Month: March 2025 (Page 2 of 5)

Sunday, March 23, 2025 (Court Day #783)

While it was only in the mid 50s, and hazy and cloudy, it didn’t feel overly chilly.

When I arrived at Brommer Park at 9:13 a.m., there weren’t enough players waiting to start a game.

After sitting on the wall for a few minutes, little Karen and an unfamiliar English woman (not Linda) asked if I wanted to warm up. There were open courts and players were hard to come by. I could have tried and wait for a stronger game but there was no guarantee that would happen. The three of us warmed up for a few minutes before the large Englishman joined us. (I forget his name, but we’ve played a few times.) Karen and I teamed up. Initially, we fell behind, but soon we were ahead enough that I went out of my way to hit to the fellow to make the game a bit harder.

For the next game, I teamed up with the English woman against Karen and Monica Lee. In situations like that, it becomes a question of how you approach the game as a stronger player. Do you take it easy on them? Or do you play your normal level and give them an opportunity to get challenged? Often, they don’t get to play against better players. In the end, I decided to not take it so easy. My team won and the other team got a challenge.

Emergency!

There was a third game where I teamed up again with Karen. We won, but I don’t recall much else about it. Mid-game, the nicer court next to us opened up we started sliding over as is standard practice at Brommer. “We’re not done yet!” Huh? Then we realized that everyone had stopped playing. The number of people were circled around a woman who is sitting on the wall. Someone said she had been playing for two hours straight. It was feeling warm in the sun, so maybe dehydration? There was concern that maybe she was having a stroke or a heart attack. Someone mentioned that JP was firefighter paramedic and he was helping. They had her lie down on the wall after drinking water to get rehydrated. We could hear the sirens and an ambulance arrived, then it took what felt like five minutes before they had collected their gear and made their way over to our courts from the parking lot. A fire truck arrived not too long after that. They checked her vitals and gave her medical attention. Someone said that she had already started feeling better after drinking water. Soon, she was sitting up and the first responders were satisfied that she could be left on her own. With that the jokes started…
“The firefighters are probably wondering ‘How can you possibly get hurt in this game?’!”

Strong Games

Once we finished that interrupted game, Chayton and Marquis were standing there. I asked if I could join them, but also said, “You can say no, if you want.” At that, Marquis was taken back and said, “Oh no, you can join us.” Avery came and became our fourth.

I hadn’t seen Avery for a while. He shared with Maquis and myself that he had torn two tendons in his ankle three months ago and he’s just getting back into playing.

Chayton and I won 12-10 against Avery and Marquis. We played the second game, but this time Chayton and I lost 10-12. Two very close games!

We had a rubber match but this time, we lost 6-11.

Things got mixed up for the next game since Chayton had to leave.

Marquis and I lost 8-11 versus Jax and Avery. I gave them four points right off the bat. Poor Marquis. I was getting tired.

I left at 12:09 p.m. to head home and get ready for teaching. Good games today.

And?

Except for the last couple of games, I felt that I was playing really well today. When strong players don’t ditch you after a game, that means they respect your play.

In our last game, Sean was watching from the wall and after a firefight between Jax and myself at the net with Avery and Marquis to my right (Marquis hit the ball into the net). Sean paid me a compliment, saying “Fast hands!”

In the second game with Chayton, I felt myself getting really winded. Part of me wonders if that was a remnant of having Covid a couple of times. Though neither have been worse than just a bad cold. Another part of me just waves it off as either allergies or just needing more exercise. Who knows?

A ball flew off of my partner Chayton’s paddle and hit me square in the mouth. Fortunately, it didn’t split open my lower lip or cause any blood, but it was uncomfortable for a while. He felt really bad, but I brushed it off and told him not to worry about it. Part of the game.

Teaching

Teaching went well, it was the last day of the four week classes. There was applause at the end of each class, that’s always nice.

Number of days on a court: 783
Number of total hours: 3,110
Number of paid coaching hours: 126.5

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.

Tuesday, March 18, 2025 (Court Day #782)

An ad popped up on Facebook for the new Joola Agassi pickleball paddle. One of the selling points was that this paddle is “NFC Chip Enabled”. Really? What’s crazy is Joola introduced this NFC thing nearly a year ago and I’m only now hearing about it!

The NFC chip allows you to register the paddle with your mobile phone. I suspect that this is done as an attempt to prevent—or at least raise awareness about—counterfeit paddles. This was the only video about counterfeit Joola paddles that I could find after searching Google, YouTube, and Instagram. Google served up this:
https://www.tiktok.com/@hdsport838838883/video/7482681457173875988

Work

With one of the two national art materials wholesale distributors/importers teetering on bankruptcy, there’s massive upheaval going on in my work universe. I spent more time on the phone at work in the last two days than I did the entirety of the week before. One phone call yesterday was even an hour and a half talking to another retailer. The international trade show will be in a few weeks in Seattle. If you’d guess that the primary discussion in the aisles there will be the failing distributor, you’d be right.

Tonight, after work, I was talking to the owners of a manufacturer for about half an hour. The phone call ended a few minutes after 7 p.m. I then made a very quick change into my pickleball attire. As I was driving to Scotts Valley I realized that my car was almost out of gas, so I made a stop and filled up. Yet more delays.

