Footwork: The Most Important Skill in Pickleball | Ep. 24

[Music] Pickle Ball Cheat Code.

Hey everyone, welcome to Pickle Ball Cheat Code, the show for competitive pickleball players looking to level up their game. We focus on advanced

their game. We focus on advanced strategies for experienced players, stuff only the pros really know. I'm

Brody Smith. I'm a 5.5 level player and a coach and I'm here with my co-host, Mr. Tanner Tamasi.

What's up everyone?

Today we're covering the importance of footwork in pickle ball. And at the end of the episode, we will be chatting about Tanner's controversial out call at a recent A semi-final. Oo,

that's a good intro to the thing. If

we've done anything to improve your game, share the show with your pickle ball community. Tanner, we've we've

ball community. Tanner, we've we've touched on footwork often, right? You

know, there's it comes up a lot in everything that we discuss. Why?

I said it before and I'll say it again.

I think footwork is the most important thing in pickle ball. You can't convince me otherwise. We said, you know what? We

me otherwise. We said, you know what? We

could do a full episode on it. Well,

here we are. We're doing we're doing a full episode on it. So, let's get into it. Myself, I wish I had videos of me

it. Myself, I wish I had videos of me playing when I was first getting started cuz I know I was Mr. Happy Feet tap dancing all over the court looking like a buffoon. And I remember my coach would

a buffoon. And I remember my coach would even laugh at me all the time. What was

your development process from when you first started to where you are now with your footwork in particular? I know when I first started, I always uh I feel like

I had pretty decent footwork right away, but something I really uh tried to learn was the uh like the drag when you hit the dinks, if that makes sense. I never

really had that. That was a learn thing that uh has definitely helped me with consistency. It's a pickle ball thing,

consistency. It's a pickle ball thing, but learning it definitely is an improvement for your game. No doubt.

Yeah. I mean, let's let's talk about that. So, there's important footwork at

that. So, there's important footwork at different levels of the court. You know,

there's different footwork that you're going to do when dinking, different footwork that we're going to have when we're at the midcourt, many even at the baseline, when we're hitting drives and hitting thirds. It's going to vary

hitting thirds. It's going to vary throughout, but there are some very common consistencies throughout the court that are like, you know, king rules that you must follow. But, let's

start off with the kitchen. Like you

said, the drag. This is something that a lot of players don't do, but then you turn on and you're watching pro pickleball. You're like, "Oh,

pickleball. You're like, "Oh, everybody's doing this every single dink." Is it to look cool? Is it to look

dink." Is it to look cool? Is it to look fancy and flashy? No. There's a method to the madness. There's a reason why everyone's doing the sexy foot drag, as I like to call it. So, let's talk about

the sexy foot drag a little more and why it's so important. So, break that down for us. Break down that footwork in

for us. Break down that footwork in particular, kind of what that looks like and the value of it. So, imagine say you're right-handed, you're playing the left side of the court, somebody hits

like a a dink out far to your left that you need to like really stretch to get.

So, the only way to get that ball is to reach for it, obviously. And if you're reaching for it, you're not going to be able to hit a good shot to it. So, what

the foot drag does is when you step for the ball, it allows you to take a long large extended step and slow yourself down with your right foot. it would be.

So, you're stepping out to get that ball with your left foot and then instead of like abruptly stepping over there, hitting the ball and coming back. You're

stepping over with that left foot and then to kind of stay in the flow and put yourself back in action, you're dragging that right foot, allowing you to hit the ball and then pushing off your left. And

the drag allows you to kind of push off, stay on balance, and get back in the point. Whereas, if you have that abrupt

point. Whereas, if you have that abrupt footwork, like it's just not clean or efficient, you're not going to be able to take control of the rally.

Yeah. that it just it comes down to balance because when you're planting out to the left and you anchor that left leg, really think about setting your footwork, setting that leg as early as

you can and then like you said that drag of that right leg or the the sole of the of your shoe essentially kind of comes up off the ground and you're pulling it.

