Month: January 2018 (Page 2 of 4)

Wednesday, January 24, 2018 (Court Day #116)

I arrived at Derby at 9:05, after running the dog first. It was cold—in the 40s—and overcast with a slight chilly breeze. I was in a T-shirt and shorts. I was cold but as I assured Greg, I would be warm by the time my first game was over . . . and I was. I didn’t think about the temperature until mid-morning when I noticed my partner’s breath billowing like a ghost while I was back to receive a serve.

Mike and Mark (far side) taking on Dave and Ted (near side) in the first game of the day. I don’t know the result, but I’d expect the M&M team to soldily take this game.

In our first game together of the day, Eric and I beat John P. and Greg 11-0.

In the next game, Eric and I played against Daniel and—I think—Dave. Greg was rooting us on from the next court—I suspect he didn’t want to be the only one to lose in a lopsided fashion! We won that game too. 11-1.

Melody arrived and wanted to play together since we’ll be partners in the Livermore tournament next month. Our first game was pretty rough. We lost by roughly a 2:1 margin. It takes a bit of adjustment playing with a leftie. We—mostly I—need to work on communication during games.

In our second game against Grita and Ted, I tweaked my ankle a bit. It hurt, but the pain didn’t last long. Melody and I lost, but it wasn’t by much and our play had improved. Melody said, “We lost, but we won’t be facing too many women like Grita!”

Game with Karen

John P. came over and told Eric and me that Karen had a game reserved for the four of us. She want to play against us. It would be fairly balanced. Eric and I are stronger players than John at this point and Karen is stronger than all of  us. Eric and I won in the end, pretty sure it was 11-6.

Hard Games

Grita was signed up (in red). I asked if I could join her. She said yes. Eric added his name and we got Kevin to fill the court. I told Grita, “Eric and me against you and Kevin.” Grita smiled and asked, “Are you sure?” “I’m sure.” I wasn’t expecting to win, but it was possible and it be a good challenge for Eric and me regardless. It was a battle back and forth, but we ended up losing 11-6. At least they didn’t easily walk away with the win.

After the first game ended, I said, “REMATCH!” Kevin said he could do one more. Eric and I took a quick lead and extended it, 9-4, where it stayed for several service rotations. But they slowly crawled back 1 or 2 points per service rotation until it was 9-8. Then we scored a point and made it 10-8. Then soon, it was 10-10. Then 11-11. The I hit a shallow cross-court shot right to left: out. They went up 12-11. The Eric hit a shallow cross-court shot left to right: out. It was as close to an exact mirror of my bad shot as you could get. They won 13-11.

“You guys are playing really well.” said Kevin. I told Kevin he needs to come on Wednesdays more often, it’d be nice to get more very strong competition like Kevin.

We were all done and heading out at 12:23 p.m.

Radio

Terry and Karen Long will be on the radio tonight on KSCO 1080AM. I’m going to benefit dinner tonight, so I won’t be able to listen live, unfortunately. I’ve been in that studio before when my daughter Charlotte and her sailing crew Oliva were interviewed by the host, Neil Pearlberg, after the two of them won a high school NorCal regatta. He does a lot of sports-focused shows with his Tuesday show featuring surfing and skating and Wednesday being everything else. It used to be just local sports on Wednesdays, but he ran out of weekly topics/interviewees, so now it’s a mix of topics. Regardless, he often provides recordings of the show to the guests. I hope I can manage to get a copy and hear the show.

Number of days on a court: 116
Number of total hours: 330.5

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Sunday, January 21, 2018 (Court Day #115)

This would prove to be a long pickleball outing. The thermometer in my car read a balmy 41°. Oy. But it was sunny. I didn’t even bother to grab a sweatshirt. I arrived a Derby at about 10 to 9. John P. was already there and starting to set up. “Slept in today?”, John asked with a smile. “Yes, I was out late at a Scottish Burns Night dinner.” Being that they were there and I’d forgotten the blower battery, I turned around and raced home to grab it. Once home, I figured out why I’d forgotten it. My always-organizing wife had moved it from where I’d left it next to my pickleball cap and put it with the charger in our living room. Ah, well. I got back at 9:05, blew off the courts, put on my ankle brace—11 days since it rolled it—and got into a game.

