The One-Thing Rule That Will Transform Your Padel Game

Tom, so many players really struggle with having good practice or knowing what they want to do in practice, but then they get into matches and it all falls apart, they go to pieces. And so today we're going to talk about on this podcast what players need to do in order to turn practice into good match play, and consistently as well.

Yeah, we know the feeling, right? It's you're putting the time in, you're putting the hours in, you may be having lots of coaching, maybe you're playing lots of matches, maybe you're watching online content, and you feel like you understand the theory and you're playing a lot of practice, you're feeling good in practice, you're playing with your coach, they're feeding you lots of balls, you think, "Oh, I've got this now, I'm gonna go out to the match court and I'm gonna put it all into play and I'm gonna do really well because I'm feeling really good." and you go out there and it just all feels like it falls apart and you have no idea why. And it's so frustrating, isn't it? And we've been there, we know the feeling, but we also know how to get out of it. We know how to actually bring your best to the match court, and that's what we're going to be talking about today.

Yeah, it is incredibly frustrating, isn't it? I mean, I remember it, like going from tennis, picking up this sport and feeling, oh, I feel quite good on the ball, I can volley well, I can do these things well, and then you're hit by the back glass and trying to work out how to play with the back glass, for example. And we always recommend it now, and it's very easy for us to say, go through this frustration, learn the technique, you know, build up practice and repetition of doing it. It is going to be frustrating, but once you get to the other side, you feel great. But it's, it's not so easy to, to go through that, right?

No, it's not. And I think that players end up making mistakes with the approach without even realizing it. I think a lot of players have the best intentions and also they're applying themselves with great application and they're putting the energy in and they've really got the right energy for it and sometimes you come away and it's almost like confusion of like, well, what am I doing wrong here because I feel like I'm putting all the right things in place, but they're not working out. And as coaches, we know, we know what the formula is, and we see lots of players, like you say, doing it. So for us, like, we, we want to help as many players get the right formula so that they don't feel they get on the court and they just have like a complete meltdown.

Yeah, I mean, we feel like in a way you're— those players are the perfect player for us because they want to improve. Like, they're trying to do the right things, they're trying to improve their level of match play, which not everyone does, right? Like, a lot of people are playing socially, they want to have fun, they're not too worried about improvement. So the fact that you want to work on your game and you want to improve puts you already in a category of, you know, we're always looking for lifelong learners essentially in padel, but it puts you in a good category. Now I think the key is, is really understanding this learning process and understanding what different trainings look like. Like, for example, if you have a ball machine, that is working on a specific shot. You can work on a technique. The ball machine will feed you the same ball all the time, and so a little bit like practicing a golf swing, it's a very closed skill. Like, there's no external factors affecting— okay, maybe there's a bit of wind or sun if you're using it outdoors, but generally it's the same. You know what you're going to get. You know where the ball is going to go, so you get in position and you practice your bandeja or vibora. But, but it's closed. So when you come to a game and you think that at one end you've got closed and the other end you've got open, a game is very open. Like, you can't guarantee when you're going to get an opportunity to hit this bandeja, and it catches you by surprise. And then, you know, that's why we're always saying it's so difficult to work on your bandeja in a match, because you just don't know when they're going to come. And one lob is over left side, one's over right, one short, one deep. And so if we've got a spectrum and it's at one end is closed and the other end is open, we need to get these practices in order to be able to do that, and that's why we made the drill book, that's why we recommend players train in groups, because only one small step above that close skill is, is really individual lessons, and how most coaches give individual lessons is standing next to a basket feeding balls. Which is only a small step away from being a ball machine. But I think good group coaching where it's active, you're playing with the other people on the court, is a great way to build towards more open. And if the coach is good, then you have a good group lesson that actually even in that lesson it opens out.

Yeah, so let's— we've jumped into an overview of all of the different steps, but let's go through step by step. So A player that's listening to this, perhaps they're experiencing everything we just talked about. Maybe they're putting the hours in, they're playing lots of matches, they're having coaching, and they don't feel like they're translating their practice to the match court. So let's start on this spectrum and let's go step by step. What should a player be doing if they're wanting to play their best padel on the match court?

So I think the first thing is clarity around what they're working on in their game, you know, and we have our High School Methodology, which is our performance cycle essentially, which is, you know, use our online, identify exactly what you're working on, and don't binge watch all of the content, but narrow it down, watch a few videos, get the few key takeaways.

