Easter Sunday, April 16, 2017 (Court Day #15)
Being that I have no kids at home, I went to an Easter Vigil service, and our annual big extended family gathering isn’t until mid-afternoon today, pickleball fit right in!
I got to the courts at just about 9 a.m. under overcast skies. Rain was expect to start around noon according to my wife—she can put weather forecasters to shame! One game was underway already between Dave Allenbaugh and a few other people, two of which I’d never seen before. A couple other nets were already set up and Maree and her husband Mark were warming up at one. I asked if I could join them and jumped in on Mark’s side of the net.
I rotated around playing games with Maree and Mark, Eric, Bruce and his wife Janet, Tom S., Paule, Ted, Tom (visor Tom), Mara, Eric’s friend Rick, and others. I sat out one game on the bench alone. We never did get around setting up the sixth net today—quite the rarity. I think we did top out about 23 players mid-morning, instead of the 30-40 we typically get. Even Jerry Louis and the Longs didn’t come. But, hey, it’s a major holiday after all.
While we were partners in a match, Bruce pulled off a great around-the-post shot. Rick asked, “Is that legal? Doesn’t it have to go over the net?” Yep, legal, and no, it doesn’t have to pass over the airspace above the net. It doesn’t even have to go above the level of the top of the net. Bruce’s shot was maybe 18″ above the ground when it entered our opponents’ side of the court. Unreturnable. Point.
A woman quietly appeared on the bench around 11 a.m. After a few minutes, Dave checked on her. She said she invited by Eric to check out pickleball. When Eric finished up his game, he and some regulars introduced her to the sport.
Rick—who I hadn’t previously met in person—was having a hard time with his serve early in the day and Tom and I worked with him on it for about 10 minutes. By the end of the morning, Rick had it solidly down and only missed one serve in the last match I played with him. (I had a game where I missed two of my serves. Gag. Unheard of.)
My Achilles’ heel continues to be getting a drop over then net when I’m running up to return a dink/drop. I far too frequently simply don’t hit it hard enough and the ball drops into the net. This happened probably ten times today.
While I did get another serving ace today—shallow, low, topspin, outside corner—it was a “blah” day. It didn’t feel like a good performance. Half my close shots were out. I made a lot of unforced errors. I wasn’t focused enough. I need to pick my target for each shot. I’m not doing that. And I need to develop consistently reliable higher-percentage shots.
The rain started in earnest about 12:10 in the middle of a game of Eric and myself against Ted and Rick. We braved a few more points then pulled the plug.
I came home to a couple of hot cross buns—well, hot after I microwaved them! Yum.
Crazy Good Rally
Someone mentioned a video on the pickleball group Facebook page yesterday. I looked it up on YouTube, and sure enough, it didn’t disappoint! It was the Gold Medal match at the USAPA Nationals VIII from November, six months ago. Wes Gabrielsen and Kyle Yates against Daniel Moore and Matt Staub—all fantastic players. (Daniel Moore is Scott Moore’s son. Scott is coming to Santa Cruz to do workshops in mid-June, though it’ll probably be overkill for me at this point to go to his workshops given the price, over $300 for a 3-day “bootcamp”. There is a $90 3-hour minicamp option. But, now that I’ve actually looked, I’m going to be out of town around then anyway, so it’s moot.)
I just have to watch in awe. They are just so consistently excellent. I keep things in perspective when someone says I’m pretty good or playing well. Those guys in the video are great compared to me and I’m great compared to a toaster oven.
Number of days on a court: 15
Number of total hours: 43
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