Tuesday, September 3, 2024 (Court Day #711)

It was 68°F with the sun descending in the sky when I got to Skypark at 6:50 p.m. Today would be my third day in a row playing. Quite a luxury. I will admit that I’m a little tired and a little sore, especially after my wife convinced me to go to yoga last night with her. I was stretching muscles that I didn’t know that I had! I’m pretty inflexible, really.

There were no parking spots in the lot next to the courts. I had to park down the street and around the corner.

What was surprising was that there weren’t that many people actually playing. There was a court open but only three willing to play… not that that lasted long! It got a little busier but we never used the white board for signups.

Tournament Sign

I’ve never played in it, but The Rotary Club is doing their annual tournament again this year at Cabrillo. I’m not sure if I’m inclined to do it or not.

This evening was slim pickings for better players to play against. I end up in games with a mix of 3.5 and 3.0 players. I tend to be kind of lazy against weaker opponents and, as a result, make more errors. At 7:30, the thought of even leaving crossed my mind. The games aren’t as much fun when the rallies are short. But I stayed.

ATP Dink

I was in a game with the recent-addition college student Joel against Alex and Mike, who will be retiring at end of the year. I was on the left across from Mike and Alex was across from Joel. Alex had a really wide crosscourt shot and I had to run it full speed with my paddle extended and I was barely able to tap the ball around the post and have it land just inside their sideline. Mike then dinked the ball back across the net to Joel, who was able to return it. A brief rally ensued and ended with Joel hitting the ball into the net. That was a very unusual ATP. It was almost like a dink around the post.

We finish up the last game a few minutes before the lights clicked off at 8:30 p.m.

I was yawning in my car on the way home.

Wednesday, September 4, 2024 (No Play)

Hall of Fame

It was announced today that three people will be inducted into the Pickleball Hall of Fame this year. Players Kyle Yates and Simone Jardim, plus John Gullo, whom I’d never heard of—from the announcement: “JOHN GULLO is well known as a pickleball ambassador for Northern Utah and for his role in establishing The Tournament of Champions as the first and highest paying tournament for professionals.”

Now, the Tournament of Champions, I’ve heard of. Ok, got it. That’s well known.

Kyle Yates was part of the former #1 doubles team in the world (with Ben Johns) when I met him back in 2018. He was 23 and Ben was 19. Pickleball was a smaller world back then.

Back in 2018 when I met Kyle Yates. We chatted for a bit, then I ran and caught up with him for a photo.

I’ve never met Simone. She was ranked No. 1 in women’s doubles with Lucy Kovalova in 2021. Simone is well known for her online instructional videos.

Number of days on a court: 711
Number of total hours: 2,948
Number of paid coaching hours: 69.5

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