Month: September 2017 (Page 4 of 5)

Monday, September 4, 2017. Labor Day. (Court Day #66)

I arrived at Brommer Park at 9:10 a.m. I was expecting things to be already hopping, but I was only the fifth person to show up.

My first game was Dean and me against Grita and Mark (Maree’s husband). We won. I made a few mistakes but they were far from chronic. I held my own—not as good as Dean, of course, but not a major liability. And I did have one serve that flew too deep, though we were using the the Dean-preferred harder, bouncier, slightly-greenish ball which responded differently. I’m not 100% sure I can blame the ball for that bad serve, but I’ll take whatever excuse I can get!

About two thirds through that first game, someone told Dean that the park worker wished to speak to him afterwards. Two net cables had been vandalized—cut. This is the second time someone has come out and cut the net cables on our new courts. Someone is not a fan of pickleball, apparently. Sad.

Later, there was an announcement that the club has a batch of club caps for $25 each. I’ll have to get one for myself!

Oleg and I got to play a game against Barb and Bev. (I learned today that Bev is Kevin’s wife. There are a lot of husband/wife couples in pickleball!) Oleg and I pulled out to 4-0 before our opponents started to make a game of it. But there wasn’t much doubt that Oleg and I had the better combination for this one. I made some mistakes, but overall, a pretty good performance.

It was warm. It was only about 70° but it felt far hotter. It was very muggy. A smattering of heavy raindrops fell mid-morning, but it didn’t open up—it just made polka dots on the courts. I was almost more comfortable in Pleasanton yesterday at 103°! It was also a touch humid there, but nothing like this. This felt a lot like Hawaii. Or as Terry (not Long) claimed, “Like New Zealand.”

I got to play a game with Oleg against Terry Long and Jeanne later. Terry is always great to play on a court with. He makes for a challenge and is such a nice guy! There was one return he did where he had so much spin on it that it dropped dead—it hit halfway back in my court and didn’t go further. Point.

As what turned out to be my last game ended, it started to pour in earnest about 11:40. There was no formal announcement. As people started to slip and others started to get drenched, the courts cleared and the temporary nets started coming down.

Beth Black suggested we could get back together after the rain broke. Maybe having lunch between. She gave me her mobile number, as did Oleg, with hopes of more pickleball later. People milled around for a few more minute then went various directions.

Stuart said, “We’re going to have lunch at Mayflower Chinese in the Brown Ranch, if you want to come.” I opted to go and “we” turned out to be Stuart and Chuck—which was fine, though I was expecting more people. There was a little pickleball talk, but mostly Stuart and Chuck talked about random things . . . both went to college together back in the 1960s.

I texted Beth after lunch the  Stuart and I each drove back to Brommer. Unfortunately, there was no one on the courts—aside from a tattooed beefy man in a tank top stretching next to a soccer ball for what seemed to be a long time. Stuart shared that they recently caught a guy kicking a soccer ball into the nets—not healthy for the nets—so he kept an eye on this guy, but the man left. Maybe he knew he was being watched.

Beth got back to me and said they found the courts still wet and had moved on with their day. I texted Oleg to see if they were interested, but by the time his reply came half an hour later, Stuart and I were long gone from the courts and on to other things. Oh, well. No more pickleball today. The rain was a big disappointment considering it was Labor Day and most people had few obligations to leave the courts once there. Alas. At least we got in two and a half hours before the showers hit. It sure felt like a lot shorter time. It was weird. I first thought it was 90 minutes of playing, but doing the math, it was an hour longer than that.

Take-Aways

I played well today. Not perfect, but solid. My worst game was John P. and Jeanne against his wife Diane and me. It was a bit sloppy. I guess I wasn’t as focused.

There were a few dinks today where I didn’t get enough lift on the ball and it ended up in the net. Oleg said was dropping my paddle and not hitting the ball out in front of me. After a lost point in the Dean game where the ball hit me, he instructed, “That’s a sign that you need to have your paddle up high and prepared.” I have to figure this out. Jerry and Stuart have commented on this—having the paddle up and ready, poised in a backhand position. I tend to keep my paddle pointed straight out balanced between forehand and backhand. Stuart has said, “80% of your shots at the kitchen line will be backhands.” But it doesn’t feel comfortable for me, nor natural. But I’ll likely have to force myself to do it.

At the risk of sounding conceited, there were some great shots that I’m surprised that I made. “How the hell did I do that?” Like Luke in Star Wars with that floating laser ball and his face covered so he can’t see. Yet he performs anyway. Strange pickleball Jedi things are happening with my paddle that I don’t understand. Like a powered smash near my legs where I crouch down off the the right and drop the ball back over the net into their kitchen where they can only dink it. It’s all reaction. I don’t have time to think up something like that. It just happens. But then I still do lame stuff. Like returning a not-too-difficult serve into the net. Or popping up a winner to my opponents at the net by hitting it too high. Or lobbing a ball that sails left or right out of the court. But the ratio was better today.

