Adventures of Andrew Lenz and a Yellow Ball

Month: July 2024 (Page 1 of 5)

Changing of the Guard at Derby, Jury Duty

Sunday, July 28, 2024 (Court Day #694)

Today was the day of the locally-famous annual Wharf to Wharf race. I dropped off my son and wife along with two friends near the race course shortly after 8 a.m. and then I drove to Derby Park for what would be my last time opening as the regular Sunday Site Coordinator.

I noticed that there was a new paddle holder added on the fence to provide organization to waiting players. That’s new since I was last at Derby two weeks ago. (Barb covered for me last weekend when I had a lot of relatives in town.)

The new paddle rack at Derby

Vacant Courts

I arrived to Derby at about 8:15 a.m. then messed around on empty courts trying some different serving techniques. Lester and his wife showed up and started dinking on a separate court. Not long after, a regular asked me to warm up with him and I told him that I could until Brian showed up. I would need to show Brian the ropes since it would be his first day is the new site coordinator.

Pass Off

The warm-up lasted about five minutes then I met with Brian, handed off my bin key, the battery charger and battery, and gave him some ins and outs about running Derby Park. Next time, when blowing off the courts, he’ll know to start with the worst areas first since the battery can run out!

Games

I got into a couple of games. I was not playing my best. I was playing against Brandon and woman in my second game with Adrian as my partner. Adrian was far from warmed up. Adrian missed at least three or four serves and was also hitting balls into the net or out. I was not that I was perfect myself, but our opponents liked to hit to Adrian in that game. Brandon got erne off of me. Good job, Brandon! Brandon has his long arms that come with a 6-foot guy. It makes a little bit easier to get those erne shots. He was being very aggressive on the court poaching and generally creeping past the middle.

I checked the time after that second game and it was 9:45 a.m. I figured it was time to head to Brommer Park.

I left Derby in the experienced hands of Val and Ted to guide Brian. There was a decent chance that Rick might appear later to also provide support to the new guy.

New Chapter Opens

As I was on the freeway at 9:57 a.m., it was overcast and 61°F. I pulled into Bromer Park and there were conveniently a handful of parking spots available.

As I walked up to the courts, there were two temporary courts either empty or had only two people on them.

I played a completely unmemorable game. Then Drew came in and asked if I’d warm up with him. Then we played with out-of town visitors Bill and his wife. They were unknowns, so we split them. Yeah, they are 3.0 players. I made an effort to hit more to Drew.

I play just ok initially, but as the morning wore on, my play got better and better.

Over the course of the two hours that I was there, I got into a bunch of good games. Marco, Dan Dewey, Ofer, Jason… it was great.

I played with Jason against Kim and Dieter. Initially, that game was close then we pulled away to win.

Yes, I could see getting used to playing on Sundays at Brommer.

I do need to be more patient when playing with better players. Speedups sometimes work but often they don’t unless they are precisely placed.

There is a guy named William there who—I was told by Ofer—is a very, very good player. He was in a game with Sean and Oscar and Kiko. Evan was there too.

Stuart Howell (part of the local OG) had moved out of state but was back visiting. I played a game against him and a game with him. These days, there’s no question that I’m the stronger player, Stuart isn’t a spring chicken anymore and has had his share of injuries over the years. Though in the second game with Stuart as my partner, I messed up the first few rallies. When I mentioned my failures, Marco said, “You were on fire in that last game.”

I left the courts at 11:59 a.m., I had to get home, eat, change and get to Skypark to teach my two afternoon pickleball classes.

As I left, Jason said, “We’ll let you come back on Sundays!”


Monday, July 29, 2024 (No Play)

Paddle Testing

More USA Pickleball paddle testing, this time testing the “grip” of a paddle face:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C-BiEUSteMb

Smack Down

A local player, Terri L., snapped a shot of this sign placed by the County of Santa Cruz at Highland Park:
“PLEASE DO NOT MARK OR STRIPE TENNIS COURTS FOR PICKLE BALL.”
…with additional instructions to contact the county with questions.

I know Jackie, on the SCPC board, has been investigating making pickleball available at those courts at Highland Park. Apparently, the courts there are not in the best shape and not used frequently for tennis.

Jury Duty

I got called in for jury duty. I showed up at 12:30 p.m. and sat in the assembly room with about 70 people. We were shown a couple of videos then were given some verbal explanations about logistics.

This is me holding my phone camera high up. It was hard to see the screen!

They then moved us through security and into a courtroom (“Department 2”) for jury selection. I started in the gallery, but my name along with some others were called to replace individuals who were excused. One woman—claiming to be a professor—who was being really annoying and trying to weasel out of her civic duty, was told she could go. There were some eye-rolls going on after she left!

I was sitting in jury box during the selection process and we had to state where we lived, what our occupation was, as well as if we had a significant other and what that person did for a living.
I said I was a retail store manager and my wife is a first grade teacher.
The amiable judge—who is filling in from Tulare county due to a shortage—said, “Let’s give that business a plug, where do you work?”
I said, “Lenz Arts.”
At that, spontaneous applause burst from the benches full of dozens of prospective jurors. Wow! It was amazing and humbling!
During a break later in the process, a woman came up, smiled, and shared, “That was the best moment of this experience!”
How could I not agree? It’s great to know our family business is appreciated!

In the end, I was selected to be one of the 12 jurors, even after sharing my friendship with various police officials and D.A.’s office employees, and that I went through the local Citizens’ Police Academy. They had time for opening arguments then released us until 10:30 the next morning.

Blast from the Past

I did a search for that Santa Cruz PD program—apostrophe, no apostrophe?—and found a photo promoting the Citizens’ Police Academy (CPA) in 2017. The photo is of my group in 2016, just a few months before I started playing pickleball:

I’m the fifth from the left in the back row, not the hairy one in the middle front.

