Tuesday, October 7, 2025 (Court Day #859)

There’s a new Freaky Friday movie sequel coming out, and apparently it has a pickleball tournament sequence, although supposedly most of it is being edited out. Here are some of the missing scenes:

Skypark

The lot was full, but I didn’t have to park too far away. It was overcast and dark enough that I didn’t need my sunglasses, so I left them in the car. It’s that time of year when it’s getting darker earlier and you can definitely tell.

Mo help me warm up on an empty court. Spencer—who had just played with Mo—didn’t join us, he went and got into a singles game with Marquis on the next court.

First Game

Pauly and Maria joined us and we played mixed doubles with Maria as my partner. I would say that was the fairest combination with Maria be the weakest player and me being the strongest player.

Pauly and Mo took a lead, but then Maria and I took the serve and went on a long run, racking up 8 points. In the end, they won 12-10. It was an entertaining game. Mo had a few really nice shots.

The next game was Alex and myself against Pauly and Maria. As you would expect, it was a lopsided win for us, 11-3.

Matt Babb’s friend Aaron Hicks arrived and I warmed him up. Marquis and Matt teamed up against Aaron and me. Aaron and I lost, and that would happen in three more games. I didn’t mind. I will always take the toughest combination of opponents. Marquis was going to leave after the third game, but I convinced him to stay for one more.

Marquis, after I hit a winner off his drive from the baseline, commented how he drove the ball as hard as he could and I simply took all of its power off and—as Marquis described it, “boop”—dropped it short and it bounced twice before his partner Matt could get to it.

Our fourth game wrapped up at 8:23 p.m.

It was a slower night for some reason. If you could get a foursome together, you could go into a court without waiting.

And?

I can’t believe the number of times I hit the white tape tonight. It was frustrating. I’m really starting to wonder if I should wear actual glasses at night. I’m actually slightly nearsighted but not enough to typically bother to wear corrective lenses. I think I would need to get special durable glasses since sooner or later I’d get hit in the face and I would need those lenses to be securely held in place in strong frames. The distances glasses I do have have very flimsy frames. Maybe next time I go to the optometrist I’ll ask about that.

Harvey West Park

Club president Mark Dettle sent out a link to the rest of the board about an upcoming public meeting about Harvey West Park. The City of Santa Cruz Parks & Rec had shared with him a link to the park redesign, which has since been removed, unfortunately. But here’s an image of one of the two configurations of pickleball courts:

The other configuration has only five courts, not eight.

Friday, October 10, 2025 (No Play)

I had a nonprofit board meeting last night, so no pickleball play for me.

Social Media

This is a really nice rally between Anna Leigh Waters/Anna Bright and Lea Jansen/Lacy Schneemann:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPowkoTgBUH/

An aside, midway through the rally, there is a funny moment where the ball drops very close to the net and AnnaB has to scoop it up and ALW does a prancing pony move with her right leg… maybe she was trying to will the ball over or she was thinking the rally was done… I have no idea:

Number of days on a court: 859
Number of total hours: 3,298.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 172

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