Tournaments

Melody and I talked more about Livermore. She really wants to get over to San Jose and play with me indoors. She reiterated that the indoor game is different. Lighting, distractions, different ball, how that ball bounces. Eric was interested—of course—and John P. was amenable to being our “fourth” on such an excursion.

John P. asked if I had a mixed doubles partner for Paso Robles. I told him no, but was playing with Melody in Livermore. John said he was asking because he’s doing down on Saturday but only wanted to stay for the dinner if there were people around that he knows. I can understand that.

Stronger Game

Leslie and Daniel were both signed up in red. It had been a little bit of time but no reds were around to  sign up with them. I asked them if they’d mind of I signed up with them. They agreed. Ted B. (Eric’s long time friend) noticed than I’d signed up with in a “red” box: “Can I join you?” I said, “Ask them.” They agreed and soon we were on a court. It took me a few points, but then I settled in and played well. I got a “Nice hands” compliment from Daniel. We won, not a shock. Ted isn’t a weak player, but he’s not a strong player either—he’s an intermediate intermediate.

Mid-morning, if you looked, you could see your breath. It’s January, after all!

Terry’s Class

Eric and I were leading 8-4 (or thereabouts) over Beth and Allan when Terry Long called across the courts to us in the opposite corner. “The class is starting.” We explained and apologized to our opponents. “Just know you didn’t win,” kidded Allan, as we walked back toward the entrance. “It was draw,” agreed Eric with a laugh.

Terry reviewed the last week’s first class. Serve deep. Return deep near the centerline. If on the third shot, the receivers are still running up, the hit a “dying quail” shot (“one with pace, but drops”) that lands at the receiver’s feet. Drive if they are back. A lot of review.

Terry’s Great Drill

Terry explained a drill that uses only the left or right of a court. Player A is at the net and “cooperatively serves” straight ahead to Player B at the baseline. (Either a forehand or backhand target.) Player B has to hit a drive to Player A at the net. At this point, skinny singles starts. If Player B can hit 3 good shots after the serve return, Player B gets a point. You can play to 5 points then switch so Player B is at the net—or players’ discretion, of course. This is a fantastic drill. I told Terry so and he said he showed it to (national champion and clinic instructor) Scott Moore who now uses it.

For maybe 30-45 minutes, we played doubles, rotating in when a player made an error. Everyone wanted to play, so people were avoiding errors about as well as they could. Still, we all made mistakes. Eric and I each had the longest runs staying on the court. Eventually, Terry had to leave. Jeanne thoughtfully provide a gift. It was in a bag, but I think it was a bottle of wine.

Last Game

The last game was Jeanne and Karen against Eric and me. Even though we are playing in a tournament as partners next month, we should have split up. Eric and I won and each player only got to serve once! We were leading 3-0 when my initial serve was broken, but we got the ball back quickly and then Eric took us from 3-0 to an 11-0 win in his only service.

By the time we left, it was about 2:45. Wow. That went quick! Grita had left her paddle leaning up against the court fence, so I took that with me. I’ll email her and let her know.

Review

How was today? Solid. Of course, a lot depends on your partners and your opponents, but I believe I lost only one game today. I was never the weakest player on a court, so that was nice.

Per Dr. Tom’s instructions, icing my ankle—and watching some NFL playoffs to pass the time.

I’ve been slowly expanding my unwritten “rules of pickleball”. When I mentioned my rule number 1, a woman said, “Rule number 1 is to have fun!” I told her, “That’s a given!” Now they are not unwritten.

Andrew’s Five Rules of Pickleball

1. Get it over the net.

2. Get it in the court.

3. Keep it low.

4. If they are back, keep them back.* (Don’t allow your opponents to take the net.)

5. Be patient. (Don’t try to force shots that aren’t true winning opportunities.)

*If they are way back and you are at the net and have a fantastic drop shot or angle shot, then sometimes, you can break this rule and go for a winner.

These will serve every pickleball player. I may had more, but these are the ones that I tell newbies.

