Monday, February 20, 2023. (Court Day #580)
Yesterday, while we were wrapping up play at Derby Park, Binh suggested that we have a private game the next day with Charles and a fourth player. I suggested Jason and Binh agreed. When I reached out to Jason, Jason said he could play at 10 a.m. and that’s the time we set.
This morning, Binh texted the group that he was going to be 15 minutes late because he had to run an errand. I was a bit behind in completing some of my blog posts, and I had an extra partial post in there somehow with the wrong so things got a little confusing. I was sorting that out, as well as making sure my GoPro knock-off camera was charged and had storage space. Then I couldn’t find where I moved my shoes during that process. On my way to Derby Park, Charles told me that I would not need my net, but I was already on my way, and had in the car. But I didn’t have to carry it in, which is a nice thing! As it was, Binh was sitting on the bench getting ready when I walked in. There is one other unrelated game with strangers going on with the second city net.
Games
Charles and Jason won the first game…
… and the second game…
… but Binh and I won the next one …
… and the next.
Apparently, it took us a while to warm up!
Midway through the games with our foursome, Nolan and Avery appeared and were doing drilling at the far end of the courts by themselves. I have to admire their discipline to improve.
Binh and I lost the fifth game against Jason and Charles 15-7. At that point, I was getting hungry.
Against Nolan and Avery
Jason had to leave. The rest of us asked if Avery and Nolan if they wanted to play a game. We got an enthusiastic “yes” from Avery. Charles and I teamed up for the first game during which we got clobbered 11-0. We played a second game and fared far better but still lost by a few points.
Then Binh and I played against Avery and Nolan. We won that game 11-9.
We went on to play one additional last game, and that was a lopsided win for Nolan and Avery. Afterward, Binh says that Nolan was taking it easy on us in those games. Perhaps he was but it wasn’t particularly obvious to me. I’m a bit incredulous, but maybe so. Is 1:40 p.m. by the time we left. It was a great 3 1/2 hours of play.
A man from a group of players came over after we finished and told us that our game was “fun to watch”. I’d say that’s a compliment!
Injuries & Weak Spots
The back of my right hand hurt on a few backhand shots, this has been a chronic thing lately.
My low backhand still needs work. Ever since rotator cuff shoulder surgery, it hasn’t been the same. I need to stretch and strengthen it and drill it.
Nolan
I later asked Nolan if he was “taking it easy on us”. He said he may have been working on a particular shot so not always making the most optimal shot selection, but other than that, he wasn’t taking it easy. Binh says Nolan is just being nice.
Coaching
I was out and about and picked up a bag of Hershey’s Kisses for prizes for my two young pickleball pupils. We have our second lesson coming up on Saturday.
Tuesday, February 21, 2023 (No Play)
The NFL/pickleball connection continues with retired players Eli Manning and Rob Gronkowski goofing around on a court:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Co79heoJfkz/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY%3D
Play or No Play?
I had all my gear and was in Scotts Valley for a PT class. When it wrapped up at 6 p.m., I had a decision to make. But since it was blowing like crazy and cold to boot, I opted to just head home. As I approached my house about 6:20 p.m., there were fire trucks and police cars all over the place. I had to park four blocks from my house and hoof it. The power was out in our neighborhood. Three large trees had fallen and taken out the power lines along with damaging the corner of the house on the property. One tree, lying on the ground, the diameter came up to my waist.
Wednesday, February 22, 2023 (No Play)
My right wrist is really bugging me. It’s good that I didn’t play last night. Typing is uncomfortable. I was going to ice my knee and wrist last night but with the power out, we wanted to keep the refrigerator closed and as cold as possible.