Which, by the way, is tricky because if you say to someone, and we've had this before, what are you working on? The back of the volley, the smash, the vibora, the serve, the return. Oh, I don't play well off the side glass. Already, that clarity you talked about, it's almost, it's going back a step and really making it bite-sized, isn't it? Because everyone wants to work on everything, but you can only really master one or two things at a time. If you have 15 different things you're gonna work on, already we talked about that overwhelm, you're gonna be overwhelmed because you're not gonna be able to focus on any one of them well. So that's the first thing. I mean, we just talked about clarity there, but that is so important, is to say, right, I'm gonna focus on one or two things and I'm really gonna zone in on those.

Yeah, and not only zoning in on one shot, but also zoning in on one area of the shot. How often do we see with the Bandeja as an example of people thinking of several different things they need to do in the shot and they don't do any of them because they end up confusing themselves. So it's like, narrow down what you need in order to improve that area. and you can use video, like, use the videos, video yourself is a fantastic way to do that, and really get clarity on that. And then your plan is to take that to the practice court. Now, whether that practice is with a coach in a lesson or in a group session, again with a coach, or drilling with your friend, or practicing at home, like, we've got lots of little exercises that players can do practicing at home, controlling the ball, things like that. But then it is like really focusing on that practice. Like, that's the real key, and you can't do that if you're only playing social matches. Like, you can't expect to work on the crossover step to prepare for your bandeja in a match because again, you don't know when it's going to come, right? So, you know, it's clear on what you're working on, taking it to the practice court, repetition, repetition, building up.

I was going to say that, that's the word, right? It's repetition, and it's quality repetitions like that. Yeah, that you're trying to ingrain a skill, and it only comes through repetition. So if— take the bandeja we talked about— if, if you're trying to change a technique on your bandeja, it's not enough to say, I know I need to have my elbow high, like, like, just to know that. And I think sometimes that's where players might get a little bit confused because they understand, oh, I know that I need to get my elbow up, I know that now, I can go out and I'll just think about that in a game. But it's not as simple as that. You need to get hundreds, thousands of repetitions in of that movement because the key— and we're going to get there, I don't want to spoil it, but we're going to get there— but the key is on the match court is for the movement patterns to be so ingrained that you're not having to think about them. So that is where, when you talk about repetitions, I mean, it's so, so key. It's like quality repetitions, you need to get that skill ingrained and you almost cannot do enough of them. And the emphasis on quality as well because you need to have intention during those repetitions. If you're just, if your mind's somewhere else and you just think, oh yeah, I'm just gonna work on this repetition but maybe you've got your headphones in or maybe you're distracted or whatever, it's not the same.

It's focused repetitions It's really about building it into your routine and having great habits, and that's really why we made the Faster Feet for Paddle course. There's some follow-along videos, a warm-up, a 4-minute, 8-minute, 12-minute footwork courses that you can follow along with myself in the video, and if you can get that as part of your routine, it could be part of your warm-up, it could be part of your gym routine, this will help you get faster on court, and like we were saying, it then becomes automatic that you have good movement on the court. Exactly like the pros. You can find out more information if you sign up to the membership now, you can get free access to that, link is in the description. The key really is these good repetitions, isn't it? Because if you do quality repetitions then it becomes muscle memory. Like when the pros are playing, how much do you think Chingotto and Galán and Delphi Brey, like how much do you think they are thinking about their technique on the bandeja? Like not at all, like it's, it's not even in their mind because they've just built up these good repetitions on the shot. And so I think if you don't know what to focus on, on your shot, the first step probably is, is videoing it so you can see. And if something stands out when you look at our videos, um, or you put it in the community so, so other coaches or a coach can have a look at it and give you advice, ideally one or two tips, and then going out and building up those repetitions. And at the beginning, it could be with a ball machine that's quite closed, but then drills, right? Like you and me, I remember like working on your bandeja. Like, yes, we did some baskets to feed it, but then we put it into a drill because then it's a bit more open, and maybe you're hitting one bandeja, one volley, one bandeja, one volley. And that way you're putting it into a more realistic situation but still building repetitions.

