Month: February 2022 (Page 2 of 4)

Sunday, February 20, 2022 (Court Day #470)

Today was a pretty routine day. I parked and followed a woman who was also heading into Derby Park. Her name is Kathy. It was her first day.

After getting the courts all set up—I got a lot of help from people setting up nets—I played a game with Kathy. She comes from a strong tennis background, so she’ll do just fine once she adjusts to the ball and swing and strategies of pickleball.

Lesson

I was the first and only name signed up in red in a box. A regular, a man, stood next to me and said, ”I’ll try playing Andrew.” I started voicing reservations, ”I don’t know…” then I gave up, ”Ok.” Eric and Tom B. added their names.

In May last year, there was a private outing of Eric, Tom B., and John P. Even playing left-handed at the time, I outperformed Tom. That outing is this blog entry:

Good Doubles: Eric, John, Tom

It’s safe to say that with me now playing right-handed, Eric and I would be the strongest players on the court. Normally, I’d pick the weakest player as my partner. But this time, the best lesson is experience. An individual was in need of understanding he is not a advanced (red) player. As we walked to the court, I told Eric, ”I’m playing with you.”

The game went about as well as I’d hoped, though Eric made two mistakes while our opponents were serving. The final score was 11-2. As the man walked off the court, he murmured to himself, ”I must be a blue [intermediate] player.” Mission accomplished. Eric commented afterward about how it would have been more balanced if we’d split up for that game. I explained my reasoning, and having also overheard the man murmuring after the game, Eric agreed, ”It worked.”

Newbies

An unfamiliar couple arrived about 11:30. Jerry and his wife Claire. I’d put them in their late 70s. Tom M. called over saying they were there to see me—my duty as a site coordinator is to teach first-timers. I let him know I’d be there as soon as my current game was over . . . that turned out to be very soon as Ben (from Fresno) and Eric beat Tom M. and me 11-0.

I asked Rick A. (site coordinator for Wednesdays) if he’d help me teach Jerry and Claire. He agreed. He drilled with Claire on on half of the court and I drilled with Jerry on the other. We did a little hitting the ball around and explaining rules and strategies—Jerry specifically thanked me for covering strategies in addition to merely just the rules. Then we started a game. Rick played with Jerry. Rick and I gave both of them as many serves as they needed to get the ball in . . . which was quite a few at times! Mid-game, Maia popped over from the next court, leaned in and said, ”You two are such great teachers.” Nice to hear.

Tough Games

While we were teaching, Ben from Fresno called over, ”Will you want to play a game when you are done?” I yelled back, ”Yes!”

Ben and I played Charles and Rick.

“Is that going in your blog?”, asked Charles. Rick had just hit a low ATP to my right but I was ready and intercepted the ball and returned it for a winner.

”Is that going in your blog too?” Charles kidded after my next drive smacked into the white tape of the net. Yep. I can honestly say that I might very well hit more balls into the white tape than anywhere else in the net.

Ben and I lost the first game, barely won the second, and easily won the third. I was beat. 4 1/2 hours.

Somewhere in those three games, I felt some pain running along the underside of my left foot. Plantar fasciitis? I hope not!

Our games were done about 1:30, and after chatting with Rick about club dynamics and administrative stuff, I headed home about 1:50.

What did I learn?

I still need to work on patience, attacking only when it’s a sure thing. The more time I spend playing with getter players, the faster I’ll really learn that.

Arm

When I was warming newbie Jerry up, I had taken off my forearm strap. I hit a forehand drive right handed and I immediately felt it in my forearm in the tennis elbow spot. Not good. I put my strap back on.

When I got home, I iced my arm. Then I iced it again about six hour later. I’m a touch concerned.

Evening

About 9 p.m., my daughter Charlotte texted me a link to a New York Times article.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/18/style/pickleball-sports.html

Then I found this posted in the USAP Ambassadors Facebook group:
https://www.npr.org/2022/02/19/1081257674/americas-fastest-growing-sport-pickleball

Number of days on a court: 470
Number of total hours: 2,242.5

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

Thursday, February 17, 2022 (Court Day #469)

I didn’t play on Tuesday night this week. The back of my right hand was hurting—that tendon/muscle pull happened again and this time, it lasted a few days. My kidneys were hurting, mostly my right side, but my left too to a lesser degree. At least, I think it’s my kidneys. It could be my lower back, it’s hard to tell.

Phone Call

As I drove through the Skypark neighborhood, I got a phone call. It was my generic ringtone, so not someone I talk to often. (I set specific ringtones for common calls, such as members of my family—my mom’s is the Peanuts theme, for example, she’s into Snoopy.) Who was calling me? The security company for work? I twisted uncomfortably to dig my phone out of my left shorts pocket. Dan M. came over the speaker, “I’m behind you!” Sure enough, the car behind me flashed its high beams a few times. Funny! I pulled into the Skypark parking lot around 6:45, Dan and I taking the last two spots.

