Behind the Bluff
Uncover best practices to participate in life on your terms. Every week, hosts Jeff Ford and Kendra Till guide listeners with short conversations on trending wellness topics and share interviews with passionate wellness professionals, our private club leaders, and additional subject matter experts offering valuable tips. Each episode conclusion includes Healthy Momentum, five minutes of inspiration to help you reflect and live differently. Subscribe now and discover the keys to living your greatest active lifestyle.
Behind the Bluff
Playing Tennis for Life Doesn't Just Happen By Accident | Carlos Pinel
Carlos Pinel, head pro of racket sports at Wilson Lawn and Racket Club, shares his journey from Brazil to Palmetto Bluff and reveals strategies for playing tennis for decades while staying injury-free.
• Originally from Brazil, Carlos discovered tennis at a free clinic and fell in love with the sport immediately
• Made the journey to the US on a tennis scholarship without speaking English
• Found his passion in coaching after brief experience with professional tournaments
• Works to create genuine relationships with members beyond just improving their tennis
• Emphasizes technique as protection for the body – proper form prevents injuries
• Recommends always warming up properly and listening to your body's signals
• Suggests watching how professionals reset mentally between points using physical triggers
• Explains the differences between singles and doubles strategy and how each improves different skills
• Advises partners to discuss who takes middle shots before matches – "middle solves the riddle"
• Believes staying curious and brave enough to try new approaches keeps improvement ongoing
Stay curious and don't be afraid to change your game. The pros adjust their techniques yearly – if they're changing, why can't we?
Are you ready to live an active lifestyle? Welcome to Behind the Bluff, where we believe every moment of your life is an opportunity to pursue wellness on your terms. It's been a minute since we've had anyone from Racket Sports on the podcast. It was actually way back in episode four, which was Is Tennis Losing Its Grip? With our director of racket sports, martin Aviles. Today we're getting back on court with someone our members absolutely love working with. You can't keep them off the court Carlos Pinel, our head pro of racket sports at Wilson Lawn and Racket, and in this episode we plan on diving into three big topics Number one, how to keep playing tennis for life while staying injury free. Number two, what recreational players can learn from watching the pros, especially after the thrilling most recent US Open. And lastly, some smart strategy tips to take your singles and double games to the next level. Carlos, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:I'm pumped to have you and, for those who haven't met you yet, could you share a bit about your journey into tennis and what you do here at Palmetto Bluff as the head pro?
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you, pleasure to be here. You know I'm the head pro here at Palmetto Bluff. I'm originally from Brazil, so I wasn't born in the US, so big difference in culture. Tennis is way bigger here than in my home country. People love to play tennis here In Brazil. As you probably know, soccer dominates the industry. So, as you can imagine, I got into tennis by accident. My mom was always big on me playing sports. I have to be doing something, so don't get in trouble, right? So so tennis one day was one of the sports that you know. I ended up going to like a free clinic, right, and I went with my friend and it was just like pretty much like love at first sight.
Speaker 1:You enjoyed it from the very beginning.
Speaker 2:I was one of the kids that you know. I just wanted to learn. I had a record in record in my hand. I never had. I never had a record before. Uh, it was just so much fun. The coaches did a great job. You know, keeping it fun, keeping engaging, not just like a technique. You're a kid, you want them to come back. They did a good job and after that I just continued to play. I played juniors growing up around Brazil, south America, a little bit um, and then decided to. I stopped playing tennis when I turned 17 to take the SATs in Brazil because I wanted to go to school, because in Brazil it's pretty much you either go pro or you go to college in Brazil, which we don't have.
Speaker 1:Those are the two routes. You either become a professional athlete or you decide to go to higher education.
Speaker 2:Exactly because we don't have scholarships to, there's no collegiate sports in Brazil at the level that is in the US. Right, I did not know that Exactly so to me I quit tennis because my coach was pretty honest with me and I was honest with myself. My results were good for juniors, but not good enough. Not enough data for me to actually try to go pro, and my parents we don't have the resources financially for me to take that, you know, big leap of faith.
Speaker 2:Yeah that's a risk. It's a very big risk, especially if you don't have the resources. So I'm like let me go study. And then there was this big wave in Brazil of people coming to the US with a scholarship, continue to play tennis and get an education. So I didn't speak English, so I was like that's not an option for me because I don't speak the language, so how am I going to go?
