually really helps me get good sleep. [00:06:35] Speaker C: True. [00:06:35] Speaker A: So now, I mean, this tournament is like 10 miles from home, so no big deal. I'll just sleep at home. Best sleep ever. But still. Okay, Luke, it's too late for this current tournament coming up, but since this podcast could be, you know, listened to for any given future tournament, what do you think is the right strategy for picking the right partner? [00:06:56] Speaker C: Ooh, I want to hear this. [00:06:58] Speaker B: See, I like to go with kind of like, what counteracts my play style. [00:07:04] Speaker C: Okay. [00:07:04] Speaker B: I like a. I hit. I like to play a banging game. I don't like to play a soft game that much. So that's why I prioritize my partners, to kind of play them with more patience, more drops, more dinks, and hopefully set me up for better shots. [00:07:22] Speaker A: Is that why you chose me for the app where we got silver in Miami? Because I'm not a banger. Maybe nobody believes that. Well, we played well together, though. [00:07:33] Speaker C: We did. [00:07:34] Speaker A: It was fun. [00:07:34] Speaker B: That was a lot fun. [00:07:35] Speaker A: Okay, what about a female partner? Do you, is it the same that. [00:07:38] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:07:39] Speaker A: Okay, what about a male partner? [00:07:42] Speaker B: That's what I mean. [00:07:43] Speaker A: Doesn't matter to you. But you would have the same. [00:07:44] Speaker B: I would, I would just kind of play with someone who characters my playstyle. [00:07:47] Speaker A: Okay. Same criteria. [00:07:48] Speaker C: I like that strategy. [00:07:50] Speaker A: I want to play with somebody who is always going to have my back. I don't care if I hit it in the net. Long, high, deep, wide. Miss a second serve at ten to ten. I want somebody who's going to be like, it's cool. Let's go. You know what I mean? That's the number one thing for me. Somebody who's an encourager and wants me to be able to just quickly blow off and be focused on this next point. That's the number one thing for me. [00:08:16] Speaker C: So it's, it's important for you to have someone mentally capable of maybe calming you down or. [00:08:23] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, probably would help if someone could calm me down. I don't, I don't get too out of whack. I mean, there are times when I know I've made three or four bad shots or I've, or here's what I get out of whack. Honestly, if they call a shot that I make that's in by a foot and a half and they call it out because they didn't see it, because I hit it too fast and they're turning around. All right, that sends me through the roof. [00:08:43] Speaker C: Right. [00:08:43] Speaker A: And I will probably have on the very next play a shot that I hit as hard as I possibly can toward them in their general direction. But it may go 20ft out and it might hit the net. But I just want to remind them I'm not trying to hurt anybody. I'm not. I'm not even at their face. I mean, we at their feet. [00:09:01] Speaker C: But no, you're right. [00:09:03] Speaker A: I do add an extra 10% on some of those. So, yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I guess that's fair, sky. Someone that can calm me down. But again, it's more, it's more knowing that they get that this is, at the end of the day, just a game. I want to be super competitive and I want to win. And that's all good. But in 2 hours from now, our outcome will not change my life. [00:09:27] Speaker C: True. [00:09:28] Speaker A: Right. [00:09:29] Speaker C: And you're quick to point out an opponent's good shot. Like you're like, hey, that was a great shot. [00:09:35] Speaker A: I don't actually do that much in a tournament. [00:09:37] Speaker C: No, but maybe after. Afterwards? When? [00:09:39] Speaker A: Yeah, after we beat them all. When you had a couple good shots. [00:09:42] Speaker C: Or vice versa, they. They beat you and your teammate. I've seen you. You're a good sportsman. [00:09:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, I believe in that. But anyway, that's the number one thing for me. What's your criteria? You haven't been in many tournaments, but do you have a criteria for who you would pick as a partner? Think about a female partner, because if it's male, you're probably playing with me. [00:10:00] Speaker C: I would say someone that communicates well, someone who's not going to get super upset, but I want to be able to focus on the game