Today was a pretty nice day, though it seemed that it got dark pretty early even with clear skies. We closed our family business early, at 4:30 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. to allow staff to go enjoy any festivities. We weren’t expecting many customers.
It’s been nine days since I last played pickleball. It feels like longer than that, more like two weeks, but given that I usually play every 2 to 3 days, nine days is three times longer than normal.
My son Nicholas came over from Santa Clara to hang out with his best friend for New Year’s Eve so he’d be staying the night at my house. I invited him and also my brother John to play tonight.
Skypark
When I got to Skypark at 5:30 p.m., it was fairly dark with a glimmer of fading light in the sky. It was a chilly 52°F.
The scope of play at 5:31 p.m.
The courts were surprisingly empty. There is two games going on and just two players on another court—plus a stray player. Just 11 people.
When one game broke up, Manda came over to see if we wanted to play. Of course, we did!
John and I played together against Manda and Nicholas. I was taking it a little bit easier in these games. After a few games, we rotated partners and Manda played with John and I played with Nicholas. As the most experienced players, Manda and I were always on opposing sides. There was one game where Nicholas and I lost by a significant margin. I was making sloppy mistakes.
Manda had to go and Nicholas and John decided to leave at the same time. Nicholas needed to meet his friends… it is New Year’s Eve, after all!
Next
At that point, the only players left aside from me, were Matt Babb and his son Lucas plus Paul Winn and Gabe. Paul and Gabe were playing against Lucas and Matt. When the game ended, Matt stepped out and let me join in the game. (Thanks, Paul!) We went from game to game with one player rotating out after each.
For a pre-teen, Lucas plays pretty well. He’s easily a 3.0 already.
Gabe and Paul playing against Lucas and Matt at 7:33 p.m.
I didn’t feel like I was playing my best tonight. Between being a week and a half since playing, and the fact that it was night and cold, it didn’t make for a good combination.
At about 8:20 p.m., it was time for Matt and Lucas to go. The temperature had dropped to the high 40s.
I went home feeling like I had played badly tonight.
I’m off from work for the holiday tomorrow and I’ll be heading to Brommer Park in the morning. Hopefully, I’ll be playing much better. I hope! We’ll see what 2025 brings!
Number of days on a court: 752 Number of total hours: 3,047 Number of paid coaching hours: 99.5
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I woke up at 4:40 a.m. and couldn’t get to sleep back to sleep for about an hour and a half. Consequently, I didn’t wake up again until after 9 a.m. Since it rained last night, around 9:30 a.m., I messaged the WhatsApp group and asked if anyone was playing at Brommer. Jason Brown got back to me and said there were people out there, but to bring a towel, just in case. My wife picked out a towel from the garage for me to take. It looked pretty nice to me, but she picked it!
I’m still little congested, but since it’s been a full week since I first had cold/flu symptoms and I’m feeling normal, I figured it was extremely unlikely that I would be contagious.
As I drove to Brommer Park, I had a couple of instances of heavy mist on my windshield. I was hoping the courts would be dry enough to play on. Please, please, please!
Brommer Park
Under completely overcast skies, I pulled into the Brommer parking lot at 10:18 a.m. Cars were as sparse as I’ve ever seen them, but there were still some cars.
Arrival. Wet courts. Marco and Nick (orange) on the near side, Jordan and Ed on the far side.
Games
Jordan and I played Marco and Nick. I’d seen Nick before, but don’t really know him and I had to ask his name. He’s is tall and thin and sports a mustache. Jordan and I won 12-10. Nick said he started this summer with no racquet sport background. I was surprised and impressed. He’s easily a strong 3.5, possibly even a low 4.0.
There was a new guy, John. John is very stocky and was wearing a black tank top. I later overheard what sounded like he was “here for a week,” so he’s probably just visiting. That would explain why I’d never seen him before.
Visitor John and I lost to Marco and whomever his partner was 9-11.
