Tuesday, October 8, 2024 (Court Day #724)
I left work early just in time to spent 10 minutes eating dinner then get on a video call with a nutritionist. My wife has been encouraging me to lose weight. I’m definitely at the higher end of my weight range, near to the highest that I’ve ever been. I do play pickleball generally two or three times a week… however, I snack too much. I eat too many sweets. I’d probably have to play pickleball two hours every day in order to counter the extra calories that I’m taking in. Typically, I eat pretty healthy meals, with the exception of when I’m out with family or friends at a restaurant. Anyway, we came up with a plan of attack and maybe I can stick with it this time. I’m supposed to have a brief phone call with the nutritionist a week from now just to check in and see how things are going.
At 6:45 p.m., I left my house and headed towards Skypark. The sky was a little bit light but the sun had set. The temperature was holding at 64°F.
I realized over the weekend so when I ordered the new paddle from Players Pickleball, I had inadvertently ordered the same paddle that I already have. Though the one that I have now does rattle and is two years old. Nonetheless, the surface is still consistent and not worn in the middle.
Skypark
When I got to Skypark around 7 p.m. and was walking in, the lights were off. It was already getting dark, so I stopped to flip the switches even though I figured someone else had already tried. Yep. Not working. No wonder Larry was leaving and I was able to pull into his parking spot in the street!
Games were finishing up as the late remaining sunlight faded. I squeezed in one game in the dark with three Mikes… “linebacker” Mike, lefty bald Mike, and tall thin Mike Cattivera. It was amusing. You could barely see the ball unless it was passing under the gate light above us. Tall Mike and I won, but it was almost a joke in the darkness.
We took down all the nets and I locked the storage bin.
Right then, Conner showed up on his electric motorcycle. He really wanted to drill. I was up for anything. Paul was vocal about being done… he was sharing some beer he made with Aaron and linebacker Mike.
I unlocked the bin and Conner and I set back up a net next to the gate light. He propped a flashlight in the chainlink fence and pointed his motorcycle headlight at our court, but it was still very gloomy. We drilled crosscourt dinks and transition zone resets. It was even harder than normal in the dark. Conner expressed some appreciation for how well I’d done after we switched positions and he was back and I was at the net.
We drilled for about 15 minutes then Conner was getting worried about his motorcycle battery and we called it a night.
Bummer.
Wednesday, October 9, 2024 (No Play)
I emailed Allison, the Parks & Rec director for the City of Scotts Valley, about the court lights outage. She got back to me a few hours later saying it was an electrical issue and it should be now fixed. Excellent.
Pickleball Physics
I’m always a science nerd, especially when it relates do something that I’m interested in. Here’s an article in Scientific American about pickleball physics. It talks about ball speed, rotation, reaction times, and more…
Pickleball Physics Explained, from Balls and Paddles to Shots
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pickleball-physics-explained-from-balls-and-paddles-to-shots
Number of days on a court: 724
Number of total hours: 2,977.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 81.5
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