Thursday, July 11, 2024. (Court Day #685)
Speaking of famous people who are playing pickleball, actress Reese Witherspoon and her niece appeared in the news sporting matching pickleball outfits:
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Style/reese-witherspoon-twins-niece-pickleball-ready-set/story?id=111689591
Forgotten
Work wrapped up and I gathered my things to go change for pickleball when I had the sudden realization that I had left my shoes at home. Earlier, I’d made sure to gather up other things like the new business cards for the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club for the board meeting tomorrow, my shorts, cap, T-shirt, and my water bottle . . . but forgot that one key element of my attire, shoes!
Since I will be playing tomorrow morning at Brommer, I was trying to decide if I simply wanted to go home or if I wanted to make the effort to go home and get my shoes and then drive back through town and then the way out to Scotts Valley. My wife and daughter were mildly encouraging me to go play and it doesn’t take me much to go play, so that’s what I did. I went home, changed, put on my much-needed shoes, then headed out to Scotts Valley.
Skypark
Normally, I park in the remote lot, but since I was a little later tonight, I decided on trying to park right next to the courts. Surprisingly, it was only 7:06 p.m. when I got to the courts. There was one spot in the lot and a car was pulling out of another. I slipped into the newly vacated spot.
There only about 35 people playing, so the waits to get on the courts weren’t too bad tonight.
Games
My first game was with a young woman named Natalie—who is a newish player—against Gregg and Natalie’s friend Harmony, who is also less experience player. It was a no pressure game and probably a good one to start with to get warmed up.
I got into a game with Kenny and Chuck and Ethan. Ethan was unquestionably the most skilled player on the court, followed by me and then the other two players. So Ethan and I were on opposite sides of the net for that game.
A regular named John (tall, probably his late 50s) and I played against a man named Daniel and woman named Shelley. Daniel is tall and has very good drives. Shelley has good hand-eye coordination though she was lacking in some pickleball skills. The game ended at 11–2 and I overheard Shelley telling Daniel, “Those two are very good players.“ Well, everything is relative. I’d say John’s a high 3.0. Daniel would be a 3.5 if he had more of a soft game—instead, he’s more of a banger. There was one rally that stuck in my mind where Daniel was repeatedly driving shots from the baseline, we blocked all of them and the ball of eventually made its way to Shelley at a somewhat high speed and that ended the rally. If he’d changed to drops and made it to the net, he would have neutralized our advantage.
The lights went out 8:30 p.m. and it was time to head out.
Number of days on a court: 685
Number of total hours: 2,887
Number of paid coaching hours: 49.5
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