We All Play The Same Game: Your Pickleball Improvement Blueprint
Oct 16, 2026
Watch a pro match, and it can look like a different sport. The hands are faster. The shots are cleaner. The rallies go places yours usually don’t right now.
So it’s natural to assume the pros are playing something you aren’t. A higher-level game with its own shots and rules.
Coach Tony Roig sees it differently. Ben Johns, Anna Leigh Waters, the best player at your facility, and you all play the same game. Same blueprint. Same pieces.
The PickleWall
Tony describes every player’s game as a wall. He calls it the PickleWall.
Each block is a key piece of the game. The more solid each block, and the better they lock together, the better you play.
Here’s the thing. The design of that wall is the same for everyone. The bottom row is serve, return of serve, block volley, and punch volley. A pro doesn’t get to skip the return. A 3.5 doesn’t get to skip the serve. Every block applies to every player.
So what separates levels? Execution. And sometimes, a missing block.
The missing block
It can feel like better players simply have more. More shots, more tricks, more options.
Tony’s view is simpler. If your wall has a hole, the blueprint hasn’t changed. You’re just missing a block. Find it, fill it, and your game gets closer to the level you want to play.
That reframe matters. You don’t need a different game. You need to finish building the one you already play.
Why the order matters
A wall goes up in order. You can’t set block 10 until blocks 1 through 9 can hold its weight.
This is where many players get stuck. They pick up a tip here, a video there, a shot a friend just heard about. Each one might be useful. But without the blocks underneath, the new piece has nothing to sit on.
Tony builds the wall on two principles:
- Priority. Start with the block that gives you the biggest return for your time. The one that moves your game forward the most.
- Precedence. Some blocks have to come before others. The lower rows support everything above them.
And once the blocks are in place, they start working together. Coach Tony points out that solid work on one block often improves another one higher up the wall, without working on it directly. Your wiring with the game changes, and the gains spread.
How to put it to work
- Start at the bottom. Look honestly at your serve, return, block volley, and punch volley. These carry the most weight.
- Find your missing block. Ask which piece, if it were solid, would change your game the most.
- Stay there. Work that block until it’s set. Then move to the next one.
- Filter the noise. Before chasing a new tip, ask whether the blocks underneath it are ready.
Same game, your wall
The best players on the planet aren’t playing a different sport. They’ve built more of the same wall.
Your blueprint is already in hand. Pick the first block and lay it well.
The TRP Team
Source content made by humans. Adapted from Coach Tony Roig’s Pickleball Therapy podcast Episode 317 with AI assistance, then edited by hand before publishing.