Yeah, and going back to the Padel School performance cycle that you mentioned around the 3 areas that we talk about. We've got the online, we've got the training, we've got the match. So many times we, we see players make this mistake around missing out the training part and going straight from online to matches. And a big mistake that players make is it's just binge-watching content, so watching hours and hours of, of online videos. Now, when I say this to players, I say, well, but I'm watching your videos, so it's a great thing, isn't it? Because I'm watching hours and hours of your videos. They will Yes, it's— you— online is useful, but if you watch hours and hours of videos, you're not going out onto court and practicing it, and you just expect that I'm going to watch 2 hours of videos and I'm going to go onto the match court and it's all going to translate, is that— that's just not going to happen. You need to put, like we said, those reps in. And, and that's why we have that, that cycle, because it's online, it's train, it's match. All 3 are key, and you need to get on that, on that training court if you want to see in the match court that you're bringing your training and, and, and your ability that you know you can on the match court, you cannot miss out that training.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, and that's exactly why we made our, our journal, right, our training and match journal. We made it specifically for our members, but really for, for padel players in general. And within it, there's sections on online, train, match, and it prompts with questions and what you need to focus on. It's got goal setting. This is available on Amazon now. But the whole point of this is to keep that clarity. And each of those sections— online, train, and match— they need to be approached in a different way. Like, the same as exactly like you said, like, one or two key takeaways, one of the key focuses online, watch those videos, take those key takeaways to the practice court, like, really build up, like, get that implementation so that when you come to the match court, you can implement it. And implement with confidence, right? And that's what we're proposing. Our members are already starting to use this, and I think that it just helps. It helps give you clarity. It helps you really develop your game, like, in a, in a steep trajectory, right?

Yeah, and there's, there is a story behind the training match journal. We're not going to go into it fully today because I'm sure we're going to do probably a whole episode on the importance of journaling, but it is something that you and I have been journaling forever. I mean, if you talk about our tennis careers, our professional tennis careers, we always use journaling back then. With our padel careers, we've also been using journaling, and we've always been using blank journals that we've been putting all this stuff in. And we just thought, why don't we create something for our members, for recreational players, that, that is a framework that can help them have a journal? It can go in their bag, they can use it before training, after training, before matches, after matches. It really is the key to unlocking your online, your training, and your matches. So there is a story behind it. I'll save that for another episode, but it is something that we wanted to do for a while.

Yeah, definitely. And I remember as a kid writing down the tournament, my opponents, the score, like what I did well, what I didn't do well, and as a reference, because as a junior I played them regularly, and then I'd play them the next time and I'd go back and I'd reference it. I knew how to play. And that's why we, you know, in our match section on here, there is— you put in your opponents what worked well as a tactic, what didn't work well as a tactic. And, and so if you play players regularly, like, it is a great reference because you can just take it out of your bag, have a little look, and, um, you know, kind of get your memory jogged essentially as to, to what you need to do.

But, and I'm sorry, and the word though that you said, it started like clarity, and I feel like that this This is what enables that, because just the process of, if you're going down to train, and there's a pre-training journal entry in there, just taking a couple of minutes before you go out on your training session, go, okay, what am I gonna work on today? And you take one or two things, and just that process of writing it down zones yourself in a little bit, and it takes a couple of minutes, but instead of going through the motions, or maybe you've got, 100 things you're thinking about. Maybe you've come from work and you go onto the training call and it takes you about 20 minutes before you're actually focused in on your lesson. Something like this allows you to spend a couple of minutes, you gain that clarity, but also you kind of ground yourself and you're like, "Right, okay, I'm gonna spend this time now. I've got an hour's lesson. I'm really gonna focus on these few things. I'm gonna jot them down." You go into the lesson and you're clear.

I think there's a big thing to be said for pen to paper. I think so often, like, everything is digital now, right? So if you do it on your phone, you're going to get distracted, a WhatsApp comes in, someone calls, like, whatever it might be, but finding a quiet space, pen to paper, like, no distractions, it helps you with that clarity. And if we go back onto that journey of, okay, people are practicing now, how do they put it in matches? It's like, right, you need absolute clarity, and that's why when you go through this process, and let's keep using the Bandeja as an example, you've worked on it, in a closed environment, maybe with a ball machine or some at-home exercises. You're now putting it into a little bit of a drill, so it's Van Decken volley, you're doing it with a training partner or with a coach. Now you want to put that into a match. Now remember that matches are tactical, like we need to remember that, that it's very difficult to work on technique within, within a match. So when we talk about tactical, it's more around court positioning or shot direction or movement on the court or things like that. So with Bandeja, it might be, okay, let's focus on Bandeja's cross-court and recovering the net. Like, that might be the thing you're focusing on in that match. And again, not loads and loads of things, just, you know, one or two that relate to what you're working on. And I think, as an aside as well, and I know that you're like me like this, and probably even more so, is like, don't be too harsh on yourself. Like, you're in a match, and yes, you've been practicing the Bandeja, but I think When you practice a shot, you build up expectation. You think, oh, I'm playing this so well in practice, I've got this shot. And then you go into a game and you miss a couple early on, and so often players are a bit hard on themselves.

