Month: August 2024 (Page 4 of 5)

Friday, August 9, 2024 (Court Day #699)

I took a big chunk of the day off from work today. I had a busy morning. I took our older corgi Oliver to the vet. On my way home, I got a call from my daughter asking me to confirm that her passport was here in Santa Cruz and not among her things after her move to Tucson. (It was indeed here.) After that, I had a little bit of prep to meeting minutes from last month for the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club board meeting today.

Brommer

I stepped out of my car at Brommer Park at 9:52 a.m. There was one spot in the parking lot that I was able to grab, which was great.

Bruce and I played a game against Dean and Leslie. Leslie was not having a good day. Bruce and I won that one.

I was playing against Bruce and Soji. I hadn’t met Soji before. She’s tall, thin, sports bleached blonde hair, and about 10 years younger than me. Her play is not flashy and she doesn’t have a ton of power, but has good drops and is very consistent. She’s a good player. She said she started playing during the pandemic in 2020.

I felt a bit bad. There was a crosscourt dink from my right high enough for me to attack and I did a backhand flick into Soji’s torso. (My partner told me, “You’ll need to teach me that!”) Soji wasn’t expecting it and ended up on the ground. But we were signed up in a blue 4.0+ level game, this wasn’t a mixed skill game. There are going to be attacks.

Soji had a really nice crosscourt shot and I didn’t have a lot of choice and went for an ATP. I never use a two-handed backhand, but I did for this particular shot. Don’t ask me why, it was automatic. Regardless, I hit the ball alongside the sideline, and it dropped in behind Bruce near the corner of the court for a winner. While it was an ATP, it was a higher shot, about shoulder level. I suspect that Bruce didn’t think it was going to hook back and land in the court.

SCPC Meeting

I squeezed in one last game and was over at the park tables for the our board meeting at about 12:20 p.m. It was supposed to start at 12:15, but I was a little late. But Dan Bliss was even 10 more minutes, so I wasn’t the worst!

Number of days on a court: 699
Number of total hours: 2,919.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 63.5

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

Thursday, August 8, 2024 (Court Day #698)

A bit more about the varsity high school pickleball program out in Maryland.

Rec Classes

As of this afternoon, I have five of the eight spots in my Intermediate class already booked by former students. That was fast.

Skypark

I arrived a little before 6:30 p.m. It was not nearly as busy as Tuesday and the court rotations were quite quick.

Alex and I played a couple of games against Spencer and Mo and won both. One was 13–12. Close game!

Spencer made a comment about my serves feeling “very heavy.” (That’s the topspin.) Mo said that I needed to teach her my serve. Of course, I hit my next serve into the net! It figures. Spencer said his timing was off tonight. Indeed, he returned two or three of my serves into the net. That’s very unlike him.

Playin’ wid the Boys

I played with Paul against Matt and a fellow named Brian. Brian’s a 3.0. He was unquestionably outclassed in this game. Leading 9-2, Paul and I decided to hit just to Matt. It was still a lopsided win for us. Matt and Paul are usually good for some humorous commentary! As a matter of fact, afterward, Brian said he enjoyed playing with us because we were laughing and having a good time.

Brian left and was replaced by Aaron H., who is part of Matt and Paul’s circle of friends. Paul and I played against Matt and Aaron. We won by a good margin.

We mixed it up and Aaron and I played together and held the the score closer, but still lost 8-11.

The third game was Matt and Aaron again against Paul and me—we won.

The most memorable shot for me for the evening was a really nice forehand roll volley is a ton of topspin that landed right at Aaron’s feet and spun forward between his legs for a winner.

Being a responsible guy, I took down two portable nets. Ofer did the finishing touches on the bin and locked it up as I headed out.

Afterward

I chatted with Jessie and Fabrizio in the parking lot after—DUPR, tournaments, tennis elbow… Jessie she said she had “wins and learning games.” No losses.
I like it. But then again, I want every game to be learning games.

I came home, had dinner, plopped into the hot tub, then iced my knee, and finally crawled into bed at 11:44 p.m.

Overall, I was reasonably happy with my play tonight. Where I need some work is handling drives from my opponents at the net. I think I just need better preparation with my paddle a little bit higher, though I’m not 100% sure. Spencer and Matt drove fairly short balls at me at the net and both resulted in winners for them. I’m not thrilled about that. It is something that needs to be fixed.

