Competing Like a Pro—Without Training Like One

If you can bring that intensity that you have in a match on the training for every single time, it's so much easier to play well in matches.

So, Tom, we are here for this episode today. You're in Florida at the moment, Sunny Florida. I am in the UK and a discussion topic that comes up a lot. And some of our players are playing in fips, but a lot of our recreational players are playing in club tournaments right the way almost from, you know, beginner club tournaments up to fibs. And actually a couple of the girls that we were training played in the qualifying of the Qatar Premier and that is how can players compete at their best in the tournament given that they're not always able to train or be as professional in the training. And I'm thinking of those players that at a club level might have full time jobs, some might coach, coach tennis or coach Padel and then they want to also compete is like. And you kind of fall into that bracket as well. Like you're competing more at the moment, you're training well. But how do people manage the diary or the energy levels I suppose of training in and competing in tournaments at the weekend but then having to not be as professional necessarily as, as they would like during the week?

Yeah, it's really interesting discussion. It's one actually that I had with a couple of players out here, our academy and replay early in the week. Last week I had a tournament on the weekend and they said, they were saying to me how many times should we train this week and what should that type of training be? And to a certain extent it's down to the individual, isn't it? And I think when you've competed in sport, and for us we competed in tennis, you get an idea of how you can perform at your peak. So, you know, some players want to train five hours a day leading up to the competition and they find that repetition at volume is what they need. Other players don't want to do that and they prefer feeling a bit fresher and will actually train and then have almost a couple of days off, maybe even before the tournament. So I think there's definitely an element of when it comes to competition, knowing what, what works for you. And then I think it then drills down into almost like the practical elements, doesn't it? So around preparation five days out and then preparation three days out and then preparation on the day, which I think is a really interesting topic and let's jump into those today.

And I think it also changes depending on the level. I think there are some beginner Players, for example, that need to learn techniques, and they play a lot of social games during the week, and they might play a tournament at the weekend, and there's loads of players that don't have any lessons or any training. They just play matches, they just play social games, and they also want to compete well. And so we often say to those players, look, you know, treat some of your social games as an opportunity to, to work on some technical things. Now, when you come to an important game, you don't want to think about technique. You want to focus purely on. On tactics. And so it's finding that balance between, you know, amount of training and amount of matches. Now, you and I came to Padel with thousands of matches under our belt from tennis and pressure matches that were important and meant a lot to us. And so, you know, for us, it's almost like we have a. A bank of pressure situations in a match. So we don't necessarily need that right now in terms of understanding how to deal with pressure. But we might say, right, well, we need, you know, more specific match conditioning, and we might need, you know, whether it's more fitness alongside or we might need to work on little technical things before playing the game. And it's. I think you kind of summed it up there when you were saying almost understanding yourself and understanding what you need and what level you're at. And that's almost why on our platform we have that. That almost find your roadmap so you understand your level and at that level, what ingredients go into the recipe to make you compete at your best.

Yeah, exactly. I think one of the biggest learnings from tennis that I think is the case across all sports and especially, I think, relevant for the Padel players that are looking to compete at their best is, Is bringing that same intensity on the training court that you'd have on the training in the match core. And I, I 100 believe that if you take the approach that you do in training as you would in a match and have that same application, that same focus, in a way, all you're doing on the training court is looking to translate that onto matchcore. You see so many players because it's training, they don't have much focus or they're here for a bit of fun, and that's okay. But I think if you're looking to compete hard and to win more matches, if you can bring that intensity that you have in a match on the training for every single time, it's so much easier to play well in matches because there's no switch needed. There's no switch from, okay, now I'm in a match, so I've got to focus now. It's. Well, I've been taking this approach in my training already and all I really need to do is play this match now. My body knows what I need to do, my brain knows what I need to do. I've been training both sides of these in training and I think that for me is key.

I think you're someone and having obviously grown up with you and coach you in tennis and senior in paddle, it's like you are, are an individual who's very focused. Like it's something that you do really well, like on the match court, the training core. Every time you step on court, you've got an intensity of focus regardless of who you're playing with. And I think a big difficulty for players is almost the level that people play with. When they play up a level and they're playing someone better, they almost, they cope with that level. Like they, they play their best and they fight hard, but in a way there's no pressure and they know they need to play at their maximum to keep up with the opponent. And then when they play at people their level, it's almost learning how to compete against that group and how to put their maximum in for as long as they can. But there is a bit more pressure because it's at their level and they need to compete. And then when you play a lower level, whether it's, you know, in training or in matches, a lot of people lose that concentration. A lot of people kind of go off the boil and, and drift. And this should be seen as an opportunity for you to work on your game or focus on your technique or your tactics or, you know, if you want to practice, for example, using the chiquita more to come in, that is a great time to practice it when you're playing against a lower level but with the same intensity. And I think that's something. How would you recommend players improve their intensity in training and in matches? Because not everyone can show the same intensity that you have necessarily.