Speaker 2:And then you know just a few conversations here and there. My coach saw that I was still playing some decent tennis when I was in college in Brazil and he said why don't you go? Because I don't speak English.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:So I had to learn English pretty quickly to take the English proficiency test, Because I took the SATs. In Brazil I came as a transfer student and I played college tennis in a Division II in North Carolina called Liz McCray College.
Speaker 1:Liz McCray. Yeah, Used to live in those parts.
Speaker 2:Yes, oh yeah, you worked in Nashville.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, just outside, and I actually have a good buddy who ran at Lise McRae.
Speaker 2:Oh really yeah, it's a great school. Yes.
Speaker 1:It's beautiful Up in the mountains.
Speaker 2:Banner Elk. Right Banner Elk. You don't know you don't know lise, mccray, or even duke like chapel hill, because of michael jordan maybe, but like we don't know those other schools that there's that many schools in the united states, so many schools here so, going back, your coach pushed you.
Speaker 1:It sound like to say, hey, learning english shouldn't be a barrier for you to pursue the college degree here in the states yeah, and going to a smaller university really helped because the options that I had.
Speaker 2:I didn't feel comfortable going to a bigger school where there's a hundred people in the classroom. My English is not good enough, so I had an agency that helped me to find a school, find scholarships, because I needed a full ride, like I couldn't come here and pay, so I needed to have a 100% scholarship.
Speaker 2:And then I was able to find a school and I met my wife. She played volleyball there. I just had a great time and towards the end I figured out that my game wasn't good enough to play pro again and I was like I can try to play. I played a few tournaments after I graduated, but it's tough.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah any sport at the pro level.
Speaker 2:It's a different level. And tennis is so lonely too, because I don't have money to pay for a coach, to have a physical therapist, so you're just grinding.
Speaker 1:I had a full-time job at the time While you were attempting to be a pro.
Speaker 2:No, I don't like to say I was trying to be a pro, because I was just playing pro tournaments.
Speaker 1:You were keeping your feet in the water, essentially.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was like what, if I do well in one tournament, that's all I need to get an invitation to a different one. And you know I did. I win a couple of matches here and there. I was never able to score a point for the ATP ranking ATP ranking, which was my goal, which is really hard.
Speaker 1:Not easy.
Speaker 2:It's not easy, maybe if I was a little better, but it was really hard and I decided to start coaching. I did other things before that, but I just really like being outside the social part, listening to the athletes, seeing them improving. I think it's a blast.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, it's quite rewarding coaching any type of sport any type of activity and being out and about. Tell us more about your journey from coaching teams to now coaching our members.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's similar but different right At the same time, because we're still coaching. You know, when I was about seven to eight years in college tennis and you know I had several different players. I had players that came in as a one-star recruit that needs a lot of work, and I recruited players that, like I mentioned to you earlier my number one girl was 900 in the world I didn't even know.
Speaker 1:They ranked people all the way up to a thousand. Is that how it works, or does it even even beyond that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and on ranks like I was True true Love, the humility man.
Speaker 2:But 900 was a big deal to be coaching someone like that I loved it because the level you got to really you know, open your eyes to details, like I mentioned. Like at that level, um, I had to look at other things. It's your footwork pattern. It's not about your grip or some more simple things. I don't like to say simple things because we still cover a lot of simple things but it's more about technical recovery, how we manage our practice right, listening to the body, don't let the ego take over, right? Just like. Those things are very important at that level. And I had a lot of players, so I didn't, I wasn't coaching one really good player. I had a team. I coached men and women usually, and college attendance unless you're coaching a power five D1, you're coaching both teams and that's how it works in college.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a power five, d1, you're coaching both teams. That's how it works in college. Yeah, again, south Carolina has coaches two coaches for men and women, d2s and AIAs junior colleges D3s. Usually you're coaching men and women, okay, and maybe you have one assistant coach.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So it's a lot to be overseeing and to be tweaking and to be keeping your eye on.
Speaker 2:So it's more about recruiting a player that doesn't need a lot of work, but you can still make it better right At the club level. It's completely different, right? Majority of the people already worked really hard in different industries and they want to like we're going to talk about. They want to stay healthy, they want to play a sport, they want to stay active, and I think it's lovely. I love seeing people out there. I love seeing people moving. I love seeing people out there. I love seeing people moving. I love the relationship that you guys have with your members.