It's so you could really really center your gravity towards your left side of your body and plant. Then the other thing is too people always rush that footwork as well. you have more time

than you realize. Really sink into that left leg when you're dragging that foot and have the mentality of getting underneath the ball. You know, we're trying to brush under it when we're hitting this type of dink and this type

of shot. We're getting below the ball.

of shot. We're getting below the ball.

People often when they hit this footwork, they're they're hitting kind of flat and parallel at it and then they're rushing it. Um that's one of the most common mistakes that I see. And

then the other thing is when people plant for this type of shot too and when they drag sometimes they will try to like lift their leg out of it as they're hitting the ball. It's really important

to separate that out after you plant.

It's important to hit and then your body will always naturally follow. You know,

I I never see people hit and then wait too long for their body to follow through, per se. The most common mistake I see is they'll try to hit and then lift at the exact same time, right?

versus having that be two separate movements. I don't know if that's

movements. I don't know if that's something that you see when you're coaching or an error that you've had to resolve for yourself. I have to coach myself on that

yourself. I have to coach myself on that a lot, too, because a lot of the times I'll try to like pop up as I'm hitting it and I'm like, "Oh, This is where my inconsistencies are coming from."

from." Yeah. You want to flow through every

Yeah. You want to flow through every shot. It should feel good. It shouldn't

shot. It should feel good. It shouldn't

feel abrupt or rushed.

Yeah. It's essentially like always separate those two in your mind. Like

I'm saying it again because it's so important. It's a it's a hit. And then

important. It's a it's a hit. And then

for any footwork that we're doing, whenever we're planted, whether it's a third shot drop, like we're getting low, we're getting our feet set, we're making that contact, and then our body will follow through after. It's not

simultaneous. It's two separate movements. So, it's like a receiver

movements. So, it's like a receiver catching a football. When they're

running the route, I think I talked about this before. You catch the ball first, you grab the ball, secure it, and then you look downfield and run your route. It's not This is why receivers

route. It's not This is why receivers will make drops. They try to do it at the exact same step of catching the ball and running the route at the exact same time. I'm not a football player as you

time. I'm not a football player as you can tell by how small I am, but I think that's good advice and it's something that people can hopefully relate to. Um,

make sense. Cool. So, let's discuss footwork at different areas of the court. So, we touched on it on dinking a

court. So, we touched on it on dinking a little bit, but I want to drill into that a little bit more. What does your foot footwork look like when we're at the kitchen? So, we'll talk about the

the kitchen? So, we'll talk about the kitchen. Like, when we're in a hands

kitchen. Like, when we're in a hands battle, per se, like what is your footwork looking like there? And what

are some things that you're focusing on with your feet? When you're in a hands battle at the kitchen line, your feet, you could pretty much be like flatfooted, never flat footed, but always like slightly more on your toes, but like not stepping around. You want

to almost have like cement feet and just use your arm to react because the less moving around, you're going to be able to react quicker. I would say when you're at the kitchen line, same thing.

This is the kitchen line is when you want to be lightest on your toes. always

on your toes, move it around. If

somebody tries to wrong foot you, you'll easily be able to recover. If you see it like the lower levels, people will get wrongfooted or offbalance pretty often.

Whereas the pros, the there's reason they're not the pros aren't using body fakes as much or deception um uh or anything like that because the players have such good balance like they're able

to just recover. So, the risk verse reward of maybe hitting a more deceptive shot, but maybe missing it as opposed to hitting a solid shot, it just doesn't line up. Um, where at the lower levels,

line up. Um, where at the lower levels, like that deception might work because the players tend to lack with the balance because they're not as inclined agility wise.

Um, I would say from the baseline, uh, same thing. You want to be light on your

same thing. You want to be light on your toes for the third shot drops. Since you

have more time to react, you can be like slightly heavier. Almost like a bit more

slightly heavier. Almost like a bit more lazy, if that's the wrong word, but you could just be like a little bit heavier on your feet.

More relaxed, right?

