Sunday, November 2, 2025 (Court Day #869)
I arrived at Derby Park at 8:15 a.m. Today, we had an Aireo paddle fundraiser day for the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club. I was bringing a table and chairs and a canopy for the Aireo rep, Andrea.
I got into a throwaway game before the official start of club time at 9 a.m. So they wouldn’t be surprised, I had warned my game partners on the court that I would need to step out when Andrea arrived. When Andrea walked through the gate, I grabbed someone to take over my spot in the game and went and introduced myself to her since I’d never met her in person before.
She helped me set up the canopy and I watched her things as she went and grabbed paddles out of her car.
By 9:30 a.m., I was in a regular rotations of games. The first hour is mixed a skill play, so you never know who you’ll end up with as a partner. There are no games today where I felt that I was anything other than the best player on the court.
The waits were pretty long between games so those gave me plenty of time to talk to Andrea. A while later, Matthias arrived along with his foreign exchange high school student from Germany. Later, I noticed that Matthias got himself into some games too.
Minori came to the courts with her partner David L. and I got to see their new baby, Miles. Cute, as you’d expect!
My last game of the day, sometime after 1:30 p.m., was with Andrea from Aireo as my partner against a tall Derby regular named David and a young woman who I didn’t know. David was coming right off of a game and I was coming off a 20 minute or more wait, so it took me about half the game to get warmed back up. Plus I was getting stiff!
After one rally that we had won, Andrea complimented me, saying, “Good job! Way to move him around!”
I left Derby just about 2 p.m.
Monday, November 3, 2025 (No Play)
After three years of residents petitioning their legislature with thousands of signatures, Washington State is offering pickleball-themed specialty license plates.
The initial cost is between roughly $150-$200, depending on if you want the plate to be personalized or not.
The pickleball plates will raise funds to build and maintain courts in the state.
The Seattle Metro Pickleball Association held an auction of the first 25 plates.
“Net proceeds from the License Plate Bash fundraiser and online auction will go toward special plate setup and implementation costs, allowing court building and maintenance funds to be available earlier, the SMPA said.”
https://komonews.com/news/local/pickleball-state-license-plates-raffle-auction-washington-state-legislature-washington-state-department-of-licensing-dol-seattle
The auction event raised $7,790, with the plate “PB00002” going for $840.
https://seattlemetropickleball.com/wa_license_plate
Friday, November 7, 2025 (No Play)
Today, I’m flying back from a trade show. I’ve spent the last four days in New Orleans working. I caught a cold on this trip.
New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart is a pickleball player, and says he hates to lose!
https://www.instagram.com/p/DQurrwjEtzx
Average DUPR?
The Dink shared this:
“We asked our friends behind the algorithm for the global average DUPR score. Turns out, a 3.35 is the happy medium.”
Sunday, November 9, 2025 (No Play)
I’m still fighting a cold. I didn’t return to work yesterday. Today, I have class and after all the canceling that has been going on, I don’t want to do that. I didn’t play this morning, but I did head to Skypark for my 1:30 p.m. class. and teach for three hours.
I asked my brother John to fill in for one of my beginner students, but it turned out that that beginner student was just late significantly but didn’t miss the class. Since I asked my brother John to fill in it didn’t feel right to just have him stand after the side once my student arrived, so I drilled with him some.
By the time my Advanced Beginner class ended at 4:30 p.m., the sun was setting behind the mountains. As long as it doesn’t get rained out, I do have one more class next week. If it does get postponed for rain, I may need to move both my classes up half an hour, otherwise it’s going to be too dark.
The Blacks
David and Beth Black happened to arrive midway through my second class to drill off on a court. After my classes were done, I walked over and said “hello” and told them that they were very fortunate that they have a partner always available to drill. (A spouse!) David asked if I wanted to drill with them. I agreed and Beth and I played some two-on-one 7–11 with David at the baseline. We only played about six or seven minutes before a friend of theirs appeared at the gate while walking with their grandkids. They talked a few minutes and then when David came back to the court, he wanted to do something different. David and Beth played against me, with me having covering half the court. I beat them 11-1. I needed to get home, so I couldn’t stay. Beth kindheartedly complained, “You are going to beat us like that and just leave?”
Comedy?
Another comedian making fun of pickleball. I found this routine more annoying than funny, but some people in the comments thought it was hilarious.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOQ3F7GjYUu
Number of days on a court: 869
Number of total hours: 3,319
Number of paid coaching hours: 182
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