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Hey hey, this is Shaun with the GoTennis Podcast powered by Signature Tennis.

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With that said, let's get started with 10 minutes of tennis.

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Tip number 91.

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The question is, how to play doubles with a partner you've never played with or don't

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know well.

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Yes, make sure you open up the communication and the dialogue.

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I feel like I'm in deja vu right now.

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No, the first thing was just to practice round.

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Now we really know what we want to say.

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Yeah, make sure you keep dialogue.

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And I should have said, keep positive dialogue between you and your partner and the change

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of ends, make sure you keep talking about tactics.

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That way you're not necessarily internally thinking of yourselves or time, you're focusing

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on working things in and how to beat your opponents because that's pretty much what doubles

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is all about.

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Alright, and how to get the most out of my tennis lessons as a tennis lesson taker.

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Yeah, I would just try to keep the dialogue open with your coach.

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Sometimes it don't feel like clients talk enough and the coach obviously, I'm not the tip

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isn't for the coach, but hopefully they take a second to listen to you because it is

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very interesting when you hear what a client is going through, how much better the coach

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can shape what needs to be done to create the success for both of them.

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So I would say to get more out of your lesson, take the time to open up and share what it

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is you feel and think because that doesn't happen, that doesn't happen too often.

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You know, 60 minutes, my coaches, they like, okay, they want to hit many balls and they want

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to use much out of their lesson, but really, sometimes you get to take a few seconds just

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to hear and feel things and then you can shape it and progress even better.

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Alright, and that's 92, number 92.

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But if we jump to number 93 of our 100 tips that we're doing, you've got the opposite

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end of that one, which is a similar tip for the coach to open up and share more, right?

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Yeah, just with the coach on the coach side, just making sure that you're trying to hear

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and ask them what they're feeling and thinking because you'll be surprised as you're repeating

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one, two or three things that we'd say, hey, you're only focusing on this, they could be

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focusing on 10 things or they could be focusing still on the last lesson that you did and

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you feel like you're progressing forward, you know.

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So I think hearing and getting that dialogue up and it can really help progression a lot

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faster.

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Yep.

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Alright, and can I play with just any racket or is there an objective answer to the right

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racket for me?

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Okay, so first question there is you can play with any racket.

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Anybody can play with any racket.

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Sure.

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But really sucks when you're hitting with an aluminum no-string tension out of Walmart trying

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to hit the game really tough and I've taught this, I've shown this to many, many people.

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But there is now the proof of the science is, yes, there is a certain racket, certain string

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tension that does advantage a player.

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You know, your game style or if you want to progress, I've seen a lot of people come to me

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and go, I want to learn tootspin.

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I want to, I want to hit through the ball, I don't like it.

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Your racket is, you know, your head is too heavy to get that acceleration.

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So it has changed a racket, ball and the technique changed, the game changed, the light changes

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straight away.

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So yes, there is definitely something about the right racket for the right player.

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And your example of you found the right racket for you and you've stuck with it for more

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than a decade, right?

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Yeah, I've been with probably my retrofederistic 15 maybe longer than that, maybe 20 years.

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And it's, you know, I've experimented as a goal there, so maybe I should hit with more

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of it.

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I keep going right back to the field racket, you know, go right back to my control.

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So it's, yeah, it is a very important thing.

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You can stick to a certain racket if it's working, but you do have the options to understand

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that there are different rackets for different game styles.

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No question.

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And personalization matters.

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I give the plug to guys like Craig Brottman who are experts in racket personalization.

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So if your coach isn't an expert in that, you can always find someone to help you out

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with that.

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Next one is for a young parent or at least a parent of a young child before tennis lessons.

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Is there anything I can do with my say one or two year old to find out if they enjoy tennis,

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to maybe encourage it a little bit without duct taping a racket to their hand?

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What can we do as a parent to help them become a better athlete?

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We talk about throwing that kind of thing.

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What's a tip for a parent of a young kid?

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We do tennis channel on every TV right now.

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Let them see nothing else but that.

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And then just have rackets on the ground, little plastic rackets that they can't affect or

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hurt anything, but just little rackets around on the ground.

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You watch them just pick it up.

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They'll pick it up and start swinging it away.

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And if they really don't, then there's a good chance to just not sport driven.