Number of days on a court: 694
Number of total hours: 2,907.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 58.5

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.

Strong Saturday Games at Brommer

Saturday, July 27, 2024 (Court Day #693)

I told my staff yesterday afternoon that I was going to take the morning off today. It was overcast and 63°F when I arrived at Brommer Park. There was a breeze, but it was quite light, so just about perfect pickleball weather.

When I pulled in at 9:26 a.m., there were that half a dozen parking spots, so parking was easy. The courts were hopping. 

There was a new guy named Tristan visiting from Colorado. We get distant visitors now and then. Often visiting family. I have no idea why Tristan was in town.

Eric, Mauricio, Jordan

I played with a hispanic guy, Eric (I’d never met him before) and we beat Mauricio and Jordan 11-2. It was their first game.

We played a rubber match and Eric and I lost 7-11.

And we lost the next game at 8–11.

They were close back-and-forth games. Jordan was playing very well.

Dieter, Shawnte, Katy

I got into a game with Dieter—after Eric had to leave—against Shawnte and Katy. We lost the first game in lopsided fashion. I think we were down 7–1 then came back to make it more of a game. But we still lost.

We won the second game and then the four of us decided to play one more.

Dieter and I lost the last/third game 9–11. That game was very much a close one with lots of service switches. I was intentionally trying to hit most of my shots with Shawnte.

It was a great morning. But the exception of the first game, all the games were challenging and fun. And I was playing reasonably well.

I left at 12:15 p.m. Home, eat, shower, then to work.

Number of days on a court: 693
Number of total hours: 2,905
Number of paid coaching hours: 55.5

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.

Party Food at Skypark

Thursday, July 25, 2024 (Court Day #692)

The PPR sent out an email today announcing a “Level 2” certification for coaches:
“The Professional Pickleball Registry (PPR) is excited to announce the launch of its new Level 2 certification program, set to begin on September 1st. This advanced course will offer two days of comprehensive on-court training designed to elevate coaching expertise.”
Now, I have to decide to continue to plan to jump ship and get PCI sponsorship instead, or stick with PPR. Decisions, decisions.

Another Famous Actor and Pickleball

Comedic actor Vince Vaughn has purchased a majority stake in a pro pickleball team, the Coachella Valley Scorpions, which was launched in May.

Vince Vaughn in 2006.

Hollywood Reporter:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/vince-vaughn-buys-pickleball-team-coachella-1235957918/

Los Angeles Times:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-07-25/vince-vaughn-buys-majority-stake-in-pro-pickleball-team-go-scorpions

After Work

I left one of my staff to close and left work at 5:34 p.m. It was toasty, with my car reading 75°F on my car thermometer.

As I drove into Scotts Valley proper, my car thermometer read 81°F. Scotts Valley—at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains—generally has slightly more extremes in temperature compared to Santa Cruz which is next to the beach. They’re only several miles apart, but it’s amazing how much difference the geography makes.

Skypark

As I arrived at Skypark, there was a dark sedan pulling in and taking a spot just vacated by a truck. With no spot left for me, I found a spot to park halfway down the block. When I walked in, I noticed Jessie was unpacking her dark sedan along with Fabrizio. It turned out that she was throwing a party for Marco, whose birthday was last week. She brought a big spread of Carne Asada, guacamole, various taco fixings, along with margarita mix and beers and soda and chips… wow. She also brought along folding table to place everything upon—not that everything fit on it! It was very generous of her. I’m glad she got the parking spot!

The white dry-erase board proved to be unneeded tonight. It was a pretty light crowd for whatever reason. Too bad, they missed out on all the food!

Unexpected Faces

Surprisingly, Allan Kass was there for a short time. I had never seen him a Skypark before. I overhead him asked if the spread of food was normal. (Not!) Tristan was there sporting a University of Texas Longhorns baseball cap. Apparently, he is home for the summer.

Mark Dettle and I got into a game against Tristan and Allan. I played really well in that game, I had nothing to be embarrassed about. Tristan has very speedy serves, but I returned all of them, even the one he whipped right down the center line. I told him that was a tough serve to return. He replied, “That was as hard as they’ll get!” It was the back-and-forth game and I believe Mark and I lost a close one, not that Tristan was bringing his full intensity to this game.

Connor McNicholas and I played a few games against Spencer and Mo. Spencer, of course, is a very strong player. Good games.

There was a tall Indian fellow named Ashly, whom I’d never met. He made a comment about the strong group of players being very serious and not all that much fun to play with. Ashly is a pretty good player, 4.0+, I’d bet.

Last Game

Mo and I played a game against Conner and Spencer. The lights went out a few minutes into our game, but we decided to finish it. And we got completely smoked in that game. If it wasn’t the end of the session and not getting dark, I might’ve been embarrassed with an 0–11 loss. Still ouch.

Darkness

After the lights were out, I asked Spencer where he and Diego had won their silver metal. he said they had won it at a tournament in San Francisco. He said that he does not recommend the tournament. He said they rolled out some kind of surface, which turned out to be a bit lumpy, and also provided some very disinterested people who knew very little about pickleball to watch for kitchen violations. He said these people tended to not pay attention and didn’t call any kitchen faults. It seemed a waste. Spencer also says the ball would sometimes land on that odd surface with simply die.

I partially helped take down a temporary net then hung out for a while and also helped take some of the leftovers to Jessie’s car.

It was about 9:25 p.m. when I finally left.

Leftovers. Ashly’s food and cup and my stack on the right with some beans in the tin.

Fun night.

Number of days on a court: 692
Number of total hours: 2,902.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 55.5

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.

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