itself and not trying to, you know, coax my partner into being in a good mood. I think it's like you said, at the end of the day, it's a game. So I think someone that matches my personality in a good way, it could be, you know, someone who's very aggressive. I'm not always aggressive. I like to study the game. I like the strategy. I like the. I like to study placement and. Yeah, precision, actually. [00:10:40] Speaker A: I like that. I'm going to take that and shift it a little bit. And, Luke, I'd love some more insight from you here, but I do believe in having a game plan with your partner. So yesterday, my upcoming partner and I spent time thinking through how we were playing on every play, or most plays, who didn't cover middle or why didn't they? Or who didn't cover the line and why didn't they? What caused us to hit, you know, this choice of a shot? Were we thinking about our partner when we hit that shot? But maybe more so importantly, Luca, what I want to ask you is not that strategy of what I would call reactive. I just screwed up. What did I do wrong? But what proactive strategy would you have in place? Like, are you thinking about whether or not you and your partner are on the left or the right? Or stacking or stacking only on offense or like, anything like that? Or what kind of. What's your game plan there? [00:11:25] Speaker B: I like to stack. I like to play myself, probably about three quarters court. When I stack, I like to play. I play. I play a lot. Offense. Yeah. If I. If I. My partner, I mess up and then I'll try to read it and fix what we can do for the next shot or the next. Next point. [00:11:46] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, it is important to have that pre game plan with your partner. I want to talk about some other things I think tournament people should be aware of. And just in case some people are new to this particular tournament coming up in our town, which 450 plus players are just super cool. [00:11:59] Speaker C: It is. It's gonna be a big tournament. [00:12:00] Speaker A: It will be. It'll be the probably second largest tournament this year in our, in our state, and it's been the second largest probably two or three years running at this point. If you're, especially if you're new to a tournament. But even some of us that have done it multiple times get there early. [00:12:16] Speaker C: Yeah. Nobody wants their partner to walk in or to have a set of people walk in right at the last minute because there's normally some instructions that happen by a pod captain or a tournament director so that you know what to do, where to go, and if you are coming in right when you're supposed to start, you're going to miss that and you're going to bump people into behind schedule. I don't know how to say that. Right. [00:12:45] Speaker A: But you're going to jack it up. [00:12:46] Speaker C: You really are. And then you're going to start off the tournament by frustrating everybody, and that's not a good place to place to be. [00:12:54] Speaker A: So you use the word tournament director. I said TD earlier. That's a tournament director. If you're not familiar, the TD is responsible for the whole entire tournament. Like they're owning, operating, running. They usually have a great staff of volunteers with them and other people to help, but that's their role. And the tournament director, here's what they love when they're ahead of schedule. [00:13:13] Speaker C: Yes. [00:13:13] Speaker A: And so be aware that sometimes the tournament director, before the tournament will put into the notes for the tournament. We will start the event up to an hour earlier, up to a half an hour early, you know, if time allows, if we're ahead of the schedule, I think people need to look at that, too. A lot of people just go, oh, look, I play at 08:00 p.m. But they don't look at the fact that the other notes said we could start as much as an hour early. So when I say get there early, really study and understand what the tournament is expecting of you as a player and then make sure that you're honoring and being there for those things. [00:13:46] Speaker C: And it's smart to come and watch. [00:13:49] Speaker A: Well, yeah. Like, especially, I think you and I talked offline about the singles. If I'm playing against Luke on Saturday in men's doubles, but I see that Luke is scheduled to play singles on Friday, I might want to watch him. Or if you and I are playing against mixed a team like Luke and Kelly on mixed on Sunday. Well, let's watch him