Yeah. More relaxed. Like you don't have to be as uptight. Um the spot where you can be the heaviest on your feet for sure. Like you have nails in your feet

sure. Like you have nails in your feet for me is like when I'm hitting resets because I really want to plant a solid base and be able to push the ball over softly. I don't want to be tiptoeing

softly. I don't want to be tiptoeing around on my on my tiptoes. right when

my opponent's going to hit the ball, I'm pretty much like cemented in and like really just focused on a strong base and using my arms to absorb with my hips, my knees, absorb that ball back.

Yeah, I think that's a really good point to distinguish is like we can be at the balls of our feet and be a little light on our toes for kitchen and baseline, but when we're in that midcourt, just set your feet. You don't even

necessarily need to be on your toes at all like you said. Like really lock in, calm down early before they hit the ball, right? you know, you see you hit a

ball, right? you know, you see you hit a little bit of a reset or a popup, per se, when you're in that midc court, set those feet, lock it in, and get those plant feet set. Um, and that's really

important, too. Let's discuss the

important, too. Let's discuss the transitioning footwork because transition footwork itself, obviously, like we said, resetting, we're planted, we're locked in, we're not moving. We

have good core positioning, but we're low, our feet are set, and we're not doing anything. However, when we're

doing anything. However, when we're transitioning and trying to apply pressure, that looks completely different. whether it's a shake and bake

different. whether it's a shake and bake or a crash or anything like that where we're trying to apply that pressure. How

does your footwork differ there? You

know, let's say your partner hits a really good drop. You're approaching the kitchen. Are you staggering your feet

kitchen. Are you staggering your feet and doing like a little chop step and then planting or what does that kind of look like as you're approaching?

Yeah, I would say just what you said, like you're almost like doing gather steps into a split step and then kind of launching off. When when you're

launching off. When when you're poaching, you want to be like that's when you need to be the most uh spot-on with your feet, the most physical. So,

I'm really like making sure I'm knees bent, split stepping, gather stepping, make sure I'm in the right spot, and then I can dart off either way. If your

feet are wrong there, you'll miss the shot or be late. You have to have elite footwork to poach accurately.

Yeah, because there's two things that you could do there when you're making that transition is or sorry, there's three things as you're transitioning.

You're either going to like really lock in and set for that reset depending on the height of the ball. Obviously, if

you see it coming high, that's when we're getting low and we're getting our feet really calmly cemented into the ground. But if that ball is going to be

ground. But if that ball is going to be dipping over the net and you know they're going to be hitting up on the ball, you have two options. You could

either blitz straight ahead or make that the shake and bake. This would be the bake because you're coming in to close and you come in and poach, right? So,

two different types of footwork between that. When we're going in for that

that. When we're going in for that poach, that's more of that lateral movement where we're staying square and having your chest up front. The balance

on these shots are like the most important part of it. And I make this mistake all the time too when I'm poaching. I'll start turning my body

poaching. I'll start turning my body more straight forward towards like diagonal crosscourt and I'm like running through it with kind of heavier steps.

Whereas when I'm doing it properly, I'm staying square. So you'll see the best

staying square. So you'll see the best players when they're making these poaches or these blitz shots, they stay square and they stay in that lateral position. I don't know if that works

position. I don't know if that works well for you, but that's what I've noticed for me is when I'm having like that athletic stance and my chest is up and I'm light on my toes, that's what allows me to have that blitz forward to,

you know, really just jab forward if they're coming directly at you or go for that poach shot crosscourt, right? Yeah. I mean, that's exactly it.

right? Yeah. I mean, that's exactly it.

Do you How often are you doing that blitz? That's not something that I do.

blitz? That's not something that I do.

Well, I remember when I was playing with um some top pros a while back that they would they would blitz me often when we're doing like skinny singles or something and it scares the out of me. But the blitz being where you'll,

me. But the blitz being where you'll, let's say you drop straight in front of you and they're going to be feeding that back to you, but right before they hit that ball, you're blitzing straight at the net and you're kind of making an

early prediction of that they're going to be getting a little height in that ball and you're trying to get out in front of it. What does your footwork look like there? Are you just kind of like making that fencing jab, like that fencing style footwork where you're like

jabbing forward to poke at the ball and go for that roll? Like how do you set that up properly? It's something that I'm still working on.