SCALPEL
I got a text from René saying I was on her team—she’s a “captain”. The SCALPEL league final teams went out via email today. Conner shared “After inputting our captain’s lists of player preferences into the draft program I wrote (which executes a snake draft over each of the nearly ½ million different possible selection orders, and identifies the optimal result amongst them), we finally have our team lineups”:
I’m happy with our group. I believe we have a strong team. Evan is Nolan Smyth’s tournament partner in the 4.0 category. Matt is really coming along. René and I are of similar skill level, both 3.5+.
Weather
The radio said they are predicting snow at sea level in some places in Northern California. Snow is rare and doesn’t last here in Santa Cruz, but it goes to show just how cold it is! Rain is predicted off and on the next week.
Wednesday, February 22, 2023 (No Play)
The power came back on last night right before I got home after work, but still no internet other than what I can get on my limited phone plan through work.
My wrist is still bugging me. I’m going to give it some time to heal up.
Friday, February 24, 2023 (No Play)
I received a text from Comcast yesterday midday saying our Internet service was restored. It’s amazing how reliant you get day-to-day on the Internet. It’ll be nice to have WiFi again!
It has been very cold the last couple of days. My brother shared a photo of snow dusted over his front yard in Scotts Valley. Someone said today that it snowed on the beach here in Santa Cruz. You can only actually see snow on the beach every 10-30 years.
Kids Coaching
Maria and I originally planned to meet tomorrow morning for lesson #2 for her kids, but we hammered out 7 p.m. tonight as the time instead. We met at Skypark again. I was expecting not many people since it was so cold and, sure enough, there were a couple of tennis players and just one doubles pickleball game going with one person waiting to get in. We had our pick of three empty permanent courts. Maria asked if I needed her but I told her to go play and have fun. She’d be around if I needed her.
I worked mostly on ball control, but I also taught them (“this will be a bit advanced”) about shifting on the kitchen line left or right depending on where the ball is—and keeping proper distance between them. I had glue a ball in the end of a dowel and used it for instruction. At the end, Kevin wanted to do overheads since he saw one on the court nearby, so I indulged him and we worked on that for about 5-6 minutes. That’s more of a down-the-road skill!
Saturday, February 25, 2023 (No Play)
I’ll admit that I’m getting excited about this new SCALPEL league. There are nearly all strong players in this group. When I’m in the middle 50% of players, that’s really good. Tristan, Nolan, Shawnté are all better than me, Kiko is rumored to be really good, probably Evan now (Nolan’s grad school buddy) . . . those are all players who are better than me. Casey has come along really fast and is getting to be local elite. (Former professional athletes—watcha gonna do?) Then you have players who are in my general vicinity of skill—René, her friend Rick, Nate, Tim F., Oscar, Colleen, and others. Then there are a pack that a little less skilled than the median. Then there are the unknowns whom I have not played with or don’t remember.
We’ve been assigned as Team #1.
I found a video tonight about this particular shot that Kyle Yates seems to have originated . . . or at least, popularized. Maybe 4-6 months ago, I remember seeing a short clip on social media of Kyle doing this and took some screenshots, but I don’t think I ever included them in my blog. This is better.
Sunday, February 26, 2023 (No Play)
It rained today, so I had to cancel club play at Derby Park.
I found a great video on defending ATPs.
Pickleball Machine
Ooooo. I want one of these. Too bad that at $2,000, it’s about 10 times my budget!
Thursday, March 2, 2023. (No play.)
With the new SCALPEL league starting up, the four players involved in our first game—Matt B. and me, Anne and Peter—arranged to play tonight after work at Skypark. With four different schedules, it’s not always easiest thing to hammer out a time. However, we managed that. Unfortunately, Peter emailed the rest of us this morning saying that he had a conflict with the school function this evening and had to cancel out. Anne suggested the possibility of one of her remaining two teammates to fill-in for Peter, but then was unsuccessful making that happen. We have to reschedule for play next week. Anne suggested there might be a break in the rain and we could play maybe Tuesday night next week.
Number of days on a court: 580
Number of total hours: 2,577
Number of paid coaching hours: 2
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
Leave a Reply