on her on Saturday and kind of get a feel for how they play. [00:14:10] Speaker C: Exactly. [00:14:11] Speaker A: Chance. We're already playing against him on Saturday. Right. But if we're not, get a good chance to kind of see how they play, what their game, what their game seems to be like. You know, you look for patterns in people's play. These guys tend to do. I know Luke's patterns fairly well. Doesn't mean I get to return all the shots. But we play a lot together, so I have a pretty good idea of where he's going to go and what he wants to do. I know when he wants to slide to the middle and try and rip that forehand, it's very helpful to take a peek at what they're doing completely. Here's something I do that not a lot of people do, or at least what I would call not enough. Now, this is where the tournament directors are like, shut up, Kevin. Take your time out. [00:14:47] Speaker C: Take your secrets. Yes. [00:14:49] Speaker A: Take your time out. It's amazing. I mean, sometimes, even if it's just to compose your own team, right. But it is amazing that sometimes they work, so sometimes they don't. I get that. I don't know if it's 50 50. Never looked into that before. Don't actually care. But I believe in using them. [00:15:07] Speaker C: And if you're the team that is not the one that called the timeout, then you use that time to hydrate. [00:15:13] Speaker A: If I'm the team that did not call the timeout, I look at my partner and I say, we just earned a break. [00:15:18] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:15:19] Speaker A: Good job, partner. Let's keep going. [00:15:20] Speaker C: That's a good point. [00:15:21] Speaker A: Yeah. That's how I look at timeouts. If I'm not calling it, by the way, per the rulebook, you can call timeout all the way up until the ball is hit on the serve. [00:15:30] Speaker C: I did not know that. [00:15:31] Speaker A: So the score can be said. You can be swinging, but if the ball's not been hit and you yell timeout, the timeout is enforceable. [00:15:37] Speaker C: Okay? [00:15:38] Speaker A: Which I like to do. I like to wait till the very last second and call that time out. And it's so frustrating to some of the players I play against, and I like that. [00:15:47] Speaker C: Why am I not surprised? [00:15:48] Speaker A: I want to frustrate them. So, yeah, I know Lucas died as well. He feels a little bit. Do you feel a little bit bad about it? [00:15:55] Speaker B: Iffy about it? [00:15:56] Speaker A: Yeah, he's iffy. [00:15:57] Speaker B: I've done it in trumpets, too, and I've made a lot of people upset doing it. [00:16:01] Speaker A: They can't get over it. They. They're probably not the right partner for me. [00:16:05] Speaker C: What else. [00:16:06] Speaker A: Other great advice? Yeah. What other great advice do you have, Luke? [00:16:10] Speaker B: I like to have fun, like you said right before a tournament. [00:16:13] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:16:14] Speaker B: Get all that. Get your spirits up and then go into the tournament with a competitive mindset the entire weekend. [00:16:20] Speaker A: I love it. [00:16:21] Speaker C: Do you have a playlist that you play before? [00:16:22] Speaker B: I do like to listen to music right before I play. Get myself hyped up. [00:16:25] Speaker A: What do you got, man? [00:16:26] Speaker B: What do I got? Yeah, I got some future in there. [00:16:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:16:29] Speaker B: Yep. [00:16:30] Speaker A: I got a little AC DC. It's thunderstruck for me, right? [00:16:35] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. I heard him sing at the top of his line. [00:16:37] Speaker A: Yeah. I like. Right before tournament, I also have a song called level up. [00:16:42] Speaker C: Yep. [00:16:42] Speaker A: Which I love to play, as well. So it's. [00:16:45] Speaker C: I think it's literally in your Spotify account as tournament playlist. [00:16:50] Speaker A: Yep. [00:16:50] Speaker C: Or pickleball playlist. [00:16:51] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm gonna throw a couple more at you guys. I think this is a tournament is when you play the smartest pickleball you can play. No. When to let a ball go. No one. Well, no one. To let a ball go. Always hit your shots. The smart shots in smart placement. This is not. This is going to sound crazy. I believe at tournaments you got to go for it, because sometimes to win the gold, you got to beat the best, and to beat the best, you got to