Sunday, November 3, 2024 (Court Day #735)
Today was the time change giving us an extra hour in the morning. I sent out an email to my new students earlier in the week promising more details about our first class, but I realized this morning that I had neglected to do that, so I sent out that message this morning. Better late-ish than never!
On my way to Brommer, I got a notice that an additional student signed up for my Advanced Beginner class. I had arranged for my son Nicholas to come to the class to balance pairs. My brother John was also interested. Now, with my brother John and my son Nicholas, I have a full class of two complete courts. My Beginner class has been full for over a week. At least having balance pairs in the class is far better than having an odd man that I have to pair up with personally. It’s much better for me to be able to roam around and observe students.
I stopped by work on my way to Brommer to pick up my water bottle that I left yesterday. Sigh.
Brommer Park
I pulled into a Brommer parking spot at 8:29 a.m. There were exactly four full courts going at Brommer. I was alone waiting on the wall when Sean Lynch showed up. I asked if he wanted to warm up, he agreed and we grabbed an empty court.
Marquis joined me and we played three games against Sean and his brother Brenden who I’d never seen played before. Sean said that he and his other brother Danny are teaching Brenden how to play. Brenden played pretty well. I would say he’s already at 3.5 level level.
Marquis and I won the first, barely lost the second, and didn’t play so hot in the third. Good and challenging games. More players showed up and our group disbursed into other games.
More Games
I got into a game with Patty.
William arrived and he and I were going to play against Patty and Monica (Kiko’s mom). Patty didn’t want that, and she suggested her and William. I was fine with that—it’d give me the most challenging game combination. William is better than me and Patty is better than Monica. Two strongest and the two weakest would face off. Monica and I started off with a few point lead but it went downhill from there and we lost as expected.
Today was a good day with mostly strong games. They included an assortment of good players, like Evan, Tony, William, René, Patty, and others.
And?
Judging from today, the biggest things I need to work on, are getting my drops from a ball that is deep and very low. I still have the mysterious thing where I hit drop shots into the net or even short of the net on occasion. It’s odd. What I also need to work on, and this can be kind of difficult without drilling it, is handling speedups at the net, such as shake and bake attacks. The ball comes hard and fast and I pop it up and then it gets attacked and slammed for winner. That happened number of times, especially against Sean and Brenden.
Monday, November 5 (No Play).
Pickleball unhappiness in the news in Pennsylvania. It’s a story that includes noise concerns plus locals are complaining that you have to be a $100/year member to play—aside from three courts designated for non-members. One claim was that local non-members came to play but were turned away from an empty court because they were not members.
Time Machine?
This article is from last year, and maybe I shared it before, but here it is…
12 Months After Openly Bashing Pickleball, Tennis Legend Martina Navratilova Backtracks to Embrace a ‘Merrier’ Take on the Fastest Growing Racquet Sport in America
https://www.essentiallysports.com/wta-tennis-news-twelve-months-after-openly-bashing-pickleball-tennis-legend-martina-navratilova-backtracks-to-embrace-a-merrier-take-on-the-fastest-growing-racquet-sport-in-america/#
Pickleball World Cup
Last week, the second-ever Pickleball World Cup was held in Lima, Peru with participation from 500 players from 40 countries. Puerto Rico won the Pickleball World Cup. Peru, the host, took silver.
I don’t know for sure, but while the USA participated, I strongly suspect that Ben Johns, Anna Leigh Waters, and other top Americans were not there. The USA finished 4th.
It says “China Taipei” took bronze, but it’s a bit confusing to me since Taipei is in Taiwan, not China. Though China claims that Taiwan is part of China and not an independent country.
USAP Paddle Testing
USA Pickleball shared on social media some milestones with regard to their paddle testing…
2015
• USAP’s equipment testing began with Element Space & Defense, formerly NTS, an independent accredited third-party world-class laboratory spearheading testing efforts.
2018
• USAP’s equipment certification grew to include a test for coefficient of friction (COF) which measures a paddle’s friction characteristic, a significant contributor to spin, following the growth of the sport and in response to new coatings placed on paddles.
2019
• A ball compression test was developed followed by a cantilever beam screening function, which evaluates paddle rigidity when open throat paddles were introduced in market.
2023
• USAP undertook research to implement 3D optical scanning, to better define the terrain of the paddle face.
This technology pushed the boundaries of field-testing innovation with the flood of gritty molded resin paddles known as “raw carbon” which entered the market in 2022.
• An ultrasonic test was implemented to detect delamination problems in paddles, during field testing-Delamination is a condition where the layers of a paddle’s material, such as the core and the surface, start to separate. This can weaken the paddle and affect its performance. Ultrasonic testing is a method that uses high-frequency sound waves to inspect materials.
Number of days on a court: 735
Number of total hours: 3,003.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 90.5
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