It was almost tropical 72°F when I arrived at Skypark after work at about 6:50 p.m. There wasn’t a cloud to be seen in the sky, but it was breezy.
My right knee has been bothering me enough that I decided to slip on my brace before heading to the courts. Walking after sitting for a while at work resulted in temporary pain with an inclination to limp a little, but that would go away after moving around for a few minutes. Still, uncomfortable.
Games
I went right into a very strong first game with me teaming up with Marco against David and tall, Asian Aaron. (At some point, I need to ask Aaron his last name!) It was a closely-contested game. With the score 4-3, service went back-and-forth a number of times. Unfortunately, I then made a series of errors and it was something we could not recover from and we lost the game. Overall, I wasn’t playing poorly—subpar, sure, it was a first game after all, but not poorly—but certain errors you just can’t make playing with other good players. Nonetheless, I felt bad about my play, even if it was my first game. My first games are generally pretty rough as I gradually warm up.
I went through a series of games with a mishmash of skill levels. There were two games where I was playing with a partner against Gabi and a player stronger than her… one game was her friend John and myself against her and Asian Aaron. Even with me playing that game entirely left-handed, John and I won that one. There was a second game where I played it all left-handed and we won that one too.
Baby!
David shared some exciting news and that he and Minori are expecting their first child, a son. Their baby is due in September. Congratulations!
We wrapped up that last game at 8:30 p.m. sharp and the lights went out a few minutes later.
Number of days on a court: 805 Number of total hours: 3,157.5 Number of paid coaching hours: 135.5
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
As I drove to go play, leaving my house just before 8:30 a.m., I was simply thinking “This is going to be an absolute beautiful day.” While it hadn’t hit 60° yet, the sun was shining and there wasn’t a single cloud to be seen in the sky.
Brommer
I arrived at Brommer Park at 8:42 a.m. Five minutes after I got there and was waiting around, Kim arrived and when I asked if she wanted to warm up, she agreed.
Today was a really good day. I spent very little time sitting on the wall waiting to play and there were courts open the entire morning.
The young Andy (curly brown hair) was there again today and we teamed up against Dean and Dan Bliss. I asked Andy about his sports background and be said he grew up playing hockey in Fresno.
Those are some pretty fun games with Andy, Dean, and Dan. The first game was pretty close and honestly I can’t remember if we won or lost. In the second game, they started out ahead but then Andy and I pulled things together and dominated the rest of the game to win.
There was only one game today that I considered disposable and I played the majority of that game left-handed. I was paired with Art against Tony and a woman named Michelle whom I didn’t know. I played lefty until they were ahead 8-5 and then switched to my right hand. But Art was making too many errors to recover and win… it wasn’t his best game. That happens sometimes when you are playing against weaker players which makes the game less interesting.
The rest of the games were more challenging.
I left at 12:06 p.m., I had to get home to get ready to teach.
At Class
In my Advanced Beginner classes this afternoon, I was running a drill. I had one player at the net tossing a ball to a partner across the net in the transition zone, who would then attempt to volley the ball back over the net and into the non-volley zone. This proved to be a difficult drill for my students. One of my students wanted to test me and asked me to do the drill. Five balls were tossed to me and every single one I hit right back into the kitchen. Another student blurted out, “Of course, they are all perfect! Ok, enough of drilling for Andrew!” It’s nice when you live up to being legitimate in front of your students!
The Speed of a Pickleball vs. Balls from Other Sports
In a recent exhibition event held in China, pro pickleballers including Ben Johns, Tyson McGuffin, Anna Bright, and Chao Yi Wang had a friendly competition to see who could hit the fastest serve. On the women’s side, Chao Yi Wang clocked the fastest serve at 59.03 mph, and on the men’s side, Ben Johns registered the fastest serve at 68.35 mph.
To put it in perspective, here are the highest-ever recorded speeds of balls in other sports: Football throw: 62 mph Baseball pitch: 105 mph Hockey slap shot: 109 mph Tennis serve: 163 mph Golf drive: 240mph Badminton smash: 351mph
Number of days on a court: 804 Number of total hours: 3,156 Number of paid coaching hours: 135.5
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
My wife or daughter sent this to me. Dr. Sagar Desai, an orthopedic surgeon, shares why about a quarter of his patients are pickleball players: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIbcEMKAXqW
I was delayed at work by a customer who wanted to pick something up 15 minutes after closing time… but, of course, I took care of her. After that, I dropped off my brother Matt at my parents’ house and headed out to Scotts Valley to go play.
Skypark
It was beautiful clear skies and 66° when I arrived at the courts sometime around 7 p.m., give or take.
There was a very convenient parking spot next to the court when I arrived. As you would expect with easy parking, it meant a light crowd with only maximum of about half a dozen people waiting at a time. I got right into a game and rolled from game to game to game.
Games
My first game was a disaster. I was missing shots right and left. I let two or three shots go by me that landed literally on the sidelines—though I was thinking, “Sooner or later, when your opponent is painting the lines, one of those balls is going to land out.” And the next one did!
The second game was a little bit better, as was the third. By the fourth game, I was dialed in and playing well. After some quick net work on my part, Aaron Hicks kidded, “We need to start calling you ‘Handrew’!”
The last game was John and myself against Ben and tall, thin Mike C. Midway through the game after I made a couple of mistakes, John encouraged me, “I need you to carry us!“ I did tighten things back up, but it wasn’t enough. We ended up losing 8–11. We checked the time to see if we could fit in another game, but it was already 8:31 p.m. I knew the lights would be going off within two minutes.
I played on courts tonight with Aaron Hicks, tall and thin Mike C., a guy named Phil, Ben, John (whose friend is Gabi), Paul Winn. Aaron is a far cry from when he started. He made an outstanding shot tonight.
The great thing about pickleball is it doesn’t matter if you are old or young, an immigrant or a native, a man or a woman, have a thick accent or no accent, are tall or short, liberal or conservative, a believer or an atheist– it all doesn’t matter. It’s a community.
Knee
My right knee—the one I had surgery on—rarely bothers me while playing. But later in the evening, I noticed it. Hopefully, it returns to normal quickly.
Pro Domination—ouch!
A PPA tournament is going on this weekend in Atlanta. It popped up on social media that Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns beat Riley Newman and his sister Lindsey Newman in two games taking only 15 minutes and not allowing the siblings to score even a single point. That’s painful. Being that I had a group dinner—about a dozen people—with Riley and Lindsey about a year ago, I’m sympathetic. Here’s a video:
My niece, Gigi, had her First Communion today down in Corralitos. Afterward, we headed to Aldridge Lane County Park nearby for a picnic to celebrate. While there, I noticed a sign stapled to a post. It was from Rec.us looking for instructors to teach tennis at the single tennis court there. Rec is the company that I’m contracted with to teach pickleball at Skypark. Corralitos is part of the County of Santa Cruz (just very south), as is Willowbrook Park in Aptos.
Number of days on a court: 803 Number of total hours: 3,152.5 Number of paid coaching hours: 135.5
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
Recent Comments