Speaker 1:I think fitness is so important for them to play a sport, yeah we have a lot of crossover with the same mission of keeping people in the game, if you will, for the longest period of time we can.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely I love that. Yeah, it's so important.
Speaker 1:What's most rewarding to you will for the longest period of time we can. Yeah, absolutely. I love that. Yeah, what's most rewarding to you now not coaching. I always believe everybody's an athlete, but we're not necessarily training people to get extremely better at tennis per se. In the majority of cases, everybody wants to get better a little bit by little and see progress. But working with more of a lifestyle type person now, what's most rewarding about that for you versus the athletes?
Speaker 2:I really think one of my favorites and, in my opinion, biggest part of my job is member relationship, member engagement. Right, you know we wear different hats around the club. Some hats I wear better than others.
Speaker 1:I'll be honest, the hat you're wearing right now looks great. It's not bad right? Yeah, I can wear this hat. I like white on you, carlos. Thank you, appreciate it.
Speaker 2:And so you know I'm still learning things, that I still have to get better. But the member engagement is definitely one of my favorites. It's the human contact right. It's like the social part. So I have different members, have different goals.
Speaker 2:So if I have Jeff, you come to me and, like Carlos, I want to really learn how to serve. And you know, two weeks later, maybe a month later I don't know how long it's going to take you really crack that serve in and you smile and you're like I did. And I was like, yeah, you did. So that's pretty rewarding. It's pretty small, it looks small from the outside, but only we know how much effort it takes to learn a new skill. That person, Jeff, knows how much time and effort he went out there to practice. So that's rewarding.
Speaker 2:You don't have to win the French Open to be rewarded. Right, it's easy to teach my number one player in college how to hit a pattern cross-court down the line. But I think it's more rewarding actually to do this at a club level, recreational level, because it's hard. So if you help them to be able to accomplish that, that's mission accomplished to me. And I have other people that come because you know like they yeah, they want to play tennis. Um, they're not that competitive but they love you know, the social part like so being out there yeah, like carly's, like you know, you know my daughter got a job.
Speaker 2:Like remember I was talking to you about my daughter, hey, she got married and she's excited. I'm like man, I'm excited for you. And then I get to know the daughter and the husband and then now they're going to be pregnant. That's amazing too. There's nothing to do with the sport, right, but you're getting to know them as a human being and that's also pretty special to me, that relationship, right.
Speaker 1:On and off the court yeah yeah, that's well put because it's a sense of achievement in the smallest skills is powerful to see, especially when you've been part of that development. And then just the relationship that you build and see families year after year just being a part of the club. It's pretty powerful.
Speaker 2:A community is amazing. Yeah, Like you know, can you imagine living here and you're not a part of the community? Yeah, you're going to feel lonely. This place is massive, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think that connection piece, that community piece, is so important for health and how we feel on a daily basis. That's great that you point that out just in what brings you joy in your work as well. So let's go ahead and shift gears into longevity. This is something we believe every tennis player cares about and that's staying on the court for years to come. We know that tennis is a sport you can play for a lifetime, especially if you listen to your body. You put other practices in your life to keep yourself healthy. And then also, I would imagine I'm excited to hear from you how you go about when you play and how much you play, just kind of some of those variables. Being competitive and injury-free. It takes intention is what I'm getting at. So what do you believe are the keys to longevity on the court?
Speaker 2:are the keys to longevity on the court. That's a great question. All right to me. I'm going to try to keep it short, yeah there's a lot of things.
Speaker 2:Because we can talk about this for two to three hours, but I think, working on your fitness level so not to say that someone that is out of shape can go out there and hit balls, they can but if you want to do it right, you know like, try to correct me if I'm wrong, because you're the expert here, but you know, work on your mobility and then work on your strength, right, and then, kind of like, we start working on you know other things, because but we can always adjust to it this is just in a perfect world, right, working the mobility, get strong and then come and play carlos. I don't have time for that yeah, that's.
Speaker 1:That's just a great point. Set the foundation yeah, work on your range of motion, work on almost that ability to move in these different positions before you put yourself in those positions. And if you can get stronger, then how much more fun are you going to have on the court? So I just really hear you say saying like set this foundation in your fitness level 100%.
Speaker 2:And now let's say you are, you're coming to the tennis court, you're coming to Wilson Long Racquet Club, right? I really recommend, you know, don't skip warm-ups, right? Just, you got to make sure your body is ready, like we're going to talk about pros, right, and we should watch what they're doing, so we should warm up, if you want to know. You're holding a racket that weights 9.5 to 11.1 ounces, right, and you're hitting the same ball for thousands of times.