Skypark

By the time that I got to the Skypark courts, it was already 7:30 p.m., leaving me only about an hour before the lights would go off.

The signup board was out for use. But if it had been really busy earlier, it wasn’t any longer.

Games

There is one court open when I arrived, and I quickly got into a game with Manda as my partner against Mark Dettle and Christine. I had four or five shots with Mark at the net in a very brief warm-up, then the game started. I made some mistakes and Manda made one or two and we found ourselves down 0–4. However, that wouldn’t stand long. Manda and I dialed things in and took the win.

My next game was with the young fellow with a beard named Shane. With unknown players, their skill level is a mystery until you get them on the court. Most of the time they are nothing to write home about. But Shane, he’s a pretty good player. I put him at a 3.5. In any case, thinking that Shane was a relatively new player, I teamed up with him against Mark and Christine. That was probably the worst possible combination. Shane and I obliterated Mark and Christine. They may have scored three points in that game… maybe.

With Shane proving to be a worthy adversary, I teamed up with lefty Adam against Shane and Paul Winn. We lost that one. I don’t know where it’s coming from, but on some crosscourt dinks, I’ve been speeding up shots from far too low, with the ball ending up in the net. I guess the good news is I only hit the white tape of the net once tonight. Adam and I lost the first game 11–6.

We had a rematch and this time Adam and I won 12–10.

All Done

And that was a wrap.

I took down the two rolling net fundraising signs I had posted on Thursday last week. The GoFundMe effort was wildly successful, with us raising nearly $3,500 in 2-3 days for new heavy-duty rolling nets for Skypark.

With that, I headed home.

Number of days on a court: 782
Number of total hours: 3,107
Number of paid coaching hours: 123.5

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.

Sunday, March 16, 2025 (Court Day #781)

Ever since the time change a week ago, my sleep has been a little disrupted. This morning, I woke up at 5:30. It took me about 90 minutes to get back to sleep. Then I slept for another hour and a half.

It was overcast and 52°F. Rain was forecasted for tonight.

As I drove to the courts, I decided that I would have a focus in mind today. No speed ups, no lobs. That will require some discipline.

Brommer

I arrived at Brommer Park about 9:45 a.m.

Mark (who regularly sports a backwards cap) and I played against Kyle and Kirk. We won the first game in a solid fashion, then won a second game 11-2.

A man named Aaron and I lost 7-11 versus Marquis and René. We had been up 7-5, but then they went on a long unanswered run of 6 points.

Another Mark

A tall, slightly older guy—Mark—and I won 11-3 vs. Rick and Tony. (The Tony that looks like he could be a gym model.)

Mark and I stuck together against Rick and René and won 11-5.

We played a rematch and this time I was a bloodbath. We lost 2-11. My partner imploded in the game and give them five points in a row to kick off the match.

There was a rubber match and this time we lost 5-11. I wasn’t playing my best and my partner played a little bit better but far from great. He had at least three or four lobs that were short and resulted in slams and us losing the rally. I hit a couple of speedups into the net—more patience was needed! There is one crosscourt shot from Rene that I decided to hit down the sideline as an ATP near Rick, but it landed about 2 inches out. I also popped up a few balls. We had some great rallies in that game that resulted in some cheering from the audience of waiting players along the wall.

While I was far from perfect today, overall, I felt better about my play. It’s been a subpar for a week or so. I hope my normal play level sticks around!

Focus?

So, how did my goals go?

Well, I didn’t hit any lobs, but I did hit speedups. Most were effective. I will say there was one dink rally where I made a conscious decision not to do a speedup, but unfortunately, I hit that crosscourt dink into the net. That was a disappointment, but I’m happy about being aware enough to make a conscious decision.

My last game wrapped up at 11:57 a.m. I need to get home to teach.

Lunch

On my way home for lunch, I was sweating. The temperature climbed to 61°F. It was just about perfect pickleball weather, but it felt a bit warm. It went from overcast to hazy where the sun would fully pop out now and then. I have some minor soreness here and there, but no complaints!

Teaching

It did end up lightly drizzling briefly during my first class, and it was cold—I wore a sweatshirt for the first time ever teaching—and it was a bit breezy, but not pouring rain like during one of my classes a year ago! Ha! I’ll take it.

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Monday, March 17, 2025 (No Play)

So The Kitchen posted on Instagram suggesting that late Apple founder Steve Jobs was a 5.0 level pickleball player.

For many people, Jobs is a nearly mythical figure. But here in Santa Cruz, Apple headquarters is a mere 30 miles away. An elderly friend of mine, Jim, was a real estate agent for Steve Jobs and drove around with Jobs while he was hunting for a new home. Jim was at a party at Job’s home decades ago while Jobs was on his carrot juice kick. I’ve known numerous people who have worked—or are still working for—Apple. Three years ago, I played pickleball with an Apple Vice-President. Now, Steve Jobs died in 2011, well before pickleball exploded. That said, I played on a pickleball court located in the Bay Area that was built in the 1970s. Is it likely that Steve Jobs was a 5.0 player? No. Is it crazily far-fetched? Also no. All that said, I couldn’t find any evidence of Steve Jobs ever playing pickleball. The Kitchen was fooling around. But would it surprise me if Steve Jobs played pickleball at least once? Not at all.

Number of days on a court: 781
Number of total hours: 3,106
Number of paid coaching hours: 123.5

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.