Adventures of Andrew Lenz and a Yellow Ball

Month: December 2017 (Page 2 of 4)

Willowbrook

Tuesday, December 26, 2017 (Court Day #105)

Being that work was closed today, I took the opportunity to spend the morning . . . playing pickleball! Duh. I pulled up at outside of Willowbook Park in Aptos a 5-10 minutes before 9. Tom S. was setting up. Richard, who sometimes appears at Derby, parked and started walking to the courts as I parked on the street. (There is no dedicated lot.)

img_8668Tom Sherwood gets to work setting up the first net.

I helped Tom by setting up a net. Richard helped as well. There was a large—and several inches deep—puddle on one court. I can see why Tom said people don’t like to play on that one—it has a significant indent! So much so that there was an orange traffic cone marking the little lake! There were, therefore, four pickleball courts available. Three on either side of the tennis net and one taking up one of the two half-court basketball courts.

Getting Started

I officially introduced myself to Bob, one of the site coordinators for Willowbrook. He would be my first opponent of the day. Bob is a pretty decent player. He’s not a young guy, but he consistently makes most of his shots.

I was playing a few times today with a woman named Erin who said she’s a 4.0 player. Early in the day, I overheard her saying that she made it through four rounds at the Nationals. Maybe she was having an off day, but I would have put her at 3.5 tops. At least, today, I played better than she did.

Near the end, Colleen and Rich played a match against Tom S. and me. It was a good game. “You are getting my winners back!”, yelled Colleen. The thing is, she does the same thing to me! I hit a ball that I don’t think will be coming back yet it finds its way back over to my side. She’s quick with her paddle.

I was playing a game with Erin and myself against Jukka and Erin’s former doubles partner . . . I can’t remember her name. Jukka served a hard angled serve. It was nearly impossible to get to, but I managed it and returned it to the enter of their court. I was completely off the court though. Erin did a decent job holding her own until I got back on the court but she ended up hitting it into the net just as I got back into position. It took me a few seconds—I was way off the court! Afterward, Jukka’s partner said, “I can’t believe what I saw! I can’t believe you got that!” Sometimes I make highlight shots, sometimes I embarrass myself!

Afterward, I told Jukka, “Thanks for playing, you always make for a good challenge.” He thanked me back and said I’d improved so much from the time I started. I told him I didn’t know what I was doing when I started!

I wish I’d gotten more games in with Colleen. And Greg’s wife Angie was there too, but I didn’t get to play with her.

Official

After I got back home from pickleball about 1 p.m., I dropped the registration for the February Livermore tournament for Eric and myself into my mailbox. Off it goes! Based on advice, we’ll give 3.0 a go. Sounds like Eric is lining up a “tournament lesson” with Jerry Louis for us, John P., and Tom Sherwood.

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Number of days on a court: 105
Number of total hours: 295.5

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.

Just an Hour to Kill

Sunday, December 24, 2017 (Court Day #104)

Last Thursday, December 21

I quickly changed into shorts and hopping back in the car to head to Scotts Valley after work. The car thermometer read 45°F. Chilly, but I’d warm up. I pulled into the courts at 6:33 and found, unusually, that there were a few parking spots empty. But cold probably frightened some people off. Uh, oh. There were no people nor action at the far end of the courts past the tennis players. Not good. I figured I’d wait a few minutes and see if things would get started. Rolando pulled up. We hung out for about 10 minutes talking pickleball then called it a night. I got Rolando’s cell number in case we wanted to meet up and play soemtime. I texted Eric—I had mentioned in an email mid-afternoon that I’d be playing in Scotts Valley—in case he was planning to show up. About 10 p.m., Eric emailed me, “Dude, you need to get on Sharyl’s email list.” He’d also included her email message from that morning saying they were canceling! Rats. I dropped Sharyl a message asking to be put on the list and she got back to me saying she would.

Battle of the Sexes

YouTube suggested a video for me. Scott Moore and Steve Dawson versus Simone Jardim and Corrine Carr-Siebenschein. The women are the top doubles team and the men are 55 and 56 senior players who weren’t regular partners. It’s interesting to watch the strategies and the amazing skill during volley rallies and resetting the point after a slam.

Tournament Research

With the Livermore tournament coming up, I asked Jerry Louis and Beth Black their feelings on what level Eric and I should sign up for: 3.0 or 3.5?

Jerry said we are “solid 3.5” players and should sign up as such. He said, “you wouldn’t get any satisfaction from success beating up weaker [true 3.0] players.”

Beth, however, felt the grades are getting tougher and she’s seen some really good 3.0 players. Given that, she recommended signing up as 3.0 and have a “positive experience” where we might medal.

Boy. Two different opinions. So I emailed the Longs to see what Terry and Karen had to say.

