Month: September 2022 (Page 4 of 6)

Saturday, September 10, 2022 (Court Day #546)

I had arranged to pick up Jason at 7:45 a.m. for our tournament together. We headed south, arriving at the Chamisal Tennis and Fitness Club fairly early—at about 8:30 a.m.—giving us plenty of time to check in and warm up before the planned start of the tournament in about 9:30 a.m.

It rained a little bit on the way down, but it was light with only sparse heavy drops and there was no precipitation the rest of the day. It was overcast . . . but I’ll take overcast for a tournament every time!

We checked in with Mike, the tournament director, then set about finding an empty court.

Warm Up

After warming up and drilling a little bit ourselves on half a court shared with strangers, Binh and Jon invited us to go play a warm-up game. Jason wasn’t too keen on playing much, but agreed to play to 5 points. They pulled ahead but then we tied it up 4-4. They scored the next point at which time Jason walked to the net and I followed extending paddles in thanks. Binh and Jon obviously wanted to continue playing but we had at least six games lined up that morning and we didn’t want to wear ourselves out.

Game 1

Our first game was against Gerritt Henry and Mark Donaldson, both of Carmel. We won 15-5. We finished up and I took a photo of our score sheet at 10:21 a.m.

Game 2

We typically had 10-20 minute breaks between our back-to-back games today. Our second game was against Brad Griffin and Vernon Russell, both of Salinas and affiliated with the local Chamisal club. We won this one also by a score of 15-5. Done by 10:58 p.m.

Game 3

Next up were “Mustache Mike” Aubel and Dave Cook. Mike is from Mountain House, California—which I’d never heard of and is out in the Central Valley near Tracy—and Dave is from Tucson, Arizona. Mike’s nickname is appropriate, he sports a bushy, wide mustache. Keeping to what was a developing pattern, we won 15-5. 11:37 p.m.

Game 4

Our last game before our bye was against Santa Cruz regular Dave Cox and his partner Jack Hagler of Salinas. Both of our teams went into this game 3-0. One of us would remain undefeated. Dave and Jack targeted Jason in this game. Jason got a bit frustrated and it affected his play. Jack is quite tall and has a long reach. He’s a very good player. They were stacking and they got confused a few times—it also confused us as we waited for them to figure out where they were supposed to be. Dave and Jack pulled ahead, then we started to make some headway, but it wasn’t fast enough. Dave and Jack scored the last few points and closed out their win 15-9. Jason and I were now 3-1 to their undefeated 4-0. 12:16 p.m.

Bye

We had what turned out to be a long very bye before our next game. I believe it was a hour and a quarter. I was getting concerned about getting “cold” and having a problem restarting for our next game. Jason ate his “free” lunch (included with entry) of two small tacos, but I stuck to the free snack bars from the tournament director area.

I forget who I talked to but he was a local and his contention was that Jack is a 4.0 level player, not a 3.5. [Later note: I looked Jack up at USA Pickleball a week or so later, and he is listed as a 3.5—but then again, I’m listed as a 3.0!]

Game 5

Craig Pierce and Robert Franklin, both of Salinas and local to Chamisal, would be our next challenge. I was a bit worried about sitting for over an hour. Would we be not warmed up and not play as well? As it was, we did fine. We won very decisively 15-2. 1:42 p.m.

Game 6

Our last game of the round robin was against Chris Harrison and Dean Littlewood. Chris’ location was listed in the computer as being from “Pacific Grove, FL” . . . yeah, that’s FL as in “Florida”. But he’s listed as affiliated with Chamisal, the local club. I think he’s actually from the nearby “Pacific Grove, CA”. Dean is from Carmel.

Jason and I took a strong lead, but Chris and Dean started to claw back. I started to get a touch concerned and called a timeout. When we restarted, they missed their next serve and we got the ball back. Jason said, “Good decision on calling a timeout!” We finished off the game 15-7. 2:47 p.m.

Playoffs

The big question now was where were we in mix of teams? With a record of 5-1, would we be in the playoffs? If so, what would be our seed? When would we play? So many questions. With all the events and us waiting for other matches to finish, it took some time.

We were told that we’d be in a playoff, but it turns out that the team from the second pool who we were to play against departed so we won our playoff match by default and would head right to the gold medal match.

Dave and Jack, from our pool, had also finished 5-1 . . . they lost 10-15 to a team we’d beaten 15-5. Dave and Jack had to play a playoff against the #1 seed from the other 3.5 pool. The question we were asking was, “If Dave and Jack beat us in head to head, wouldn’t they be get the default win and we’d play in the playoff?” But the tournament was using the official sanctioned software and the organizers were following its instructions—unless they messed up. Regardless, we belonged in the playoffs.

We had to wait until Dave and Jack finished their playoff match. They lost the first game, barely won the second, and lost the third. After us waiting around for an hour and a half to two hours, we would face their opponents in the gold medal match.

Gold Medal Match

Jason and I were down quickly of the first game in the best of three match. We clawed back within a few points but dropped the first game 11-8. We’d need to win the next game or we’d be done.