Tomorrow is our monthly board meeting. I’ll be playing again at Brommer in the morning.

Uncle Pickleball

While I was playing tonight, my uncle Jerry—who lives up near the Oregon border—texted me a couple of images…

Number of days on a court: 698
Number of total hours: 2,917.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 63.5

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

Tuesday, August 6, 2024 (Court Day #697)

It was 75°F, sunny and warm as I drove after work to Skypark.

I parked on the street next to the full remote lot and walked in, arriving at courts at 6:45 p.m.

Tonight, it was extremely busy. The waits were long and unless you wanted to wait for a much longer of period of time to match up with better players, you merely signed up and ended up with who you end up with.

Ethan and Cait

Ethan and Caitlin were in a box and I added my name to theirs. Ethan is a 5.0 and Cait is still newer but coming along as a 3.0 level player. Our fourth would be Chuck, an older somewhat regular player at Skypark in the evenings. I don’t know who was playing better, Cait or Chuck. Chuck and I lost.

Ethan the “Bad Player”

I signed up with Ethan and Cait again. The fourth player turned out to be a young man who is home from college. Ethan decided to have a good time and pretended to be a far worse player than he actually is. At a certain point in the game, the young fellow gave Ethan some advice about how to play better. This was hysterical, but we kept quiet. Even when Ethan ripped off his 2-3 awesome shots in the game, my partner was still convinced Ethan needed help with his game. When my team won, Ethan complained aloud about how he can never beat me! So funny!

Things were still super busy when we got up to the dry erase board again and we ended up signing up for a rubber match. For this one, I decided to play left-handed and told Ethan so in advance. He and I both drilled lefty over the tennis net to kill time. Ethan played most but not all of his shots left-handed. He let us win again.

Aside from our inside joke, we were kind to the young fellow.

Dad and Son

My next game was with Alex against Mike D. and his dad whom I’d never met. (I learned that Alex is a local who went to San Lorenzo Valley High School.) Mike’s dad is probably a 3.0. Alex and I beat Mike and his dad 11–2. Aside from three errors in a row—including returning a serve long—I played quite well. Alex too.

Abbreviated Game

I got into a game with Jessie against the man I didn’t know named Ferdinand and a regular, Juliana, who has blonde hair and an accent. (Juliana was someone who I trained as a newbie at Derby Park 2-3 years ago.) Jessie and I were losing 1-4 when the lights clicked off and put an end to our game—it’s getting pretty dark these days at 8:30 p.m.

I took down a temporary net and put away the dry erase board then left Tim F. or someone else to finish closing up. I was ready to simply get home.

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Wednesday, August 7, 2024 (No Play)

I’m annoyed. UPA-A, a new governing body for pickleball founded by a for-profit company, has announced they now have their own paddle certification program.

United Pickleball Association of America (UPA-A) Launches Interim Certification Program to Elevate Paddle Standards

This quote burns me:
“UPA-A is honored to be the first governing body to implement such a comprehensive certification program,” said Jason Aspes, President of UPA-A. 
That is nonsense. USA Pickleball has been certifying paddles in a comprehensive manner for decades. Propaganda.

It goes on…
Detailed information about the 2025 UPA-A Professional Certification will be made public in mid-September. Starting in 2025, all professional pickleball players participating in UPA events, including those in the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) and Major League Pickleball (MLP), will be required to use UPA-A certified paddles.

They are continuing to undermine USA Pickleball which has been growing the sport as a non-profit for decades. Now, these millionaires get involved and are trying to take over the sport.

Gym Rat

So, there’s this short video circulating of a guy with a cable attached to the top of his paddle which he connects up to a weight machine. He then sets the machine for the lowest weight and does a 2-3 “drives” with the “weighted” paddle, at which point, he unclips the paddle and walks away. I’m not sure if it’s satire or if the guy was serious… which I guess would be the best satire, right? Dunno.

Classes

I asked Rec if they could change my August Beginner class to an Intermediate class. Lindsay got back to me and said they’d changed it. Done. I emailed out to former Advanced Beginner students to see they are (or are still) interested in signing up for it.

Number of days on a court: 697
Number of total hours: 2,915.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 63.5

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