And that's confirmation I don't have it. Yeah. And then you go completely the other way.

Yeah. And particularly the overheads, bandeja, vibora, like they're confidence shots. Like you need to believe in it. Like if you watch the pros, watch the beginning few games of the match and you'll see how often they miss lobs, they miss viboras, they miss these shots. But do they stop going for it? No, they keep going for those shots because they are the right shots. And so you've almost got to take a little bit of that into your game. If you think it's the right time for a bandeja and you're working on the bandeja, go for it. Like, don't hesitate. And if you miss one, don't worry. Two, three, four, don't worry. Like, okay, if you're missing dozens at the beginning, then you probably need to go back to the practice court. But like, you've got to— yeah, you can't be too tough on yourself.

Yeah, I think we've talked today about a formula that we have, and I think that sometimes if players aren't sure of the path they're doing is correct, I think that it is a bit of a test when they go on the match court. Like, okay, I think I've got it now, I've got it now, I've got this shot. And then they go onto the match court and you can tell— I mean, we've all been there where those first few, it's almost like this is the moment, have I got it or not? And you miss them. And it confirms that you don't have it, and then the frustration builds, and you lose all confidence. And I think when players understand that— I like to use an analogy, and I've used this pretty much my whole career, is that going onto the match court— and the first thing to say is I have no idea how actually music recording works, but my story is about music recording.

Can I— Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, some good memories, some karaoke. No, I always say that going onto the match court is a bit like an artist recording a song in a studio. So they spend all that time training, recording their music in the studio, getting it right. I mean, the amount of times that they will do that recording to get the track right and to get all the parts of the song correct. And then they hit the play button and that's it. And everything up to this point is done. And really, I compare that to, say, a player on a match court. It's like all the training that you do up to the point of the match is you in that recording studio. So you can tweak it, you can change it, you can perfect it. You're gonna do it over and over again. You're just gonna keep on going and going. But you get onto the match court and you just have to hit play. And you just have to let go and just allow it. And really, the match then becomes feedback. It isn't a place where you start again like tweaking your technique or that, that's everything is done in the studio, you know, like that, that is all in the studio. But you get onto the match court and like you said, it's about tactics, but it's like you hit the play button and you're really just going to let go. You're not going to focus on the outcome, you're just going to let yourself play. And whether it goes well or not, it's feedback. And then you go back into the online, you go back into train. But that's what I always like to use because I think so many players are actually making the mistake of training and doing their work in the studio, going onto the match court and they're still trying to work on it and they're having these expectations. And I think that, yeah, that's an analogy I like to use. Like I say, I'm not an expert in the music—

He's not a musician.

In the music business, but that's how I've always kind of viewed it, is like, you go on the match court, you just gotta click play.

I like that analogy because I would also say that another problem is that people are not going in the studio. You can't expect to get better.

I sing in the shower.

Yeah, you can't expect to get better if you aren't going in the studio. And yeah, it's like people, people say, oh, you know, I watch loads of different YouTubers, you know, do videos about La Mandeka, and then I just play matches. But if you don't go in the studio, you don't go in the practice, on the practice court, you don't practice off court, you don't train, like, you can't expect to get better. And that's why all those players, they end up plateauing, and they all plateau around that 3.5, 4, because they're just— the technique is not there. They are not going in the studio. So yeah, I like that. But I would almost say, just to wrap up, to summarize really, is if you feel like you are putting in good practice, whether it's with a coach, on your own, off-court, however you might be doing it, and, and you are playing matches and it's not being repeated in the matches, I think, you know, clarity is one. Repetition in the practice, and then just like belief and relax and just go for it in the matches, and it will come. It's not something that is just suddenly gonna click for you, but it does take time.