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

Hosted by Danielle French and Briar Jamieson

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Episodes

Latest episode

Feb 2026

Language

EN-US

About the show

Two Friends: entrepreneur, teacher. One love: pickleball. Danielle French and Briar Jamieson met playing pickleball and love talking (and laughing) about the game, sharing tips and strategies and creating community. Each week they meet to chat about their game on - and sometimes off - the court. Danielle is the founder of South Pond Farms and host of the Netflix series, Taste of the Country. Briar is an educator.

Listen to episodes

30 recent

February 19, 2026Episode 745 min

Catching up: Episode 7

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 about who we are and tips and strategies for playing your best game. Paddle up and see you again!Thank you to Aubrey Rose Apps for production and editing.

January 19, 202648 min

Tanner Big Canoe - The mental game continued

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 serious golf, has been in pro tournaments, instructor but importantly to us, is a new pickleball players and 12 months in, is a solid 5.0+ pickleball player. I thought it would be fun to have Tanner talk to us about the mental elements for fold and for pickleball and their similarities. 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 game. Paddle up and see you again!Thank you to Aubrey Rose Apps for production and editing.

December 16, 202556 min

The Mind of a Referee - Joan Pollard

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 kind of person makes a good one? Someone who is organized, maybe a take charge personality, ability to be non emotional at game times? Listen to this podcast to find out. 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 game. Paddle up and see you again!Thank you to Aubrey Rose Apps for production and editing.

December 12, 202545 min

Levelling up your game!

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. 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 game. Paddle up and see you again!Thank you to Aubrey Rose Apps for production and editing.

February 26, 2025Episode 345 min

Intergenerational pickleball - Nancy Sharpe, Tara Sharpe and Cole Lester

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 Cole, who are high level players say they play with anyone who wants to play because they love the game. Let's hear what they have to say. 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 game. Paddle up and see you again!Thank you to Aubrey Rose Apps for production and editing.

February 18, 2025Episode 242 min

Season 3. Episode 2 - Partnerships that work

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 guest episode. Let’s introduce them: Shari Hazeldine and Cathy Crough.For both Cathy and Shari and like all of us, pickleball is a sense of connection, stress reliever, ability to make new friends. 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 game. Paddle up and see you again!Thank you to Aubrey Rose Apps for production and editing.

February 8, 2025Episode 134 min

Season 3. Episode 1. Catching up.

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 and tips and strategies for playing your best game. Paddle up and see you again!Thank you to Aubrey Rose Apps for production and editing.

July 30, 2024Episode 1241 min

Season Finale

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 game. Paddle up and see you again!Thank you to Aubrey Rose Apps for production and editing.

July 9, 2024Episode 1139 min

Perfectionism

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 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 game. Paddle up and see you again!Thank you to Aubrey Rose Apps for production and editing.

June 26, 2024Episode 1043 min

Conditioning

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 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 game. Paddle up and see you again!Thank you to Aubrey Rose Apps for production and editing.