Yes, this I've actually worked a lot on this and um my partner Richard actually helped me with it really well. Uh so my issue is I'm always like late to poaches or miss them in the net and it's because

my footwork's wrong. Meaning I'm split stepping too late. What I'm doing is like I'm running full speed until like I see my partner get shot, whatever. I'm

running full speed and then I'm split stepping I'd say like a half a second before my ball crosses the plane of the net. I want to be like split stepped and

net. I want to be like split stepped and still before my opponents make contact to the ball because I oftentimes will like just full out sprint and then I miss or they go behind me or then I fake

my partner out. So my partner drives it, the ball's traveling over our side of the net right before it crosses the net.

I'm split stepped and I'd say almost the midcourt like like and then I'm like a linebacker like ready to dart left, dart right depending on where the ball goes.

That's been the best thing for me.

Instead of only darting um uh horizontal, so like if I'm up, left, right, I'm split stepping in the middle, so I'm darting straight and to the left to the right. It allows me to just read the shot so much easier.

Yeah, that's the it's that straight dart that that immediate blitz. That's what I need to work on. What were some ways that you drilled that with Richard? Like

how did he help you improve that? Like

what are some things that we could give to myself for example to to go work on in the lab? So, he just told me uh we didn't really drill it. He just gave me the input of like I'm just split stepping too late. So, like when we're

practicing when he drives it, I'm making a conscious effort of like split stepping uh as his ball, like I said, like a half second before it crosses the plane of the net on our side uh going

onto theirs. So, like I'm still and then

onto theirs. So, like I'm still and then darting forward. I'm not just full

darting forward. I'm not just full running with my eyes closed. I'm making

sure I'm You can just make sure you're still before the opponent's striking the ball. And that's going to allow you to

ball. And that's going to allow you to just have more control of your body.

Makes sense. Okay. No, that's that's good advice. Um, and then another thing

good advice. Um, and then another thing that we that I wanted to go back to was the footwork when we're hitting softer shots mainly at the kitchen. And this is the most important thing I feel like and

and something that we have broken down in the past is getting your plant leg set at a good time. So, for example, it's it's always speed to the ball and

then slow-mo is how I like to describe it. So, if I get a dink to my right leg,

it. So, if I get a dink to my right leg, and this is something that you help me out with a ton for my speed ups that we we chatted about was getting your plant leg behind the ball. Can you talk about that a little bit more in terms of what

that looks like from your footwork at the net and making sure we're staying square like and how that's broken down for the speed ups or for everything for for both? Because I mean, we're still doing the same thing, right? Cuz

that triple threat position that I talked about of getting your plant leg behind the ball cuz even for a standard dink and then a speed up, it should look the exact same, right? Yeah. So, like

when the dink's coming to you, you want to always like uh try to take as least time as possible when it's on your side of the net. So, like if the ball's on my side, I don't want to just um like I don't want to let it bounce and reach

its apex and come all the way down because then my opponents have more time to react. Like if somebody's hitting a

to react. Like if somebody's hitting a really sharp dink, I'm like short hop, cutting it off to get it back on their side. The only time that I'm looking to

side. The only time that I'm looking to like slow the game down and use the tie the time uh in my favor is if my opponents hit a dead dink, then that allows me to really like be crafty,

especially with the footwork. Run around

to my forehand, make them think where I'm hitting it. I have so many options.

Inside out, dink, bag, speed up, lob from the inside out uh position. Really

good when you run around. Um,

the footwork is always just very light on your feet and really making sure you're taking like those small steps to gather yourself where almost like the ball is like in front of your pelvis.

Like you want it straight on. You don't

want to be outstretching. The closer the ball is to you, the way more feel you have for it. When it's outstretched, it's very difficult to grip the ball.

