Thursday, March 30, 2023. (Court Day #588)
Tonight was a SCALPEL league match of Evan and myself against Connor and Zach. Being that it was a night game we opted to play at Skypark, the courts in the county with lights.
I left work early and arrived 5:45 p.m. I played one game then saw that another game was just starting . . . René and Evan were playing against Tim F. and Matt Smith—yes, Matt the banger. I asked our team captain René if she’d allow me to replace her so that I could warm up with Evan for our match. She kindly stepped out. I would have done the same for her.
Evan and I played well. I made some very nice shots. Evan said, “You can do that anytime!” (After leaping and poaching and hitting a winner.) We won that game.
Match
There was still daylight when we played our first match game. Evan and I served first and were on a roll and ahead by a few points against Zach and Conner. We were in the middle of a rally and I was in the process of slamming a juicy high ball when a player from an adjacent court ran right behind Zach and Connor along their baseline—it was extremely distracting and I nearly hit that random player when I slammed that ball long. Immediately after the player ran behind our game, I walked over to their court and after their rally was done, I explained to the player not to come on onto our court without telling us first. I was expecting Zach and Connor, optimistically, to simply let me replay the rally without me having to say anything. Instead, they took the side out. I was really annoyed with the situation. That was really distracting. I should have forced the issue and replayed the point.
It was either the next rally or the one right after that where we had an identical situation—except the player came over from the court on the other side. Again, I fully expected our opponents to replay that rally, instead they switched positions and took the point. They probably would have let me replay it had I pushed it, but I didn’t. I’m not one to push situations like that. I can say with 100% certainty that the second player absolutely interfered with my shot just as the first did. After the second player ran on our court, I walked over and told the woman to call “Ball!” and wait for us to acknowledge before she ran onto our court. The two interference instances got into my head. I didn’t feel it was fair. I felt it cost us at least one rally and maybe two. Being that I was stewing, it probably cost us more.
Later, there was another distraction. After the first two instances, I’d learned my lesson. I put my foot down and we replayed the point. They were incredulous, but just because an errant ball was rolling toward my side from behind them and they didn’t see it until after I hit our ball doesn’t mean that it wasn’t distracting to me.
We ended up losing that game 11-9. I’m still of a mind that those early distractions may have cost us that game.
Game 2
We swapped sides for the second game and this is also a really close back-and-forth game which we won 11-8.
Game 3
In the final game, we agreed to switch sides at six points. By this time it was getting dark. Zach and Connor went on a quick run and ran up a score of 6-0, at which point, we switched sides. Connor and Zach scored another point. Evan and I finally started scoring points and Zach and Connor continued to gradually extend their lead. However, we started to make a game of it for the score of 9-7, getting the score within two points. Each team scored one additional point and I was 10-8. Service went back-and-forth a few times and then finally I couldn’t get a ball back over the net in the game and match were over, 11-8.
Wrap Up
All told, those were very fun and balanced games. And Zach and Conner are both great down-to-earth fun guys. Conner told me that my “flicks” were “very deceptive”. I guess I do a good job hiding my speedups.
With the back of my right hand aching, I didn’t stick around to play more games and simply left at 8:17 p.m. to go home and ice my hand and right knee.
Saturday, April 1, 2023. (No Play)
In an exciting development, Washington State University announced they are adding Division I pickleball to their sports offerings. I was a bit confused since it’s hard to play D-I pickleball if you are the only university offering it—which was mentioned in the article. However, it quickly became apparent that it was all merely a good April Fools joke. I mean, the best ones are the ones that are believable, right?
Here’s link to the article:
https://wsucougars.com/news/2023/4/1/wsu-athletics-wsu-set-to-add-division-i-pickleball-in-2025-26.aspx
However, this page no longer exists and was likely pulled within days of it being posted. But, I did capture it on my phone before it was pulled.
What’s funny is decades from now, D-I pickleball programs might very well be the norm. We shall see. Maybe the Cougars would have been pioneers in a wave of the future.
Sunday, April 2, 2023. (No Play)
I flew out on Friday to Columbus, Ohio for a trade show for work. I’d known for months that I’d be working while The Pickleball Slam was in progress. I was at a business lunch across the street from the convention center with a VP of sales and a Director of Operations when I glanced over to a TV mounted on the wall across the room. There is was on ESPN. McEnroe and Agassi were easy to identify. There was no sound and I could only see about two-thirds of the screen, but I caught little glimpses now and then. It was fun to see pickleball on national television. The sport has come a long way from when I started 6 years ago.
Agassi/Roddick vs McEnroe/Chang – Tennis LEGENDS play pickleball! – $1 million Slam ESPN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21WNY92WmWs
On a very positive note, Andre Agassi commented on pickleball after he and Roddick won the match:
“I never thought I was gonna say this but I am playing this as long as I can walk. I can’t wait to get back out there.”
Number of days on a court: 588
Number of total hours: 2,599
Number of paid coaching hours: 2
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
Recent Comments