I noticed that John was sporting a large Star of David tattoo on his upper arm. I wished him a happy Hanukkah. (Both Christmas and Hanukkah start on December 25 this year… for the uninitiated, the famous “12 days of Christmas” start on Christmas plus there is also the “Octave of Christmas” which also starts on December 25 every year and ends on January 1, )
Visitor John. Kyle in the background.
John and I lost our next game together, 8-11. I was hitting far too many out balls. This continues to be an Achilles Heel for me.
It was very muggy today. Fortunately, it’s not common!
We mixed things up and Nick and I took on Marco and visitor John. We lost 11-1. What a bad game. It was embarrassing and frustrating. Sometimes things just go off the rails. This was one of times. I didn’t feel like I was playing particularly badly, but things were just not going right.
For the next game, Marco and I paired up against visitor John and regular 3.0 John. We won 11-0.
Marco and I went onto win another game 11-4 versus Jason Brown and visitor John. (Regular John stepped out as he realized he was mostly responsible for the previous game loss.)
Nick and JP between rallies at 11:38 a.m.
Mo arrived and she played with Jason against JP and me. Mo said her shoulder is bothering her a little bit. JP and I took a big lead but then they came back to make it a very close game. JP and I did go on to win 11–9.
By now, it was about 10 minutes to 1 p.m.
Chayton & Kevin
Visitor John and I played against Kevin and Chayton. We lost twice, including 11-6 second game, but that was an improvement over the first game. In the first game, after I looked back to see my partner still back in the transition zone, I suggested to John that he would have better angles if he came up to the kitchen. He responded, “It’s easier to move forward than backward.” Sure, though it’s not a strategy I agree with. You want up, not back where your feet can get attacked. There are times when moving back a step from the kitchen can make sense, but not staying in no man’s land. I believe that John’s game will be so much more improved when he start coming up to the net sooner. It was 1:21 p.m. and Chayton and Kevin had to go.
Last Game
I teamed up with “Beefcake” Mike against JP and Tim Feikert. It was close, but we pulled off a win. 12-10.
At 1:50 p.m., I decided to call it a day. It was holding steady in the low 60s when I left. It was still overcast… and muggy.
AWOL Towel
Somewhere, during the course of the session, the large bath towel that I brought disappeared. I don’t know if someone intentionally stole it or if it ended up getting used to dry the court and someone assumed it was theirs by mistaking the wet color.
And?
I had to clear my throat about a dozen times, especially earlier on in the session, but that was it. That and blowing my nose just one time. I did fine.
I felt that my play was a mixed bag today. It was a combination of some really good shots, but there were also a handful of times when I was out of position on the court, hit a speedup into the net, or hit balls that would have otherwise flown out of the court.
Johns Brothers
The big news of the last 24 hours has been the purported plan of top pro player Ben Johns to drop his brother Collin as his doubles partner. The last four years, they have been a force in tournaments cleaning up with win after win… well, until this year. It has been discussed by pundits that Ben would do better with a different partner. It seems that he’s listening and has decided to move on. It must have been a very hard decision for Ben.
Closing Pickleball Facilities
Florida is losing two indoor pickleball facilities. One has to wonder about people jumping onto the explosion of pickleball and seeing gold where there may only be aluminum.
”The Pickleball Club also informed customers via email that it is liquidating assets at this location in Port St. Lucie and another in Lakewood Ranch, near Sarasota.”
Also, the so called “Dreamland” facility in Dripping Springs, Texas—with it’s 16 covered courts—is also closing. Founded by MLP founder Steve Kuhn, it’ll be shuttering its doors the end of this year. This one is a bit more mysterious. Supposedly, it has been financially successful, but maybe that’s just the public story. I don’t know.
I was back to work today after being out sick almost all of last week. During the workday, someone told me that part of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf had fallen into the ocean. What?!? This turned out to be true. The last 150 feet, which was undergoing a multimillion dollar repair, couldn’t withstand the heavy wave action and broke off, falling into the water with much of it intact, including one building. Three inspectors were surveying the structure at the time. All three are safe—one got to shore on his own and the other two were rescued off of floating debris which was undulating in the heavy surf.
