Friday, February 28, 2025 (Court Day #774)
Today was the big annual meeting of the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club. It was an important meeting, we’d be electing new officers. After doing more last-minute prep for the meeting, I arrived at Derby Park at about 10:30. a.m. I was expecting to find no parking given the time of the morning, however, there was one open spot right at the end when I drove in. My long shot paid off. It’s always a better day when you don’t have to trek in!
Derby Park
It was a organized club play day, so things were pretty busy. There were some good players there, however, I was out of sequence with them. There is also some skill creep going on with weaker player signing up as 4.0 or higher players, a common problem with club play.
Games
Lefty Aaron B. and I played against young Jordan and a guy named Marc. We destroyed them. But, hey, they signed up in 4.0+!
We ended up in a rematch and this time I decided to play with Marc, figuring Aaron and Jordan would be strongest opponent combination. I did still pull off a win with Marc.
After playing the three or four games I was able to get in, I checked the time and was a few minutes after 12 p.m. Our important annual club meeting will be starting at 12:15 p.m. and there is no way I would be able to get in another game… or would I?
Charles, Rick Arnold and Dean were already signed up in a box and Rick asked lefty Aaron, if he would want to join them. Of course, Aaron said yes, but I asked Aaron if he would mind if I jumped in with them because I didn’t have time to play any more games if I had to wait since I had the board meeting starting.
Charles and I were leading, but then I made a few mistakes at the end and we lost 7–11. Even over the age of 70, Dean Kingston is still formidable.
SCPC Annual Meeting
The meeting had to wait for Jackie to get off the court before we could start our meeting because we need a quorum. I understand the siren’s call of “one more game”, but it did keep about 20 people waiting!
We got our meeting called order at about 12:25 p.m.
The big thing was getting our new board officers elected, which we did. I’m now officially the VP of the club. The meeting ran only about an hour.
A Few More Games
As we walked away from the picnic area, Mark asked if I was going to stay and play a few games. Being that it was only shortly after 1:30 p.m. and I told my staff I wouldn’t be to work until about 4 p.m., I figured I could squeeze in some games. (Heck, I work 6 days a week, I need at least some “goof off” time!)
In a game with all board officers, Jackie and I played against Mark and Jessie and beat them 11–0. Nonetheless, it was a fun game.
We rotated partners and I played with Mark and then with Jessie. I was on the winning team every time. Jackie and I were unquestionably the strongest two players.
I played a game with Mark against Conner and his friend Kevin. Conner has known Kevin since high school. Kevin is a tall, blond guy. Conner and I have a very similar skill level and Kevin outplayed Mark. We lost that one.
The next game was Conner and myself played against Brian Hackett (who replaced me as the Site Coordinator at Derby on Sundays, and a large tanned dude named Rob who has shoulder-length curly brown-blond hair. That was a fun game, they played pretty well. If I recall correctly, the final score was 11–6 in our favor.
It was 3:01 p.m. and that was the last game of my day. Home, then a very abbreviated workday.
Saturday, March 1, 2025 (No Play)
I bit the bullet. I ordered a Rallie ball machine. It’s a new brand on the market, so there are some unknowns, but it looks solid and they were offering $300 off which ended today. As a good husband, I did run it by my wife and she was ok with the purchase given that I make extra money coaching. I tend to be pretty frugal, so we can afford it.
Sunday, March 2, 2025 (No Play)
This morning, it was pouring rain. I also woke up with a mild sore throat. I cancelled my two afternoon classes and rested in bed then I fell back asleep around 11:30 a.m.
Warriors Halftime Demo
I’ve been working on prepping a promotional video that will be shown at halftime at the local semi-pro basketball game on Friday. Our local G League team is a direct feeder to the Golden State Warriors.
I was researching some club history and I found this old local article from May 21, 2015 about pickleball in Scotts Valley… about 20 months before I started playing myself:
https://pressbanner.com/pickleball-craze-sweeps-scotts-valley/
It says that the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club started “about four years ago”. That would mean 2011. Interesting. That’s as solid as a date that I’ve been able to find.
Number of days on a court: 774
Number of total hours: 3,094
Number of paid coaching hours: 114.5
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