Month: January 2026 (Page 3 of 4)

Monday, January 12, 2026 (Court Day #890)

Today is our monthly board meeting for the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club, however, today is a little bit special and that’s the official Annual General Meeting where we will be voting on officers and bylaws plus briefing the entire membership on what’s going on with the club. Of course, we email out news to members on a regular basis, but this is a chance for live feedback back-and-forth.

Since the club currently has no secretary, and that was a role I was filling before, I jumped back into that role when the last one quit unexpectedly. That means I’m responsible for getting the agenda together for the meeting. I was so busy with the first day of pickleball classes yesterday that I didn’t even think to prep the agenda. My life has been very busy lately. I did get the agenda done and printed out, took the dog for a walk, then headed for Brommer.

It was 55°F and a beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky.

Brommer Park

Between club play and free pizza for those who RSVP-ed for the AGM, I was expecting parking to be a fiasco. But when I arrived at 10:20 a.m., someone drove off just as I arrived, so I was able to grab that parking spot. I was very thankful!

My first game, without hardly any warm-up, was a meat grinder against Dave Ryan and Mo. Mo, I can handle, but going up against a warmed-up Dave in my first game with little warm up on my part was a recipe for disaster. I was teamed up with River and River was not playing his best game either. He hit a few shots wide, some long, some to the net. His very first hit was a return of serve that was out giving our opponents a point. My own play was far from stellar and we got toasted in this game.

Kitchen Fault

During a game later, on a court next to ours, I noticed that during a rally, a guy (whom I didn’t know) pushed off from his foot just inside the kitchen to volley a lob over his head. A fault. No one called it. I didn’t say anything. Peanut gallery calls are not allowed nor did I feel like going through the work of telling him later.

Last Game

For last game of the day, I teamed up with Dave Cox against tall lefty Greg and JP—not the most balanced combination, but Dave wanted to play with me. Before the game started, Dave suggested that we have the strategy of intentionally hitting every shot to our opponents’ backhands and also not speeding up any shots that are below the net. The idea was to get really easily into a soft game, but also make our opponents uncomfortable. It was an interesting game dynamic. Dave and I won big, 11-3, as would probably be expected.

Once we were done tapping paddles, I immediately jogged to the far end of the courts to get my backpack and get over to the picnic area for the AGM. The AGM went fine. A few people snuck over and ate pizza then left instead of staying for the meeting. The exchange was ‘we feed you, you stay and participate in the meeting’, not ‘let’s provide pizza to people who can just go home and eat!’

New Pro Sponsorship

It was announced today that Anna Leigh Waters has signed with Nike. So, she’s now sponsored by Franklin and Nike. I’m not a fan of Nike and haven’t purchased any Nike products for a very long time and still won’t. I’ve seen too many instances of ‘profits over principles’ with them.

Number of days on a court: 890
Number of total hours: 3,363.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 188.5

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Sunday, January 11, 2026 (Court Day #889)

It was sunny with only traces of clouds, though it was a brisk 50°F.

Brommer

I pulled into Brommer Park at 9:08 a.m. into a nearly full parking lot and the courts themselves were full.

I cycled through various games with Rick, René, and Mike Sullivan.

The last game was Navi and myself against Rick and René. We won 11–6.

I checked the time 11:48 a.m. It was time to go.

As I was leaving, Rick commented, “Nice fast hands today, Andrew.” Dan Dewey, who was sitting a few feet away and overheard, exclaimed, “Today? Every day!” And then he added, “Don’t speed up on Andrew!”

It was a 63° when I left, I was sweating. I think playing in 50° overcast weather is the ideal for pickleball.

Teaching

I met my new students today. One, Kirby—who is only living in the area for a month or two—shared with me, “People around the club speak very highly of you.” I smiled more broadly and told him, “That’s nice to hear.” I don’t know if he was asking around about my personality, skills, or coaching ability, or all three. Regardless, it made my day.

After class, my son Nicholas—who came to balance pairs—and I practiced, playing out points in a hybrid skinny singles/singles scenario. We didn’t keep track of points. It was good practice for both of us, but especially Nicholas when it came to returning my hard serves. Being that he mostly plays in a class scenario, the hardest serves he’s going to have to typically handle will be for other students which limits difficulty.

Number of days on a court: 889
Number of total hours: 3,361.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 188.5

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

Thursday, January 8, 2025 (Court Day #888)

In the last 24 hours, it went public that #1 pro women’s player Anna Leigh Waters has signed with Franklin. That’s a big change since she had been with Paddletek for years.
https://youtu.be/hKzgHNGLsOU

New Year

Tonight was my first day playing since last year. Between rain and illness, there was a forced break. That sounds dramatic, but we’re only talking about a week!

While I am sure that I’m no longer contagious after nine days, I’m still having to clear my throat from drainage—I still have a little bit of chest congestion.

I was tired and tempted just to head home instead of playing, but I could use the exercise.

I drove to Scotts Valley in the dark after work, my car thermometer was reading 46°F. Good thing I brought my sweatshirt!

Skypark

Commensurate with the easy parking situation, there were empty courts.

Matt Babb and I warmed up a little until Paul got out of a game then Matt and Paul played against Connor and myself.

We played five games. Conner and I lost the first four in a lopsided fashion. At night it takes me a number of games to get my mojo.

In the last game, we are ahead 9–6 when the lights clicked off at 8:30 p.m. as I was I was finally starting to dial things in.

In the first game, Paul hit a hard shot right at me and the ball hit my hand. I didn’t think too much of it until I looked down and blood was running down my knuckle. I licked the blood off below my knuckle a couple of times and once the game was done, I got a Band-Aid out of my wallet in my backpack. There weren’t any more blood issues after that. During the next game, Matt commented, “It’s like a battlefield over here.” Yes, they were about a dozen blood drips on that side of the court. Oops. I made the point of smearing them later with my foot until they were no longer visible.

And?

If we hadn’t had that last game, I wouldn’t have went home completely dejected about my play. However, I was really starting to play better in that last one.

Number of days on a court: 888
Number of total hours: 3,359
Number of paid coaching hours: 185.5

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