Two weeks ago, a tsumani warning, last week, a actual tornado, this week, massive waves!
The local wharf—it’s actually a pier, though it’s referred to as a “wharf”—is over 100 years old and has been getting continual maintenance to keep it in good shape. In the evening, my daughter‘s boyfriend Aidan told me that there are 3700 pilings supporting the wharf. Unfortunately, after today, they’re probably a few hundred fewer pilings that are instead now floating around near the coast wreaking havoc on swimmers, sailors, and boaters.
Here are a couple of photos of the wharf in its original condition followed by its storm-damaged condition.
You can see in the second photo above, there is a big chunk missing, including the end building. They were already tearing down the second building nearer the shore, the former Dolphin Restaurant.
And here’s the missing end building floating on the water…
Well, the public restroom building will have cleaner floors at least!You can see a JetSki rescuing one of the inspectors.
Around 5 p.m. an alert was blasted out to everyone’s mobile phone:
Later screenshot at 8:14 p.m.
Some very funny person make used the building washing up into a bluff as a commentary on the high cost of local housing. This was posted on Craigslist. It was removed within hours, but I snapped a screenshot!
Here’s another view of the building swept up to the coast.
(Photo shared on social media by B. Brenkwitz.)
Free Balls
On December 12, I joined the Recreational Pickleball Players Association (RPPA). They offered a free membership to USAP Ambassadors. I’m trying to figure out what their goal is. So far, I’ve been receiving promotional emails offering discounts on travel. I’m wondering how useful the RPPA really is… up to now, it’s been simply advertising emails.
One of the perks of joining is you qualify for a free 6-pack of DIADEM pickleballs. Those balls arrived today. I’ll likely use them with my students. A number of local players are surprisingly picky about what balls they use in rec play. But, hey, if they are going into a tournament, I understand demanding the ball they will be using in that tournament.
I was served an online ad for a new ball. Komodo. It’s biodegradable. They claim the ball is more durable than others on the market, lasting up to 70 games. But I think you can get 70 games out of a Franklin X ball… still, that’s kind of beside the point. These supposedly don’t end up in a landfill or contaminate a batch of higher quality plastics during recycling. If it does actually decompose while providing expected performance, that’s a great thing.
My wife, son, daughter, and mother-in-law headed up to my sister-in-law Liz and her family in San Carlos for the afternoon. I noticed that they have a pickleball ornament on their Christmas tree! Hey! I don’t even have a pickleball ornament!
My wife had asked if I wanted anything pickleball related for Christmas that she could pass along to Liz. I’ve had my eye on The Pickleball Mindset book by Dayne Gingrich and Jill Martin. Liz said it was on backorder but I should get it in the coming weeks. That’ll be fun. The book is compared to The Inner Game of Tennis, which I read over 30 years ago.
Thursday, December 26, 2024 (No Play)
We’re always closed the day after Christmas, as well as Christmas Day itself. My grand plan was to play pickleball in the morning today. Except one small problem. It was raining. And it rained lightly on and off most of day, before the rain returned in full earnest in the evening. Rats.
Friday, December 27, 2024 (No Play)
Steve Stone, of the USAP, sent out a message to us USAP ambassadors early this morning that a number of paddles are going to be delisted come July 1, 2025. These paddles failed the new PBCoR (Paddle/Ball Coefficient of Restitution) test, which checks for a “trampoline effect”.
The following paddles have exceeded testing standards and will be sunset on July 1, 2025 for sanctioned tournament play only: Joola Perseus 14mm Mod TA-15 Joola Perseus 16mm Mod TA-15 Gearbox Pro Power Elongated ProKennex Black Ace Ovation ProKennex Black Ace Pro ProKennex Black Ace LG ProKennex Black Ace XF
I have the Gearbox Pro Power Elongated, so playing with it in a tournament will be forbidden come summer.
Weather
Yeah. No. Not looking good for play on Sunday. Rats. Again. This weekend will be my last Sunday before returning to teaching pickleball classes in the afternoons.