I think that having a routine is key because I think the reason that I'm able to have that focus is, and this again stems from both for us in terms of that performance. Tennis background, my own professional tennis background was that so much of this is just about routine. It's like if I go to a training session, I'm making sure I'm getting there half an hour early, I'm doing the warm up, I'm doing All these things. Now, appreciate, a lot of people don't have time necessarily to do that, but I think that if I want to compete in those matches, this is the process that I need to go through. And so routine seems like helps a lot in terms of getting that physical warm up. Getting also clear on what am I trying to achieve in this session. I think you made a really interesting point around the different levels that people play at. And I get asked this a lot for players that are not necessarily playing at their same level or they feel like they're playing below that level. But what I say to those players is you can still go out there and give yourself a challenge. Like, this is what I would do if I'm playing with lower level players, say, right, I'm not going to make one on four Sarah, this set and my goal is not to make and a single error in this set. Now if you can go and do that, then okay, appreciate, okay, it's not the same level, but giving yourself those little challenges or for example, like you say, if you're practicing a technique, you say, right, I'm going to make sure that I'm going to use the glass as much as I can in this set and anytime the ball comes anywhere close to glass, I'm going to use it. And my goal is not to miss a ball. And I think there's lots of different ways that you can challenge yourself. And I do believe that at every single level, like you say, whether it's the same level or even above, you can certainly challenge yourself. And I think giving yourself those focus points, again, it just zones you in, in practice, which is what you need in matches. I mean, what, what would you suggest?

I don't know. I mean, this slight tangent here, but I've been trying to get myself into a fitness routine or program and because I travel a lot and you know, work is a bit, you know, I wouldn't say sporadic, but it's like, it's very different. Like it's not a routine. It's not like I have a 9 to 5 job, right, so as the same as yourself. And so I end up making a bit of an excuse when it comes to gym and like, oh, I don't have time or I'm just going to do this email quickly and then I don't have to, you know, and then I end up going through these phases and like I'm traveling to Qatar and so I say, oh, well, I'm a bit tired so I'm not going to do this session. And so I think it's, you know, I'm using it as a bit of an excuse really. I think if I got like super organized with it and I thought ahead it would be easier for me to do it. Like at the moment I'm doing all right, I'm doing it. I'm on a three day run of my training program and what I do is I leave my training stuff out the night before. Shoes are red, bag is all packed, like set the alarm, like almost making it easy for me to just get my stuff and go and do it and then come back and you know, and it sounds like a really small thing if I don't leave that stuff out. It's just one more hurdle to almost to get me into that routine. And I think it can be the same with paddle and it's not necessarily leaving your clothes out, but it's almost packing your bag and saying to yourself, right, I know that I finish work at 5pm for example, and I book my court at 5:30 and I rush down there and I get in there like 30 seconds before I'm on court, I barely have time to put my shoes on. I jump on court and I play my match. And then I wonder why I go through love down in the first set every week because you know, I don't have time. So, so say to yourself, right, instead of Booking now at 5:30, I'm going to book it at 6, I'm going to get there at 5:30, I'm Going to, you know, take my time, get my kit on properly, warm up and it just, it sounds like something really small, but just having a warm up where you can concentrate and get yourself in a mental frame is going to help you compete because so often, and you know what it's like, so easy to lose your concentration party. You're thinking about the day, think about work, think about conversations you've already had and before you know it you're set down. And so I think, you know, it's almost putting little organizational blocks into your day to help you get the most out of your performance. And like you said almost at the beginning of the episode is like if you can get this as a routine and practice, it will be so easy when you come to a game because you just follow the same routine.

Yeah, I mean I was really interesting because I completely agree. And also that analogy you just said is now if that's happening a practice match where you turn up two minutes and you go three love down. No wonder you go to a tournament on the weekend and exactly the same thing happens. And then there's this story you tell yourself. Well, I'm a slow starter. I'm always going to, I'm always going to start slow. It's just how, it's how these things work. And I appreciate with the time aspect it might be difficult to leave work half an hour early. But even like you said there with the warm up, the actual warmup in the game, maybe you do try to get to the core slow five minutes early, do some stretching, but you make sure that the on court warm up that you do, the rackets warm up before the game, you completely zone in. So you've got five minutes. So give yourself five minutes where you're zoning in and you're not chatting with your partner about what you had for lunch and you're not, you know, you need to try and find those periods where you can zone in. I think that rackets warm up is a perfect opportunity where you can really just zone in. Whether you focus on your shots, focus on a few technical bit, focus on, even on your breathing, just try and get yourself in a good mental state before you start that match. There's, there's lots of little opportunities that, that you can do. And I think going back to what you said about routine with the fitness, I think it is all about routine when it comes to all this. If you read books and biographies from professional players on any athlete or even beacon in business, that the power of routine is so important. I think for all those paddle players out there that want to translate, they're playing, training for matches, it's such a key thing to get right.

And also once you, once you start it, it actually becomes quite easy to keep it going, isn't it? I mean the hardest bit is the first few days and then after that it's in your routine and actually you get to a point where it becomes natural to do that. So I mean, almost just summarizing this episode, it's like treat all of your training games and your social matches like you would a match and get yourself into a good routine, you know, in terms of preparation, thought process and it doesn't take long. Like you said, a dedicated 5 minute warmup is better than no warmup at all. And actually it can get you in the right frame of mind and really almost just understand the level that you're at. So you know what you should be focusing on and challenging yourself regardless of the level that you play with.

Yeah, and talk about accountability. Sandy, now you've mentioned your fitness regime. I'm hoping on the next podcast that three days is, is going to be continued. We can, yeah, we can keep you accountable now.

Yeah, I've got, I've held myself accountable on this podcast. Heard it here first. Yeah, I'm getting, I'm getting fit.

And there's a pause.

Silence. Crickets. Or in this case, it sounds like sparrows. But, Tom, a pleasure chatting to you. And yeah, I'll see you on the next pod. It.