Ep. 300 - Is Your Mosquito Derailing You?

[00:00:00.540] - Tony Roig Hello and welcome to Pickleball Therapy, the podcast dedicated to your pickleball improvement. My name is Tony Roig. I'm your host of this weekly podcast. It's a pleasure to be with you. I am recording on location. [00:00:09.720] - Tony Roig There'll be some background noise behind me as the crowd goes nuts. I'm here at Major League Pickleball here at the St. Pete Athletic Club down here in beautiful St. Petersburg, Florida, about 20 minutes away from my house. Just a fantastic environment around here with everybody cheering on the teams, you know, just the action. I got to see the Columbus Lighters right next to me over here having a team meeting before they on today. It's just a different environment here at the Major League Pickleball. [00:00:36.280] - Tony Roig Highly recommend you check one of these out if you haven't, if they come near you. Such a great opportunity for you to engage with this sport in a way that, you know, it's very unique to this particular format. So check it out if you get a chance. I want a quick shout out here as we get into the podcast. This week's podcast, I'm gonna let you know, we're going to help you identify and get past the mosquitoes that are distracting you from the moment. [00:01:00.990] - Tony Roig I think you're going to find it really useful, really helpful to you in terms of your development as a player and also the human being, like being able to deal with things that happen that just outside your control that can derail you sometimes and distract you both pickleball and in life. Before we dive into the podcast, a quick shout out here to Katie Keller. They have a really nice review for the book, 5 stars. Improve how you interact with pickleball. The book is full of practical ways to shape your attitude towards pickleball and those who share the funnel sport with. [00:01:32.630] - Tony Roig You'll enjoy pickleball even more once you understand and apply the concepts and strategies shared in this book. So if you haven't had a chance to check out the book, check it out. If you had a chance to check it out and you enjoyed it, please leave a review. Even if you're going to leave less than 5 stars, perfectly fine. But there's like a 4 and a 3 star on there. [00:01:45.890] - Tony Roig I was going to read those, but there's no review. So leave a review with some feedback. It'd be awesome. All right. So let's talk about this idea of distractions and how to navigate them. [00:01:57.380] - Tony Roig What happened recently was, I live in Florida as I mentioned, about 20 minutes from this facility here, and the Florida mosquitoes in the summertime are crazy. And so mosquito gets into my house. This is a true story. Mosquito gets into my house. Now I have terrazzo flooring, which is black and white flooring. [00:02:16.720] - Tony Roig You know, I don't have a house that's very conducive to being able to identify mosquitoes in the air, but the mosquito was there because it was biting me and I could see it every once in a while. I kept on trying to get the mosquito, couldn't get the mosquito, right? It was there for, I don't know how many days, days, you know, it's been 3 days or something with a mosquito in my house. And so it got to the point where it was very distracting, right? Like I'd be sitting there trying to get some work done and, you know, I'd be then, I'd spend the next 3 minutes trying to find the mosquito and then I'd try and get some work done and then the mosquito would bite me and then I'd be like, shit, I gotta get the mosquito, right? [00:02:51.840] - Tony Roig So it was just, It was very disruptive, right, to my process and to my daily activities. And so, you know, I started thinking about it and by the third day, my attitude actually changed towards the mosquito. And I was able to use some of the stuff that we do in this podcast, some of the stuff in the book, just these ideas. And I started thinking about it and I'm like, you know, it wasn't fun, right? I don't enjoy having a mosquito nipping at me. [00:03:18.960] - Tony Roig But you know what? That's how mosquitoes are built, right? That's how mosquitoes do. Mosquitoes [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] Right, so they're looking for food. So I can't really say it's a mosquito swat. [00:03:28.820] - Tony Roig It's not like the mosquito was trying to get me or do something to me. Was it my bad luck to have mosquito in the house? No, I live in Florida, right? It's perfectly natural. You open the door, you know, mosquito happens to follow you in and there you go, mosquito inside the house and you gotta deal with it. [00:03:43.300] - Tony Roig And so what I could do, right, is I could think of how do I wanna deal with this situation, which is I have mosquito in my house. Do I want to let it distract me? Do I want to let it derail me? Do I want to let it take away from my life? Or do I want to just accept it as just being a situation, like part of something I got to deal with and nothing else about it, right? [00:04:08.760] - Tony Roig And so basically a distraction or live with the event, live with the occurrence. So I started to choose to just live with the event, live with the occurrence, live with the mosquito, understanding that it's just doing its thing and nothing more than that. And I gotta tell you something, not only did I get to where I was fine living with the mosquito in my house, I was actually kind of rooting for the mosquito a little bit. Like, I was trying to kill it. I was trying to smash it. [00:04:33.110] - Tony Roig You know, it would, this mosquito was doing everything. Like, it would fly in front of me and I've lived in Florida for a while, so I'm pretty good at like tracking the mosquito and like, you know, and smacking it, right? Based on where they think it's gonna go, you know, seeing and then kind of catching it. 4 or 5, 6 times, couldn't do it. It would land on me and I would go to get it and it would basically, as soon as I flexed a muscle a little bit, it would fly off, right? [00:04:58.420] - Tony Roig I mean, this mosquito was like top-level mosquito in terms of being able to get away from my grasp. And at some point you just go, you know, Same with the cat to you mosquito, you're very good at avoiding detection and capture and death, right? So taking this mosquito idea now, right, to our pickleball and to our lives, how do we want to engage with things that occur in our pickleball experience that are distracting, right? And can be distracting, I should say. How do we want to interact with those events in our pickleball life. [00:05:35.610] - Tony Roig And so think about things that happen, right, that can be distractions to you. Think of like, you know, score. Score you're called wrong. Think of the net trickler. Think of