That's where I see everybody making mistakes all the time that the ball's outside their frame of their body and it's because of lazy footwork. Right? If

they had speed to the ball and you got behind it, just try to do whatever footwork you need to do in terms of that quickness early on where you're anticipating keeping that ball out in

front of your pelvis, per se, and and having that right out in front of your body because that's where you have that consistency from where you're in that like boxer position. Um, that's what I like to talk about too when when

coaching is like when we're hitting our dinks or we're in a hands battle, everything's out front of us like a boxer and it's very compact and very very quick jabs, you know, no big windups necessarily. Um, and keeping

windups necessarily. Um, and keeping everything in front of your frame and square. And that's the same thing when

square. And that's the same thing when we're hitting dinks or even like a midcourt ball that bounces that we're not taking out of the air of getting that footwork behind the ball, getting that plant leg set, locked in, slowing

down, and then hitting that next shot.

Um because if you're hitting it outside, that's when things get disconnected because of poor footwork and then we're making mistakes left and right. Um yeah,

but I think just honing in on that is the most important thing of all by far.

Um question when we're talking about footwork and like what's what's right and what's wrong, can we look at James Ignado? You've played with him. What is

Ignado? You've played with him. What is

he doing? Can you talk about his footwork and like why it works for him, but why it's so unique? It's something

that, you know, for people that don't know and don't watch James, he moves his feet like he's uh a construction worker using a jackhammer and he's just bouncing up and down like crazy. So, I

think it's hilarious, but obviously it works for him. I think the whole reason behind that because I've like experimented with it just to see. The

whole thing I think is just to keep mental focus like that forces you to be actively engaged with your brain. If you

don't do that and then the ball comes to you, you're more inclined to be flatfooted and then hit a poor shot. If

you're jumping up and down being ready to go, you're always going to be like on your toes and just more of in the moment. I I'm pretty sure that's what it

moment. I I'm pretty sure that's what it does for me. That's what I noticed right away. It just helps you be more in the

away. It just helps you be more in the moment for every shot and you don't go through the motions.

That's so Yeah, that's that makes sense.

I I feel like the Yeah, the the mental connection with footwork to your play is key. And whether it's as extreme as

key. And whether it's as extreme as that, I think the takeaway of that is that any sort of positive footwork and being really focused on your feet is going to help you for your next shot.

So, being very mindful about getting those plant legs set will really, really, really help with those next shots. So, if you're ever having a bad

shots. So, if you're ever having a bad day on the courts, always think about like, you know, how good is my footwork?

Am I really getting my feet set early?

Am I doing the right things? Am I

getting low? Am I squatting down and getting my plant legs set? Ask yourself

those questions early on, and those are usually the answer of why you're missing certain shots. Um, one thing I wanted to

certain shots. Um, one thing I wanted to break down that I find interesting, too, is staying parallel and staying open chest like towards the net or having your feet staggered. When is your

footwork staggered and like you're kind of hitting shots sideways versus when we're square? For me, it's as simple as

we're square? For me, it's as simple as anything from the baseline and that's like not a reset. Any sort of drive or drop, I'm usually staggered. Every other

shot in pickup ball, I am square and parallel to the with the court. Is that

with the net, per se? Is that the exact same strategy you have or is it a little bit different? Yeah, I'd say you're spot

bit different? Yeah, I'd say you're spot on. And the only adjustment I would make

on. And the only adjustment I would make is like if I'm hitting uh say a third shot drop with my backhand or if I'm hitting a backhand dink, I uh like the form of being able to draw a line with

my feet to the target. So I'm sideways like that. Uh I don't like to hit open

like that. Uh I don't like to hit open stance for those shots because then you tend to arm it where when I the the form that I use, you tend to use like your whole body, your shoulders into it. Uh

but besides that, I would say yeah, makes sense. Yeah. So and then you're

makes sense. Yeah. So and then you're parallel drawing that line. So, like

essentially your feet are literally pointing to your target whenever you're hitting those drops or any of those shots.

Yeah.

Sweet.

Okay. So, some of the takeaways I had that you know the the baseline like if you're going to take away anything home, it's playing on the balls of your feet like we talked about being lightly engaged where it's not too tense except

for that midcourt. We want to be solidified, cemented, and planted. Speed

of the ball then slow motion. Um getting

that plant leg behind the ball is so important. And then another thing we

important. And then another thing we didn't mention that I just realized too is always having our weight and our balance with the with our footwork when we're planted being slightly forward.