Speaker 1:Is it about a thousand times in like a? I need to count, but it's a lot like in a single match.
Speaker 2:I don't know how many hits we're doing it, but it's a lot of hitting. Maybe not In a match a lot of hitting, but in a lesson, especially like ball machine, like you, literally, because in a, a match, if you want it or not, like 70 to 80 percent of a tennis match, you're just walking. It's like golf, like you hit the ball and then you walk right. Tennis, yeah, you're hitting, you're playing the points, but the points on average, especially in doubles, they finish within two to three shots. And then singles, maybe four to six, four to, depending on the level. So you know, you hit the ball for less than a second and then the ball is no longer on your side of the court. So I mean, a match might be different, but in a ball machine session, you're hitting the ball for an hour right, over and over and over and over. Or a lesson where you're hitting the ball over and over and over. So if your body is not ready to do that, then your, your tennis journey might end a little shorter or it's going to have a lot of bumps on the way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, uh. So I would recommend for longevity, you know, set the foundation like you mentioned. Uh, do the warm-up stretch after right and, if you can and you have the time and effort and resources, work on the technique, because the technique protects the body. It's like doing a squat all over the place. It looks wrong. You're going to get hurt the technique if you go to the ball machine with the wrong technique and hit the ball over and over and over and you're not like a super strong person that can manage that. I know I'm not. People know me. I'm 6'6 and very skinny. I can't afford to have you know bad technique.
Speaker 1:You have to be in the right position with your body type. Does that make sense?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I think technique protects the body and if you can connect all those things as well as you can, I think you're going to have a nice you know tennis journey.
Speaker 1:That's great how you put as well as you can, because it won't be a perfect, intentional plan every single time you go out on the court. You hit the nail on the head, though, is skill development is protective, and I've always had this philosophy philosophy of skill or technique, intensity and and then time. So, especially when you're first getting started with a new sport and you're excited about it, I think that's the coolest part about someone picking up tennis later in life is that they maybe have not developed the skill yet, but they have time to do so and at the same time, they can be working on their mobility, their strength, so that they gradually build into the person they want to be on the court.
Speaker 2:Yeah, beautifully put Totally.
Speaker 1:Now there are a lot of common mistakes we all make. We're all human. Carlos, you and I are amongst the mistake makers. You see a lot of adult players, so let's take it from that angle. What are some of the big mistakes that would shorten playing years for somebody?
Speaker 2:I think listening to the body and not being stubborn is really important. So if you felt something on your shoulder right, listen to it. Don't just go like, oh I, I'm gonna muscle I'm gonna just keep playing through it, man, just go check it out.
Speaker 2:It might be something serious, it might not, but at least you're going to have the answer and then you can kind of go from there right. But I truly think this is kind of like what we just discussed a little. It's putting the warm-up work on your fitness level, your VO2 max, which is good for longevity. Overall, it keeps dropping as we age. So you know, make sure you work on that so we can do simple things later in life. Um so, just yeah, connecting those fundamentals. I think it's important for, like, longevity and not getting hurt yeah, the mistake is not having routines around your tennis play.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and that's what the pros do the best, right.
Speaker 1:Cause they're. They're taking care of all those details and they obviously have support staff to help them with those details. Us, as recreational players, have to be intentional and have to have some clear routines that are going to keep us on the court.
Speaker 2:We can be there with you 24-7. Unfortunately, yeah, I'd love to, but we just can't Not enough time in the day.
Speaker 1:Let's shift from playing to watching. I love that y'all did a watch party that was out on the Wilson lawn right. You set up a TV screen for the members to watch the most recent US Open.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we had two TVs and an inflatable screen right Nice and then the projector, so we started playing the first semifinals, but people actually went there around 7 pm to watch the last semifinals, which was Felix and Sinner which is currently number one two in the world. Yeah, it was fun. Yeah, I know the weather was world.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was fun. Yeah, I know the weather was great that night, it was really good.
