Month: June 2025 (Page 2 of 5)

Tuesday, June 24, 2025 (Court Day #819)

According to The Dink podcast, a man named of Dave Flemming was the one who instigated comparing Anna Leigh Waters to Serena Williams, as discussed in one of my recent posts.

Knee

 My right knee is not in the best shape right now. As I was walking around after work, some occasional motion would cause pain in my knee.

As I was on my way to Skypark, I texted Tony Sloss to let him know that I was on my way. Being that we are supposed to partner together for the mini tournament on Saturday, we figured we should play together some. I believe we’d played together maybe once in the last six months.

Skypark

It was sunny and 64° when I arrived at Skypark a few minutes before 7 p.m.

As I started my first game and we were in by a few points and sliding over to the next court, Tony passed through on his way back to the waiting area. As my game continued I could see the Tony was waiting for me to get off before signing up in a new game. Little did I know that he had been there since about 5 p.m.!

The waits were short tonight and the dry erase board didn’t make an appearance until after I arrived.

Tony and I played a couple of games against Kirby and Alfred. They are both solid players. Tony and I won both games but they were close. My play got better and better as the evening wore on.

Tony called it a night and headed out.

Last Game

The last game was John (Gabi’s friend) and me against Matt Babb and Marcus. This was the best possible combination for me because John is the weakest player—the stiffest competition that I can get is the best. While we did go on to win that game 14–12, they were shots that Marcus it looked like he took it pretty easy on John when he could’ve clobbered the ball. Nonetheless, the vast majority of the points we earned.

And?

That last game was night and day compared to my first game. In my last game, I was playing very good defense and making few errors. In my first game, which I went into a zero warm-up, was a fiasco. I played very poorly.

The takeaways for me tonight we trust my partner in the middle and let him use his forehand. I told Tony that I need him to communicate and let me know if he wants to take a shot in the middle.

Ouch

In one of my games tonight, Ahbi hit a speedup and the ball struck me in the right side of my neck. It’s stung a little bit, but it didn’t hurt too bad.

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Wednesday, June 25, 2025 (No Play)

Santa Cruz Pickleball Club president Mark Dettle shared some photos of the grand opening of six new permanent pickleball courts down at Callahan Park in Watsonville. These courts replaced two old tennis courts. Mark wasn’t thrilled with the light blue kitchen areas… I’m told a number of players said that the brighter color was causing glare in the sun.

Number of days on a court: 819
Number of total hours: 3,198
Number of paid coaching hours: 147.5

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

Sunday, June 22, 2025 (Court Day #818)

As I walked out the door at about 8:40 a.m., it was sunny and already in the mid-60s. It was going to be a nice day, though I was hoping it would not be too warm for my classes in the afternoon.

I forgot to wear my right knee brace for my last outing, but I remembered this morning. Last night, as I was laying in bed trying to get to sleep, there was a sensation in my right knee equivalent to a very mild bee sting, depending on which position I was in.

Mini Tournament

Last night, Tony Sloss texted me asking if I wanted to participate in the mini tournament at Derby Park on Saturday that is being coordinated by Frabrizio. Coincidentally, I’ve been musing who I could invite as a partner to that event. Tony is a good match. He has a good personality and we have a similar skill level. Staff scheduling at work looks solid and the event is supposed to be over by noon. It will be easy for me to get to work by 2 p.m. at the latest.

Brommer

I pulled into the Bromer parking lot at 8:55 a.m. and the parking lot was surprisingly sparse.

As I was sitting on the wall waiting for a game, Dean arrived. I asked if he wanted to warm up. He agreed, so we popped onto a permanent court and started drilling. A tall guy in his mid-30s came over. Cameron. I recognized him, though he said he’d been living in Carlsbad (near San Diego) the last 4-5 years. He said he’s back for a short time. Too bad, he’s a strong player. We continued warming up until Marco arrived. Marco became our fourth

Games

Dean and I teamed up against Marco and Cameron. This was a back and forth tight game that lasted a LONG time. We had a great game. Eventually, we lost 14-16.

We played another 1-2 games. These were more troublesome. My drops were inconsistent, sometimes too low. Dean was complaining about his own drops, but his were too high and getting attacked off the court. I believe we lost those rematches.

Dave Ryan appeared and we played a game against Marco and Cameron. Another very strong and close game. 

Dave suggested, as we switch sides for a rematch, that I be more patient on my fourth shots then to go ahead and try to get into a dink rally. Did I heed his advice? Not consciously. I need to pay more attention!

Unfortunately, we lost the rematch 4-11. Dave was not his sharp self and I was not playing my best either.

A couple of players asked to take on the winners so Dave and I bowed out.

My next last game was with a 3.0 level woman whose name I don’t know against Art and little Linda S. My partner started serving and I didn’t even touch the ball until the fourth rally. Our opponents were working hard to avoid hitting to me. I did make a few mistakes. Driving a ball into the net, attacking a ball down the middle that flew long, drop volley into the net. I was playing that game very lazily. Another close game but we lost that one. That was my next to last game.

