Month: January 2022 (Page 2 of 5)

Sunday, January 23, 2022 (Court Day #459)

I heard back from Eric S. and he’s recovering from an injury and wasn’t ready to do a tournament. I’ll give my last minute thoughts about a tournament a miss.

Larry and his wife Jacquie were already at Derby Park when I arrived 10 minutes before the opening time of 9 a.m. It would be a really nice day. Sunny, perfect cool temperature for playing. It would be a lower attendance day, surprisingly, with about 35 people.

When I put out the ball caddies, there were only six balls! That wouldn’t do! With six courts and people often using two to warm up per court and generally losing at least a couple to breakage, we were in trouble. I texted Leslie (and Rick) that we were in desperate need of balls. Dave Allenbaugh, who filled in on Wednesday for Rick, must have not noticed the ball shortage.

Newbies

Two newbies introduced themselves, Steve and Angie. They said they’d played a few times and knew the basic rules. I grabbed a Pure 2 ball—not the regular Franklin X balls—and we played a game with Allison. I played lefty and offered a few little pieces of advice and encouragement. Allison made kind comments about her good experience with me teaching her when she had her first outing.

To the rescue

Leslie arrived with a bag of new balls—a BIG “thank you” goes to her!—and stuck around for about an hour playing some games. I took over for Larry Y. as Leslie’s partner but I didn’t do so well. It was embarrassing, but as I told Leslie, I had played all my previous games lefty.

Binh

Binh appeared today; I hadn’t seen him in months. He said he wanted to play a game with Mark G. since they are going to play in a tournament in 3.5 together. Binh mentioned that he and Shawnte were supposed to play in the Monterey tournament together but there was some question about Binh’s work schedule and Shawnte didn’t want to wait, so Shawnte signed up with “Texas Mike” (as Binh refers to Mike B. as). Those two will be playing in 4.0 together. Binh said he and Shawnte played in a tournament previously in 4.0. I asked how they did and Binh said they got clobbered . . . aside from a team that signed up in 4.0 and probably wouldn’t have even been competitive in 3.5, he said.

Fun stuff

I had a number of really good games with Charles, Binh, Rick and Renee, and Ben visiting from Modesto. Ben said he’d be back in a few months, but today would be is last day of his RV stay in Santa Cruz.

Oh, there was a game with Charles as my partner—yes, we won—and I made a serve where I dropped the ball just past the kitchen line for a winner. Charles asked, “Did you do that on purpose?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t have that serve.”
It can be risky in several ways . . . it’s easy to mess up (too short, too wide) plus if it’s a little too deep or the receiver is fast, you invited them right up to the net and a position of advantage. That said, it’s a nice one to roll out when you’ve been serving deep and fast and the receiver is particularly back of the baseline.

What did I learn?

My errors today were generally one of these:
– Slam a high ball/overhead into the net;
– Drive a high ball too long;
– Hit a drop shot into the net;
– Hit a drop shot too high;
– Hit a return too deep or into the net (only on hard serves);
– Hit a dink too softly and not over the net.

As the day went on, I got better and better in my play.

Arm

I iced my right arm when I got home and used the massage gun. As I type this sentence at 7:28 p.m., my right forearm has a mild charley horse when I tap on my iPad.

Bedtime Video

An interesting bounce control drill.

Number of days on a court: 459
Number of total hours: 2,211

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

Thursday, January 20, 2022 (Court Day #458)

One of my staff closed up at work so I was able to get to Skypark at 6:30 p.m. Oddly, I couldn’t find my cap in the things. I don’t think I’ve ever played pickleball without a cap. Inside, outside, day, night, it doesn’t matter. I always wear a cap. I looked all around in my car. Well, it wasn’t there. No cap tonight. I got some comments from folks who had never seen my hair aside from what stuck out under my cap!

There were two guys playing singles tennis as at least ten pickleball players stood and congregated chatting hoping to get onto a court. I joined them and soon got into a game.

Sleeping on the Couch

While waiting for my next game, Matt S. was in a game with his daughter Sarah against his wife and another player. After Matt hit a winner past his wife, I yelled over, “Matt! If you need a place to sleep tonight, I have an extra room!” “Shut up, ‘Hair’!” (An obvious reference to me wearing no cap!)