I played a game with a tall newer player named Melvin against Josh and Daniel. (Part of the Tall Paul and Matt with the Hat clan.) I played lefty, we won 11-0. Not exactly stiff competition, but give them all time.

The Harder Games

The games that made the night worth it was play with John A. against Casey and his dad, Tim. John and I lost every game, but the last one was close.

John can be a bit of a ball hog. There was a head-level shot a little on my side in the middle within easy reach of my forehand so I swung hard . . . only to violently scrape the top edge of my paddle down the edge of John’s forearm as he attempted a backhand. Ouch. I winced myself. It was unquestionably painful for him. I felt bad about it and I apologized a few times. John commented that the injury would teach himself a lesson about keeping proper space. Tim concurred with a comment of his own . . . I suspect that Tim played with John before and got tired of John’s poaching. Depending on the partner, I can either be a ball hog or not aggressive enough and let balls go that my partner thinks I’m going to take.

John said, ”You are so good at the short game.” Nice to hear. It’s more true when I am patient. I drove a couple of balls that bounced in the kitchen into the net. So dumb. My lesson in these games was be patient and play smart pickleball.

Our games ended at 9:15.

Suspension

Matt with the Hat thought that when I didn’t show up on Tuesday that maybe I was the one in the fight and was suspended. The incident was mentioned in an club email blast about two players who were involved in a physical altercation and were consequently suspected from club play for three months. Those unmentioned players were Stuart and Dave C. I was told by a witness that they were verbally sparring from adjacent courts at Brommer, getting on each other’s nerves, when Dave hit an overhead that went sideways in the direction of Stuart on the other court. Stuart had no doubt as to why the ball came near him so he ran and tackled Dave and started punching down on him. Stuart and Dave feature the more “self-confident” personalities you’ll find on the local courts. Sometimes we forget that pickleball is a game. I tend to like most people and I get along with Stuart and Dave. There is only one local player whom I didn’t get along with much at all—I don’t know of anyone who much liked him, though I treated him cordially—but he’s moved far away. Unlike Wayne, who moved far away and I miss!

What did I learn?

I need more patience. I feel I’m pretty patient, but I’m starting to wonder. I really need to video record some of my recent games. It’s easy to play dumb pickleball. It’s harder to not go on automatic and instead make wise strategic decisions with your shots. You have to be “in” the game and paying attention to each shot.

Arm

Tennis elbow still ok. It seems I have more golfer elbow with the pain on the inside of my elbow. If I lock my elbow out straight, there is pain there. And while it’s not constantly painful, it’s there all the time when I straighten out my arm. During play, I feel it for slams, but that’s about it.

Number of days on a court: 469
Number of total hours: 2,238

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

Sunday, February 13, 2022 (Court Day #468)

When I arrived at Derby Park about 10 minutes before 9, John P. was there with a woman name Rachel and they were drilling. They were very kind and helped me set up while I was blowing debris off the courts.

After an early game against him, Mike K. (a.k.a. Grumpy Mike) told me, “You played well in that game.”
I replied, “I played badly in that game!”
“That wasn’t your fault, that was your partner.”
There are shots that you feel like you should have been able to return them, but when you think about it, they were not easy shots. Such as your partner hits a ball high enough to have the ball driven hard near you . . . but the ball is still in your wheelhouse, and had you been a bit faster, your would have gotten it over. But, hey, it wasn’t an easy shot. And your partner made it harder than it needed to be.

For the next game, Mike was my partner and this time we both made a lot of mistakes and lost the game. Bleh.

But we had a rematch and won. As we walked off, Mike told me with a smile, “We really cut down on our mistakes in that game.” Mike called it a day immediately after that and headed out—going out on a high note! Not surprisingly, mistakes do make a huge difference at my level of play. It’s not about forcing a winner, it’s often about sitting back, getting the ball back over the net, and waiting for your opponent to make a dumb error like hitting the ball into the net or out or dinking too high. It’s mistake avoidance.

Harder Games

I got a game together of me, Eric S., Charles, and lefty Jeff. Eric and I won that game fairly handily. Jeff was definitely off. We played a rubber match and that one was much closer. Eric and I might have even lost that one . . . I can’t remember. (I’m tardily typing this paragraph a week later!) Fun games.

Last Gasp

Later on, I played with a man named Tyler with his teenage son Theo and their friend Reggie. I was going to leave but they were asking player after player for a fourth so they could have a doubles game. Tyler was by far the strongest player. He has serves that I’d expect from a 3.5 player—impressive! The rest of his game was more 3.0. Theo and Reggie were obviously very new and have a long way to go, but they did a decent job getting the ball back over the net. I gave them a small handful of pointers here and there. I tried to keep it to one or maybe two tips (or rule corrections) per player.

About 1 p.m. I was done and heading home.

What did I learn?

Dunno. Today was a pretty routine outing as far as pickleball goes.

Arm

Tennis elbow still very manageable.

Number of days on a court: 468
Number of total hours: 2,235.5

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