Speaker 1:And it kind of prompted me for our time here today because we all love watching pros. Like I am always amazed and enjoy watching golf because I know how much of a skill it is. Just like tennis, like these techniques you don't learn them overnight. And to kind of put yourself in a professional shoes and and then to be able to go out and play the next day is a lot of fun. When recreational players watch pro tennis, what should they really pay attention to and what can we learn from the best in the world?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's a yeah good questions, man, honestly, uh, you know there are. I have my moments when I just want to watch the the tennis match and just be entertained. You know, sometimes you don't want to just like look for things. Uh, you just want to sit down your favorite beverage and watch. There's nothing wrong with that, right, no one should be forced to like if I play tennis, I need to watch. Man, just sit down, watch the match, enjoy, get it, be entertained. It's all good.
Speaker 2:Now, if you want to really pay attention to things, right, try to watch like pass the stroke, like not just when they're hitting the ball, right, right, like I said earlier and like you know, majority of the time in a tennis match you're not hitting the ball, you're just walking. So, pay attention. What are they doing right, like the point is over? What is Carlos Alcaraz doing right after that? You know, like, is he just like ready to serve?
Speaker 2:Each person is different, right, but I promise you this majority of them as soon as the point is over, right, majority of the time, they reset right, because you're going to have thoughts in your head so I just miss. People are going to relate to this on the tennis court, the tennis players. You worked really hard the whole point. You moved the two players around around you put them exactly where you want it. They gave you an overhead really easy. And guess what, we missed it. The thoughts in your head are probably going nuts your brains like what's going on? I work so hard, you have to. You know, kind of block that sound the apathy of of losing that point right like you have.
Speaker 2:Tennis is a beautiful sport because you can literally win less points than your opponent and win the match. How cool is that?
Speaker 1:that's pretty cool, right so?
Speaker 2:like you can literally just like win the, the key points that you need to win and get the job done. So you know it's hard to say it right. I mean, I coach tennis, but we all have our moments, the pros have their moments right, but it's just what are you doing to block the noise? So what I recommend it doesn't work for everyone. What I recommend is that as soon as the point is over right Singles and doubles are a little different, but just in general just turn around, don't look at the opponent, don't look at the opponent, don't look at the net, don't look at the other side. Turn around, switch hands. If your right hand, you know, most likely if you get mad, we don't have a lot of problems, people smashing records at palmetto bluff, but most we don't, we don't, no, we don't yeah but just in case, if you're holding the after you miss an easy ball with your dominant hand, you're more likely to be able to smash it.
Speaker 2:Plus, you're probably grabbing that racket even tighter. Now Switch hands, shake it off, walk to the back of the court, reset, rest and then try to think what you're going to do different next and have a strategy in mind before you get back to the baseline to serve. Because as soon as you get to the baseline to serve and you're still thinking about what are you going to do, you're going to toss the ball with no game plan. Right, and in doubles it's communication. Communicate with your partner. If you miss an easy shot, don't walk out and let your partner by themselves. Right, just get together. Positive high five. Hey, come over here. You know I need to rest. Let's go to the towel together right.
Speaker 1:What I hear you speaking to the most is having a plan for more of a mental reset and using a physical, tactical cue like switching hands with the racket. So, instead of just blowing the time you have between points, reset how you're going to think about the next point.
Speaker 2:That's powerful man. Yeah, I like to call it physical triggers, right? You see, a lot of people wonder, like, why are the pearls always moving their strings? Yeah, they move their strings because they're fixing their string, which is helpful, but they're just touching something, so they stay in the present, so they're not thinking about what happened on the point, the previous point, or, oh my gosh, shoulda, coulda, woulda, right.
Speaker 1:Takes their mind right off of it 100% Sharapova.
Speaker 2:It was, in my opinion, nadal too, but Nadal, I think he does too much. Don't touch his water bottles, he'll go crazy. But Sharapova winning or losing, because people only listen to what we're saying right now. When I lose the point, no, when you win a good point, adrenaline is kicking and if you don't reset after you win a good point, most likely you're still going to make rushed decisions. So it doesn't matter if you win the point or if you lose the point. The reset needs to happen. Right, but I see a lot of people just doing it when they lose the point. Right. But when you win is as important as when you lose the point to actually reset mentally.
Speaker 1:Important angle Now. Do pros call it the reset after a point, or is that your terminology?
Speaker 2:I don't know, I heard that before. Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1:I mean, there's so many times in our lives where we just need to reset. Yeah, why not have a plan for how you go about that, regardless of the highs and the lows, like in this case? We're on the tennis court, but I relate this to life, man, you know, when something goes wrong, reset reset breathe through the nose. Think about what you're going to do differently.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like when you do breath work, man, thanks. I like when you come to the club.
