Monday, November 10, 2025 (Court Day #870)

In addition to today being the day of our monthly Santa Cruz Pickleball Club board meeting, Aireo Sports wanted to do another paddle fundraising day for the club. Yesterday, after teaching, I went by work (which was closed) and picked up two chairs, a table, and also a canopy.

Brommer

I pulled into Brommer Park at 8:35 a.m. and, after lugging them to the other side of the courts, set up the table and chairs. Andrea, who is the Aireo marketing person, arrived a little later and was the single representative for their company today. I helped her set up after bringing things from her car.

I got into game sometime before 9 a.m. It was partly cloudy and climbed into the 70s today, although it felt warmer.

Games

The most memorable game was Soji and myself playing against Dean and John Conner. Dean is pretty amazing. He’s 77-years-old, but still plays quite well, and indeed, better than the majority of the players in the club. And not a spring chicken either, John isn’t super mobile but hits really well. Soji and I lost 5–11.

My last game, I was paired with a guy with a black visor named Bob who is friends with John Conner and Chuck, and we made up a foursome. I was expecting us to win that game given that Chuck and John don’t get around the court nearly as easily as younger players, but they do a really good job getting the ball back over the net. Bob and I lost 11–13.

I finished up that last game at about 12:15 p.m. at which time I headed over to the picnic area for our board meeting. The board meeting finished up at 1:58 p.m. and from there, I collected the table, chairs, and canopy and headed out.

And?

I felt that I played ok today. I think I was being a touch too aggressive with my shots and should’ve been playing a softer game.

Injuries

It seems that pickleball injuries make the news a lot these days. The medical field has the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). My daughter, while in medical school, did a research paper on orthopedic injuries from carnival rides using the data from this system. These charts below were shared online—not connected to my soon-to-be-doctor daughter!

In case you are wondering, “Syncope” is a a short loss of consciousness, like fainting. That cardiac arrest percentage is shocking to me. 1-2 injuries out of every 10 is a heart stopping!

The average age of pickleball players is dropping but there are still more older players than younger players. That said, this skew in ages wouldn’t account for the disparity between the number of injuries. I’d be interested to see a further breakdown, like “51-60”, “61-70”, etc.

If you are 25 or under, you are mostly likely to need medical care due to getting hit by an object. Maybe that’s a ball to the eye or someone threw a paddle. I’m assuming “object” is not the fist of an irate opponent, but maybe!

Over 50, you most likely to to need medical attention for falling, so be careful out there!

Number of days on a court: 870
Number of total hours: 3,322
Number of paid coaching hours: 182

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