We took a few minute break then swapped sides and started the second game. Rather than targeting Jason like Dave and Jack had, David and David were targeting me. Our style was not matching up with theirs and we got creamed in the second game 11-3. I hit at least 2-3 balls that were heading out—frustrating.

I was disappointed and dejected. It’s one thing if you play well and are simply outclassed. You can still be proud of that. It’s another if you don’t play up to your standard and are frustrated when shots you typically make are instead subpar and lead to opponent points. Plus to be the targeted player and let your partner down. Arg.

It was about 5:15 p.m. when we finished up the gold medal match.

Wrap Up

We hung around while organizers compiled results. A number of local players took home medals. I asked Mike, the TD, if there would be any announcement or ceremony—they’d bullhorned earlier results—but he said no. Jason and I collected our silver medals and took some photos.

Jason and I left just before 6 p.m. and headed home to Santa Cruz.

Details

Here is the complete breakdown from our round robin. Jason and I had the highest point differential by far with +45 points. Dave and Jack tied second in that category with +25 points along with Mustache Mike Aubel and teammate Dave Cook.

Local Medals

René Baker and Lena Wikner, Gold, Women’s 4.0 50+

Sheri Shipe and Sue Stone, Gold, Women’s 3.5, 14+

Jack Hagler and Dave Cox, Bronze, Men’s 3.5 50+

Jon Barlow and Binh Ly, Bronze, Men’s 3.5 35+

Additional medals on the day:
Tristan Bjork and Alan Darer, Silver in Men’s 4.0 14+
John Funkey and Peter Levy, Silver, Men’s 3.5 35+
Barb Lang and Jackie Signor, Bronze, Women’s 4.0 14+

Santa Cruz made a good showing.

And?

I went home depressed. Ah, well. I simply need my “off games” to be stronger. I need to “raise the floor”. More work to do. But medalling with a total entry of 13 teams in two pools is pretty good, really. I’ll feel better about it with time.

[With all the waiting, though I usually count arrival time to departure time in my ongoing “total hours” count, I’ll call today 5 hours, instead of 9+ hours.]

Number of days on a court: 546
Number of total hours: 2,476

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Friday, September 9, 2022 (Court Day #545)

I had pipe band practice last night. Being that it has been so hot this week—California issued heat warnings—the start time got changed from 6:30 to 7 p.m. and we didn’t finish up practice until about 8:45 p.m. There was no way I was going to drive to Scotts Valley for just 30 minutes of playing, so no pickleball for me last night.

My big debate for today was to play pickleball or not and, if so, for how long in preparation for my tournament with Jason tomorrow. I don’t want to wear myself out, but practice is nearly always good.

Brommer Park

I arrived in Brommer at 9:15 a.m. and took the very last parking place. The courts were completely full and people were already waiting to get on to play.

I played a couple games during the mixed skill time. When the skill levels took affect a 10 o’clock, I ended up in a game with Matt (who I’d never met before, but is a very good player) and Hugh against Dave Cox and me. We did a rematch. Dave and I partnered over and over again.

Those were some good challenging games. I was going to leave at 11:30 a.m. then got talked into another game, and then I was going to leave again but then got talked into yet another game. Alan Cable changed out for Hugh in those last two games. I finally left shortly after 12:30 p.m.

LOTS of advice

For good or bad, Dave is always quick with advice—and plenty of it—for his partners. Today, that was obviously me. Dave and I have some differing opinions on certain strategies such as court positioning . . . such as, where we stand when receiving serves—Dave wants me to stand very much to the middle of the court. (As a receiver, I’d hate my partner to do that, it limits where I can return a shot.) Dave’s claim is that it puts pressure on the opponent. If I’m at the net, I typically shift AFTER our return has been made and move to either cover the sideline or cover the middle depending on where the ball is returned to. Dave has taken some workshops, so I always at least listen.

Funny

While at the net, I had a hard shot come to me and I popped it back up crosscourt in front of Alan. Dave saw what he thought was coming and turned his back and ducked to the impending slam. (Dave also did this in a tournament once as my partner and I wasn’t super happy about him doing that, but I was the one who popped it up.) The thing was, Alan slammed the ball into the top of the net and the ball dropped near our kitchen line. Dave could easily have returned the ball had he simply been facing the net. Each to his own.

Serves

I believe only missed one serve the entire session but my serves were not lollipops either. I was serving fairly fast and later I was focusing a bit more on getting my service very deep as opposed to overly speedy. It’s always nice when you make a serve and their return is back into the net or sails out wide or too deep—that happened a few times.

Tomorrow is coming

As long as I’m not too sore tomorrow, today was a good warm-up. I’ve got to keep my shots low, be patient, and just overall smart when playing.

Tomorrow’s tournament should be a lot of fun, I’m very much looking forward to it.

Party

Tonight is Texas Mike’s going away party in Scotts Valley. It should be an enjoyable event.