You know, we don't want to be falling forward, but I feel like having that weight forward, especially when we're hitting those drops and our drives and having our weight moving forward helps so much cuz when we plant and when we're

hitting any of the shots on our heels, that's where I see people missing short and and having mistakes all the time.

Um, and then staying parallel, like we just discussed, having that chair style defense like in basketball, like you're squaring up against somebody at every point of the court besides the baseline

is is key. Um, cool. So, I wanted to final finally chat about ways to improve your footwork. Um, you know, so what are

your footwork. Um, you know, so what are some things that you did to get your footwork better? Was it simply just like

footwork better? Was it simply just like watching prolevel play, getting some coaching from people like Richard? Like,

what did you do to make that better yourself? Yeah, the way I got good

yourself? Yeah, the way I got good footwork was watching the pros and then just doing a lot of drills. You're not

going to be able to efficiently hit the shots if you don't have good footwork.

So, the more drills you do, the better you're going to get with the shot. And

just if you're doing a bunch of drills, like you're going to figure out the footwork yourself pretty easily because, oh, I can't stretch for the ball like that. It keeps going into the net. Where

that. It keeps going into the net. Where

if you don't drill, you might not discover that. But if you drill and hit

discover that. But if you drill and hit it 20 times and 19 it goes into the net, oh, I need to change something. My feet

I'm outstretching the ball by my two arms length, you know?

Yep. Yeah. So, I think drilling number one. And then number two, if you're

one. And then number two, if you're looking to like really enhance your footwork off the court when you're not playing, there's two things that you can work on. It's any sort of like fast

work on. It's any sort of like fast twitch muscle movements and exercises.

So, starting, for example, like doing a shuttle drill where you start on one side of the court, the left side, and you're getting really low and you're working on your very, very fast twitch movements. So you'll shuffle and you're

movements. So you'll shuffle and you're staying square towards the net. And then

you touch middle line, go back, staying square and having good balance as you're doing it, not reaching over when you're touching the line, then going back, touching the line that you started at, and then reshuffleling back square all

the way to the other side of the court.

Doing that over and over from both sides. So we're dropping and planting

sides. So we're dropping and planting into each leg and really emphasizing that lean down because that's such a common like foot drag style technique.

So, I'd say doing that a lot can be very very effective and making sure you're getting, you know, in good shape and and really working on your footwork there.

And then the other thing that I need to do a way better job of is any sort of like muscle building with my quads and then my core. Your quads and your core are the two most important things to

good footwork in pickle ball. So, being

able to really lean and sink into those legs as much as you can and having that stability. Um, I got little little

stability. Um, I got little little chicken leggies and that can be a problem for me sometimes when I'm, you know, getting engaged and drilling. I

can really feel it after an hour of drilling and I need to, you know, do that a lot more. Running and walking is probably not going to do for your footwork at the end of the day. I mean,

obviously it's it's good for you, but like if you're doing fast twitch related stuff or or muscle building for for your legs there, I feel like there's there's nothing better.

Um, all right, Tanner, let's wrap things up. Let's let's go to your your recent A

up. Let's let's go to your your recent A call that you have already addressed and this this episode's going to be dropping several weeks after it happened, but we haven't addressed it on the pod yet. So, I

wanted to address it on the pod. For

context, I was watching my brother with my brother when this happened. Um, this

was the A semiinal match. Uh, was it A Chicago? a Chicago against um two

Chicago? a Chicago against um two amazing players, Eric and um Max Max Manthou two two beasts but there was a there was a call that happened that

was controversial in the semi-final match so feel free to break it down and shed some light on it since you've been getting a lot of questions I think we lost the first game and then the second game maybe we were up like 96

n or down 96 97 I don't know something like that but long story short Richard I think maybe it was me I don't know it was me or We hit a drop or something. I

think it was me. I think I hit the drop.