really bring your a game. So I'm not saying you don't do that, but what I'm saying is, wait for the right shot, be patient. So place your shots where you need to place them. Be what? Like, I have to be way more patient in a tournament than I am in rec. In rec, I like to go for it. Like, how do I get this impossible shot in? Because it would look really cool if I did well. Net, fault out, whatever. But in a tournament, I got to remember, like, that's not what I'm here for. If I got a dink 50 times, I got a ding 50 times, I got to do whatever I can do to set myself up or my partner up for that really good opportunity to put the point away. [00:17:54] Speaker C: True. And I think my volleyball coach in high school said it best. He would say, let the other team make the mistakes. You play the smart game, and at times, that's not the super wow move. It's not the fancy serve. It is getting your serves in, playing smart. [00:18:15] Speaker A: I hate getting beat by the boring people, and they're the ones that win. They do because they're consistent. They just. They just wear you down. And I love it because it's very smart play. [00:18:27] Speaker C: Or they know when to hit it hard. [00:18:28] Speaker A: Yeah. Look, go to your best shots in the game. Right. If you're struggling or if you just don't know what to do, just go to what's good. If you have a good backhand drop, get in position and use your backhand drop more. [00:18:41] Speaker B: Yep. [00:18:42] Speaker A: Right. If you got a good forehand rip down the line, get in position to rip that ball down the line with your forehand. Use your best shots. Serves. I'm. I'm gonna. I want to hear from you, Luke, on serves. My point. My position is you gotta get a good serve in. I don't just mean get it in. It's gotta be a good serve. [00:19:02] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:02] Speaker A: Not your hardest hit shot, not your shot with the most spin. But you've got to put pressure on them from the very first shot of, you're giving them the opportunity to put the pressure back on you. [00:19:12] Speaker B: Correct. Yeah, I like to, um. I. I think the. The depth is the biggest part of that. [00:19:18] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:19:18] Speaker B: Um, keep them. If you can push them back off that back baseline, that gives you such a huge advantage. Round of that back baseline a skipper. [00:19:27] Speaker C: Yep. [00:19:28] Speaker A: Absolutely. That's an outshot. Unfortunately, in the tournaments, if it hits that back baseline on a serve. I'm just saying that people call it out a lot because it's like, I hate that. [00:19:39] Speaker B: But maybe, just, maybe just inside. [00:19:41] Speaker A: Yeah, get inside. For sure, you don't want to have that tournament out. Forget your errors. Get over it. The rule that I have for myself, and I don't try to impart this on my platform, but the rule I have for myself is when I'm in position to receive the next ball, watch my partner receive the next ball, serve the next ball, or be next to my partner when they're serving it. I don't care. Whatever, whatever's happening when I'm in position at the score being called at that point, I've completely done everything I can to forget the previous play. I'm completely focused on this next play. [00:20:15] Speaker C: And there are some pros that have a reset. They'll do something in particular to do reset. I like that. I like to go to the back line and come back and it's almost a mental reset. [00:20:24] Speaker A: Yeah. I hate it when you do that. [00:20:26] Speaker C: I know you do. [00:20:26] Speaker A: Someone's like, why is she coming back here? I'm the one receiving serve. And then I tell you every time you're up and you're like, I know, I'm just resetting. Go reset somewhere else, like, like outside. Okay, so Leah Janssen's one that you're talking about. She's like, yeah, tap, tap, cross, cross. You know, put your right foot in, put your right foot out, do the hokey pokey. [00:20:47] Speaker C: I don't think she's that. [00:20:48] Speaker A: No, she does like, 19 things. It's ridiculous. Okay. What she really does, she just wants, she's like eight, nine things. Okay, so. [00:20:57] Speaker C: But if it works for her, I. [00:20:59] Speaker A: Don'T know that it does. I've seen her when she's not done it and when she has done it, and I've never really seen a big difference in her play, but she believes it does, and that's all that matters, right? Zane goes back and, like, attaches the