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I mean, we can look at people in the world these days and it's tend to art or sport, but

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there's sort of the two directions that people tend to go, or I guess books or movies,

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they say that as well, but at the same time, what I've probably seen the most of is some

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kids just not in the sport.

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They don't like the competitiveness of it.

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I've learned, I've seen some great athletes that are like talented, but just not into the

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whole ego and sport really does drive them.

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Yeah, having the killer mentality.

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All right, so number 96, you've got a few tips for us going 96 through 99 and then we'll

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save our one tip to rule them all for the end.

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Yeah, I just said coaches and coaches, make sure you try to hit in different areas of

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court, make sure you're always in volleyball so that the parent or the child or the athlete

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or the student can walk off the court feeling that they've accomplished what they can do in

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volleyball as to what you're working with.

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So always incorporate a live ball situation in each lesson is what I would recommend to coach.

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And sometimes if you feel like they just can't get the live ball, then like I said, feed

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in different areas and get them to still work on the things you've gained to work on and

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then go into the live ball.

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Make them just realize that three balls is great.

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It doubles.

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You hit three balls cross-court, that's about all you got to get.

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Some guys are going to come on and someone's going to volley or someone's going to laugh

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or someone's going to error.

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So if someone hits a three ball rally back with you, that's a pretty solid.

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So go through those things, create sure to see big punch out to him.

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He's going to prove that the game is zero to four shots.

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So coaches stop in the 50 balls in a row.

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It just doesn't happen that way.

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It's especially enough for our machines.

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So zero to four, the sport is on and off as well.

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30 seconds off, 30 seconds off.

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30 seconds off, 30 seconds off.

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We don't hit balls for 10 minutes straight.

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I mean, just because you're conscious of these things, because it will improve your lessons

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and people will just come back for more.

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So anyway, there's my tips for coaches.

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And you've got a non-negotiable tip for parents.

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Yes, for parents, just understand what non-negotiable is up, right?

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And then what I mean by that is come up with things that are either at home, from the court

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or at school, you know, just things that come up with three or five tops.

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And then when the child is doing better and better and feels like they're being very

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consistent, someone will ask for it for more.

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Someone will actually, you just go, "Okay, you've done really well.

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I'm going to give you a high five for those five that you've been following.

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Now we're going to go with the next five."

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You know, and you just see them getting better and better.

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But the expectations are so high all the time, if there's too many, or if there are too

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many non-negotiables that keep changing, right?

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If the bar keeps changing for a child, that brings down their self-esteem.

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It makes it harder on them because they feel like they can't achieve everything that

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the parent is looking for.

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And that goes for coaches as well, but we're focusing on the parents.

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If I would suggest three to five tops, they'd just stick to them.

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And on the other hand, a child can give you three to five as well.

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And that really, of course, because now you've got, you know, a buy-in on both sides.

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That can be really cool.

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If you sit down with your child and say, "Okay, what's three to five things?"

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And he might just say, "I don't like you pacing on the court.

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I don't like you saying anything while I'm playing."

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You know, there's all these things that can happen by actually listening.

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And then it goes by poison, right?

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If the parent is doing what the child is asking, then the child should do what the parent's

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asking.

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Yeah.

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And I think that's two tips because the parent needs to be able to do it for the child,

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make sure your bag is ready in the morning, whatever it is, whatever they're responsible

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for, responsibility is key here, but then allow the child to give you some because that creates

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a more manageable relationship to be able to say, "You know what?

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I've given you some non-negotiables.

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Do you have anything for me?

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Let's negotiate our non-negotiables."

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Yeah.

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And it's not really a negotiate because you're non-negotiables and yours.

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And they're non-negotiables of theirs.

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And that's it.

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You know.

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So there's not really, the only time we've been non-negotiable.

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And negotiation is if they say, "I want to refresh restring every single time."

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Right.

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An unreasonable one needs to be negotiated.

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That's all I'm saying.

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Sure.

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Sure is.

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Yeah.

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Okay.

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All right.

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So one more and then we've got our best or one tip to rule them all at the end.

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You got one more for me?

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Yeah.

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So I would just say adults, just think about, if you're an adult, think about your age

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bracket, 30, 40, 50, 60s, there are certain restrictions.

