Tuesday, January 7, 2025 (Court Day #756)
Today was a warm day for January—hovering in the mid 60s—and it was still 61°F by the time I got to Scotts Valley. My car was telling me that I only had 3 miles of gas left so a little choice for the stop and fill up. When I got out of my car at the gas station, it was very windy. I had fully expected tonight to be a challenge on the courts, but the windscreens did their job and it wasn’t bad at all.
Skypark
The lot was full, but I spotted a woman walking to her car so I put my car in reverse and left her room to vacate the spot. I felt myself fortunate in my timing.
Free Cap
As I was about to play in my first game, Anthony’s young female friend Anna was offering two Joola caps for free. She said that they were brand new. She had a light gray one and a light blue one. I snatched up the gray one. Thanks, Anna!
Games
My first game was with Alex against Anthony and Anna. Alex and I won 11-1 against them in the first game. I was playing well.
The next game was Rachel and myself against David and his girlfriend Minori. While I wasn’t perfect, I was more perfect than Rachael. It was a close game, but we lost.
A nice surprise, Caitlin, the recently graduated UCSC student, was there tonight and said “hi” over the center divider while we were both in separate games. She later said waiting for her graduate school applications to come back.
Where a series of games with the two Aarons—Aaron Hicks and tall lefty Aaron Bartley against Matt Babb and myself. We played two very close games of which Matt and I won both.
We switched our partners in this time Aaron H. played with Matt and I played with Aaron B. We won 11-5.
We played another game, and this time while Aaron B. and I took a big lead, Aaron H. and Matt went on a run and started closing the gap. That’s when the lights clicked off at 8:30 p.m.
And?
Tonight felt like redemption. The last three outings have felt subpar but tonight I felt like I was playing well. Sure, I made some mistakes, but overall I played quite well.
Warm
Amazingly, when I got home, it was 63°F. (Scotts Valley tends to be more extremes when it come to temperatures.) Sheesh. It’s January 7 at 8:45 p.m. and it still about 60°. Yes, it was a very nice day.
USAP
When I renewed my membership for USA Pickleball over the summer last year, they were redoing their website and things were a bit rough. I didn’t get the newly-implemented membership discount for USAP Ambassadors and ordering one of the offered swag packages proved to be difficult.
A few weeks ago, I reached out to the USAP and they refunded the missing discount amount and talked me through ordering swag.
A package was waiting for me on our dining room table when I got home from Skypark tonight. Cap, luggage tag, socks. I was mainly after the cap. As if I need more caps! And I probably won’t wear the socks. Maybe I’ll gift them to my brother.

Wednesday, January 8, 2025 (No Play)
A first, my brother John called me about 5 p.m. and asked if I wanted to play or drill. We’d been at my parents for a family party on Monday and I’d mentioned that we could get together and drill. I had a meeting tonight, so I couldn’t, but this was something new! My brother is getting serious about pickleball!
Number of days on a court: 756
Number of total hours: 3,056.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 102.5
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