wall behind him, or like, that's what a lot of grabs it or something. [00:21:18] Speaker C: There's something to that, though. [00:21:19] Speaker A: So I agree. [00:21:20] Speaker C: When I played volleyball, I, before I served, I would smack the ball, which would freak out the other team. And it worked, and it was my reset. So I took that same idea and I applied that to pickleball. But I'm not saying everyone should do that. I'm saying find something that works for you. So if it, if it's just simply saying, okay, no big deal, moving on, great. But if you need something, a tool like a reset, and incorporate it now. [00:21:49] Speaker A: In game, my reset is this. If I'm dropping, if I'm driving poorly or dropping poorly to the sides, I will tell my partner, I told Luke this in Miami at least once, I'm going to drop middle. My reset personally is go to the middle. I don't go there often enough, and it's actually really good place to play the ball. [00:22:08] Speaker C: Excellent. [00:22:09] Speaker A: So I will drop dink, drive, drip dive middle for three or four plays in a row because it really resets my mind. It gets me focused on a placement. Once I get refocused on a placement, now I'm back to dropping to their backhand, dropping to the, you know, forehand, outside, lobbing over to the corner, what, driving whatever down the baseline or down the sideline. But I've got, I know I need to have that mental reset. So for me, rather than like, tap, tap, cross my knees, tap my heels, you know, click, click, click. I want to go home. For me, it's that three or four plays have consistently, you know, rallies of consistently going in the middle. Do you have a reset? [00:22:48] Speaker B: What I like to do is I like to, if I'm holding my paddle. I like to toss it up in the air, but catch it right back where it. [00:22:53] Speaker A: I've seen you do that. Just one flip, right? [00:22:55] Speaker B: Just one flip. [00:22:55] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:22:56] Speaker C: Kind of playful. [00:22:57] Speaker B: Yep. [00:22:57] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:22:58] Speaker B: Like do it two or three times. [00:22:59] Speaker A: Yeah. I've seen you do that before. You actually usually walk away from the net when you're doing it. Yeah. [00:23:03] Speaker B: And then I might break my pad on my leg sometimes, but I mean. [00:23:08] Speaker A: It'S happened, I'm sure. [00:23:09] Speaker C: Oh, that's a good tip, though. Bring an extra paddle. [00:23:13] Speaker B: Bring lots of paddles. [00:23:14] Speaker A: Well, we haven't really talked about the bag much. I don't know. Happens to be our next episode is what's in your bag. [00:23:19] Speaker C: Right. [00:23:20] Speaker A: But this is a good one. You should have some kind of, you know, I don't know, like pick a brand of, of rehydration, you know, chemicals that you could add your water wants to call it. [00:23:30] Speaker C: Some tournaments will have that, but. [00:23:32] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I mean, there's tons of brands out there. We're not sponsored by any of them. So I'm not trying to throw any particular names at you, but, yeah, just a packet of powder that you can throw in your water dry because pickle juice. [00:23:46] Speaker C: Some tournaments will not allow you to bring in outside food if they're trying to protect their food vendors. [00:23:51] Speaker A: Yep, yep. I think like, for me, that yobo I was talking about earlier, the little massage gun, that's a nice thing for me to have in my bag. That's a good, that's a good. A reminder to me. Well, yeah, but you know, what happens a lot is at some tournaments, and this is what's cool about most of the tournaments we run nearby here. Somebody somewhere in our, in our community came up with this idea of a pod captain, and it really makes the tournaments extremely efficient. And you don't wait. So you might go to a bigger tournament and wait an hour between games. You're not waiting. Right like that at all at our tournaments. And, uh. But if you're at a tournament where you gotta wait, do not just sit down and not move. Horrible. Keep the body loose. I'm not saying walk the whole time. No, sure. Watch pickleball for five minutes and then walk to another court. Watch for five minutes, walk to another court. Whatever you need to do to stay loose, stay loose. [00:24:49] Speaker C: And if you're not shy about stretching, there's, there are other things that you can do. You can sit with