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When you start to get restricted and when I say restricted is joint mobility or just cardiovascular

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or, you know, eyes, right?

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Our eyes as we get older, we don't perceive the ball or see the ball as well as we should.

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Okay.

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So try to adjust for that.

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Do not play like you played in the 20s, play in the 30s.

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If you're 50, you've got to adjust to figure out a different game style.

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And that could be compact.

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That could be all sorts of different things.

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But just start to identify that because I see so many people adult wise, they get frustrated

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and like, "Oh man, I used to be able to do this all the time."

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It's like, not that 80 group anymore, you know, things aren't the same anymore.

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And you can get that same benefit if you make some adjustments.

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So when you coach on that, get them to see and help you on that.

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And so anyway, that will be my tip for an adult tennis.

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And we've done two specific episodes on that topic.

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We've done a "What to Change" after 40, 10 minutes of tennis and a "What to Change" after

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50, where we've had discussions specifically on those two.

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So that's really good.

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Yep.

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Yep.

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Alright, so last one that I will ask, which is our number 100.

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You can only give me one tip.

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If you can only give, I don't know, anybody, one tip.

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Is there anything, I know, it's impossible to ask.

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It's like, "King of Tennis," right?

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If you could just give me one tip and you couldn't tell me anything else.

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Is there one tip you would pick?

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Uh, yes.

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Don't get in the game if you're not prepared to move.

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Like, I got to move to Puerto Rico to go hang out with you as my coach.

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No.

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Jeez.

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I've been moved physically.

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You've got to be able to move.

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You've got to be able to, you need some athletic ability about you to learn this sport.

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Because I've seen too many try to get into the sport and end up with poor injuries and

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invest a lot of money and do a lot of things and end up actually going the opposite way

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to tennis.

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Tennis is a sport if I've tried to mention to a lot of people, if you can play, you're in

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an elite area of the population of the world.

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For the reason of how complex this sport is, how physical the sport is, and if you can play,

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you're in an elite community that there's not many of us all around the world.

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Yes, it is a big sport around the world, but it doesn't mean that everybody can play tennis.

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Now, that being said, your stay will kill me right now because they want everybody playing tennis.

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But on the other hand, I've just seen too much opposite happen.

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I like to see people get themselves a little more in shape.

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Do this, do that, and then play tennis, not the other way around.

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I'm going to go play tennis to get in shape.

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Now I've got an over problem, now I've got a shoulder problem, now I've got a knee problem,

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and I did my ankle last time.

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It's like, okay, so let's just think about this first.

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So that would probably be my biggest tip is just be sure that you're in good shape.

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And it doesn't mean you have to be a marathon athlete, but just know that it is very difficult

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to learn to play the sport without some kind of athletic but physical ability, I should

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say.

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Remember that it is a sport and appreciate that.

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Justin Yeo, this has been way more than 10 minutes of tennis.

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But we got through 100 tips, I appreciate it.

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Thank you, Sarah.

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We will follow up.

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You know what?

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We're at 100.

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I'm going to throw a one last one in there.

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Okay.

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You've got to love it.

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You just got to love the game.

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I mean, watching the USU for recently, look at all the actors, look at all the movies

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does, look at all the other sports people that come to come and watch.

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You know, they love the game, they love the competition, they love what it draws, the drama,

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the whole works, you got to love the game.

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And that's probably my other one is if you're not in love with it, it's a really hard sport

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to get into.

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Go play chess.

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Go find something else.

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Go find something.

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Go play pickleball.

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Maybe you'll love that because that's an interesting new love that everybody has.

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Find something you do love.

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Get a hobby that you enjoy.

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There's probably the key there.

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Yeah, just love it.

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It's really one of, after watching the USU, the biggest thing I could recognize, you know,

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I'm curious is out hitting the ball with Matthew of balcony on the center core.

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These people just, they passionately love what it brings the game.

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So that's probably one of the things I would say is make sure, you know, that's what you

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feel.

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Otherwise, find something that does.

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There you go.

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101 tips.

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We did it.

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Justin, we'll talk about doing another 100 tips.

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Thank you, sir.

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10 minutes to 10.

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I'm going to be stolen.

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We'll see you next week.

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Well, there you have it.

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See you next time.

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