Sunday, September 29, 2019 (Court Day #312)

68th day out playing lefty.

It was a cold morning. The weather went from 70-something in the morning a few days ago to 48°F at 8 a.m. today. A quick and serious shift from summer to fall.

Five days ago, Janet emailed Dave Allenbaugh and me about one of the two city pickleball nets being vandalized. Looking at them, it’s obvious that someone stomped on the crossbar at each end. This wasn’t an accident by any stretch. And it was done by someone with weight and strength. Either a large teenager or an adult.

Derby

It was really windy so when I got to the courts early, there were leaves, twigs, and debris everywhere. It was another instance when I could have used two batteries instead of one to blow off the courts.

Today was a day to forget. Bruce used a funny phrase Thursday night at Skypark:
“The lid is off the toilet now!” That’s what I felt like today. I made a lot of mistakes. One was I had Janet off of the court to my right and she hit it to me and instead of hitting it into the big hole left between her and her partner (her husband Bruce) where I was actually aiming, I hit the ball back to her outside of the court. She fumbled hitting it with her paddle and dropped the ball not too far from her feet. “Did you just hit that back to her outside of the court?”, asked my amused partner, John P. “It was not where I was aiming, but yes.”

Also in the morning, Tom S. and I played Janet and Bruce. We lost 11-0. It was Tom’s first outing in three weeks. And I was just not myself.

I was fatigued. It wasn’t so much from pickleball as just oddly tired from even early on. 12:23 and I was out—early for me. The courts were still busy. Janet would close up for me.

Evening

Tonight, I figured out why I was dragging at pickleball. I had come down with a sore throat and stinging sinuses. (One of the things about being married to a first grade teacher is that you get exposed to all kinds of germs! Well, that and managing a retail store and dealing with the public!) It’s hard to have energy when you are fighting an illness.

 

Monday, September 30, 2019 (No Play)

I have another appointment now set up with the Witch Doctor on October 10. So far, there is no miracle. If anything, my arm feels worse, though that could be my arm showing symptoms of playing righty last Wednesday for the second time in four days and not just from the poking and prodding from Walnut Creek four days ago.

 

Wednesday, October 1, 2019 (No Play)

Still sick. I woke up to wheezing in my chest from congestion. No play for me today.

Karen Long asked for volunteers to teach a group of beginners retired from UCSC. I replied yes, as did a few others.

Another good vídeo from Joe Baker came out this week:

My bruises are still significant from my visit to the den of the Witch Doctor. They are gaining this delightful hue of yellow but they are now only 75% of what they were a week ago.

John P. emailed me and deferred to me to lead the instruction for the UCSC group. I called him after work and after some thought, deferred back. He’s retired. I’m not. I have some staffing issues at work that I’m figuring out . . . the ongoing challenge of running a retail operation.

 

Thursday, October 3, 2019 (No Play)

I’m still not comfortable with the thought of playing. I’m still don’t have proper energy.

Finally! A video about one of my pet peeves. We often warm up in a sloppy fashion then get surprised when the same shots are attacked by our opponents in a game!

 

 

Friday, October 4, 2019 (No Play)

A nice video. There’s no way I can do this playing with my left hand.

I’m still congested and having to clear my lungs. Not fun.

 

Sunday, October 6, 2019 (No Play)

I had some of my cohorts open and close the courts for me today. This bug is dragging on. It’s been a full week now. I’m starting to get my energy back some, so that’s good.

A man posted some up interesting grow numbers on the Facebook Pickleball Forum:

Here’s what I got from Melissa McCurley and company…. I’m sure they could provide a ton of data but the USAPA should be the main source

2015 = 120 tournaments
2016 = 197 tournaments @ 64% growth
2017 = 313 tournaments @ 59% growth
2018 = 482 tournaments @ 54% growth
Est 2019 = 699 tournaments @ 45% growth

Interesting numbers, to say the least.

Number of days on a court: 312
Number of total hours: 869

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