your legs straight up, which helps with circulation. There's, you know, if you have any stretching regimes or yoga flows. I mean, like, there's, there's so many things that you could do. [00:25:10] Speaker A: I got a few yoga flows. [00:25:13] Speaker C: Yeah. So I'm just saying that, you know, there are things that you can do that can provide rest, but you can still be moving. [00:25:20] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. Okay, look, any final thoughts on what you think needs to be done ahead. [00:25:27] Speaker B: Of time before the tournament or during the tournament? [00:25:30] Speaker A: Yeah, either or. [00:25:32] Speaker B: I like to change my over grip a couple days, maybe a day of tournament. [00:25:35] Speaker A: It's a good one. [00:25:36] Speaker B: Um, if it's getting really, uh. [00:25:40] Speaker A: Icky. [00:25:40] Speaker B: Yeah, icky. [00:25:41] Speaker A: Icky, not sticky. [00:25:42] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I like to change it. I like to go with like one over grip. I took the, I take the stock grip off of usual paddles. [00:25:50] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:51] Speaker B: And I put a new over grip on it. Under it. It's more tacky. [00:25:54] Speaker A: And if you put the stock grip back on top of that. [00:25:57] Speaker B: No, I just take this, like, I. [00:25:59] Speaker A: Just take out the original. [00:26:00] Speaker B: I'm on the polycomb. [00:26:03] Speaker A: Okay. [00:26:03] Speaker B: And I put an overgrip on it. [00:26:05] Speaker A: So you don't double grip it, though? [00:26:06] Speaker B: No. [00:26:06] Speaker A: So you don't really have an over grip. You have a replacement grip. Okay. Yeah. Okay. It makes sense. I do an over grip. I like to keep the original grip on the pal and then over grip it. I just like that fatter handle a little bit. I think I would talk about mixed doubles for just a minute. I think in that game in particular, you need to be more mentally prepared than in men's doubles or in women. [00:26:26] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:26:28] Speaker A: As the female, I'm not one, but I know that it's a different game because you expect more balls coming your way. [00:26:35] Speaker C: You do. [00:26:36] Speaker A: It doesn't mean you end up hitting more, but you expect more coming your way. They're going to drive more at you, they're going to drop more at you, they're going to dink more at you. Sometimes it's a really smart play. Not necessarily just because they're picking on a woman. I don't mean that at all, actually, but because I believe in two on one anyway. Whether it's two on one and you're hitting to the guy or two on one, you're hitting the female, you're isolating the other player and you're sort of icing them out, if you will. And it's a mental, it's a mental game to be ready, a mental mindset to be ready for that fast flick at you when you've not hit the last 25 balls. [00:27:12] Speaker C: Right? [00:27:13] Speaker A: All of a sudden, bam, you're in the game. You've been in the game the whole time. You just haven't hit any of the balls yet. So I think that's a big, important one I get to work on. Breathing is important. Not that I want to get too deep into it, but remembering to breathe during longer rallies. There's a lot of people that will kind of hold their breath, and that's. I'm not trying to say it's dangerous. It's just, it doesn't put you in a good mindset. That continually breathing piece is very important. [00:27:39] Speaker B: I've heard smelling salts work. [00:27:41] Speaker A: I've never tried. [00:27:43] Speaker B: I know someone who does. [00:27:44] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. Well, if it works for them, I mean, it's a. It's a eye opener. I mean, I've tried smelling salts before, but not because I was trying to be ready for the next pickleball play, but, yeah, boom, that gets you. What's that? Ammonia, right? [00:27:58] Speaker C: I think so. [00:27:59] Speaker A: Yeah. It's like you're very awake. [00:28:02] Speaker C: It could be overused, but. Yeah, I've heard that, too. [00:28:05] Speaker A: I'm gonna touch on one more topic that I think is important when you go to a tournament, and that is this. Either you are the sandbagger or you should expect to have a sandbagger. Because in most tournaments. [00:28:17] Speaker C: Are you going to explain that term for the people? [00:28:19] Speaker A: Yeah, most people probably know it, but in most tournaments, there's