How you play the game. A podcast about pickleball and entrepreneurship.

It's been a while and Briar and Danielle meet up to chat pickleball. This episode was recorded in the fall but lots of great pickleball content relevant every day.  Thank you for listening to How you play the game. Send us your questions and any topics you would like us to talk about. We welcome your feedback.  Find us on YouTube , How you Play The Game or on Instagram for more information ab...

Two years ago in our first season we spoke to Olivia Apps about the importance of mental conditioning in her game of Rugby. And just to recap - this mental conditioning contributed to a silver medal at the Paris Olympics this past summer with Olivia leading the team from an underdog - 9th place to silver. So it can happen.  Today we have another athlete with us, Tanner Big Canoe - who plays seriou...

Today’s podcast is with our friend, Joan Pollard. We know her as a friend and amazing pickleball player but also when you get into a medal round, it might be Joan that is the referee. Joan travels far and wide to referee games and she’s well respected in that community and the pickleball community in general.  Today’s topic is - obviously Joan is a referee - but what is the mind of a referee? What...

Tamara Bick. Coach and teacher and comedian. Tamara talks to us about tips for us earthlings about improving our skills. She reveals strategies, tips on how can we level up and improve our overall play to become more effective and competitive players. Thank you for listening to How you play the game. Send us your questions and any topics you would like us to talk about. We welcome your feedback. ...

Briar and Danielle dive into the stories of three generations of pickleballers, in one family, who recently made us all proud by medaling at the Canadian Nationals. Since then, the three of them have medaled in what seems like every tournament!  Let’s take this in - 3 generations….Grandmother, her daughter, her grandson. Wow. Incredible.   One of the great themes of this podcast is that Tara and C...

After morning drills, Danielle and Briar overheard a question from a team who play regularly together. They win tournaments, they win games. They have honed their skills into a powerful duo on the court.  Their question was about favouring that happens during mixed doubles. We thought it would be a great question to answer in our podcast. Such a typical situation at every level.  This is our first...

After a summer of tournaments, new jobs, the Olympics, getting married (Danielle), it's time for a complete catch up on life, pickleball and love.  Thank you for listening to How you play the game. Send us your questions and any topics you would like us to talk about. We welcome your feedback.  Find us on YouTube , How you Play The Game or on Instagram for more information about who we are an...

Briar and Danielle toast to another season of pickleball podcasts. How much fun has this been? Paddle up! Thank you for listening to How you play the game. Send us your questions and any topics you would like us to talk about. We welcome your feedback.  Find us on YouTube , How you Play The Game or on Instagram for more information about who we are and tips and strategies for playing your best gam...

While perfectionism can have both positive and negative impacts on pickleball players, finding a balance between striving for excellence and maintaining a healthy perspective on mistakes and imperfections is essential for overall enjoyment and success in the sport.  Briar and Danielle talk setting high standards and the positives and negatives in pickleball.  Thank you for listening to How you pla...

Let’s talk about physical conditioning. It’s been the single biggest concept on my mind for a variety of reasons. Being in shape, training for tournements, improving our game. Being ready for old age. Ug.  Briar and Danielle talk about setting goals and the hard part, following through. Life gets so busy. What are you goals? Thank you for listening to How you play the game. Send us your questions...

This week we are talking about friendship. Seems like a broad topic. Why is friendship different in pickleball than in any other sport. It may not be any different but we think pickleball promotes friendship more broadly,  more easily.  It is how we met, and it is how I met others after moving to this community  a couple of years ago.  Let’s talk about how friendship is interwoven in pickleball Th...

In this episode, Briar and Danielle speak about Mentorship in sports and most specifically in pickleball. We are thrilled to have the insights from a female pickleball star and mentor here in our community as our guest, Robyn Percival. Robyn is an elegant, skillful player who I first met in our Friday morning drill session and has been a mentor and friend of Briar for a long time. Thank you for li...

