Month: March 2018 (Page 3 of 4)

Sunday, March 18, 2018 (Court Day #135)

On Tuesday, Eric invited me to lunch. With rain projected most of the week, he wanted to get at least some kind of pickleball fix. He let me pick the spot, so we headed to Santa Cruz Diner. He brought along his magnatized chess board . . . but we were not going to be playing chess! As you can see from the photo, after hamburgers, we spent part of the time working out strategies for certain circumstances on the court.

I mentioned to Eric a tournament in July in Pleasanton. He immediately expressed concern that it might be held outside. Pleasanton is known for 100 degree temperatures during the summer! I told him that I’d check.

Indoors?

On Thursday, I emailed the contact for the tournament to be held in Pleasanton. I asked if it would be held in a gym. I imagine the answer will be yes, since it’s at a middle school.

Well, that was quick. Within 90 minutes, Julian from the City of Pleasanton emailed me back: “It is indoors. :-)”

Stuck Indoors

On Thursday, I spent about 10 minutes drilling in my garage, hitting against the plywood cabinet doors with simulated net line and using my makeshift non volley zone. With all the rain, it was the best that I could do.

Back on the Courts

I arrived at Derby Park on Sunday morning at 8:45. I was expecting wet courts and even brought a number of towels to soak up water. Surprisingly, there was not even one puddle. John P. showed up a few minutes after I did and helped me set up.

Eric and I played a game against Stuart and a man I’d never seen before, I think he was visiting. Stuart had signed up in red and I asked Stuart if I could sign up in his box. Stuart agreed and Eric was added too. Our fourth signed himself up, I believe. He was not an intermediate player and didn’t belong in our game. After the first point or two, Stuart and I looked at each other across the net and sharing a knowing smile. Stuart wasn’t going to be winning this game! As the game progressed, after one point Stuart asked me, “Did you hit that with your left hand?” “Yes.” “You know that you need a permit to do that.” I think he was impressed that this newbie (me) has progressed to that level in my game where I can pull that off. Of course, I’m not a newbie anymore, I’ve been at this for 13 1/2 months now and have a gold medal to my name.

Wake Up Call

Of note today, Eric and I played a game against Kim and Cathy. We got creamed, 11-1. Eric and I weren’t at the top of our game, but we didn’t play particularly poorly either. Kim and Cathy were, as Eric said afterward, “on fire”. And they were. Angled shots, hard drives at the right time, great defense, all-around excellent play. Cathy hit one wicked angled cross-court shot and I went for it hard but still couldn’t effectively return it. I allowed the fence to help slow my momentum like I sometimes do, but to add insult to injury, I happened to run into a section of the fence where the metal pole was and hit my right cheekbone. Ow! I didn’t mention it to anyone but I did check for blood a few times over the next few points, but no cuts, just a bruised bump about 2″ in front of my ear.

Left It On The Court

I played a game with Janet against John P. and a newish player, Max. I’ve seen Max 2-3 times before—I’d put Max between 60 and 65, but it’s hard to tell. Max has ping pong experience, like Jeff. I played every shot in that game left-handed. My left hand’s backhand is not so good. My lefthand forehand is tolerable, but not powerful. Janet and I lost 11-2 or something like that. I made a fair number of unforced errors playing lefty, though I think I only missed one or two serves the entire game. Janet was amused and was a good sport about it. I told Janet, “If they get to 10, I’ll switch to my right hand.” “Oh, no you don’t! You are playing the whole game left handed!” And so I did. Even losing, it was good experience for me.

The last game was Jeff and Max against Janet and me. I played well and we won in a lopsided manner. Play wrapped up just before 1 p.m. A solid 4 hour day of pickleball.

What did I learn?

• I can serve left-handed somewhat reliably.
• Sometimes opponents will be having a fantastic day, and you are in trouble.
• My left hand’s backhand is pretty bad being only sometimes effective. (Fortunately, there is no reason that I should typically ever have to use it!)
• While it doesn’t always feel like it, I’m continuing to improve.

Number of days on a court: 135
Number of total hours: 386.5

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

Sunday, March 11, 2018 (Court Day #134)

Today was time change day, meaning I was up an hour earlier to be up at the same time. After a few blocks of driving, I realized that I had forgotten the blower battery and had to go back home. I arrived at Derby Park at about 10 minutes to the 9 a.m. start time. John P. had beaten me to the courts and was just starting to set up. I got the blower out and went about blowing the dozens of worms that had crawled on to the courts during the recent rain. There were a couple of small puddles, we removed the standing water and they had evaporated by mid-morning.

My warm up was sloppy. Dinks in to the net, dinks too high, bad drop shots. Overall noticeably subpar.

