Sunday, December 3, 2023 (No Play)
I left my house about noon and stopped by work because my staff was holding a parking lot art show. (Our family business was closed, so the parking lot was available.) I hung out there for a while—and briefly did some work in my office—then left about 1 o’clock for Aptos to conduct the third Sunday of my Parks & Rec class.
I arrived at Willowbrook Park at 1:15 p.m. A couple was starting to stake out one of the two rolling nets and I had to tell them it would be reserved starting at 1:30.
Last night, one of my students, Julie, emailed and said that her parents caught COVID and she would be taking care of them and not be able to make it to class today. It turned out another one of my students, Brooke, also didn’t make it to class, leaving me with six out of my eight students. At least it was a balanced set of pairs for drills.
Today, I had my students working on net volleys and later, we worked on how to lob and how to defend a lob. With last 20 minutes I had them play a game and—hopefully—put things into practice. I had Jennifer and Jana play against just me . . . with me occasionally suspending play to comment on the other student game on the adjacent court. It’s an interesting trick to play in one game but also watch another game going on nearby. It’s much better to be able to just sit out and observe, but you do what you have to do.
The quote of the day was, “You are such a good coach!” Oh, and also me overhearing Scot telling another student about a lobbing detail I shared; “I’m glad he said that, I would have never thought of that.” Learning! I love it.
PPR Online Assessment
Just before 8 p.m., while stretched out on my bed and starting to wind down, I remembered that I had planned to take the PPR online assessment today. They gave us a 7-day window to take the test. Originally, they wrote that they were going to send the testing link on Monday. However, it turned out that they actually sent the link the same day as our workshop on Friday. The link email said it typically took less than an hour to complete, so I figured I’d tackle it and just get it done.
I sat down to take the test at my computer and it took about an hour for the 100 questions. Some of the questions were very easy—such as court dimensions and rules tennis players wouldn’t know—some made me stop and and think, others appeared to intentionally try to trick you, and a few, I believe, were outright confusing and one even wrong (in my opinion). As you went along, the test gave you immediate feedback as to whether your answer was correct or not.
In the end, I scored 95% which is easily passing. The PPR has three different coaching levels: associate coach, coach, and professional coach. There are three evaluations, one for your playing ability, one for your live coaching ability, and then one for the test. Whatever your lowest evaluation was in any of those three segments would determine which of the three coaching levels you would be assigned. After workshop, I was graded as a mid-level playing skill “coach” candidate which was everyone except two very strong players who were 4.5 or better—one was a even a 6.0. The 95% on the written assessment would’ve garnered me the level of Professional Coach but since my playing level doesn’t warrant that, I’ll be assigned the “Coach” moniker. I wasn’t expecting to be assigned “Professional Coach”, my primary goal was to avoid being assigned “Associate Coach”.
Once I completed and submitted the test, I wrote to the PPR sharing with them which questions I felt should be rewritten to be clearer. I don’t know if they’ll write back to me or not, but maybe I’ll save some future candidates some trouble.
Hunger Strike
While talking to my son Nicholas on the phone—before the test—he mentioned a “hunger strike” over pickleball. I didn’t know what he was talking about, but he’d seen it months earlier and he was surprised that I hadn’t heard about it. He found the article and shared it with me:
https://www.theprogress.com/news/chilliwack-pickleball-hunger-strike-ends-without-a-solution-2355539
It was a couple in Canada concerned about game noise. The hunger strike didn’t last long—just two days!—and that was that. But they got a lot of publicity, and that was the point, right?
Tuesday, December 5, 2023 (Court Day #613)
I had physical therapy at 5:30 p.m. tonight. My knee seems to continue to improve. When my PT session ended at 6:24 p.m., I left and hopped in my car and popped over to the Skypark. The parking lot was extremely full. Cars were parked off-road between trees. I drove around to the backside behind the courts and there is no room back there either! Crazy. I put my car in reverse and backed out, then found a spot on the street a block away then hoofed it in.
First Game
They had to dry erase board going to rotate people onto courts and I added my name. My first game was with Darvin against the tall man named John and a woman named Cimarron, who I believe is his wife. It was a good warm-up game. John and Cimarron were better than I was expecting. Both are 3.5 level players. Darvin is more of a 3.0 level player and I did my best but we still lost by a few points. There is only so much I can do when they are targeting my partner.
Balanced Games
As the evening went on, I found myself in better and better games. I had a few games with Matt Babb against his friend Paul and Ann‘s husband Eric. Those were challenging and fun games.
Eric shared, “Whatever you are doing with your serves, you are doing it right. The balls aren’t coming back up.” Topspin!
Eric stepped out and David (Minori’s boyfriend) stepped in. We got clobbered in the first game. We went on to win some of the remaining games against Matt and Paul. We finished up the last game a few minutes before the late clicked out at 9:30 p.m.
Last week when I was walking off the courts on Tuesday night, my right knee was hurting. Tonight, I didn’t have that problem. Yes, my knee bothered me a little bit at times but it was surprisingly good. I chatted to some of the players afterward, then headed out. I got home shortly after 10 p.m. Once home, I iced my knee. It may not be feeling bad, but I don’t want to attempt fate!
Saturday, December 9, 2023 (No Play)
It’s official. I got my email notice from PPR—at 5:32 a.m. today when I was sound asleep!—that I’m now officially a “Certified Coach”. That’s a big milestone for me.
As a courtesy, I sent an email to Karen H., the other local active PPR certified instructor and let her know that I have no plans to get hired as a club pro or actively seek students, just continue teaching the classes through Parks & Rec.
I made it a whole 12 hours before I was stopped by a couple that I know while out and about and was asked about lessons. Ah, well. Maybe I’ll be doing some private lessons regardless!
Number of days on a court: 613
Number of total hours: 2,684
Number of paid coaching hours: 6.5
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