Thursday, July 10, 2025 (Court Day #828)
I left work at 6:40 p.m. It was a rather warm 70°F and very sunny as I made my way to Scotts Valley.
I was thinking, as much as I would love to win every game, I would much prefer to play well to the best of my abilities and lose than to win and be unsatisfied with my play.
The first game was Paul and myself to get against a couple of guys whom I don’t know. It was a quick and lopsided win for us.
Next, Colin and I played against his dad, Mike, and Paul. Colin was outplaying Mike, Paul was outplaying Colin, and I was outplaying Paul. And yes, Colin and I won. The rallies were short, so while they wanted a rematch, I was more interested in a new set of players.
Mo, Jax, Mauricio
Mo and Jax finished up their game and then Mauricio and I took them on. The game was pretty close, but we pulled off a win.
We played a rematch and we won again, this time 11-7. I was playing very well.
In the next game, we lost 0–11 to Jax and Mo. Sometimes, things just go off the rails.
We played once more and also lost this game, but it was fairly close, 8-11. Mauricio was not having his best night, I’ve seen him play better.
It was 8:35 p.m., the artificial lights were out and while there was maybe just enough light to probably get in part of another game, it wasn’t worth it.
As I drove home, it was still a warm 63°F.
Ouch!
During one rally tonight, Jax lobbed the ball over my left shoulder. I yelled “Switch!” and moved my left leaving the lob from Mauricio to get. All went well until Mauricio got to the ball and hit a drive… right into the right side of my jaw! That stung a little bit!
And?
I felt like tonight was redemption. I felt like I was playing like a 4.0 again, instead of like a 3.0. Sure, I made some mistakes, but I was very consistent and played well. At the end of the evening, Jax told me that I had had a very nice scorpion shot and Mo complimented my hand speed.
When developing playing skill, it’s like a rolling hill. You gradually get better, and then have periods of time where you have a relapse and play subpar, followed by a rise again. Hopefully, tonight was me climbing back out of the pit of bad play that I’ve had for the past two weeks.
I went home satisfied for a change.
My next play should be Sunday morning, followed by a new round of 4-week pickleball classes that I’ll be teaching on Sunday afternoon.
During a couple of rallies, the backside of my right hand was bothering me a little bit. I’m not sure why. It wasn’t super painful, but it was a little uncomfortable. Fortunately, it was only very slightly nagging and not a big concern.
Friday, July 11, 2020 (No Play)
I guess the good news is over the course of the last couple of weeks my right knee seems to be bothering me less. I’m continuing to wear the elastic knee brace regardless.
On the flip side, the back of my right hand, which I could feel last night, is bothering me a little bit today on an ongoing basis. I was moving something cumbersome at work today and it aggravated the back of my right hand.
Angry Pro Loss
So, Zane Ford—after losing to James Ignatowich—sought to destroy his paddle in frustration. He smashed it on the ground a couple of times to no avail, then attempted to break it over his knee. This happened last month, on June 19, but it’s still been buzzing on social media, so I figured I’d share a link. TMZ even reported on it:
https://amp.tmz.com/2025/06/19/pickleball-star-zane-ford-meltdown-paddle-break-carvana-ppa-tour
They claim that it only bent a little bit. Ummm… no. It was fully broken! Here’s a precise screen grab I made so you can see for yourself! That handle is well over the other side of his leg!
Sunday, July 13, 2025 (No Play)
I took today off from playing. Yesterday, we had our big 57th anniversary event for our family business. It was a crazy amount of prepwork, especially over the past month. Then we had a group dinner for reps and demonstrators and my extended family over at my parents’ house afterward. A nice big article about the event appeared on the front page of the local newspaper this morning. There were some minor errors—my parents are still the owners of the company, for instance—but overall very good.
But why I mention it is a good part of the event yesterday took place in our parking lot and I ended up being outside for most of the day. The thought of putting on sunscreen didn’t cross my mind that morning, so I end up very sunburned on my face and neck. I opted do not play this morning since, in addition to that possible morning sun, I had to spend three hours in the afternoon out in the sun to teach classes. Being out the sun for six hours after getting a bad sunburn would be an unhealthy idea. 3-4 hours of exposure was more than enough today!
Number of days on a court: 828
Number of total hours: 3,223.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 150.5
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