I like took two steps into the court and then Max uh who was in front of me hit a really good like fourth ball that I was like, "Oh, this is coming like a missile. Um I need to get back and reset

missile. Um I need to get back and reset it, you know." So, uh I I think Rich I think I hit the drop. I'm not sure. That

doesn't matter. But I'm creeping into the court. I see him hitting a good

the court. I see him hitting a good shot. So, I try to back up. The ball

shot. So, I try to back up. The ball

gets like parallel with me like here. I

try to look at it. You can see if you look closely on the thing. I you can't you see I can't see the shot. Um the

ball is here. Uh it lands in by like five inches. Like we we cheated. I owned

five inches. Like we we cheated. I owned

up to it. Obviously it wasn't purposeful, but long story short, the ball was like five inches in. Um we had a discrepancy. Uh like we had said like

a discrepancy. Uh like we had said like to each other, did you see it? And

obviously like if if you don't know, you should call it in. But we figured we're on center court. We should try to just ask the ref. Uh get a match replay, whatever. Um, so long story short, we

whatever. Um, so long story short, we call it out. I'm like, Richard, did you see it? I think it was I think it was I

see it? I think it was I think it was I think I said I think it was good. And he

goes, I didn't see it. I think it was good too or I think it was out too. I I

don't know. Too too much. But somebody

on our team said it may have been out and then we were enough to be like, okay, we think it was out. Um, so then we say to the coach, uh, or not the coach, sorry. We say like, um,

coach, sorry. We say like, um, it was so much I don't even know. Uh,

whatever.

I mean, that was a while ago. It's it's

fair. There's a lot of things that went down for sure.

This was like two and a half weeks or 3 weeks from now. But regardless, we asked the ref. He says, "Uh, we didn't see

the ref. He says, "Uh, we didn't see it." So then we said, "Okay, I guess

it." So then we said, "Okay, I guess like we'll give it to you guys. We'll

give it to you." The ball was in. And

then when we said that, like probably realistically maybe like four to five people all at once were like that ball was clearly out like that. Like people

on the sidelines were saying that like spectators and they're not allowed to do that. um or that shouldn't influence our

that. um or that shouldn't influence our opinion. You know what I mean? But it

opinion. You know what I mean? But it

influenced our opinion in the moment.

Nope. It was out. It was out. We called

out and then Eric rightfully so was like, "No, you can't do that." And then the ref wasn't saying anything. So, we

kind of just went with it. Like I said, we were in the complete wrong. We

apologized. Totally bad on our end.

Never will happen again. I received

probably like 30 to 50 messages of people telling me that I'm a cheater.

They always knew I was a clown. All this

stuff. Why would I cheat? But clearly in any logical world, I wouldn't intentionally cheat when it's a live broadcasted thing. Maybe if it's like on

broadcasted thing. Maybe if it's like on a back court. I wouldn't even cheat then. But I was gonna say

then. But I was gonna say if I was going to cheat. No, if I was going to cheat, I wouldn't do it on center court in the semi-finals when it's broadcasted.

Um, but like I said, big misunderstanding. And then I also want

misunderstanding. And then I also want to bring attention to Richard and I after that did act very uh immature like with chirping and taunting. not

taunting, but a little bit of taunting after. And I think, like I said, some

after. And I think, like I said, some people not seeing the full story. The

very next point, and I'm not putting this on him at all, the very next point, Max um Manthal, our opponent, tried to like full bag me like mock 50 like in the face. It went into the net, but it

the face. It went into the net, but it was like really hard. So, and nothing nothing against it. That's part of the game. But it was obviously out of

game. But it was obviously out of frustration of what just happened when we were in the complete wrong. Took

responsibility. Um, so then me and Richard started like going crazy, which we shouldn't have. We ended up winning the game, but then like all four players like it just didn't feel right. I'm glad

we lost. If we won, it would have been just like such a bad look to win doing that. So, I'm very glad they deserved

that. So, I'm very glad they deserved it. By no means did we give them the

it. By no means did we give them the game. We still tried, but we didn't have

game. We still tried, but we didn't have that manufactured energy. Um, and with the manufactured energy, the past two tournaments we won, me and Richard are still figuring out our partnership. We

fig we found out that we play better as a team when we're loud. And the reason is is it takes away your nerves and allows you to kind of just like play and like it literally turns your brain off

from thinking. We are not mentally

from thinking. We are not mentally strong enough to play quiet. So we're

like, "All right, let's try that." The

announcers clearly did not like it the past three tournaments. They've had

things to say that they didn't like, which is understandable. It's not a good look screaming. So, we're definitely

look screaming. So, we're definitely going to tone it down and stop with the the the uh the manufactured energy and only do it on like key crucial points.

