Sunday, January 7, 2024 (Court Day #619)
Today was my first day back into regular duties as site coordinator for Derby Park on Sundays since my knee surgery in early June.
It’s kind of ironic that in the last couple of weeks, I made up a meme kind of mocking those who don’t want to play pickleball in the cold. As I peered out my back window through the blinds, I could see some ice patches in my backyard. It rained very heavily yesterday afternoon, but it was mostly clear skies today. The thermometer in my car read 39°F and there was ice on my windshield. The excellent thing is sun. The sun beating down should dry out the courts fairly quickly. I rarely wear a sweatshirt but with freezing temperatures overnight, today was one of those days!
Derby
I parked outside Derby Park at 8:42 a.m. and walked in to completely empty courts. And they were wet. I pulled out one portable net (there are five rolling nets now) and set up the sign-up board and blew off a court before my neglected club battery died. (Apparently, it drained over the last six months while waiting for use.) For the first hour, we had to wait for four of the six courts to dry, initially only allowing those for drilling. Gradually, one by one, courts were no longer slippery and I released the courts to games.
Of the first few people who arrived today, I had no idea who they were. The first one, John, said he’s playing for about three months and the second one, Mike, for about five months. By the time the session was in full swing, I would say I knew about half the players. A whole lot of new faces!
Scot, one of my students from my very first Willowbrook beginner class that started in November, was there and greeted me as I passed. On my way back, I said, “Nice to have a Scot sighting out in the wild!”
While warming up, the guy I was warming up with complimented my drop shots. I shared back, “It’s not my first rodeo!”
I spent the last 20 minutes of my time at Derby instructing to brand new players. For the two newbies that I trained when was named Gina, neither one was named Qwa.
I had Rick Abend close for me and Mark G. took over teaching the two newbies. I left a few minutes after noon . . . I had to get to my class in Aptos.
County Class
I drove home and picked up my wife. She was going to tag along to go walk with a friend of ours who lives two blocks from Willowbrook County Park. Our younger corgi Pepper came along to go with her.
One of my eight students, Nina, didn’t come to the first class.
My first class went well. I’ll admit that I should have reviewed my notes from my first class a bit more, I forgot to cover details of holding the paddle, but we’ll double-check that next week. It’s a more equally skilled group this time. Last time, I had students who had a really hard time directing the ball but also Scot who obviously a step up from the rest . . . he did come in with some previous game experience though.
I heard about this technique years ago, but this video is the first time I’ve actually seen it in practice:
Knee
My knee is bothering me some. Knee discomfort on stairs is minimal but noticeable. Walking to my car to head out for lunch, it was a different kind of pain, less achy and slightly more sharp, but still relatively mild.
Number of days on a court: 619
Number of total hours: 2,700
Number of paid coaching hours: 9.5
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