Month: May 2025 (Page 1 of 4)

Monday, May 26, 2025 (Court Day #808)

The Santa Cruz Pickleball Club—mostly my doing—had arranged with Matthias, co-founder of Aireo Sports, to have another paddle fundraising day for the SCPC today. On Saturday afternoon at work, I loaded a table and a chair into my Toyota Highlander for him to use.

On My Way

Today, I was out of the house by 8 a.m. sharp and was on my way to work to take care of a few things—including updating the phone message for being closed on the holiday!—then continued on my way to Brommer Park.

This morning, in my haste and scrambling to get out the door, I realized that I had forgotten to put on my right knee brace. I did ice my knee yesterday when I got home from playing and my knee wasn’t giving me too much trouble, though it has been stiff and mildly painful when walking after sitting for a while.

Brommer

I let Mattias know after I’d set the table and chair for him and his Aireo paddles, and he got back to me saying he’d be arriving around 9:30 a.m. I figured that I might as well get into some games. The games were of little note though. I was either the best player in each game or perhaps I was one of two much stronger players. The waits were a bit long too. And the skill levels signups have gotten worse. We had 3.0 players signing up in the color designated for 4.0+.

During a game with her when I rolled a dink from the right side through the middle for a winner, Juls exclaimed, “You hit that from so far below the net! That’s how you tell the really good players!”

In one game with me on the left, I hit a backhand drop shot off a crosscourt slam with my back to the net, contacting the ball outside the court… the ball dropped nicely into the kitchen. I think any pro would have been proud of that shot. The difference is being able to repeated it over and over!

Done

I helped Matthias move his paddles back to his car and reloaded the table and chair into the back of my car. Matthias seemed pleased with paddle sales. Then I said my goodbyes and I left Brommer Park a few minutes before 1 p.m. I had to pick up some paintings from my uncle in Capitola for work.

Number of days on a court: 808
Number of total hours: 3,169
Number of paid coaching hours: 135.5

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

Sunday, May 25, 2025 (Court Day #807)

As I changed and got ready to play, I slipped on my right knee brace. This coming week, I’m not going to be able to play Tuesday or Thursday night so that will give my knee a rest. I’ll be definitely putting it through its paces today and tomorrow, however.

I walked out my front door this morning and it was already slightly uncomfortably warm. I was grateful for it being partly cloudy.

Brommer

My car read a comfortable 59° when I pulled into Brommer Park at 9:20 a.m. Judging by the parking lot, I was not the only one taking my time getting out to play.

Games

I played with a woman named Candi against long-timer Richard (beard) and tall Nick. She and I won 11-9.

There was a pleasant hispanic woman named Jackie and also a guy named Pavel, both whom I’d never met. I played with a new guy named Nick. We lost first and won the second.

New Nick and I played against Mo and Dina. We won twice—the second time by a wide margin. Mo is coming along. She’s approaching a 4.0 level.

Dean and I played against new Nick and a newer woman who said she’d only been for about a year. Yeah, we clobbered them. Not the most fun game.

Next, Dean and I played Asian couple Sylvia and Terry. We were ahead but they came back and won. Dean apologize after, saying he didn’t play well. Sylvia had a really nice backhand attack.

Mo and I played against Larry and lefty Greg. We won 11-3. The loss was not on Larry.

I played some games, rotating partners with Chayton, Collin (Mike’s son), and lefty Dave. Those were stronger games. Collin lost each game he was in. I could tell that he was disappointed.

I checked the time, 1:44 p.m. While I really enjoy teaching, I also enjoy getting to play as long as I want on Sundays, but time to get home and do something productive!

Proton Bankruptcy

I was listening to The Dink podcast, and Zane Navratil had on an attorney who gave an update regarding the involuntary bankruptcy of Proton. The involuntary bankruptcy was filed by a former (disgruntled) employee and a couple of his associates. The case was dismissed as a groundless by a judge and the court document sealed was at the request of proton. Supposedly there were likely some nasty claims, and while they proved to be unfounded, Proton did not want them circulating to the public.

Tennis Pro and Adult Star TV

A number of pickleball news sources shared that OnlyFans, known for adult content, will be streaming a new reality pickleball-themed series with Nick Kyrgios, the pro tennis player known for his outbursts on the courts. I say “themed” because some of the pickleball games will be played with things like inflatable bats and… well, it sounds stupid. Nothing like playing with inflatable bats to make pickleball more respected in the sport scene. (Yes, that’s sarcasm.)

Here’s an article about it:
https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/complexstaff3/onlyfans-smash-city-nick-kyrgios-rachel-starr

Number of days on a court: 807
Number of total hours: 3,165
Number of paid coaching hours: 135.5

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

Thursday, May 22, 2025 (Court Day #806)

I had a board meeting this afternoon for a local nonprofit. (I’m on an assortment of local nonprofit boards!) I told my staff that I would not be returning to work afterwards. Surprisingly, the meeting was fairly quick and shortly before 5:30 p.m. I was already on my way to Skypark. It was a warm one today and it was still 81°F as I drove.

It was actually cooler in Scotts Valley at 75°F. Usually, it’s hotter in Scotts Valley, but that was not the case today.

Skypark

I pulled into the Skypark parking lot at 5:38 p.m.

I started at least half of the evening playing games where the skills were lopsided and the rallies were short.

Local Connection

I played a few games against the guy name is Zach and friend James. It turns out Zach’s wife is my dentist. Since she might be taking one of my classes this summer, I suddenly felt I need to focus more and try and make a good impression. I did play better. [Later note, my wife said that his wife—who is in a book group with my wife—said that Zach said I was a good player, so good impression made!]

Abhi 

The lights clicked off at 8:33 p.m., however, there was enough natural light for the newish guy Abhi and myself to continue playing against David and John. We played a few more rallies on the permanent courts and then we slid over to the rolling net next to the gate with the light and finish out our game. We won, I think it was 11–8 or it might’ve been 11–6. Regardless, it was a fun game with some long rallies.

Rallie

Eric from Rallie got back to me this morning and sent me a file of his ball machine manual, however, it was a PDF version which I already had. I asked him if he could track down the master document for me or if you just wanted me to do edits as best I could on the PDF and send it back to him for editing. 

USAP Quiet Products

There is a page on the USA Pickleball website, dedicated to quiet tech technologies, including balls, paddles, and accessories, including surfaces that you can apply to a paddle to reduce the sound:
https://equipment.usapickleball.org/acoustic-equipment/

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Friday, May 23, 2025 (No Play)

Zane Navratil shared some information on the Lifetime ball that the PPA has been using. The Vulcan ball is the official ball of the PPA but Lifetime told the PPA that unless the PPA uses the Lifetime ball at their Lifetime facilities, they can’t use their facilities. Given that some high profile PPA events are held at Lifetime venues, the PPA agreed. Zane talks about the qualities of this Lifetime ball in his reel:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJ4ocyKgCsa/

Apparently these things are called the “LT” ball. A unique thing about them is when they manufacture these balls, they chamfer the hole edges so they are less likely to crack… assuming their logic is correct. It does seem—well—logical, but maybe there’s more to it. Physics is an interesting animal.

Number of days on a court: 806
Number of total hours: 3,160.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 135.5

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