Adventures of Andrew Lenz and a Yellow Ball

Month: July 2022 (Page 2 of 7)

Will, You Play?

Tuesday, July 26, 2022 (Court Day #523)

I left work and arrived in Skypark shortly after 6:30 p.m. It was a light crowd. I set up a net with Nicole—who is a regular—and Avery who is an up-and-coming newer player. Our fourth would be a newer player named Mike whose teenage son Colin was also there tonight.

We rotated through a few games and then Mark Dettle come in, replacing Mike. Those were less challenging games with short rallies. I was looking longingly across the courts at a game with Rob A. (the firefighter) and Charles against Matt Smith and Tim. They had some great rallies. I was quite jealous.

While waiting, Ying convince me to instead join a game with her against Will—who is the tennis pro at La Madrona Athletic Club (I believe it was called La Madrona Tennis Club when I was growing up) but he also teaches some pickleball there as well. Will’s partner was to be Avery. Will and I were obviously the better players on the court. Avery and Ying were pretty balanced … Avery has a good soft game and not a ton of power (or doesn’t use it) and Ying has little-to-no soft game but has strong drives. Will and Avery were down a number of points but came back and won 12-10. I had some really good shots in that last game. My drop shots were consistent and low. I was very pleased with those, they were dynamite. Will is a good player, a strong 3.5.

By 8:22 p.m.,  everyone was done. Tim said that his back tightened up and that was that for challenging games.

When I left it was still light—dusk, but plenty of light to see you without any lights overhead. Matt and Paul and TK and others who typically stick around late were nowhere to be seen tonight.

I talked to Will when he was leaving and he said that he got a “quick and dirty” pickleball instructor certification. He said Karen Haselden is their main pickleball instructor. Karen H. is the person that Karen Long suggested when I her asked about a local good pickleball instructor. Will is a nice, mellow down-to-earth guy.

Tournament

There’s a mixed-doubles tournament in San Juan Bautista next month. René was there tonight and I asked if she wanted to partner for it. She said she ”totally would” but she’d already convinced her friend Rick to be her partner for what would both be their first tournament.


Wednesday, July 27, 2022 (No play)

I messaged Colleen to see if wanted to play in the tournament. She replied that she’s having arm problems and wouldn’t be able to do it.

There’s a big drop off in female players after those two. In mixed-doubles, you need a strong woman player since a lot of balls will be hit to her. Maybe I’ll keep my eyes open at Brommer and see if someone presents herself.


Number of days on a court: 523
Number of total hours: 2,404.5

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

Pickleball on Parade!

Sunday, July 24, 2022 (Court Day #522)

This morning was the annual “Wharf to Wharf” race and I had my first performance with Santa Cruz Pipes & Drums in 15 years.

Me tuning up under the watchful eye of Jay, the Pipe Major of the band.
The pipe band waiting to perform once the race to begins.

As far as my bagpiping performance goes, I did ok. It wasn’t a stellar performance, but it wasn’t as a disaster either. Considering I only had a week to prepare, I did pretty darn well.

After we were done performing and breaking down, about 9:45 a.m., I drove home and changed. I had previously arranged for Rick A. to open the courts for me and, just in case I got held up, I told the group of site coordinators that I may not be able to close. Eric S. offered to close for me.

At Home

Before I left my house for the courts, I brought in the newspaper and opened up so it wouldn’t be quite a rules when I got home. Imagine my surprise when I opened up the newspaper and there was a copy of Parade magazine and the entire cover was announcing an article about pickleball. Talk about exposure! This is a newspaper insert with a national circulation!

Looky-looky!

I arrived at Derby Park at 10:15 a.m., and as you can imagine things were in full swing. However, today was not quite as busy as it normally is on a Sunday. That’s not to say it was slow, it was far from that.

There was a bit of wait between games. I started out a little sloppy, but played a little bit better. I had a game with Allan against Charles and Rick and I was responsible for us losing the game. It was a close game but nonetheless I made a number of errors that I was not happy about.

Night Play Conflict?

Pipe band practice is on Thursday nights these days—15 years ago, it was on Wednesdays—which conflicts with Skypark play on Thursday night, I will have to see how this all goes. Maybe I will continue to play with the band.

Articles

So, that Parade Magazine? It was a mass of pickleball from cover to cover and included three articles!

What is pickleball:
https://parade.com/living/what-is-pickleball

Trendy equipment to buy:
https://parade.com/living/pickleball-equipment

And this one about celebrities who play:
https://parade.com/culture/celebrities-who-love-pickleball

Neat to see with such a high profile!


Monday, July 25, 2022 (No play)

Jordan Briones shows a good drill in this video. (Jordan’s videos are often twice as long as they could be, but I play them at 1.25x or 1.5x speed.)


Number of days on a court: 522
Number of total hours: 2,402.5

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

Collapse

Friday, July 22, 2022 (Court Day #521)

I didn’t play at Skypark on my regular Thursday night. Instead I was in a remote parking lot on the UCSC campus attending bagpipe band practice for the first time in 15 years.

A bunch of people waiting to play.

Brommer Park was gearing up when I arrived at 9:01 a.m. under overcast skies. The clouds would burn off mid-morning, revealing a really nice day.

So, “collapse” the this entry title is a strong word. I was in a game with Ms. J. as my partner against Dan and George—an advanced group. Boy. The first half of the game was miserable. I made a dink into the net, I hit two shots past the baseline, I popped up a dink that Dan easily put away. My team was down significantly in short order. It was embarrassing. But it did get better. I tightened up my game and we tied up the score. They did go on to win, but at least we made a game of it. I can’t let games get into my head.

Taking Things Seriously

Allan K. was very serious this morning. And he got annoyed with me . . . our opponents (Mark D. and Martijn) were back near the baseline I was attempting a fake as if I was going to hit hard but instead I hit the ball softly—but not softly enough and Mark was able to get to the ball to return it plus I invited our opponents up to the net in the process. Bad all around. “You should have just put it away.” And later, “The middle of a game is not time to be fooling around.” Well, the shot worked great in a tournament years ago . . . but it had been bouncing high at the net, not bouncing high at mid-court. It was definitely a misjudgement by me. Everyone approaches rec play differently. For me—sure I like to win—but I much prefer getting better. I’d rather lose dramatically and learn something than to win and learn nothing.

And Out

I had to get to work and I left about 12:15. I wasn’t thrilled with my play today, but I wasn’t completely disappointed either.


Number of days on a court: 521
Number of total hours: 2,399.5

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

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