There are good days and bad days. This was a good day.

In the afternoon, Dave Allenbaugh sent out message about the new caps, but also included a video of the Brommer courts:

Interesting to see from a bird’s eye view. It must have been a quieter time, there’s one court not in use. In my experience, there are bunch of people waiting to play.

Number of days on a court: 66
Number of total hours: 187.5

Saturday, September 2, 2017. (Court Day #65)

So the Bay Area set all kinds of records yesterday for heat. Santa Cruz hit 105°F—the previous high for a September 1st was 102°F in 1955.  San Francisco, about 90 minutes north, hit an all-time high of 106°F.

Before leaving the house, I filled a large plastic water bottle completely with cubed ice, topped it off with water, wrapped it in a kitchen towel and put it in my backpack. It would prove very welcome repeatedly as the  morning progressed. Little did I know that I’d later be using the towel to wipe sweat off my forehead and out of my eyes. I don’t typically sweat much, but this heatwave is something else!

When I got in the car this morning, it read 80 degrees like yesterday, again at 8:50 a.m. I arrived at Skypark a few minutes after 9 to a smattering of people willing to brave the temperatures.

Off at the left, Jerry and Kim discussing the ball feeder. Players in the distance.

I bought a $20 punch card from Mark Dettle. Scotts Valley charges $4 per session on Saturdays. It’s an honor system. One could always cheat, but people that don’t pay hit more balls into the net—or so I understand anyway. (Yes, I’m kidding!)

Jerry Louis and Kim (the Cabrillo P.E. instructor) were up to something with a Simon ball feeder machine. I didn’t witness it in action, but it’s interesting to see the device in person. I only even heard of it this week online.

I warmed up with Barbara. I asked her about her long paddle and she said she liked it. She offered and let me warm up with her paddle to get a feel for it. Engage Encore Blade. It felt slightly heavier than my Tempest Wave paddle. And the balance is noticeably different. When I attempted to return the paddle to her, she said, “Go ahead and play a game with it. I used this paddle [referring to my Tempest in her hand] for a long time.” And I did. Interesting. I’m not so convinced. It’d take some getting used to. Another woman showed me the Selkirk paddle that’s between the two others in terms of length and width. We did some comparison with one on top of the other to see the profile difference. The Selkirk flares out quickly from the handle and is a bit longer than the Tempest Wave. Things to stick in the hat for the future.

I played a game with a shorter woman named Trish. She got better as the morning went on. We played against Allan and Jeanne. I can’t remember the result of the game, so we likely lost. (I tend to flush those out of my brain, unless it’s particularly bad on my part!) I suggested to Trish that she develop her soft game. She’s one with tennis background that smacks everything.

I played a game with a woman against James and a very nice short woman, Mara. I don’t think I’d ever seen Mara before. I think Mara might be of Filipino or Polynesian descent like my neighbor Jill. (James was the tall young fellow in our “battle of the ages” with Stuart, Oleg, and me a month or so back.) He’s a good player who gets around the court quickly and can surprise you with what he’s able to return over the net.

It’s funny. I’m definitely past the beginner stage. I found myself perturbed (at least as perturbed as you can get in a silly game hitting a plastic ball around—I try to keep perspective!) on one shot in that game. My partner has a great forehand. But there was a problem. She wasn’t using drop shots. This is the same thing I used to do as a newbie—drive everything. James isn’t one of those weak net players where you can drive the ball at them and they crumble. James took that fast drive and powered it right into my chest! I was a sitting duck! You have to use drop shots with players like that at the net. Sure, you can mix it up and try it now and then—I got “scolded” by Jerry Louis on Thursday night for testing out a drive against Jack and Larry . . . it failed badly—but you can’t do it with all your shots. We lost the game.

Shortly after, I played a game with Trish again against my former partner and Mara. They lost 11-0, gracefully.  Trish took my advice to heart and started using a “control game”. She turned after one point, “Did you see that? I was dinking!” “And you did a good job too!” Bangers typically hate the soft game. If you can get such opponents at the net dinking, it’ll make it hard for them. I played really well. I didn’t make any errors until we were already up 8-0.

The last game was a tall guy that I had never seen—I think he showed up just before 11 a.m.—along with James against a man named Matt—also that I’d never seen—and me. Matt was a strong player. Kind of like Grita in that he favored hitting the ball hard versus using the soft game and drop shots. But, his drives were so fast he could generally prevent the opponents from taking full advantage of his drives. Matt apologized after a series of errant shots. “Don’t worry…”, I reassured him, “… it’s usually me making the mistakes!” No game against James is easy, but midway through the game it became apparent that Matt and I would win this one. One memorable point was James driving the ball at me already at the net. Block. Drive hard again. Block. Drive hard again. Block. While I can’t recall the finish of the exchange, we won that point. A voice in my head was saying, “That’s how you beat the bangers.” James is a hybrid. He’s got an ok soft game, but smacks it sometimes when a drop would be very effective.

