I left work and arrived in Skypark at 7 p.m. Things were hopping with players all over the place waiting to get into games. It was one of the busiest nights I’ve seen. It was a warm and unusually muggy evening and, being summer, the sun was still out for a good chunk of the session.
I am still a little sore from Sunday’s outing. In particular my right glute muscle. Fortunately, my knee seems to be fine. The back of my right hand is sore, however.
It was nice to see a lot of people that I hadn’t seen in three months. Tim, Rachel, Paul, Max, Nicole, Shawnte, Casey, Aaron . . . there were a bunch of people. Noticeably absent were Matt and his young son Lucas.
Most of the games tonight are pretty uneventful. The best games were the last two which involved Paul and myself battling Shawnte and Rachel. Paul and I lost the first game but then we won the second. Shawnte has a wicked backhand roll volley/slap which has speed and accuracy.
We wrapped up at second game about five minutes before the lights clicked off at 9:30, Rachael, Paul and I helped take down portable nets. Afterward, I ended up hanging out for another 45 minutes chatting with various players in a partial darkness.
DUPR
Shawnte mentioned that his DUPR rating was over 4.0 when playing regularly with 4.0+ players in the San Jose area, but after playing with lower rated players, his rating dropped: “You’d think that the system would understand that your opponents are going to hit most of the shots to the weaker player and take that into account.” We both went on to complain about DUPR no longer using score differential in its calculations. A game of 11-0 has the same weight as a game of 20-18. Why throw away useful data? Hopefully, they’ll revert and reintroduce that differential feature that was a strength of the DUPR system versus UTPR.
Newbies
I wrapped up the evening talking to two new players, Mauricio and his wife Shaye. They said they’ve been playing for three weeks. It turns out that they live only about 12 houses down from me! Super close.
Wednesday, August 23, 2023 (No Play)
I went to the hand specialist this morning. He’s a PA (physicians assistant) named Steve. Nice guy. He poked and prodded, twisted, bent, asked questions. He wasn’t sure what was going on with my wrist and hand, but referred me to get my hand X-rayed. He said if that doesn’t show anything, the next step is an MRI. I told him if I get an MRI done, I may as well do my left knee and right ankle while I’m at it!
Prime Time
My uncle Jerry texted me a photo of his TV this evening. He was surprised to see pickleball on “primetime”. I told him that the guy on the right of the box is Tyson McGuffin and that I almost walked up and met him . . . if I hadn’t been so intimidated by his intense look at the Golden State Championships 4-5 years ago!
Yep, pickleball is moving up the entertainment food chain!
Number of days on a court: 603 Number of total hours: 2,653.5 Number of paid coaching hours: 2
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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 James at the left and a boatload of people waiting at 10:09 a.m. Hugh sitting in the distance.
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.
Pam (appearing to salute) guiding DUPR participants,
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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After a conversation with my wife a month or two ago, Tim, the owner of the Santa Cruz Running Company, followed up and let me know that they’d received some new Sketcher pickleball shoes.
Tim had said that they’d been receiving a lot of requests for pickleball shoes and as a running shoe store, not a sporting goods store, they had to convince the supplier that they should be allowed to stock the shoes. Now that they’ve got them. I picked up a pair.
My legs appear more tan than they have actually gotten this summer!
What’s most interesting to me is that they are washable, so the “leather” must be faux leather. The tread on the bottom isn’t quite as deep as other shoes I’ve had in the past . . .
. . . but perhaps they’ll still manage to hold up as long or even longer than my last pair of court shoes!
Monday, July 24, 2023 (No Play)
Someone shared online today that there are counterfeit Ben Johns Joola Hyperion paddles being sold on Alibaba direct from China. I suppose that pickleball has gone prime time when it’s worth the effort to make and sell knockoff paddles. This also means that the secondary (used) market is now entirely suspect. You need to know what to look for. On the real paddles, the “CARBON FRICTION SURFACE” is in an italic font but on the counterfeit paddles, it’s a standard straight up and down font. Unfortunately, bad paddles will not announce “Counterfeit” on them.
Tuesday, July 25, 2023 (No Play)
I had another PT appointment with Jae at 6 p.m. today. He says things are coming along, but I’m looking at another few weeks at least before getting back out on the courts.