Speaker 1:I haven't watched tennis pros closely enough. Breathing in between the points and being intentional about that, I think, is incredibly powerful, specifically like take it in through the nose just to calm that system down, like you're explaining.
Speaker 2:Yeah, your heart rate Yep.
Speaker 1:Like bring it down. Gotta bring it down after those great points, so you don't make dumb decisions right, just like. Just please slow things down and you've seen my heart rate on the pickleball court. Right, You're intense. I'm doing way too much movement out there man, We'll get Tony on, he'll help me a bit more, he'll help you really quickly.
Speaker 1:Now, before we move on to some strategy, tactical tips for the singles and doubles players. Help out the older players here. Can they pick up anything outside of this reset routine that's more important for them when watching professionals like the older player?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, that's just one thing. They can pick up right, the reset. But you know, whenever you watch the pros too, like, watch the tactics right, because as you get older, you probably don't want to move as much on a tennis court, right? So, like I said, the technique protects the body, but the tactics is gonna make you probably run less. Right, be in the right place, all right, hit the right shot, you know, go from a to b, have to hit the shot correctly.
Speaker 2:So what I recommend for older players when you play doubles, right, don't, like you just mentioned, don't move too much, and that might get a little controversial. I still want to split step. I still want you to be on your toes. I'd be active. But what I'm trying to say is that if someone gives, like, a really high ball, try to take it on the rise, take it early. Why take three steps back? Hit the ball back to the other side and take three steps forward, right? So you start looking at those tactics. How, how can you, you know, maximize your steps and your shots and every opportunity you have. That will really help majority of the older players.
Speaker 1:Does that make sense? I'm tracking with that advice. It's being efficient with your movement. We don't want you not to move. We just want every movement to have purpose. And why work harder than you have to, especially if you're an older player? It's not saying, hey, you can slack off and try to move less. It's just move the right amount.
Speaker 2:Exactly yeah.
Speaker 1:Nice. Now let's talk tactics. You've brought it up and what I really want to dig into, because I'm very unfamiliar with the differences between singles and doubles and I can see there being a ton of strategy differences here to play smarter and not just harder like we've been discussing. So singles and doubles, they're very different games. That's about the extent of what I know. Where should players adjust their mindset when switching between the two? Because I believe it's a fair statement A lot of people who play singles also play doubles. Right, yeah, depends, maybe not it depends where you are.
Speaker 2:But you know, I think it's fair to say if you play singles, you play doubles. But if you play doubles maybe you don't play singles okay, okay, yeah right because, like you said, I'm gonna get into it.
Speaker 2:Then I singles, it's one-on-one, it's a lot of core to cover myself. I don't like playing singles. Just to be honest, like I'm 6'6" my footwork is not great. I like to serve and volley my game. You know it's made for doubles but I had to play singles growing up. It is what it is. We worked on it.
Speaker 2:But you work on endurance, right. You work on your shot selection, meaning, like you got to build the point a little longer than doubles, right. You really learn how to reset mentally because you are on your own right. Sometimes in doubles you have your partner to kind of like to help you out. Hopefully, when you're playing singles you're literally on your own, like you got to figure out yourself. So you're either going to keep going to the baseline and no game plan, no reset, and you keep playing just downhill from there, right. Or you're going to learn how to reset um mentally and physically because you need to rest um.
Speaker 2:But I think you know if someone wants to play for someone who plays doubles, they should play singles to learn, like I said, the endurance and how to be patient, right. Work the point out a little longer. Work on different patterns, okay, and you're learning how to play within the singles lines, right, Because you can't use the doubles alley, smaller court, smaller court. There's also only one person on the other side. There's not a second person suffocating you at the net. But you know, I think you know what I mean. It is a smaller court regardless. Now, if you go to doubles a singles player I know, I did that a lot. I was always against doubles as a young junior, because you know in Brazil at least, I don't know in the US but doubles in junior tournaments it seems like, oh, you lost first round, so I'm going to play doubles because I want to play more matches. No one cares about doubles. Lately people care a little more, but my singles game got a lot better when I started playing doubles and taking it seriously.
