Thursday, January 19, 2023. (Court Day #574)

Yesterday, I emailed Matt Babb about creeping in after his serve. It’s a little tweak that can make a big difference. Having to backpedal for the third shot is bad. Aside from that, I emphasized to him “Placement over Power” . . . a mantra of mine. On Tuesday, Matt had some likely winners that he simply hit past the baseline.

Skypark

My right wrist is still bothering me, but not enough to keep me from playing. I arrived at Skypark just before 6:45 p.m. There were six courts in use.

My first game was with Judy against Sharyl and Max. Max is getting better. He’s gone from cannon fodder to solid 3.0.

My play was “off”, but I got a little bit better as evening went on. Unlike Tuesday night, when I hit the white tape of the net 14 times, it was only 4 times tonight. However, I hit half a dozen of my serves out long and I also had one serve that hit the white tape. Very unlike me.

Harder Games

Matt Babb and Tim (the tennis coach) were playing a game against Casey and Nate. They were all playing very well. And the teams were fairly evenly matched. Paul and I announced that we would play the winners. Surprisingly, Tim and Matt won the game. I was fully expecting to see the others handily the win that game, but as we would learn, Matt and Tim were on fire.

So we took on Tim and Matt who quickly earned themselves a 10-1 lead. Paul and I were coming off of two lopsided games against two young college students, Nick and David. Nick and David did better in the second game, but still lost 11-5. That game was never in doubt. It took some adjusting back to the speed and skill of this new game. It was an entirely different level of play. Paul and I came back after being down by 9 points and made the game much more respectable, though Tim and Matt still won.

We switched sides and played another game and lost this one as well. There were some pretty impressive rallies in this game that I wish that we would’ve recorded, but, overall, not a game that I would want to highlight my skills! With the lights going out at 9:30 p.m., we managed to quickly squeeze in one last game. It went fast with Matt and Tim winning yet one more time. Well . . . it’s nice to win, but it’s more helpful to lose. Losing games educates you on your weaknesses.

Creeping

After a game of Paul and myself against Mark Dettle, and David (Minori’s friend), I told Paul that he had been creeping in after his serves and it was putting him out of position for the next shot. He’d have to scramble backwards to allow the service return to bounce. Paul looked at me and was very skeptical. He didn’t seem to believe me. I was quite amused by this. He said I should point it out during the game, so I agreed to. In a game against Matt and Tim, I pointed out that exact thing. He realized that I was indeed correct and he was indeed creeping in after his serve.

New Indoor Courts

Afterward, Matt, Paul, Aaron, Mike and I were chatting. Matt thanked me for my email with constructive criticism and that he’d worked on not creeping in tonight, as well as “Placement over Power”.

Matt mentioned that new courts are opening in the old Fry’s Electronics building in Campbell. That is a huge building, I was in it a few times over the years to get computer related products. It’ll be called “The Hub”. There’s one already open in San Diego. Matt said Campbell will be the largest indoor pickleball facility in the USA.

Friday, January 20, 2023 (No Play)

I did a hunt for more info on these indoor pickleball courts coming to Silicon Valley that Matt mentioned last night.

“The HUB Pickleball Club – San Jose

The HUB – San Jose Pickleball Club Pre-Opening Interest, Ideas & Suggestions.

We are excited to bring a world-class pickleball facility to the Silicon Valley area. The HUB – San Jose will be the largest indoor facility in the country. 20 professional courts with proper spacing, individual fencing, Acrytech court surface and Douglas Premier posts & nets. The HUB will also have a fully stocked pro-shop with over 450+ skus, restaurant with a beer, wine & seltzer bar, event party room and 6 suite courts. Leagues, lessons & clinics, ladders, organized play, tournaments and socials, The HUB is what pickleball is all about. Thank you for your interest and we look forward to your feedback.”

For now, you can fill out a “pre-opening interest” form here.

Here’s the link to the existing San Diego facility:
https://thehubpickleball.com/home/
(The “San Jose” facility in Campbell will likely be eventually added to this website.)

Ow!

I didn’t realize how sore my right wrist is until I needed to crawl on my hands and knees briefly to access something at work today. It is quite painful when I put weight on it.

Number of days on a court: 574
Number of total hours: 2,555.5

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