USA Pickleball

I got an bulk email blast from Lance Cowart, and the new Managing Director of Field Operations, and USA Pickleball is looking to hire four salaried “Sector Leaders” to cover four regions of the United States: Western, Southern, Northern, and Eastern. The salary wasn’t given, just that it’s based on experience.

Pickleball in the Media

The New Yorker magazine came with some cartoons about Pickleball Gangs of New York:
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/the-pickleball-gangs-of-new-york

I think I laughed at one of the cartoons, the rest were ”eh”. But still, pickleball is the “It” sport right now. Lots of publicity.

Goodbye to Mike Ballard

There were a number of pickleball people at Bruno’s to say goodbye to Mike and and his wife . . . Colleen, Binh, Jon Barlow and his wife, Tim F. and his wife, Jason and his wife, Matt Smith and his wife Carolyn, Debbie Bratby, maybe a couple of others. It was a good turnout. I’ll miss Mike. Good guy, good player.

Number of days on a court: 545
Number of total hours: 2,471

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Tuesday, September 6, 2022 (Court Day #544)

I left work about 6:30 p.m. and when I got to Skypark 10 minutes later, strangely the parking lot was full but not all the courts were set up. Firefighter Rob A. got there just before me, so the two of us warmed up across the net from each other on an empty court.

First Game

Soon, I got into a good game with Larry against Rob and Casey. I played very well in that game making only a few errors the entire time. A bit of a shock, Larry and I won by a decent margin. For Casey and Rob, and well, me too, it was our first game.

Psyched Out?

After that, I got partnered with Rob against Casey and Tim. Some people get the yips when serving. I think I sometimes have a mental block when I feel that I’m inferior and I want make a good showing. Tonight, when I partnered with Rob, I was speeding up shots that I should not have sped up and I made a bunch of other errors. Rob and I played two games against Casey and Tim and we lost both of them. For every mistake that Rob made, I probably made three or four. My play was disappointing and frustrating.

Newbie Dan

Eric, who is Ann‘s husband, brought a friend named Dan. Dan said he played many years ago and is getting back into it. He’s extremely rusty and he’s not too far off from being a beginner. I volunteered to partner with him and we lost both games we played in a lopsided fashion. Those results were expected and inevitable—unless our opponents were to unexpectedly implode! (Which they didn’t.)

The Return of Tristan

Tristan, whom I had not seen for a quite a long time, came tonight. I was able to partner with him for two games against Casey and Rob. That’s a pretty high powered combination against us. Tristan and I lost both games… well, more like I lost those games. Tristan is an excellent player which is pretty amazing considering he’s only 18-years-old. I was a bit dejected after two losses.

The Boys

Paul and his friend Matt were looking for a game but we need a fourth. Retired firefighter Matt Smith said that he and Tim just got clobbered by Matt and Paul. I talked Matt Smith into playing as my partner. This time, I was playing well and we went up pretty fast, leading 6-0. Matt S. started making more errors and I even made a couple myself, so Matt and Paul climbed back into the game and tied it up 8-8. Matt S. and I did go on the win, and that made Matt a happy guy—he said he could leave for the evening on a high note.

I played another game this time with Aaron as my partner against Matt and Paul. This was quite a battle. Aaron has come along way and is doing much better. While it was close, Aaron and I could not pull off a win. The game ended at 9:24 p.m., a few minutes before the lights clicked off at 9:30. I end up hanging out with them and talking for 30-45 minutes.

Lost Wallet

I left the courts and drove to Safeway in Scotts Valley to pick up 2% milk as my wife had requested. When I parked in their parking lot, I realized that I couldn’t find my wallet, so I texted Matt and Paul asking them if they could look. Then I drove back to the courts. I couldn’t find it on the courts or on the ground. It turned out that I had dropped it into the part of my backpack where I keep my paddles. I never do that. But it was unusual that I had walked onto the courts to warm up with Rob with my phone and my wallet still in my shorts’ pocket which I never do either. Lesson: take the time to put things were you normally keep them!

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Thursday, September 8, 2022 (No Play)

It’s not uncommon for people to ask online how to know what skill rating they are. Others will respond with the USA Pickleball guidelines or the PDF created by “The Pickleball Guru“. I’ll often jump in sharing how inaccurate those are and how it often misleads to players into thinking they are a higher rating. Instead, tournaments—or indirectly, tournament players—tell you what you really are.

As far as a written guide, I believe one of the better ones is published by the IPTPA:

IPTPA Rating Skills Assessment

What’s typically not shared is the USA Pickleball skill checklists, which have a similar vibe to the IPTPA assessments:
https://usapickleball.org/tournaments/tournament-player-ratings/player-skill-rating-definitions/

Of course, in tournaments, the problem isn’t players assuming they are better than they are, it’s them sandbagging and signing up for a lower skill group so they can win and collect medals. Or so is the claim. I’ve never experienced that myself. Or it was never obvious to me.

Pipe band practice tonight, but I should be able to play tomorrow morning.

Number of days on a court: 544
Number of total hours: 2,468

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