Tennis Guys

After about 20 minutes, the two tennis guys sat and cracked open beers. One of us—I think it was Matt S.—approached them if they were done playing. They were done and a bunch of us went to quick work setting up four temporary nets. The lights are still miserable, one even continuing to flash like a strobe light all evening. Others were dim or simply out altogether. Kristin told us to write the person in charge of the courts for the city. I suggested she send the email address out to the text group; she thought that was a good idea.

I had assorted games with Dan, Tim, Matt S., Jeanne, Larry, Matt, and Paul.

Wonderkind

Casey had an insane shot. I hit their high ball angled so it bounced near the far sideline and far out of the court away from where Casey was out of position. Casey rocketed across the baseline and out the side of the court and, with his long arms, managed to hit the ball back over the net. Anyone else, it would have been an easy winner. I was covering the middle of the court with Dan to my left. That ball flew low across the kitchen in front of me out of reach and bounced just inside our right sideline for a winner. It was the most improbable shot that I recall ever seeing. Casey did admit that he was aiming more at Dan but had hooked the ball too much so it passed in front of me instead. Too bad it wasn’t recorded, it would have been a YouTube highlight!

As the Dan and I played the last game against Casey and his dad Tim, I noticed that the side of my shoe split open. I mentioned it to Dan, who was already aware, “Yes, I could see your sock from inside your shoe!”

PT

I took advantage of the fact that Casey, being my PT doctor after my shoulder surgery, was there. I’ve noticed that on shots low to my backhand—like serves down the middle when I’m on the even court—I don’t have the power that I’ve had in the past. I mentioned this to Casey and asked his advice. He turned to Dan, who is studying to become a PT. “What do you think, Dan?” Dan offered an exercise and Casey concurred:
Arm straight out to the sides (like forming a T), then squeeze shoulder blades together without raising shoulders. Or start with arms straight out at your sides , squeeze blades together, then move arms out to the front, maintaining the squeezing.

What did I learn?

Arg. I still need to fix my court positioning! I still occasionally leave opportunistic gaps for my opponents.

Arm

I iced my right arm when I got home. It’s a habit at this point.

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Friday, January 21, 2022 (No Play)

Ok. I overdid it. I played on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday night and last night. All right-handed and my right forearm is clearly giving me consistent tennis elbow pains. Typing on a keyboard, tapping on an iPad, or some other activities consistently demonstrate mild pain, like a charlie horse.

Monterey Tournament

Mike Ballard texted our group text saying the Monterey tournament had opened up additional spots. In my haste, I didn’t notice that it was Mike who sent it and I asked if wanted to partner for it. He said he was already playing with Shawnte. Ah, well.

I emailed Eric S. to see if he was interested. In the past, he said he was only interested in playing 60+, but we’ll see.

https://www.pickleballtournaments.com/tournamentinfo.pl?tid=3348

Number of days on a court: 458
Number of total hours: 2,206.5

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

Tuesday, January 18, 2022 (Court Day #457)

I couldn’t leave early and had a work-related brief stop on the way to Skypark. There were two parking spots open in the lot when I arrived—nice for a change.

I got into a game fairly quickly, with three weaker players. It was still a fun game and a good one to warm up with.

From there, I rolled from good game to good game. I had games with Matt S., Mike B., Paul and his buddy Matt and later to wrap up the night, three games of Larry Y. and myself against Matt and Paul.

The lights clicked off at 9:30, leaving only the four of us in the dark. We broke down the last temporary net—which we were using to be under the best light, they still haven’t fixed the lights over the permanent courts—and stowed it away. “Home, James!” as they say!

What did I learn?

It definitely takes me a few games to warm up! And I had an interesting experience. I remember poised waiting to receive a serve and feeling . . . I don’t think fear is the right word, maybe trepidation, playing against Matt S. and Mike B. I knew the ball was going to be coming fast and furious and I was concerned. Not for my physical well being but worry about being able to handle the impending serve/shots. It was a bit unnerving, but it’s great to get into games that make you uncomfortable. Those make you grow. I held my own.

Arm

I iced my right arm when I got home.

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Wednesday, January 19, 2022 (No Play)

Ok. I’ll admit I’m concerned. My right forearm is a touch sore right along the classic tennis elbow spot. Three days in a row was too much. It’s been holding up so well too. Drat.

Number of days on a court: 457
Number of total hours: 2,203.5

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