I arrived at Derby Park at about 9:10. John P. and a few others were still setting up the nets. I helped set up another.
Nothing of great note today. Newbie Bill is getting better. He’ll never have the ability to move around the court quickly, but his hands are getting faster and he’s got some power.
I had a few good games. I didn’t feel I was playing my best today.
A pleasant surprise, Kent and his wife Cece came today. I played a couple games with and against Kent. Later, when we were talking, he said, “Oh, I forgot that you were playing left handed! I just thought you were just messing around.” (As in not hitting shots hard.) Evidence that my last-handed play is far from my normal play for those who know better and remember from a year ago!
John asked who closed the courts on Sunday. Me. One of the bins was left unlocked. Weird. I always lock them at the same time—was I distracted by the wind? Embarrassing, regardless. Unless someone came and unlocked it in the interim, but that’s unlikely. So odd.
Tristan and Binh look around as Tony gets ready to add names to the signup board.
Number of days on a court: 336 Number of total hours: 948
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As I sat in bed after waking up, it sounded like rain. I was puzzled since it couldn’t be actual rain. As I got moving, it figured it out. Wind.
I arrived at Derby Park about 8:55 a.m. to set up. I was the first one there. I was a chilly morning. I was expecting the courts to be a mess with the wind, but in an ironic twist, the wind had blown off the courts! I used up about half the battery blowing dust and a less-than-normal amount of plant debris off the courts.
Stuart was one of the first to appear. He’s been coming lately. He looked at one of the city nets, judged it unplayable—I certainly wouldn’t want to play on it, we’ve been just moving it to the side for a number of weeks—and outright disassembled it, leaving it next to our storage bins.
A man named Sam appeared. He said he was from Alabama. He and his wife would later be heading down to Monterey then on to Arizona for a tournament. When I asked, he told me he was a 5.0 player. He said he’d be playing against Scott Moore and Dave Weintraub. Well, then, a very good player! It’s a moments like these that I’m most disappointed that I can’t play right-handed for the time being.
After about an hour, the wind really picked up, nets were blowing over. I was playing with Tony against Eric and Ted. The net blew over twice. The second time, Tony and Eric grabbed their backpacks and used them as weights on the net bases. That greatly helped, thought the center of the net tried to blow over anyway! Tony and I won that one, but it was bizarre conditions—I think we did a better job adjusting for the conditions.
A woman there asked about the progress of recovery for my right elbow. I told her it’s been over a year now. She asked if I had tried acupuncture. I said I hadn’t but was considering it, but needed a recommendation. She said, “I know one.” She added that there’s one named Peggy Chen in town and that she’s also a full MD. Something to look into.
I got to play one game against Sam (and Grita’s friend Caesar) with Stuart as my partner. Yes, Sam is a great player! Stuart is a good player—he keeps shots low, scrapes up low balls, executes good lobs—but he utters an excuse for almost every mistake he makes. I hope knows we don’t expect him to be perfect.
I played a game with Juls against Cal and a woman I don’t know. It was nuts. Debris was swirling around our feet, balls would change direction or drop or sail unexpectedly, gusts might make you lose you balance if you weren’t careful!
I left Cal and Shawnte and a couple of women playing. I locked up and hit the road.
Home
When I said it was windy, I wasn’t kidding.
A victim of the high winds.
When I got home, our neighbor’s venerable tree had toppled over. Social media had photos of trees down all over the area. The main freeway through the county was closed in both directions due to trees and power lines down.
My son Nicholas and I decided to go see a movie In Scotts Valley but the roads were crawling and we never made it even a quarter of the way to the theater. It took us three times as long to get back home after got off the freeway and we turned back home. The traffic was a mess. Power was out to some stoplights.
Still that wasn’t enough to keep some of us from playing pickleball this morning!
Number of days on a court: 335 Number of total hours: 945
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Today, someone posted a poll on the Pickleball Forum on Facebook.
Yes. 75% of players have been hit in the face while on a court. I’m one of them. I’ve been hit in the eye and hit in the nose and probably hit a few other times in forgettable less traumatic circumstances. I wear eye protection every time I play now. During the day, sunglasses. During the night, clear safety glasses.
Skypark
I left work mere minutes after closing, leaving my staff to finish up. I dashed home, changed, and raced out the door. I arrived at Skypark and found the last parking spot in the lot next to Janet’s car.
The four permanent courts were all full and I was the odd man out, #17, sitting on the bench. (It was a lighter crowd tonight.) But it was a very short wait.
Kris (black), Mike (red glove) near court. Cal (blue) with Richard playing against Mark Dettle and his partner.Maria and Tristan (yellow) against Karen (black) and Juls.
I missed a number of serves tonight, but I was also trying to be tricky with spin. I wasn’t playing the best.
I was proud of myself. There was a lob over my right shoulder. I could have switched to my right hand and gotten it back. But I’m following the advice of my PT and not using my right arm. I do know that it would have hurt to hit that ball—but I didn’t.
In a game with Stuart as my partner against Mark Dettle and Tristan, while I was on the left, Stuart was telling me to not crowd the middle and cover my sideline. He was right. I suppose one thing in my defense was that playing lefty, my reach is a bit longer and I can be another foot and half to two feet more to the right than normal and still reach the sideline. That said, Mark did manage to hit a passing shot out of reach of my lefty forehand.
The last game of the night was Sue and me against Stuart and Mark. Surprisingly, Sue and I were leading most of the game. They came back and tied it up, but then Sue and I scored a couple of points. Then…
…black! The lights clicked off. 8:30 p.m. Unless the City of Scotts Valley sends someone out to reset the time, the lights will be going off an hour early until the time changes back!
As I walked off the court, Charles commented, “I’m not used to seeing your eyes!” I explained that ever since I got hit in the eye socket, I always wear eye protection, be it sunglasses or safety glasses. Eyesight is too precious!
Number of days on a court: 334 Number of total hours: 942
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