Last Game

After I finished that game, Dave was still waiting on the wall.

Dave Ryan and I played against Kim and Marco. I was pretty beat and Dave, with a new one-week-old baby named Tommy (born 8 pounds), was running on a lack of sleep. We lost 5-11. I’ve played batter. Dave has played better. 

I checked the time and it was 12:02 p.m. and it was time to head home get ready to go teach. As I left, I gave Dave another round of congratulations on his new baby and I wished him good sleep.

And?

How do I feel about my play today? Not great. It was a mixed bag. It was a combination of really, really good shots and amazing defense but also lame shots by hitting returns too long or hitting serves into the net. I was hitting an unusual number of my dropshots into the white tape or into the net. The word of the day: inconsistent.

It was sunny and 70°F when I left.

I generally don’t sweat a lot, but today I certainly was.

This was the second Sunday in a row with a very light attendance at Brommer Park. I didn’t look, but perhaps there is another tournament going on.

Other Activity Risks, A Pro Speaks!

Pro player Anna Bright explains her self-inflicted challenges going into a tournament this past weekend:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLN9BHCBau-/

Number of days on a court: 818
Number of total hours: 3,196.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 147.5

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

Thursday, June 19, 2025 (Court Day #817)

I didn’t play my regular Tuesday night since I had a virtual charity meeting, so for night play this week, tonight was it.

This evening, my parents hosted a pizza dinner with my brother John and his kids, my sister Diane and her husband and their kids. I left work with my brother Matt at 4:50 p.m. and headed over for what was supposed to be at 5 p.m. dinner. As it was, dinner ended up being 6 p.m. (Kind of typical for my family, dinner is rarely on time!) I enjoyed seeing everyone. With my brother and his kids leaving town for a vacation early tomorrow morning, they didn’t want to stay late and left just before 7 p.m. I changed into my pickleball attire and left soon after.

Skypark

I arrived about 7:15 p.m. to a surprisingly empty court complex. The tennis courts were completely empty, although that’s not uncommon. (Though, lately, seeing at least some tennis players is more frequent.) But there only two doubles games going on when I arrived, with two other people already waiting. I figured something must have been going on, and that turned out to be Game 6 of the NBA finals. Me? I’d rather play pickleball, especially with no local teams participating in those finals!

Games

Paul Winn and I took on the winners of the previous game, which was a young fellow named Alec and also Gowa. I was expecting Paul and I to obliterate them even with either of us warming up. But Alec turned out to be the real deal and Gowa has improved since the last time I saw her play. It turned out to be a close game and Paul and I lost. I was itching for a rematch, but other people are waiting to take on the winners.

I did eventually get a rematch with Alec and Goa, but it wasn’t with Paul as my partner, unfortunately. Instead, I had Christie—who is Barry‘s wife—as my partner. I’d consider Christie a strong 3.0 level player. I would put Gowa as a low 3.5.
This turned out to be another unexpectedly close game, but they did win as I had anticipated going into that game. I would really like to play against Alec again, but this time with all at least 3.5 level players.

The last game was David and Ahbi against Alex (the bird researcher) and me. The lights clicked off mid-rally at which point Ahbi hit a ball wide of the court. I asked him if he wanted to replay and he said he did, that the lights clicking off were indeed distracting to him. We went on to play another 15 minutes or so until 8:44 p.m. when our game wrapped up. It was closely matched, but Alex and I pulled off a win.

Tonight, we never had more players waiting than needed for courts… in other words, as long as you could get enough players, you could get right onto a court.

Ben Johns Loss

This week, top pro Ben Johns lost in singles to 61st ranked Brazilian tennis player Rafa Lenhard who was playing in only his third pro pickleball tournament. As I’ve said in the past, tennis translates the best to pickleball in singles, not doubles. Doubles has so much nuance and strategy. It’s hit or miss—no pun intended—if a tennis player can cross over to the pro circuit of pickleball and still have success.

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Saturday, June 21, 2025 (No Play)

Who should have hit this ball?
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIOvpTyAqKI/

The ball passed through the middle with neither player making an attempt on the ball. What’s the answer? There are arguments both ways. But if I were the returner, I probably would have split-stepped and then moved after their contact with the ball. As player set at the net, I would have taken the shot unless my partner called me off. It’s better for both players to go for a ball than neither. Communication, especially for the middle, is key. When things like this happen, it can lead to not trusting your partner and taking their forehand shots with your weaker backhand.

An aside, this is the risk of a harder return… it can limit your ability to get to the kitchen since it reduces your time to move. Now, if you hit a rocket that is difficult for the serving team to handle and the ball gets popped up, that’s fine. But if you hit a moderately fast paced shot that can be driven back hard and low, then you can get yourself into trouble. My advice? Hit a deep, slow, high shot and give yourself plenty of time to get to the net. Or, as I said, if you have a weapon return, use that. And a mix of those—being unpredictable—can keep your opponents on their toes.

Number of days on a court: 817
Number of total hours: 3,193.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 144.5

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