Speaker 2:Interesting, yeah, because you learn how to move forwards. You learn how to cut the angles a little more. Each person is different. Like you know, coach Tim Keller, that we have a Palmetto Bluff. All the members know him. He has dirty drop shots, does he? He goes for angles, but he has incredible touch. I am not like him, meaning I explore the middle first. I need a bigger margin to get started, and whenever I see you guys shuffling around then I go for the angles right. So each person is different, but doubles teaches you right how to move forward. Reflexes, you know, you for you. Work on your volleys. You really have to master your serve and return right because, like I said, doubles, usually the points are done within you know two to three, uh, which is pretty much serve, return, maybe one more right in singles you can just kind of like, just depend on the level that you're playing, just push the serve to the other side and run and just outlast that person.
Speaker 1:I feel like I'd be a much better singles player. You'd be a great singles player, man.
Speaker 2:And a great doubles player too. Because you need to be explosive, right? Because you need to be aggressive in doubles.
Speaker 1:You still need the same. I hear the parallel is definitely the conditioning regardless. It's a big difference and then it's interesting to hear that you said you've you learned so much from playing like doubles with the different angles and the positioning that that then applied to singles. I was almost thinking it'd be the opposite.
Speaker 2:Yeah, both benefit each other.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So if you have the the fitness to play singles, I'll recommend to do it because, again, you always learning right. Like you play singles, you're gonna learn a few things right, especially how to build the point. You see that a lot like in club, when people play singles, those points get long. Oh yeah, because they don't know what. They know how to make the ball to the other side, but like how you're gonna finish this point. Now, if you are a good doubles player, most likely if you play singles, you're going to find the opportunity to come in. Like I'm not winning the point from the baseline, right, I'm playing another moon ball on the other side, so how can I win? Doubles teaches you how to think outside the box a little bit, so I'm going to actually hit a good approach and come in, you know, put pressure on the net and put the ball away. Maybe if you don't try doubles, you won't be able to do that in singles.
Speaker 1:Makes sense, or.
Speaker 2:I'm going to bring that moon baller in, get them out of the comfort zone and then now I got you right, so it just opens your mind to different angles of the game, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, completely, and in doubles. One follow-up question here when you're working with another human being, even in a work setting relationship, communication is everything and being a partner on the court, like especially I'm new to pickleball, I don't play very often. I like to be respectful of my partner. I don't want to jump in front of balls that aren't the ones that I should return. What's one thing partners often forget to talk about before a match?
Speaker 2:That's really good, I'm glad you said before the match. And in club tennis, recreational tennis is harder because most likely every week you're playing with a different partner, right, because members rotate around. If you and I we go play in the pros, right, we are going to play together week after week. So sometimes it's more organic, like we kind of know what you're going to do. So communication still has to be spot on. It still has a lot of communication, but some things in the moment happens organically. Now if you're playing with a different partner every week, it's hard.
Speaker 2:They have a hard job, honestly, and I get that. So what I recommend before the match right, one thing that we hear a lot. Like I said, I like to explore the middle and my coach had a big rule that if I'm playing doubles and the ball goes through the middle, you got to clash rackets, but don't you dare just look at each other and see the ball go through you and your partner. So one thing, they can talk to each other before the match, for that middle solves the riddle that we like to say.
Speaker 1:Middle solves the riddle.
Speaker 2:Right for that not to happen. Let's say I have a good. They say, ah, say, forehand takes the middle. I personally don't like that because it gets you a little lazy with your thought process. You talk before let's say my forehand is terrible and your backhand is actually much better. So before I was like hey, jeff, your backhand is better than my forehand, so a middle shot. I want you to take it that way. We set that. We already set the standard for that middle shot. Like you said before, the match was important. Or which strategy we're going to play. Are we going to play one up, one back? How are we going to serve?
Speaker 1:There's a lot that you can talk about before a match, and I could see see that, especially if it's like one of the cups that y'all are hosting around here, even though it's a recreational tournament oh, it's serious it is pretty serious I hope these are the conversations that go on before folks hit the court, because it just clarity is everything in a partnership and I I think that's such a great example as I've never heard talking about specifically the middle, and I I've been, with my limited court experience, in those places where you both look to the middle and the ball's right by you, and a lot of that's probably because you didn't talk about who's going to take it.
Speaker 2:That hurts, it's a terrible feeling. I love doing it to people my members know during live clinic. Whenever I join, I go middle because, like I love their faces, you know, when they just look at each other, I was like oh, and I was like yeah, yeah, you know what.