how many times, you know, how many players get distracted and get derailed by something like a net trickler. [00:05:50.030] - Tony Roig Think about, you know, that gust of wind that comes up if you play outdoors. Uh, you know, if you play indoors, somebody opens a door and, you know, and then the light comes in or something else, whatever like that. Bad bounces, right? You know, backcourt situation where you get a bad bounce. Think of a missed shot by you, right? [00:06:07.180] - Tony Roig Think of your pop-up. Think of losing the game after a big lead. All these things that can prove to be very distracting to you, right? Just process them for a second the same way that I did the mosquito. Like when it hits a net trickler, when the ball trickles over the net, is that the net's fault? [00:06:23.220] - Tony Roig Like, is that like— No. Is that like some conspiracy against you because, you know, the net is, is working against you? Is that bad luck for you because, uh, the ball hit the net or is it just a part of the game? Right? I mean, I don't know about you, but I've had plenty of balls on my side, you know, trickle over and I have plenty of balls trickle over against me. [00:06:42.770] - Tony Roig Um, and so, you know, thinking about it as being like unlucky doesn't make any sense. And, and, you know, are you going to let these events, these net tricklers and things like that, are you going to let them actually derail you? Are you going to let them distract you from the next moment, from enjoying the moment, right? That's what was happening to me sometimes with the mosquito is I was sitting there and the mosquito would distract me from what I was working on, what I was focused on, what I was trying to get done, from enjoying whatever that was happening in the moment because I started focusing on the mosquito. It was also not letting me focus on what I needed to focus on, right? [00:07:18.970] - Tony Roig Yeah. Trying to write a blog or trying to do something, and then I have this mosquito flying around and now I get pulled away from what I'm working on, right? Same thing when you play pickleball, right? You get a net trickler, bad bounce, out-call dispute, things like that. The next thing you know, you're not enjoying the moment and you're distracted and not, you can't give your best if you're distracted from what's going on on the court. [00:07:40.740] - Tony Roig So, you know, and let's go back to the idea of the enjoying the moment thing that we're saying, right? Yeah. You want to enjoy every moment that you can, particularly on the pickleball court, but just every moment that you can. And most of you listening to the podcast are not, you know, spring chickens anymore like me. So, you know, not to be depressing or anything, but we only have so many moments left in our life, right? [00:08:00.160] - Tony Roig So how many of those do we want to let be spoiled or let go away because of, again, a net trickler or a bad call or something like that, or bad bounce or anything like that, right? And as I mentioned, you know, you're not going to perform your best. You can't because your brain is so distracted with the noise, with the whatever, that you're not going to be able to perform your best in that moment, in that situation, the next moment, the next moment, because you're distracted by what happened. But that's how you frame it. That's how you choose to frame it. [00:08:30.130] - Tony Roig So why not reframe it? Why not see what it is? See the mosquito for what the mosquito is, right? It's just part of nature. Yeah. [00:08:39.180] - Tony Roig That sometimes will get into your house and wreak havoc on your situation if you let it, if you let it. And I wanted to go back to the net trickler for a second because I'll tell you, it's the group that I play in, most of those, most of us that were playing the group now, we actually celebrate the net trickler. Now hear me on this. We don't just accept the net trickler. We don't just go like, oh my God, net trickler. [00:09:04.580] - Tony Roig We don't say, oh my God, net trickler, negative, right? We also don't just are neutral to net tricklers, like, "Ah, net trickler, no big deal." We lean into the net trickler. So when there's a net trickler, we'll say something like, "Awesome, exactly what we wanted. Great shot. You know, got to practice it." Whatever. [00:09:19.780] - Tony Roig Some of the players actually put their hand up into a sign of solidarity whenever there's a net trickler. So we've actually taken it to the other extreme of not only is it not a negative, now in fact it's a positive force whenever we have a net trickler. So consider that. And you know, next time you're feeling the tug of distraction, right? So you're out on the pickleball court, and something distracts you, take a moment and explore it, right? [00:09:39.580] - Tony Roig Is it, is the distraction merited, right? Or is it just a part of the game? Net trickler, outfall, dispute, all those things, part of the game, going to happen if you play pickleball. And, you know, so why not just accept the situation? And if you can even lean into it, like the example I gave you with the, with the net tricklers, the better you get at that on the pickleball court, the better you get at that in life. [00:10:04.870] - Tony Roig And vice versa, right? It's a, it's a, it's circular. So the better you get about that on the pickleball court, the better you get on life. And vice versa. And the next time a mosquito gets in your house, no big deal. [00:10:14.930] - Tony Roig So give some thought to that. And my guess is you can probably even identify sitting here or listening to this podcast, some things that are like regular mosquitoes for you, you know, or things that like by definition are mosquitoes to you that, that, that will occupy your mind about about anything, you know, distract you. So identify those, process those before they arise so that you're ready to deal with it the next time that that situation arises in your life. So think of the mosquito, deal with it differently, and maybe even consider leaning into it in the future. You're going to feel better and definitely going to play much better when you're out on the pickleball court. [00:10:53.680] - Tony Roig So that's this week's podcast. Hope you enjoyed it. Next week should be back in studio, I believe. Yeah. For the podcast. [00:11:00.610] - Tony Roig If you enjoyed the podcast, please take a minute to rate and review it and share with your friends, because remember, if you enjoyed the podcast, they probably will too. If you're going to be at the camp in New York or at MLP in New York, I'll see you at MLP. If you're at camp, I look forward to coaching you up there in the awesome camp in New York City. Be well, and I'll see you on the next episode of Pickleball Therapy. Au revoir.