Month: August 2018 (Page 5 of 5)

Wednesday, August 8, 2019 (Court Day #179)

Work staffing was all situated, so I opted to take the morning off. I spent 2 1/2 hours last night in a meeting for work, so it’s not like I’m not getting my hours in! I arrived at Derby Park a few minutes after 9 a.m. and there were already half a dozen people there. Dave Allenbaugh is the opener/closer for Wednesdays, so he was there.

Harder Game

The games of the day were visor Tom and me against Kent and George. The first game went 12-10 with Tom and I taking the game. We had a rematch and this time, Tom and I won by a wider margin. A good couple of games.

Eric and Art

Greg and Gary (Terri’s husband)

I spent about 15 minutes after my last game waiting. I had told Dave that I’d close up the court for him so he could meet family.

Singles

Eric, Ted and Art needed to take off, so that left Greg and me. Janet, Olga and a couple of women were playing on the other side of the courts. Greg said, “What to play singles?” Singles? “Yeah!”

Singles is a very different animal! If you want to run 2-3 times as much as in doubles, play singles! I was panting! I won the first game 11-4. (The last point in the first game was hard won. We must have had a 15-20 hit rally!) We opted to play again but this time I lost 11-7. Greg got a few points on deep lobs. Greg observed, “In singles, you have to make all of your shots!” Mistakes are very costly in singles. I was exhausted, but it was super fun! It made me seriously wonder about maybe doing singles in a tournament sometime. I’d really need to train though. There is no way I could play a dozen singles games like the two I played today. I’d be dead!

I was off the courts at 12:45. I don’t sweat easily, but I was the drenched as I walked to my car. I had standing water dripping off of my arms. And it wasn’t too hot, maybe about 70°F. When I got home, I couldn’t pull my T-shirt over my  head because it was plastered to my body! Crazy

Thursday, August 9, 2018 (No court play)

I’m intrigued a bit by singles now. But most articles and videos are geared toward doubles since doubles is far more commonly played. Here’s decent video that I found:

Marcin Rozpedski’s advice as he posted to the Pickleball Forum:

1. Deep serve (most likely to the center of the side that you are serving to)
2. On a passing shot run around your backhand as much as possible (this will give you more options/choices either to pass or create an angle to drop)*
3. Once you put your opponent in trouble try to close to the net. This is where this game is won. Net.
4. Return 80% of the time down the line and you must come in after your return.
5. Split step when your opponent is about to hit (this will give you option go to many different directions)
6. Look at your opponent strength and weaknesses. Movement, grips, power, touch, volleys, groundstrokes, etc. Play your strength and his weakness.

*I was surprised on this one. Now, Marcin is a U.S. Open and Nationals singles champion, but admitted in a comment that:
“..I totally agree with your backhand down the line. I don’t have that shot so that’s why I run around it and control the point with forehand.”

As Mark Renneson of Third Shot Sports would no doubt say, “Do what works for you.”

Number of days on a court: 179
Number of total hours: 495.5

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Sunday, August 5, 2018 (Court Day #178)

On Wednesday,  got an email back from Mofia Pickleball about the videos I’d ordered from last Sunday’s tournament. It said to expect 2-3 weeks before the videos would be ready. Something to look forward to!

Derby

It was sunny at my house and it already felt warm. I drove down from my house to Sgt. Derby Park and right into a big fog bank. It wasn’t the first time. I was delighted to see the fog, it would keep the day from getting too hot too early.

I got to the courts late, almost exactly 9 a.m. (I woke up about 4 a.m. this morning and was awake for over an hour. We had a big anniversary event at work yesterday and my brain was still in “overdrive mode”!) Walking from my car to the courts, my right hip was hurting enough that I couldn’t walk comfortably and I was worried if I’d be able to play ok. This past week, my right elbow was exhibiting some pain when I locked my arm out straight.

I got to blowing debris off the courts with no one in sight. Not long after people started to arrive.

Dean getting ready on the bench. Mike and Brennan (far side) warming up with Cameron. Tom Sherwood setting up a net for me.

Dean Workshop Offer

Dean mentioned that he was thinking of doing a workshop for those players “interested in getting better.” I told him that I was interested and that Eric and John P. would likely be interested as well as probably others.

Brennan

I ended up in a game with Brennan and two weaker players, Dan (the new skateboarding guy) and a woman. When determining teams, I told the woman that while Brennan and I have different styles of play, we are fairly close in skill level. Brennan didn’t disagree or agree, just listened without a word . . .  then went about showing he was unequivocally playing better than me. (At least today, anyway”, I like to think!) Brennan was overpowering me with his drives. Still work to do on that!

Cam and I played a game with Brennan as one of our opponents. In an effort to just let his overpowered drives sail too long, we let two of them fly past us but we turned and watched as they dropped safely inside the court. Drat! I/we need to better judge power—backswing, arm speed—and ball trajectory.

New Guy

A new guy named “Den” (short for Dennis, I imagine) appeared. I’m guessing around 60-65 years old, maybe 5’5”. He said he comes with a lot of racket experience (racquetball, etc.) and would likely be immediately be an intermediate. I didn’t have the opportunity to play with him, but he got into some games.

Greg and Angie came. I hadn’t seen them for quite some time. I didn’t get to play with either of them, unfortunately.

My hip didn’t bother me once I got going and I felt my right elbow only once. No major issues there.

Advancing on Respect

Eric, visor Tom, and I were signed up in red. We needed a fourth. I asked Eric about asking “Benji”. (That’s not her real name, but she asked to not be mentioned by name, so she has a pseudonym.) “Benji” is an advanced player. Eric said he’d been rejected numerous times when trying to get a game with her. I was more optimistic. “Would you like to play with Eric and me?” “Who’s the other player?” “Tom.” I got a smile. “Ok.” We had to wait another five minutes or so for a court to open up. (It was a busy day. As site coordinator, I had to announce 9 point games—for the first time, I got to use a whistle that I bought specifically for this!) We played. Eric and I were well ahead. I told Eric, “Let’s hit to her, just ‘cause.” (We both knew she was the stronger player and would make more of a game of it.) We did, but still won by a solid margin.

I invited Benji again and also Kim who was sitting in her chair. Benji said to Kim, “They are beating everybody!” Kim was excited to play. We beat them by a solid margin. They gave us a brief scare in the middle of the game when they pulled within two points,  but that didn’t last.

When she was leaving, Benji said, “We’ll need to have a rematch. Not today, but when we’re together again.” I think Eric and I earned little respect today.

Number of days on a court: 178
Number of total hours: 492

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