Speaker 1:so it's not just about the relationships here that bring you joy, it's hitting it through the middle. Yes, love that, I love that. Well, we're. We're getting close to the end of our time and I've enjoyed this thoroughly, carlos. To wrap things up, a couple of quick hits on improvement and what tennis means beyond the game. So for someone looking to keep improving and enjoying tennis year after year, what's the one habit that matters most?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I like that question a lot because it's honestly, it's not technical, it's not that's how I approach the game is to stay curious, like you don't want your game to plateau, right so as if you stay curious, it's gonna, you're gonna keep getting better, and I don't mean curious just about tennis, but just about anything in life, right so. But you see, we talk about the pros. The pros change something in their game almost every year, right, and they're the best that ever do it. So if they're changing, why, why can't we?
Speaker 1:yeah right.
Speaker 2:So don't just get satisfied, like I. I like to tell you know the members to you know, be brave now, know, go out there, try new things, be creative, stay curious. Sometimes, doing something by accident, you figure out like, oh, maybe you have a two-handed backhand and then one day you just decided to swing a one-handed and it felt good. I was like, oh, carlos, I was hitting yesterday, and the one-handed feel good, like, let's figure out, maybe you are a natural one-handed on the back end. So just stay curious. You know like, um, try to continue to get better. If you think you master something you're probably having, so like, and I'll continue to work on it. Uh, I just I'll say, just stay curious, yeah, yeah yeah, don't be scared to change, adapt.
Speaker 1:I love how you added in there Be brave, because it can be uncomfortable when you, in your example, use a backhand with only one hand, when you're used to using two hands.
Speaker 2:Yeah, have fun with it. That's great. Yeah, man, it brings you joy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Don't take it too serious. It's all good, yeah, love it Carlos.
Speaker 1:Final question for today what does wellness mean to you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think wellness to me it just means like balance, right, you know? Socially, mentally, physically, right, I think if I can find a nice balance, like with those three things, I think that's my summary for wellness, all right. So tennis I want to get better at tennis, but tennis is just tennis, right, I still want to take care of my body, my mental health. I want to be a part of a community with your social individuals. Right, we need to communicate, we need to engage with other human beings. So I think the social part is important. I think all that kind of like you know fits under the umbrella of wellness, if that makes sense, that's right on, brother.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thanks so much for taking the time today.
Speaker 2:No thanks for having me Really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1:And we're looking forward to our expansion. We've got good plans for court fitness. You know we've been doing racket fitness. We're going to rebrand that in the fall. I think that's great yeah, make sure we're getting not only our tennis players fitter, but our pickleball players fitter as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a lot of them too.
Speaker 1:And you've hit the nail on the head with fitness being part of the foundation. So hopefully we can continue to serve your members and keep our symbiotic relationship going, because it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:They love you guys, man, so I'm pretty sure you guys will do a great job. We'll try to get them over here.
Speaker 1:Well, we appreciate that. We appreciate all you and your team do for the members and look forward to having you on again soon.
Speaker 2:Thank you, sir, appreciate it. Yeah, you're welcome.
Speaker 1:Listeners, feel free to hang out with me for a few more minutes and get some healthy momentum for the rest of your week. All I can say is be brave. Whether it's a decision in your career, your health, or even something small in your daily routine like how you grip a racket or swing your backhand, courage is what moves us forward. Carlos' advice to be curious, to be brave, resonated deeply with me today, and it could have been because we recorded on Patriots Day, september 11th, because my brain went to how brave the individuals were who ran towards those towers, or like when Carlos chose to leave Brazil and create a new life here in America.
Speaker 1:Bravery often means stepping into the unknown, and if you're anything like me, this is usually how you feel Not confident in those moments before you're brave. But when you look back, you'll see that those brave decisions are the ones that shape your story. For me, deciding to move from North Carolina back to South Carolina, it took a lot of bravery. We had built an amazing retreat program and I had been a part of something that shaped and improved lives for over six years, but what I can say is that being brave in that moment has allowed the team and I to create momentum here at Palmetto Bluff.
Speaker 1:And if you think of any brave decision that you've made in your life, it doesn't just impact you, it impacts those around you, it inspires others. Your coverage gives someone else permission to be courageous in their own way. In their own way, and when we can treat bravery not as a solo act, not as something that just moves our lives forward, it has a ripple effect. So go after it, take the chance, push yourself, be brave when people need it, and you never know just how much it might pay off. I want to thank you for taking the time to listen this week and remember to actively participate in life on your terms. You.