Karen suggested, “If the draw is large in Livermore, I’d vote for you to start at 3.0 because you’d have a good chance at running across high level 3.0’s. If it’s a small draw you may be better off starting off at 3.5 to get the competition you want.”

Terry offered, “How about you start at 3.0 in Livermore and see how you do. If you dominate then move up to 3.5 at Paso.”

After taking to Eric, we opted to sign up for 3.0. That’s where we will start.

An Hour To Kill

With work open from 11-3:30, I figured I had just enough time to get an hour of pickleball in. I told John P. last night I could open the courts after all, but he’d still have to lock up. He said he’d be there at 8:30 regardless.

The car thermometer read 49°. Chilly but no breeze. John and I walked up to the courts from opposite directions as the same time, 8:35. We set up the nets and got things ready. Visor Tom was the first arriver. Then Rolando who would be my partner against John and Tom. I was thinking, “I’m a strong player. I’ll be in a tournament in two months.” Not so much. Rolando and I lost 11-0.

Dialing in the hard ball distance was difficult for me. What I need to do, for early games, is not try to win points but instead to try not to lose them. What does that mean? Hitting more toward the center of the court. Not necessarily at the center, but away from the edges.

I played a game with Mike against Ray and—boy, I can’t recall. Anyway, in that game I made my share of mistakes, but Mike paid me several compliments, like “That’s a really hard shot to make.”

My last game before dashing off a few minutes after 10 a.m. was with Tom against Kim and Robin. It was my best game of the day. There were some great rallies: rally, lob, back to the net, volley battle, etc. Nice.

Beep. Beep. Beep. John P.’s watch was going off. “Time for you to go to work!” He’d set it for me. I finished up my game and a few minutes after 10 a.m., I was off.

Number of days on a court: 104
Number of total hours: 292.5

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.

Day in Paradise

Sunday, December 17, 2017 (Court Day #103)

It was crazy windy last night. When I got to the courts I was expecting a big mess. There were twigs and leaves strewn across the courts, but not too bad. Rolando appeared as I was finishing blowing.

Nearly all of my games today were played with a hard ball. I was disgusted with my initial play. My first few games were frustrating.

Looking Up

As the morning continued, my play gradually improved until I was playing very well.

My drop shots are continuing to come along. I make them far more of them than I miss. While playing with Beth, she said, “That was a great dropshot. I think you are better at them than you think.” (She had asked before the game what I wanted to work on. It would have taken too long to explain about not slamming popped up balls into the net—plus you might not see more than one or two of those in a game.) Beth also paid me a compliment after a rally at the net, “You have quick hands.” Nice to hear.

It turned into a beautiful day. “Another day in paradise”, someone said. Indeed, it was pretty amazing. Sunny, mild breeze. In the 60s. Mid-December. Wow.

There was a woman newbie there today, Nancy. She said she played a few times three years ago, but a golf social group got in the way, but she’s back to it now. I took her as my partner against Janet and Tom S. Nancy is pretty green but got it over the net most of the time. Not a game to write home about, but court time is court time. Nancy was very nice.

The last game was John P. and me against Eric and Oleg. It was a great back and forth game. Janet and Olga were watching from the bench and clapped at the end. John and I lost 11-9. Eric provided the weaker play for his team, John on ours, but there was no bad play. It was a good game.

Mexican Lunch

Eric and I headed to Mexican food and Oleg and Olga tagged along. Afterward, I talked to Eric about tournaments. When I told him, he wasn’t aware of the one in Livermore in February. He suggested that we ask Jerry about his throughts about that tournament and also what level we should register as. 3.0? 3.5? Eric doesn’t want to sandbag. And I don’t either. But given that we’ve never entered a real tournament (just that weird racquetball court one), I’m thinking 3.0, but we’ll see what Jerry says.

I told Eric, “We’re pretty close in skill level, though I’d give you the edge.” “I don’t know…” “I think you are more consistent. I’m more up and down.”

“I may still need some convincing, but let’s say yes for now.” I’ll take that!

Shoes

I had shifting insoles again with my new shoes. I’ve been debating buying third-party insoles. The frugal part of me is offended by paying 2 to 3 times the cost of the shoes for fancy insoles. But the Costco/Kirkland insoles did deteriorate—and before the rubber soles were worn down. I wore right through the heel and through parts of the front as well.

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I opted to take a trip to the fabric store and purchase a couple of denim iron-on patches. I traced the insoles and cut the patches to shape.

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And ironed them on. Here’s the result.

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I’ll glue them in and see how the hold up.

Going Forward

Now, let’s see if I can reach 300 hours of court play for 2017.

Bonus

An interesting video by Deb Harrison that may require some study and experimentation.

Number of days on a court: 103
Number of total hours: 291.5

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.

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