Wharf
The local mayor is saying that our city may not rebuild the missing part of the wharf. That would be a shame, but I can see the logic. It’s expensive and is there enough benefit for a longer pier? Time will tell. I’m sure the community is going to be more on the side of rebuilding the missing part.
Yesterday afternoon, one of my staff came to my office and shared that one of our customers had just come from Scotts Valley and said that a tornado had touched down and flipped several cars. I was astonished. This is almost like saying that aliens had just landed in downtown. In California, our natural disasters are earthquakes. You expect hurricanes in Florida. And you expect tornadoes in states like Oklahoma. Having a tornado here is unheard of. Well, I’ve heard rare stories of waterspouts, which are basically tornadoes over water, but those are almost akin to legendary sea monsters. But it’s easy to accept an odd account when you get texted photos of overturned cars and I hear from witnesses that you personally know.
This is a CalFire truck that was knocked over.
Seven vehicles were flipped and trees and power lines were knocked down. My brother John had just passed through that area five minutes earlier. A number of people were sent to the hospital, though there were no fatalities, thankfully.
Here’s a regional news report from an Oakland station, up in the Bay Area:
Here’s a news report from as far away as Chicago:
This all took place just half a mile from the Skypark courts where I play once or twice a week!
Chilly at Brommer
Before I left my house today, I asked my wife how cold it was outside. She replied, “It’s freezing.” So I grabbed a sweatshirt. It’s a good thing too, because when I arrived at Brommer Park at 8:37 a.m., it was 43°F. For the uninitiated, that’s only 11° above freezing! Brrrr.
A bit of a surprise—or maybe not with the temperature and it was still early—the parking lot was half empty when I arrived.
First Game
Since I was the only one waiting , I had to wait for a game to end for me to touch a ball. I joined Dean against Leslie and a guy named Brian whom I’d never seen before. It was a somewhat sloppy game all-around. Dean was making uncharacteristic errors and I was still getting warmed up. (Dean has been battling some injuries.) In a nice decision, Leslie caught me moving back in from the left sideline and she hit a passing shot that I could only barely get my paddle on before I sent the ball careening into the next court! I congratulated her on that one. Dean and I did go on to win 12-10.
My next game was paired with Oscar against Danny and Jason Brown. It was a challenging back and forth game. We won 12-10.
By now, it was 9:46 a.m. and I was waiting for the next game.
Evan replaced Oscar and we took on Danny and Jason. We found ourselves down 1-8. Ouch. But we were undeterred. We scored 4 points in a row off my serve with their returns either in the net or returned long. (I had decided to dial up the speed of my serves.) Evan and I came back to win 12-10. That was an 11-2 run. Redemption!
Jason and Me
Jason and I paired up against Oscar and Diana. I’d seen Diana around, but I’d never played a game with her. Jason and I went up 9-0 when he suggested we go out of our way to hit more to Oscar. And we did. We closed out the game with a score of 11-6.
Jason and I then took on Rick Arnold and Kirk. I was expecting to win this one by a solid margin, but Kirk went saying, “I can’t do anything right” to playing the absolute best game that I’ve ever seen him play. Jason was having an off-game to boot, he usually much more consistent. The game was ended on Kirk driving a shot from midcourt that passed very low over the net and dropped, passing between my legs at ankle height. It would have been hard for him to hit a more perfect shot. Jason and lost that one 15-13.
Tennis Disappointment
Midmorning, a small group of young tennis players arrived. I felt bad for them. The one dual-lined tennis court had four separate pickleball games happening on it. Yes, they could have but dibs on the tennis court and taken over once the four games were all complete, but that would have been very unpopular. They milled around for a little bit—they appeared to be waiting for one more person who came a little later—then apparently decided to try an alternative plan after their friend appeared.
Marco, René, Rick
Marco arrived. He and I played against René and Rick. We had a very good, long game. At one point, I made 3-4 errors in a row, ending the rally each time. I distinctly remember standing at the net on the left with Marco back to receive and me shaking my head in disgust after I made that series of bad shots.
