Sunday, August 20, 2023 (Court Day #602)
I arrived at Derby Park at 8:45 a.m. to open and set up and I found that Pam and Barb had everything almost already done. I’d heard that the city had purchased two additional new rolling nets, but there were three! That means only one portable club needs to be taken out and set up on the six courts. After six years of dragging a bunch of net bags out, it feels weird to have to bring out only one net.
As I’d been told, there were four skill levels based on DUPR/UTPR ratings. Black for novice (2.5+), green for intermediate (3.0+), red for advanced (3.5+), and blue for the top skill level (4.0+).
Later on, between noon and 1 p.m., the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club had arranged for a DUPR session where players would enter their game scores and help determine their ratings. More players were in attendance with the plan to join in that activity later.
Refs and Rules
Mark and his wife Maree were there. I hadn’t seen them in quite a long time. Maree said that last year she refereed in 24 tournaments and was “never home”. I talked to her about rules for a few minutes and she said the certified referees do not like the new USA Pickleball mid-year rule that the refs have make sure the players are in the correct position prior to the serve. As one pro player commented publicly, (paraphrasing) “We are professionals, we should be able to get ourselves in the correct places without help.”
Games
My first game was with Maree against a couple other players. As one I expect after a three-month layoff, my play was not stellar. It wasn’t an outright horrible, but it wasn’t great either. It was probably between a 3.0 and a 3.5 level in terms of skill.
The second game I played was not much better and I/we lost that game as well.
With the larger number of players, some people decided that the wait wasn’t worth it and simply left.
Jenna and her English husband James were there. She said they’d moved to Monterey, but were up in Santa Cruz and wanted to see the local players again. It’s a bummer when players move away. (Well, not always, there was one guy that moved to a different state that many of us certainly don’t miss—he was irritating!)
Hugh was there with his dog Groot. Hugh said that he joined The Hub, the new indoor pickleball facility located in Campbell. (It’s currently the largest indoor pickleball facility in the USA, but that won’t last!) Hugh said he’s been playing there every other day. I asked him how much it costs per month and he said it was $119. That works out to about $4 per day. For me—who works all the time—a membership like that would not be very practical. My wife Kristen has been pushing for the two of us to join the La Madrona Athletic Club, and she put us on the waiting list some number of months ago. Kristen thinks that we should come up for membership before the end of this year. She claims that if we join, she will take up pickleball. I will believe it when I see it!
Newbies
There were three newbies today. Jodi, Julianna, and a woman with an unusual name starting with Ky, pronounced “Key-air-ah”. I explained the NVZ, the two-bounce rule, the two types of serves, and how scoring is done. I went into a game that I had previously signed up for, but when I was done, I walked over and provided instruction to the three newbies and Dyane. Not long into it, Tom S. came over to let me know that we were on deck for a game then later called me when it was out time to play. I left the newbies in Dyane’s hands. Dyane was a good match for the new group with a similar softer play style.
As time went on today, my play got better and better. By the end of the session I was getting in the ballpark of my normal skill level, though I was still a little rusty.
DUPR Session
It was noon and time for the SCPC DUPR session. While in a game, I looked over and there were a 20-30 people outside the courts getting instruction from Pam as to how things would work. I didn’t hear the call to gather, but I hadn’t planned on playing DUPR anyway.
But, I was feeling decent about my play and ended up doing some DUPR games anyway.
My first DUPR game was paired with Misa (of Japanese descent) against Tom M. and Ted. Midway through the game, Tom exclaimed, “I thought you said you were rusty from not playing for three months!” Yeah. Misa and I won:
I’m not sure how the date entry of “today”, when recorded into the DUPR app, changed to yesterday’s date. Bizarre.
I wasn’t ready to head home, and with the courts reserved for DUPR games, I signed up to play another.
For the next game, Tom S. asked if I’d play with him. I agreed. Another win.
My last DUPR game was with Charles and me split to make the game more even. It was pretty close.
I have to comment on one rally. I slammed a ball at Charles left foot. I relaxed. The rally was over. Astonishingly, Charles was able to get that ball back over the net to my partner, who couldn’t handle the shot, ending the rally. Impressive. And I told him so!
Apparently, that last game dropped my DUPR rating to below 4.0 to 3.96. We’ll see how the rating adjusts in the coming weeks. What’s funny is Charles is rated as a 2.0. That’s ridiculous. He’s a 3.5 easy and almost certainly over 4.0. No wonder my rating dropped! I believe Trevor is a newish player too, like Jonathan, but I don’t know for sure . . . I’d never seen either of them before, though both are at least a 3.0 level. In terms of ratings, it should be Charles, me, then probably Trevor then Jonathan.
I played a few more games, and wrapped those up at 2:15 p.m. I’d been there for 5 1/2 hours. Given the longer wait times, I’m counting today as a 5 hour session.
Analysis
Today, being back after a long time, I was a bit more aware of where my play was going off the rails. Primarily, it’s execution. A more distant second, it’s court positioning. Balls not going exactly where I want. Me needing to cover the middle even more.
Monday, August 21, 2023 (No Play)
I’m a little sore from yesterday. Right glute, back of my right hand. And overall a little sore. But for a three month lay-off pretty good. But I was riding a Peleton bike nearly every day and in the last month, using barbells to build strength, so I wasn’t sitting on my laurels. I’m currently at about 181 pounds. I was 196—almost 197—when I last played the first week in June. My goal is to lose another 15 pounds. Maybe more, we’ll see. Regardless, my belt is telling my that my waistline has unquestionably shrunk. I had a customer at work mention that I’d lost weight, so it was enough for her to notice.
Number of days on a court: 602
Number of total hours: 2,651
Number of paid coaching hours: 2
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