Um, but like I said, I accept full responsibility. If people watching me

responsibility. If people watching me see me differently, I I understand I was in the wrong. Completely own up to it.

So, all good.

Well said. Well, I appreciate the full breakdown there, everyone. Tanner is a man of character and never intentionally trying to cheat the system. All right,

that's the that's my number one takeaway. Why would I int people like

takeaway. Why would I int people like you knew that? You knew it was in. Why

are you calling out like clearly? But

but to be fair, if the announcers are saying that ball was clearly in and all four players and the ref don't know, they should have like a review system or they should just say from the announcer booth, yeah, the ball was in by like two

feet. We can move on. But instead, we're

feet. We can move on. But instead, we're trying to figure it out while they have it. You know what I mean? It just that

it. You know what I mean? It just that part didn't make any sense. But I'm not putting on them. I got responsible. No,

I mean of at the end of the day, like that's what it should boil down to because you're never going to get consistency with just human error regardless. Why I How come they couldn't

regardless. Why I How come they couldn't review it? Like they were they out of

review it? Like they were they out of challenges? They didn't have the review

challenges? They didn't have the review system.

I heard No, no. I heard that they only allow line calls on Championship Sunday, but the equipment's already set up, so I'm not sure why that's a thing, but that is a thing. But it's totally fine.

Um Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm just saying in

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm just saying in general it'd be nice to have for any championship court match, like anything that's on there, like any quarterfinal, semi-final, of course, that's going to add up.

I'll I'll tell you one quick tiny last story to wrap up. So then we were playing for third and fourth place after, you know. So we were playing um our opponents and like we won the first

game, I think like 119, but I I did not want to be there. Richard did not want to be there because we just cheated badly. Like it just rightfully so. We

badly. Like it just rightfully so. We

were just like like we just felt like horrible like human beings. Uh, well,

like I said, I'm glad we lost, but regardless, it was like the second game, it was a crucial moment. We won the first game. It was like 88 game two for

first game. It was like 88 game two for us to win or something something like that. The opponents like shank a counter

that. The opponents like shank a counter off the paddle and it's like a lob overhead. The ball lands like clearly

overhead. The ball lands like clearly two inches out and Richard's like, "That ball was out." I was like, "It was out, but I'm calling it in. I've cheated

enough today." And that pissed Richard off so much. He was like, "I'm ready to concede the whole match." Whatever. They

called a timeout and we ended up winning. But I I just I never would

winning. But I I just I never would cheat. I would never do anything wrong.

cheat. I would never do anything wrong.

Like I said, I've been producing pickle ball content for two years trying to help people. I would never throw my

help people. I would never throw my reputation away just randomly in this one second. But like I said, I I'm

one second. But like I said, I I'm understanding for all sides of it.

We got your back, Tanner. Appreciate the

breakdown. You're off the hook now.

Don't let it happen again.

I was deeply depressed for like a week.

Don't just Oh, I'm sorry. That's a

bummer. Well, just just don't do it against me when we play. That's the only thing I ask for.

I I'm worried for the next tournament.

I'm going to be the most generous line caller ever. The ball's clearly out. It

caller ever. The ball's clearly out. It

might have cliff, you know.

I hope you I hope you face them again and then they're going to try to get revenge or go. They're all respectful.

Of course. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. All

right. Well, thank you for shedding light on that.

We appreciate it. Um but yeah, that's all I got. Good chatting. Keep that

forward going and um been real.

Sounds good.

See you gang.

Yo, yo.

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