Yesterday, around noon, Matt Babb texted me and said he and his young son Lucas visited the courts at the very newly opened The Hub in Campbell for their free open house. Matt said it was a mad house, but pretty cool.
I tend to be a bit frugal with my money—I hope to retire before I’m 80!—but I may cough up the entry fee on some rainy day sooner or later.
Charles kindly checked in tonight to see how I was doing. The good news is that his shoulder is doing better and he’s playing right handed again.
I told him that I’m actually more concerned about my right wrist and that I have an appointment scheduled with a hand specialist in a few weeks after meeting with my GP on Thursday last week for a referral.
Thursday, August 10, 2023 (No Play)
Matt, one of my PT doctors, says I should give my knee another couple of weeks before playing. If I return on a Sunday at Derby Park, that would mean August 27. Fingers crossed.
Saturday, August 12, 2023 (No Play)
I’m getting sick of watching pickleball “how to” training videos. They are getting really boring after hearing the same things over and over that I learned years ago. One in a blue moon you’ll catch one little tip, but there’s only so much you can watch.
Sunday, August 13, 2023 (No Play)
This morning in our newspaper there was an insert for Big 5 Sporting Goods.
I was curious and sure enough there was a pickleball item in the flier. An entry-level pickleball paddle by Head. Speaking of, I’d need another paddle like I’d need a hole in the head!
My wife and I ran some errands. She wanted to stop by Santa Cruz Running Company to look at shoes, at the prompting of her PT.
I told her that I wanted to go by Play It Again Sports and see if they had some weights. I was in the market for some 20 pound dumbbells. I could get them cheaper online, but I always want to support my local retailers, so I bought a couple today.
While heading to get rung up, I asked a clerk about pickleball gear. He said they have a whole section. Indeed they do!
What a change since the last time that I looked! A few years ago, they had a couple of cheesy paddles and some balls and that was it. Now they have serious paddles by Gearbox, Engage, Selkirk, and others.
There were a couple of 20-something guys looking at the Gearbox paddles. I asked where they were playing. They smiled and said Brommer. I told them that I’m the USA Pickleball Ambassador for Santa Cruz and that it was good to see more young faces joining the game.
There is no video of my shot in a tournament years ago with Eric as my partner, but this clip is almost identical. I was on the left side, a high ball bounced in our kitchen, I intentionally made a big backswing then dropped the ball just over the net for a winner . . . with our spectators commenting, “Great fake!” This is as close as you’ll get to a video of my shot: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CwAaF40oR20/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Rule Change
Television networks asked USA Pickleball to change the rules and instead require referees to place servers and receivers in the correct positions proactively rather than players having to ask if they are in the correct place. Questioning the referee regularly before serves delayed the flow of the match.
I saw this sticker at work today and couldn’t help but think of pickleball!
Saturday, August 19, 2023 (No Play)
I was at memorial service this week. (It was tragic. The man who was my best friend in 1st grade, Doug, lost his 16-year-old son Joe to a fatal and entirely unexpected stroke.) Before the service, I was talking one of Doug’s friends and he said he’d had two meniscus surgeries. When I mentioned to him that my knee still hurts at times, he replied, “Well, it takes a year to fully recover, doesn’t it?” And with that, I’m planning to play tomorrow. It’s just one week shy of three months since my surgery.
Parking
Parking near Derby Park continues to be a point of contention in the surrounding neighborhoods. Woodland Way neighbors asked pickleball players to park on Swift Street—a main artery—but now Swift residents are complaining. You can’t win. My wife forwarded an email notice she received about such a parking discussion on the Nextdoor app. I was reading through it—and while I had nothing to add to the conversation—a link to my blog (which you are reading) was shared:
Rising Numbers
According to the SFIA, the number of people who played pickleball ar least once in 2022 was double that of the number in 2020! It’s crazy.
I found out that one of my staff—Paige, a young woman in her early 20s—recently took up the game and even arranged a “tournament” of her assorted inexperienced young friends. Unfortunately, she’s going to back to school for another degree and he last day was Thursday this week. When I told her we should play sometime, she said to give her a few months to improve first!
Health
I’ll be returning to the courts 15 pounds lighter, having been riding a stationary bike regularly once or twice per day, and lifting dumbbells for the last few weeks once or twice per day. I’ve also been eating better.
Number of days on a court: 601 Number of total hours: 2,646 Number of paid coaching hours: 2
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