After the game, Matt said he’d been only playing three times. Surprising. James’ partner asked, “Do you play tennis?” “No, I teach it.” Ah. Like Oleg. A natural transition to pickleball.

11:22 and it was a wrap. Walking out I told James that the frames on my sunglasses had snapped. 

I didn’t do anything to them, they were fine when I put them on, but they were broken when I took them off—very odd. James said that sunglasses are bad for you. “The sunglasses affect the mitochondria in your eyes. You should check out Dr. Jack Kruse. He writes about it.”

After I got to my car, I asked my iPhone the temperature outside. 96°.

Kruse

I tracked down a interview with the man James mentioned. There’s a transcript on this page and I did a search for “sunglasses”:
https://www.sott.net/article/304590-The-Health-Wellness-Show-A-conversation-with-Dr-Jack-Kruse
The thing that worries me is that he seems to imply that sunscreen is bad for you. Given that my wife has had surgery to remove skin cancer from too much sun exposure, it makes me a little leery. Reading online, it sounds like he advocates wearing red glasses around . . . something to do with balancing blue light exposure. Dunno.

Here’s an article by someone else also about avoiding sunglasses:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/09/16/sunglasses-myths.aspx

Broken Sunglasses

Later on in the day, I took the defective sunglasses back and exchanged them for another pair with supports that are more flexible and lenses that aren’t quite as dark. I’m not quite ready to jettison sunglasses, but I may try using none. Though aside from just being more comfortable not squinting in the sunlight, sunglasses do provide eye protection from pickleballs to the face—but that can be done just was well with either clear lenses or frames with no lenses.

Highland Games

I’m off to the highland games in Pleasanton tomorrow so no pickleball. But, Monday is a holiday, so Brommer should be hopping.

Number of days on a court: 65
Number of total hours: 185

Friday, September 1, 2017. (Court Day #64)

80 degrees. At 8:50 a.m. Yeah. This will be one hot weekend! I arrived at Brommer a few minutes after 9. Folks were warming up—am I’m not just talking temperature! As more people came, the signup board came out. At about 10:15, Karen Long wisely told everyone to move to the parking lot side of the courts where there is grass and a large shady tree. Protection from the sun was very welcome. So the signup board moved too.

Some games that I recall…

Kim and me vs. Sycha and woman

Kim isn’t too talkative. At least with me as her partner messing up. I was hoping not to let Kim down, but I made probably 3-4 mistakes for each of hers. But she never said anything mean. We lost and it was most certainly not her fault. I had my good moments, but way too many stinkers.

Kevin and me vs. Leslie and woman

“Need a fourth?” I invited invited myself into a known challenging game as Kevin’s partner. Leslie, the very strong woman player, was across from us with a regular Brommer woman I don’t recall ever seeing at Derby—though she might show up there now and then, who knows. It was a somewhat even game with things tilted in the women’s favor, and they slowly crept ahead and won the game. Leslie has fast serves that keep you on your toes. I made probably twice as many mistakes as Kevin, he had some he wanted back too.

Oh. I told Kevin before the game that people keep calling me by his name. (It’s happened 3-4 times now.) He kidded, “That’s a compliment! It’s probably because you are good looking!” I told him that it’s probably due to,the fact that we booth have dark hair, removing my cap to demonstrate! 

Monica and me vs. Ted and Sycha

I ended up in a game with Monica from Palo Alto as my partner. She sports an English accent. With her white hair and mild manner, she is one of those you can easily misjudge by first appearance. She has a solid command of the soft game and uses placement instead of power. Me? I used power on one occasion—right into the net! She kindly recommended simply blocking the shot instead of powering it. Though overall, I impressed myself with my soft game. Drop shot and dinks were my friend. Patience and control. I played prettty well in this one. Monica and I won. 

There was some staffing drama at work—according to a text I received from one of my assistant managers—and so I was very preoccupied in that last game and couldn’t really enjoy it. Rather than stress over work, I sadly opted to just leave at 10:30. I had left the court with a pickleball. On my way out, I swung over to a man in a chair. “Hey, Kent! Here’s a ball. Use it in good health!” He made some courteous remark and I continued on my way.

Hot!

During the 15 minute drive home,  I was literally dripping sweat off my elbows. And I could feel it trickling down my shins too. A very weird and unusual experience! It was already into the 90s and on its way to 100. 100 is a rarity in Santa Cruz, but we have a Northern California heat wave for a few days. It’s supposed to break by Sunday.

Number of days on a court: 64
Number of total hours: 183