Month: November 2018 (Page 4 of 4)

Wednesday, November 7, 2018 (Court Day #220)

I arrived at Derby Park a few minutes to 9. It was sunny and a little chilly, but it’s been warm during the day and it would get warm today also.

The day begins. Dave (red) and Mike take on Barb and a woman I don’t know. Diane and her husband John P. set up another net. 

After one game mid-morning, walking off the court, Grita said, “You are Eric are tough. You are both getting better and better.” Nice to hear.

Stuart was kind of funny. In a game where we were winning as partners, he was slathering praise: “I don’t know why you aren’t a 5.0. Your shot selection is excellent and your court positioning is excellent.” But we played in another game not long after when we were behind. Granted, I tried a tricky and ill-advised backhand slice drive that failed—six inches too low and into the net—but he was giving me a hard time for not being at the net. I told him, “They were about to hit the ball, I was split-stepping.” It’s in Stuart’s nature to be loud and corrective if the game isn’t going the right way. He’s very competitive and has an extremely consisistent drop shot. I can’t remember if I mentioned it before, but recently he gave me a hard time for being near the centerline close to his side. I’ll accept it when I’m wrong, but in that particular instance, I was not. I tersely pointed out with a smile, “I was tracking. The ball was over there!” pointing to his side of the court—he then acknowledged that I was right. Without tracking, it leaves a big hole between partners. Holes that I’ve taken advantage of myself against opponents. There’s no question that I have aspects of my game that need lots of improvement and I do appreciate suggestions that I can apply.

There were 2-3 shots today where I was hitting on the move and messed up. Either sailing past the baseline or a short shot that I ran up and hit it into the net. Move, set, hit. Move, set, hit. Hitting while moving is asking for trouble. Sometimes, it’s absolutely unavoidable, but other times, it’s just a bad choice.

The sun was a big issue today. Chris and I were playing against Grita and Stuart and they were lobbing over and over again since Chris and I were facing the sun. It was annoying but effective, taking the lead and winning the game.

When I play games against better players, typically at Brommer or in tournaments, the margin for error gets smaller. A tiny bit too high, they take advantage. A little out of position, they take advantage. A little too shallow, they take advantage. The key is reducing the “little toos”!

I am getting better at applying topspin on lower shots while I’m at the net. That’s a skill that is coming along. It makes the ball go down and stay down.

By noon, I was dragging. Chris and I were playing a last game against Grita and Olga. After a couple errant points, I turned to Chris and told him, “I think I’m past my expiration date.” He and I did win, but we both made it harder than it should have been.

I checked the time as I walked off the court. 12:22, past time to go.

Later in the day, I noticed that my back is sore. Yep, no question that that is caused by pickleball!

Number of days on a court: 220
Number of total hours: 603.5

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Monday, November 5, 2018 (Court Day #219)

I went to work. Smoke was hanging low in the morning sky. As I stepped out of my car, small bits of ash were falling. I was a bit concerned, but I figured I’d hope it was not an issue a few more miles to the south at the courts. I put in about 50 minutes preparing an order. I left for Brommer Park around 8:45 and arrived before 9. No ash or noticeable smoke. Five people were already there: Leslie, Tom S., John P., visor Tom and Wayne.

Warming up for the first game of the day. Tom Sherwood (left) and Leslie taking on visor Tom and John P. (crouching).

Midmorning, starting a game, Visor Tom said, “I get Andrew? I won the partner lottery!” High praise indeed! We did win, though I played a notch down from other games on the day.

Stuart and I played a game against Allan and Rich. After I hit a winner, Stuart said, “Too bad no one is watching, they’d be cheering that shot!” Jane had been watching earlier and commented, “Andrew. You get a lot of curve on your serves!” There are days where all you can do is get your serves in. And others where the opponent’s service court is like a football field that you can’t miss—that’s what it was feeling like today. On those good days, I take more risks to “make trouble” for my opponents as Mark Renneson would say. Stuart and I won.

I left the court around 11:15. Today, I’ve hit the 600 court hours milestone.

Another Tournament?

Tonight, I messaged Colleen Gilmartin—who plays regularly in Scotts Valley—asking if she’d be willing to play in mixed doubles on November 17. She got back to me and said it “sounds fun”.