Oh, my one year anniversary of pickleball is coming up in just about a week. Hard to believe. It’s gone REALLY fast!!

Bonus: Monday, January 22, 2018 (No Pickleball)

A video of some great play…

…but I have to say, it makes me feel better. Even the top players in the world dink lamely into the net. Or mistakenly poach their partner’s forehand leading immediately to an opponent’s winning shot by being out of position as a result. Or being impatient and driving into the net during a dink rally. Or thinking they’ve got the angle for an ATP shot when they don’t. They are human just like me. (Then again, there are some amazing shots they they manage to pull off!)

p.s. Grita stopped by my work and picked up her paddle from me. She was quite happy to get it back!

Number of days on a court: 115
Number of total hours: 327.5

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Friday, January 19, 2018 (Court Day #114)

I had to conduct an early morning interview at work so my morning was out. But pickleball was calling. Play was delayed until 10 a.m. due to rain anyway, so when I arrived at Brommer Park just before 11 a.m., I was in the thick of things and had only missed one hour. Only five courts of the eight courts were in use since some courts were still in the shade and therefore damp. That meant people were waiting to play.

Mixed Doubles

Melody was there. “Andrew! We’ll talk!”, she yelled over as I was walking over. And we did 5-10 minutes later. I had emailed her in the last couple of days saying my schedule was clear for playing mixed doubles with her in Livermore. She is still interested. She really wants to play indoors over in San Jose to get a feel of playing with me in those conditions. She said it’s a very different game. Lights, surface, etc.  We played a couple games as partners and won both. Played far better than my last game with Mel, but that’s not saying much.

My play was subpar today. Not horrible, but not the top of my game. I think I wasn’t as focused. I did turn my ankle just a bit and it hurt. It was a mini-roll, kind of. But I had my brace on, so it wasn’t a bad roll. Not crunching noises and a fraction of the pain!

Wrist

During my last two outings, my right wrist has been aching. We’ll see if it’s a passing thing or the start of something more chronic. I will say that this ankle sprain is definitely the worst of the two I’ve had in my life. The first—about 25 years ago—didn’t linger like this one has. Granted, it’s only been 9 days.

Playing with the Big Boys

“We’ll take on the winners.” Karen said. Kent was sitting next to her waiting outside the fence. It was about 1 p.m. Given the late start, people were still playing, though it was down to only one court at this point.

Stuart and I beat John Conner and Chuck 11-4. I was focused and playing better. I also nearly had another first. A left-handed ATP shot, but I was told that the ball was already out 2″ before I hit it back into their court. Drat!

Karen and Kent won the first point. Service went back and forth with neither team scoring. Then Stuart and I started to creep out in front. 2-1, 4-1. Stuart hit a deep cross court shot left to right. Karen went for the ATP shot. But I was there at the net and had tracked with the ball so I was at the sideline. I hit the ball back for a winner, passing off of Karen’s right side out of reach.

Kent or Stuart made a positive comment about my play a bit later and Karen said, “He’s been a student of the game.” Stuart and I continued to pull ahead. 8-1.

Karen and Kent crept back. Stuart and I were making mistakes—dinking into the net, groundstrokes into the white net tape, etc. Stuart missed 3-4 serves and I missed a couple. Karen and Kent also hit some really good shots. It was breezy. Stuart and I got to the point of reminding each other of the breeze prior to every service—both serving and receiving.

The game stalled out at 9-9 with service going back and forth. “No one wants to win this game!”, exclaimed Karen, grinning.

Stuart and I finally finished the game off and won 11-9.

“You are certainly the most improved player!”, complimented Karen.

The Eye-Opening Compliment

As we were walking off the court, Kent asked me, “How old are you?” “50.” “Ah. I was thinking we could play together at Paso Robles, but I don’t want to down play in the 50 bracket.” (I think Kent is in his 60s.) “Eric and I are already signed up for Paso Robles anyway.” “Maybe Kevin instead. I’ve played there the last three years.”

It’s one thing to say you have improved. (Not that Karen wouldn’t say it if it weren’t true.) But it’s another to be asked by a player to potentially partner with them in a tournament. High praise.

Number of days on a court: 114
Number of total hours: 322

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