Thursday, November 28, 2024 (Court Day #742)
Last night, my brother John texted me and asking and asked if I was going to be playing this morning. I told him that I was planning to go to Brommer Park, but then I offered to meet him at Skypark. I had never played at Skypark on a holiday morning. Thursday is the only day of the week without organized play by the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club. Until the SCPC adds Thursdays, there will never be organized club play on a Thanksgiving.
I was expecting it to be colder than it was so I grabbed a sweatshirt. My house thermometer was reading 54°F. But as I drove into downtown Scotts Valley, the temperature had dropped to 39°F. It was starting to look like I made the right decision by grabbing a sweatshirt after all! With all that, it was sunny with clear blue skies. It was looking to be a nice day later.
Skypark
There were white swaths of frost on the ground as I wove my way through the Skypark neighborhood to the courts.
When I pulled up at 8:40 a.m., there were four or five cars parked in the lot, however, the courts were completely barren. I looked over and saw that there were a least one or two people sitting in their warm cars. I figured that if they wanted to wait, I would just go ahead and get out and maybe practice some serves… and one might just join me.
When I got out, the blonde-haired woman in a nearby car also got out. It turned out that this was Jill who taken my Advanced Beginners class a few months ago. Jill and I warmed up by dinking. (Or “drinking” if you go my the original voice-to-text translation!) When my brother John arrived about five minutes later and we got him dinking too.
Bill
Jill shared that Bill was still in his car. She jogged across the courts to invite him over. Bill shuffled out onto the court with his walker. I hadn’t seen Bill in a while. Tall, probably late-60s, very trim white beard, very pleasant. He used to come out to Derby Park on Sundays. His walker is new to me. Obviously, Bill can’t get around very quickly, but if the ball is within reach, he can get it back over the net and sometimes with some serious pop. For the most part, I did my best to keep my shots within Bill‘s reach if I sent balls to his half of the court.
Mike & Paddles
Mike, who is retiring very soon, arrived not long after. A woman I didn’t know arrived too, so I offered to warm up Mike and let the other four lesser-skilled players play a game.
I was trying out my new AMPD paddle today. It seems a solid and effective paddle. Mike and I swapped so I could try his Joola paddle that he bought in August and he could try the AMPD. (They gave me a discount code to share, “COACHANDREW”.) Mike commented positively that the AMPD has pop. I’ll continue to rotate this new paddle in and see how it goes.
I played with Mike against a couple whom I didn’t know. Mike and I started out a little rough, going down a few points, but we dialed things in and went on a roll to close out the game with a decisive win.
Mike continues to get better and better. I would say at this point he’s a very solid 3.5 and rising.
Later on, Shaye and Mauricio arrived. I played one game for Shaye as my partner but then later on I got into stronger games playing against Mauricio and Mike.
Birthday Party
A group had apparently reserved two courts for a party, there was a big “Happy Birthday” sign that was hanging on the fence between those two courts when I’d arrived. The group itself arrived around 10 a.m.
One rally of note, in a game against Mauricio and Mike, a ball got popped up while we were all at the net and Mike, who was in front of me, slammed it down towards me. I did my best to reset, but it was still high enough for him to slam again. I reset again. Slam. I reset diagonally to Mauricio. Still just high enough to slam. But the next time, I reset the ball wider, out past Mauricio’s forehand to win the rally. I also suspect that he didn’t expect that ball to come back. They praised my play after that rally. Yep, solid 4.0+ play on that one.
John and I played a game together against a taller, thin fellow named Chris who sports a white mustache and another tall, thin fellow named Duke sporting long hair. 15-20 years ago, Duke was a somewhat regular customer I’d see at work when he came for picture frames for his photography. Later, when we gathered as a family for Thanksgiving dinner, John and told me that this was the only game that he won all morning.
I can say I definitely would’ve gotten stronger games at Brommer. I did enjoy my 3 1/2 hours of play today—especially going from one game right into the next game—but I was the strongest player there.
I left at 12:18 p.m. John had left a bit earlier, we’d be having our big family Thanksgiving dinner his house and he had to get things ready.
I found out later that my son Nicholas was disappointed that I’d left without him to go play. Dude. You need to be more definitive that you want to play when I ask you the night before at dinner! Next time.
Friday, November 29, 2024 (No Play)
Something unusual, my brother John and my son Nicholas went off to play pickleball in Scotts Valley this morning while I went to work! I never imagined this! Nicholas didn’t bring the paddle that I’d given him, so I gave him the AMPD paddle for him to play with along with the Gherkin paddle. John has a relatively-cheap paddle he bought somewhere.
Late in the afternoon, John texted me:
“I forgot to tell you, I can totally tell the difference now between a good and a bad paddle or at least my paddle and the ones I borrow from you and Nicholas.”
The Gherkin and AMPD paddles are both well-constructed carbon fiber paddles, nothing to complain about there.
Pickleball Flowchart
This was amusing. I suspect bangitpickleball swiped it from someone else, but I can at least credit where I found it…
Number of days on a court: 742
Number of total hours: 3,020
Number of paid coaching hours: 99.5
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