I went to email Jennifer about getting Colleen and me registered and it occurred to me to check Colleen’s USAPA rating online. Oh. 4.0 doubles. 4.0 mixed doubles. Hmmm. This could be a problem since I’m a 3.5. I could play up, but by the book, even with an unsanctioned tournament, she shouldn’t play down. I messaged Colleen again about it. She was quite surprised that she was listed as a 4.0. She said she’d played her first senior tournament last week as a 3.5 and her 3.5 opponents were all better than her. And, she’d played a few tournaments 3 years ago, but they were all as 3.5. Quite a puzzle. Anyway, 3.5 it is. I emailed Jennifer—C.C.-ing Colleen—asking how we get registered. We’ll see how long it takes for Jennifer to get back to us.

Number of days on a court: 219
Number of total hours: 600

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Wednesday, October 31, 2018 (Court Day #218)

I arrived at Derby Park around 9 a.m. It was cold, but sunny and warmed up in short order.

After warming up, I had to take a short break to check-in online for my Southwest flight tomorrow to New Orleans for a trade show. Using my iPhone, I signed up in the first 20-30 seconds once permitted, but I still ended up in the “B” boarding group. Ah, well.

It was a lightly attended day. Maybe an effect of it being Halloween.

New Paddle

One thing of significant note. My new replacement Tempest Wave paddle. Holy cow! An AMAZING difference in performance from the old delaminating one! Super noticeable! It was like night and day. It has much more pop. The old one was dead in comparison. I have to wonder how much better my performance would have been in San Juan Bautista had I had this new paddle. Boy.

One of the early games was Carrie and me against Ron and Sue (tall blonde woman). Carrie and I led 10-0 before they finally scored a point. We won 11-1. I felt bad at one point as they were giving me easy winners. Afterward, Carrie said, “I like playing with Andrew. He makes me look good!”

New Guy

A new guy named Charles came to play. Charles is a stately older African America gentleman. Sometimes, players will grunt when they hit the ball. Charles is one of those. Grita and Charles took on me and MaryAnn. (Not Marianne.) Grita is funny. She was hitting almost exclusively to MaryAnn. Grita likes to win. While I was hitting to Charles about half the time, they were mostly lollipop shots. Easy serves, easy drives. Granted, I hit a few that weren’t, but I was taking it easy on him. If Charles weren’t so new, I would have been hitting much more to Grita. I’m not there to win in rec play, I’m there to get better. MaryAnn and I lost 11-9. Charles will catch on with time. He drives too much into the net, but he’s a newbie. He has very promising hand-eye coordination.

The last game of my morning—I had to get to work by noon, too much to do before my trip—was Eric, Chris, me, and Ted B. Eric asked, “How do we want to do this? I think we should split up.” “I’ll take Ted.” Ted was funny: “I don’t know if I should be honored that you want to play with me or offended that you think I’m the worst player!” I was expecting us to lose. But I was playing very, very well. And Ted did fine. Ted and I won 11-3 which was a big surprise.

About 11 a.m., it was time for me to hit the road. I was very happy with my play today after a forced 10-day break. It might be another full week before I get to play again, but we’ll see.

I need to register for the Templeton tournament with Dave Cox. Dave will be my fourth tournament partner: Eric, John P., Rob. Now Dave.

Friday, November 2, 2018 (No play)

Surprisingly, my right shoulder muscle is sore from Wednesday. Sheesh, I get a little break and I lose my edge!

I registered last night for the Templeton tournament—I almost completely forgot being out of state in Louisiana and busy with a trade show—but I forgot to tell Dave that I had done so. I texted him late, about three hours before the deadline, hoping he was not still traveling himself.

YouTube suggested a video for me, it’s a fun point to watch. It’s not visually clear, but the ball clips the net cord right before it gets hit into the net. The announcer does point that out.

Sunday, November 4, 2018 (No play)

Dave didn’t get my text message in time to register before the deadline for Templeton. I emailed Mike, the TD, to see if he could add Dave manually. He got back to me and said he added Dave but Dave would have to pay the day of the tournament. Excellent. We are good to go. It’ll be interesting to see who our opponents pick to target in each game. It may just depend “on the day” which of the two of us is “on” and which is have a subpar day.

Number of days on a court: 218
Number of total hours: 598

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