Why a few bad shots in a row? I accidentally carried a ball on my paddle on a slam while at the net and it would have been a winner, but as Rick correctly pointed out, under current USAP rules, it’s a fault. I gave them the rally. That’s the rule. I’m generally fine with the official rules, but I hate this rule. Most often, a carry is not intentional and unavoidable. Sure, there are those who can intentionally “scoop” the ball and direct it in an unconventional fashion. But that’s rare. And I do get that the point of the rule is to make it easier for referees, who typically can’t judge intentional or unintentional. My brain immediately went to the recent “4.0 to Pro” podcast where they discussed staying mentally focused after an upsetting call. I was annoyed. Not with Rick, but with the stupid rule. It distracted me, but I settled back into the game after a few rallies.
In the end, we lost a close one, 13-11.
Between games, René mentioned in passing her improved tan… she just returned from a couple of weeks in the Caribbean. I’m jealous!
We had a rematch. This time, Marco and I solidly won 11-4.
While waiting between games, I sat next to Mo on the wall and I shared that she and I have a common Facebook friend, the wife of Art “Scooter” Soto. Art and I went to elementary and junior high school together. She said that Art and his wife were her neighbors at one point. Fun. Small world.
Marco and I played against René and Rick for a third game. In that last game, we were up 5-1. The problem was, I made a series of mistakes and soon it was 5–5. From there, Marco and I went on the 6–1 run and finish off the game and win 11-6.
Over the three games, we scored a total of 33 to their 23 points.
Time to Go
I checked my phone after that last game. 12:39 p.m. Time for me to get going and meet up with some friends. I said my goodbyes and as I was leaving, René said, “You played well today.” I kind of shrugged it off and said, “I don’t know, I hit that series of bad shots. “ But then Marco, who is sitting next to René, chimed in with, “But everyone makes mistakes.” An bird’s eye perspective is often a good thing. It’s far too easy to dwell on the faults.
Overall, I was happy with my play today. Not over the moon happy, but “a little bit above satisfied” happy.
Even though it was only 57°, I was still sweating when I left the court. It was very comfortable and just about perfect pickleball weather once it warmed up some.
I realized later that a bunch of the games today ended up at the net in dink battles today. Fun stuff.
Visit to Friends, New Courts?
Later on in the afternoon, my wife and I stopped by and visited one of her former 1st grade students and his dad. The dad, Pete, works for the University as Director of Laboratories & Facilities for the Baskin School of Engineering.
Pete knows I play and mentioned the possible pickleball courts at the UCSC Westside Research Park off Natural Bridges Drive—though often referred to by the cross street of Delaware Avenue—where there are currently rundown tennis courts.
Pete said that the court conversion has been approved by the Executive Vice Chancellor. I looked online later and the EVC is the #2 administrator for UCSC, second only to the Chancellor. The proposed location has a ton of parking and no nearby residents to complain about noise. No bathrooms either, but—like Derby Park—a Port-A-Potty will undoubtedly suffice.
One never knows when and how a project can get derailed, but this purported university approval is a big step forward.
The existing tennis courts are located at the upper left.
So, I’m a big advocate for eye protection. Ever since I got smacked in the eye off a ricochet years ago, I always wear something over eyes while playing.
Three days ago, pro player Genie Buchard was drilling when a ball flew off her partner’s paddle and hit her in the face, scratching her cornea.
Monday afternoon, I had a scratchy throat. By Tuesday morning, I had a full blown sore throat. This morphed into aching teeth, a fever, chest congestion, stinging sinuses, the works. Sick. No evening pickleball for me this week! A few days later, I’m now on the upswing, though I’m still congested and coughing some.
Saturday, December 21, 2024 (No Play)
Still congested today, but doing better. I almost went to work, but one of my staff talked me out of it. I would have probably been fine—aside from scaring the staff and customers with blowing my nose and coughing—but an extra day to recover never hurts.
Number of days on a court: 750 Number of total hours: 3,040.5 Number of paid coaching hours: 99.5
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