Challenging Game

John P. and I had an opportunity to play against Leslie and Oleg. One would expect it to be a lopsided game and it was. Not an easy lopsided game, they had to work their way up but the score was lopsided, basically a 2:1 ratio. John was having even more of an off day than me, I played halfway decently in that game. I tend to play better when it’s a harder game—not always, but more often than not, I do. Heightened focus. There was a shot in that game where Leslie powered one low at my left leg, but I was able to scoop it and return it for a passing shot down her right side along the sideline for a winner. I got a whoop and a congratulatory comment from Kim sitting on the sidelines!

Fatigued

Almost right out of the gate, I was feeling tired. I don’t know if it’s because this was my third time playing in four days, or it was a result of the time change, or maybe I’m fighting a bug. It was enough that after about an hour of play, I had the thought of just calling it a day. But, no. I want to get in as much pickleball as possible!

John from Pleasanton was down in Santa Cruz again. While still relatively new, he has solid ball skills with all this squash experience. Once he gets more strategy down and develops more reliable drops, he’ll be on his way to being a great player. My shot selection is generally pretty good these days, but reliable execution is my challenge.

Wrap-up Games

There was a tall man built like a linebacker with gray hair named Rich—probably late 50s—who played with Jeff against me and Rick (Eric’s friend). Rich hasn’t been around for a while, but I remember him from months back. Rick and I won the game 11-9.

We all decided to have a rematch since it had been pretty balanced—plus we were the last interested players around. This time, however, it was not. Rick and I won 11-1. I was playing well.

We wrapped things up a few minutes after 1 p.m.

My play improved over the course of the day, going from “eh” to decently good. Consistency is “where it’s at”. Something for me to work on.

The Forecast

It’s supposed to rain a lot this week. The next pickleball day may be a full week from now, again on Sunday.

Number of days on a court: 134
Number of total hours: 382.5

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

Friday, March 9, 2018 (Court Day #133)

I changed and headed out the door stopping only to read the temperature gauge. 62 degrees. I didn’t bother with a sweatshirt. As I drove across town, the sky grew darker under solid gray clouds. I arrived at Brommer Park a couple minutes after 9 and one game was already underway. Later in the morning, it would lightly drizzle for a very short time, almost heavy mist, but it didn’t interfere with play. Overall, though, it was a pleasant morning with the sun peeking out by around noon.

New Faces

There were a number of new players today. George, the 70-ish tennis player, on his first day out. There was an older woman who arrived who had also never played before, but she played with others. Rob—not the firefighter Rob I., but he was there too—plus Wheeler, Josh, and another younger fellow. Rob I. had never met Josh, but both are firefighters and, astonishingly, share the same unusual last name, “Iranda”.

Eric and I played only one game together today and it was against Karen Long and a short woman with short grayish hair that I recognized but don’t know. It was a back and forth game. We lost by a 2-3 points. That was a good one.

I played a game against Tom from Palo Alto. Dan Bliss was his partner and I had James as my partner. Aside from me, a fairly high powered game of advanced players. I was happy to be part of it! James and I won fairly handily. It was about a 2:1 score ratio at the end. Afterward, Tom said, “I can see why you won that gold medal, you are easily a 3.5. You’ve improved a lot. I’m a high 4.0 player.” Then again, James can make many a partner look good!

Uli and I played a game against Jane and brand new Rob. So, strong/weak against strong/weak. Jane was serving very well and I was just not dialing in and I failed to successfully return several of her serves. Embarrassing. It was a problem I had more today for some reason, it wasn’t just that game. Uli was a weaker player than Rob. Rob, while a rank beginner at pickleball, has tennis background and has youth on his side. He’s learning quickly.

I was a bit tired today. I wasn’t recovered from pickleball last night. Still, it’s always great to play.

The Last Games

There was a man named Lou who was visiting from Phoenix. It seems that the Longs knew him. (Terry and Karen had just gotten back from a big tournament in Arizona.) Chris and Jen—the husband/wife tennis pro couple—played against Lou and me. We got toasted. It wasn’t even close. My play was miserable and so was Lou’s. I gave Chris a few pop ups which he easily put away. Humbling. Thankfully, Chris is a fun guy. It’s a game that I desperately wish I had recorded to analyze later—it would have yielded a lot of areas to improve.

The last game of the day was Rob I. and me against Steve (the strong lefty player) and Josh. So, Steve and I both had relative newbies at our sides. It was back and forth, no team leading by more than 2 points. Steve has really cranked up his serve in recent months. I think I got them all back, but boy, it keeps you on your toes, they are very quick. Rob and I won that one, but it could have gone either way.

Someone asked, “What time is it?” “1:00” Holy cow, 1 p.m.? 4 hours? That went fast!

Today was a day of ups and downs. A little rust, a little soreness. Still far better than I was a year ago!

Number of days on a court: 133
Number of total hours: 378.5

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