Elitism.  Standard dictionary Being elitist in the context of sports refers to the adoption of an exclusive or snobbish attitude, often associated with a sense of superiority, towards individuals or groups based on their perceived athletic abilities, achievements, or participation in particular sports.  What does that mean to you? Let's talk about it.  Thank you for listening to How you play...

Briar and Danielle talk today about equating how you play the game of pickleball and how you play the game of life. When you think about it, there are so many parallels between sports and life. Here are  just a few topics Rules and Objectives Decision-Making Focus and Resilience Challenges and Opportunities Teamwork and Collaboration Persistence and Perseverance Balance and Self-Care Thank you for...

Briar and Danielle talk about pet peeves....court etiquette. We've been feeling lately like, well complaining. Court annoyances and irritations about pickleball. Are we becoming those people? These really aren't problems at all in the context of the world but in pickleball, they are real. Thank you for listening to How you play the game. Send us your questions and any topics you would li...

No one wants to talk about this but just like every other sport, it is a thing. It can happen. And more and more people are playing pickleball so naturally, injury will be and is on the rise as well.  Most people think pickleball is a low-impact sport - not too much running, not like lifting weights, playing rugby or football…..but still - strains, shoulders, elbows, knees, ankle injuries abound....

What are drills really? We have already done one podcast about drilling, we sure talk about it a lot amongst our friends. Unanimously  it’s the one topic of conversation we talk about, and talk about how we need to drill but then we don't really do a lot of it. Why is that? More fun to play games than work at improving our games? C'mon.  Thank you for listening to How you play the game....

What does it mean to support each other in pickleball? Briar and Danielle chat about the amazing community of women that are playing the game, both recreationally and competitively. We see each other on the court playing with and against each other.  How important is it that we support each other no matter what side of the court we are on? In Abbie Wambach 's words from her book, the Wolfpack...

Briar and Danielle catch up after a brief summer break and playing at Canadian Nationals. We talk about the tournament, fall play, dropping down in the ladder and so many other things! Thank you for listening to How you play the game. Send us your questions and any topics you would like us to talk about. We welcome your feedback.  Find us on YouTube , How you Play The Game or on Instagram for more...

It's hard to believe there can be anything controversial in pickleball, but things do come up. The good news is there are always solutions. Sometimes you want to just play with your friends and not change up with the rest of the group. What's the etiquette? When there are people practicing for tournaments, a shortage of courts in your community and an abundance of players vying for court...

Sometimes you feel discombobulated. Out of the groove of working out, playing regularly, having good games. You wonder why you played so well last week and this week not a ball is in the court! Sometimes things throw you off, things come up good and bad. At one point, Danielle wondered if going to Canadian Nationals was going to come unraveled.  Then you get back in play, you work hard, work at it...

Briar and Danielle talk about something that happens to all of us - being targeted in the game of pickleball. But can you use it as a strategy? You sure can. Tips to looking at ways to turn this potentially negative situation around and make it a positive for you. Remember, every ball is a good ball, are we right? Thank you for listening to How you play the game. Send us your questions and any top...

Briar and Danielle talk about identifying as an athlete and what does it mean. We talk about our own story with athleticism, sports in high school, where we are now and preparing for the next stage of life. Lots of stories about our recent tournaments, how we look at pickleball as a sport.  Thank you for listening to How you play the game. Send us your questions and any topics you would like us to...

This week, Briar and Danielle speak to @livapps, Olympian, Rugby player, Canadian Women's Sevens, and daughter to Danielle about the mental game. How do you mentally condition for your game and for life.  Listen to Olivia speak about her career as a Rugby player and how she prepares for not only her but as a co-captain of her team, prepares for her game and always has a Plan A. Only a Plan A....

This week Briar and Danielle talk about setting expectations for yourself . There are win days and there are days when maybe it doesn’t feel like a winner. Putting the time in and you are more likely to reach your intended goals. Our Friday morning Drill and Practice Group with our friends is where we practice shots over and over again. We put the time in. Practicing pickleball shots, position and...