somebody or a team that probably should be playing higher. [00:28:25] Speaker C: Yep. [00:28:25] Speaker A: And probably would like to get a gold medal at the level they're at. And so they're playing at the level they're at. And look, this is where we talked about this in my dupers and the pooper and the pathetic current rating systems that we have because they allow for. They almost, basically, they almost encourage sandbag force. [00:28:43] Speaker C: You. Yeah. [00:28:44] Speaker A: All right. So I'm playing fairly high level at this next coming tournament. But I could play 3.0. You could, but that's like I have. [00:28:53] Speaker C: Said before, and you have done that before with me. [00:28:56] Speaker A: We played three five. [00:28:57] Speaker C: Well, we had to. Yeah. [00:28:59] Speaker A: Yeah. And. And I felt bad. Now, they isolated and worked on you pretty hard in that tournament. [00:29:05] Speaker C: They did. But I knew that going in. [00:29:06] Speaker A: Yep. But I mean, again, I don't want to play three five, but these stupid rating systems. So what, my point is, either you're sandbagging and you already know it while you're listening to me right here, or be ready for somebody to be a sandbagger. [00:29:21] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:29:22] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:29:22] Speaker C: It happens every tournament. [00:29:23] Speaker B: Every tournament. [00:29:24] Speaker A: And then this is the opposite of that. And this is the last thing I want to share with everybody, sometimes be that person who plays up. This is an opportunity to get really good experience playing with people you don't normally get to play with in the toughest of all settings, which is a tournament. [00:29:41] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:29:42] Speaker A: I'm playing up this next weekend. [00:29:43] Speaker B: Same here. [00:29:44] Speaker A: I want to do that because I want the experience. To me, it's a fairly inexpensive investment to get 2 hours on the courts with guys that are better than me. That's kind of how I'm looking at it. Playing up, I think, is a big deal. And I, and I. Now, when you play up, nobody is sandbagging. Okay, this is on you. [00:30:02] Speaker C: Right? [00:30:02] Speaker A: Right. You're playing up so you can't be like, there's handbaggers. Enjoy your games, get beat, have fun. Whatever you're gonna do, go do it. But I encourage people to play up in a tournament. It's. It's. It's fun. [00:30:15] Speaker C: I have one more thing to add. [00:30:16] Speaker A: What do you got? [00:30:17] Speaker C: I would say relax during the tournament as best as you can. Enjoy the whole thing because it is. It's supposed to be fun, and we do get wrapped up in the competition. But when you try to relax, you are going to find that you play better. If you're tense and you're holding onto that paddle too hard or you're just frustrated, you're not going to be mentally clear and you're going to make silly mistakes, and it could spiral. So just relax and have fun. [00:30:48] Speaker A: I don't know why that made me think of, like, ten more things, but I'm not. Yeah, but I'm not going to go through all of them, but really fast. Find out what ball they're using. Practice with that ball ahead of time court surface, too, as much as you can. Mimic what the tournament's gonna be like. If you can play at the tournament, then you do. If you can't play somewhere that's similar to the tournament venue, same ball, same type of venue. Get there early enough that you can find time to practice. Warm up ahead of time. Make sure you lose for the first game so you don't have that, you know, wreck play first game mentality that you have a tournament play first game mentality, which is significantly different. [00:31:19] Speaker C: Mm hmm. You've even brought a different color shirt in case the ball was too hard to. [00:31:25] Speaker A: Yeah, there's rules about the colors of shirts, and I just don't want to be that guy that wears a shirt that's the same color as the ball. [00:31:31] Speaker C: And they get mad. [00:31:32] Speaker A: Yeah. And, you know, if they don't like it. The tournament director can make you change, and so I'll just wear the one that makes sense to begin with. Last words. [00:31:42] Speaker C: Have fun. [00:31:43] Speaker A: Last words. [00:31:44] Speaker B: Have fun at the tournament. Most. Most importantly. [00:31:46] Speaker A: You know what? Have fun. Those are great last words.