Month: August 2018 (Page 3 of 5)

Tuesday, August 21, 2018 (Court Day #185)

I arranged some evening pickleball. Eric, Brennan, John P. and myself. I left straight from work and arrived at 6:38 p.m. for the 6:30 gathering. (Leaving work can sometimes be a challenge.)

Eric and Brennan warming up as I arrived.

The first game was Brennan and me against Eric and John. We lost. Then Eric and I played against Brennan and John. We lost. Then John and I played against Brennan and Eric. We lost. Then we went back to Brennan and me against Eric and John. We lost. I was playing poorly. I lost every game that I played. Some were close, but still. Crap. Recently, I wrote about being frustrated with the lack of challenge. This time, it was frustration at my lack of ball control. It wasn’t that I was hitting to the wrong place (generally), it was that I was not executing. Balls too high or shots hitting the white tape of the net.

At about 7:50, John was done. It was dusk. I asked Brennan if he wanted to play singles. He was game. I went out to a 5-0 lead, but it was getting dark. My 50-something eyes were having a hard time. Brennan’s 30-something eyes were having a better go, I think. I ended up losing 13-11. It was fun, but not being able to track the ball was  real challenge! I can honestly say that I would have played better with more light.

We left the courts about 8:10. Brennan was saying his local construction project is coming to a close and he may be moving away. Pleasanton, he said, was the location of the next job. But he said he loves the weather in Santa Cruz and wants to settle in one place and stop moving around before too long. I hope he can manage to stick around. He’s a good one to play against.

Thus evening, my play was depressing. Did I saw depressing? Depressing.

Number of days on a court: 185
Number of total hours: 512.5

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

Sunday, August 19, 2018 (Court Day #184)

I arrived at Derby Park at 8:55 under morning fog and a few people were already milling around. Early birds! It got busy quick. It wasn’t long before I had to announce “Play to 9, win by 1!”

We had 10  first-time visitors at Derby. (Most were new players, but some had played a few times before.) Debby and Doug, out for the first time ever who I taught during a learning game. Russ, same story but taught by Mark (Maree’s husband). Nick and Tammi, tennis players and new to the game, but played first at Skypark this week. Jim C., Julianne and Dayra, Jean M., Sue S. Ten first-time visitors. A lot!

Dan, the skateboarder, and his wife Sarah were back. Dan’s friend Dillon was there too. He’d played Thursday night in Scotts Valley. When I asked, Dan said they’d been playing every day! It’d be nice to have that light of a work schedule!

Allan (right), Robin (bright skirt), Karen (not Karen Long), and crowd waiting to play. Jean, a first time visitor to Derby, is in the blue.

First time visitors Tammi and Nick take on shirtless skateboarder friends, Dan (left) and Dillon (right).

There weren’t all that many really good players there. Oleg arrived later in the morning. Stuart was there. But there was no Eric, no Brennan. Josh (the former UCSC tennis player) and Cameron were there and they are always worth a decent game. But even with the shortage of strong players, I felt that I got some games that were opportunities to improve.

Sure, I had the newbie game with Debby, Doug and Julianne where I tried to hit shots that were easy for them to deal with.

There was another game where I was teamed with Karen against Tom M. and first-time visitor Dayna (from Las Selva Beach in the south county). Dayna had played some before but is not a particularly strong player. I pulled a “Terry/Bryan” and tried to do in that game what they’d do in games against me . . . that is, pass on winning shots to just keep the ball in play. Don’t hit winners or even hard shots, just let the opponents mess up, if that’s what they end up doing. Occasionally, I’d lose a point after passing on a winner, but still, there was no question that Karen and I would win that game!

So?

How did I feel about today? Dunno. Over the last year, I’ve felt that I’ve gradually and steadily improved. But I feel like I’ve slipped lately. I’m making a conscious effort now to try and be better about my shot selection. Nonetheless, I’m still making bad shots. Too often, I’m not really thinking, just hitting. Trying to do slice returns on serves that are too low. Trying to drive a shot while at the kitchen line but the ball bounces too low and it ends up in the net. Driving shots while moving forward and having them end up in the wrong place—like in the net.

But I felt that the day was a step in the right direction. Back toward being a better player. I need to keep thinking . . . pick targets. Be wise about when I try tricky shots.

Dan paid me a nice compliment today in one game with him. “You are like playing against a backboard!”

It was 1:51 when I checked my phone when I was about to leave. Nearly 5 hours at the courts, with about 4 1/2 hours of play.

Number of days on a court: 184
Number of total hours: 511

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

Thursday, August 16, 2018 (Court Day #183)

I arrived at Skypark at 6:40 p.m. The courts were already hopping, big time!

I was able to get into a game quite quickly and barely sat on the bench all night.

I played a game with Stuart against Kent and Barb, who said will playing in a tournament together. I played very well and made very few errors. Stuart lost our first point for us, for instance. We finished the game 11-1, I believe. Stuart laughed and said he enjoyed the game immensely. Afterward, Kent leaned over and shared, “You played well.”

Adrian was a partner for one game. He paid me a compliment . . . something along the lines of “I’m thinking I’m doing better but then I see you do a shot like that!” At the time, I couldn’t even remember what it was that I’d just done, but it might have been returning an overhead smash from Cameron while I was a few steps in from the baseline. Whatever it was, it impressed Adrian.

The last four games were Cameron and Binh against me and Sarah. Binh has been playing for a few months now—and even brought a friend with him who had his first taste of pickleball. Sarah is the wife’s of skateboarder Dan. It seems every time I go to pickleball Dan and Sarah are there. They are hooked! Cameron and Binh won the first game, Sarah and I won the second, they won the third, then Sarah and I were leading in the fourth game by a significant margin, only to lose 11-9. Rats.

I don’t mention ATP shots anymore, but I had my first ATP around the left side of the net. “That was the shot of the night!,” exclaimed Cameron. That one felt good!

I tried to not do stupid shot selection tonight and be smart. I did somewhat better.

I was done at 9:07. Fun night.

Oh, earlier this week, I noticed some peeling skin on the base of my right palm. Yep. Where my paddle rests. I’ve never seen that before. Maybe a fluke.

Number of days on a court: 183
Number of total hours: 506.5

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