Month: February 2026 (Page 1 of 3)

Thursday, February 26, 2026 (Court Day #905)

Today, I got an automated email blast from pickleball.com (which has gobbled up pickleballtournaments.com) alerting me to tournaments that are quite a number of hours away from me. This prompted me to submit a contact form to them suggesting that they have settings allowing users to select criteria to limit which tournaments we would be receiving notifications for. I suggested some criteria, including distance, events offered, ratings offered, but also exceptions on a distance limit based on special tournaments, such as Golden ticket events. We will see if they get back to me or not.

DUPR Reset

This week, DUPR sent out a notice saying that users could opt to have a rating reset over a 2-month period. As long as you played eight games recorded into their system during their time window (March 16 – May 17), they would base your rating on only those 8+ games and jettison your previous rating. If your rating were to do down, you could not accept the “reset” and keep your old rating. At first, I thought this was free. But apparently not. It costs $34.99 per player to participate in the reset.

Some people are arguing that DUPR is merely making you pay to fix a problem with their algorithm—that is, if their system was better, then your rating would be correct in the first place!

The biggest problem with DUPR is it no one wants to play with a player who has a lower rating. There’s more likelihood of your rating going down when playing with a lower-ranked player. If you beat a lower-ranked player, it’s still possible that your rating might go down. The system determines based on their algorithm the margin by which you should be beating your opponents. If you don’t meet or exceed those expectations, you rating will go down. Now, if you play a player who has a higher rating than you, and even if you don’t win, but you do well enough, your rating will go up. If you beat a higher rated player, your rating is guaranteed to go up. There’s a big incentive to play against players who are better than you.

Skypark

When I left work, it was an astonishing 73°F. That’s kind of crazy for a February evening. I arrived at the Skypark courts at 6:35 p.m.

Games

Paul and I played against Ashley and Sunny. We won 11-9.

We had a rematch and this time Paul and I won 11-0. I scored at least five points off of my serves that weren’t returned over the net.

I got into a game with a young lefty named Ethan who paired with Paul. I paired with Chuck. We won 11-0. I’ve never won two games in a row 11-0. Ethan said this was his first game ever losing 0-11. Well, we both had firsts. Mine was more pleasant, of course!

The consolation for Ethan was they won the rematch 4-11. Basically, an 18-point swing from one game to the next! Talk about momentum!

Mauricio and I played against Aaron Hicks and Paul and we won 11-8.

We lost 12-10 on rematch. I was not playing my best in that game.

I was leading 8-6 with Shreyas vs. Aaron H. and lefty Ethan when the lights clicked off. I’d seen Shreyas around the past six months or so, but I’d never played with him. He has an Indian accent. Nice guy.

It was still 64° when I left after 8:30 p.m.

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Friday, February 27, 2026 (No Play)

I received an email this morning from a woman named Patty who works for pickleball.com. She was responding to my inquiry yesterday. She said that the tournaments shown depends on the location setting of my browser. Of course, this makes no sense given that I was talking about an email that I received from them and it has nothing to do with a visit to their website. She went on to say that there is no way to set a radius for notifications on tournaments.

New Quiet Paddle

Today, Owl Sport announced a new paddle, the Talon X1. They state that it is the only paddle in the world that has approved PCOR 0.43 compliance as well as being sanctioned for USAP pro tournaments as well as also being part of USAP’s Quiet category.

DUPR

Speaking of DUPR, they just announced a wheelchair rating system:
https://www.dupr.com/post/dupr-announces-dedicated-wheelchair-pickleball-rating-system-to-debut-at-2026-us-open

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Saturday, February 28, 2026 (No Play)

Today, I signed up for a tournament to be held on Saturday, October 24 in Monterey. I talked to Mike Cattivera and he was interested in partnering up as long as nothing comes up between now and then. It is half a year away, after all!

Number of days on a court: 905
Number of total hours: 3,397.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 197.5

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

Tuesday, February 24, 2026 (Court Day #904)

For once, I really did leave work a little bit early, and I was on my way to Scotts Valley before 6 p.m. It was 63° and overcast with rain looming in the forecast. According to my wife this morning, I might be able to play tonight since rain was originally projected to start about 4 p.m. but that start time was continuing to push out.

When I checked again this afternoon, it was showing a steep climb in the likelihood of rain at 9 p.m. and not much earlier. Hopefully, that would manifest affect itself in reality since the court lights will be off by then.

Teaching

The last spot in my Beginner class was filled this afternoon meaning that both of my classes starting on Sunday are now completely sold out. This is good for me, both in terms of getting the maximum compensation for my time, as well as not having unbalanced pairs, which is problematic. When I have to fill in during drills for a missing student, it makes it more difficult for me to get around and really coach properly.

On My Way

A change, it was still light outside as I drove. And the time change is coming in a couple of weeks, which means I have to get up an hour earlier, but also means we will have light in the evenings, which will be a nice plus.

As I drove into the Skypark neighborhood, there were so few cars parked on the streets coming in that I literally checked my phone to make sure that it was Tuesday! When I got to the parking lot for the courts, there were plenty of spaces and I picked the best spot very closest to the gate. It seems that the threat of rain kept people away.

Skypark

The courts weren’t full and Paul Winn was also an odd man out, so I warmed up with him until we gained two partners to play. I played with a woman named Jen against Paul and a woman named Blake. (Both of whom I’d never met.) I overheard Blake and Jen talking, and Blake plays in Kristin Long‘s women’s league. I would say Jen and Blake are both high 3.0 level players.

I played with a low-level regular, Linda, against Heidi (who’s on the Scotts Valley Parks & Rec commission) and Jens.

Game of the night: Alec and I lost to Spencer and Marquis 7-11. Alec and I were ahead 6–4 at one point, but we couldn’t hold onto the lead. Later, Mike asked how we had done against Spencer and Marquis and when I told him the score, he made an approving noise and said, “That’s respectable!” though I know we got at least one free(ish) point off of Spencer because I overheard him telling Marquis that he was trying some particular shot.

Ashley, Alec, Mike

Alec and I played a game against Mike “Beefcake” O’Brien and Ashley. Ashley has always been one of those names that can be used with males and females, though seems a trend in my lifetime has been towards use with females. In any case, this Ashley, who has been coming to the courts for a number of years, is unabashedly a 6-foot-plus guy. I played against Ashley on Sunday and he played really well. Mike was the least strong player of the group and I figured Ashley would be a good pairing with him to balance the teams.

While I figured that Alec and I would win this game, it was much closer than I was expecting. They came back from being down and made a game of it.

I have to say that Ashley is—by far—the most deceptive player I’ve seen with regard to his shots. For instance, Alec popped up a couple of balls while I Ashley and I were both on the left side of the court. Each time, Ashley looked like he was going to hit those shots to the middle, but at the last second he turned his paddle inside out and hit a passing shot down the line off to my left for a winner. This is just an example. There were other shots too, and the same thing had been happening on Sunday as well. It doesn’t hurt that he’s over 6 foot and has a long wingspan. Honestly, I’m jealous of Ashley deception skills. It’s a talent that I would really like to develop for myself!

The last two games were with Thad (Mike’s friend) against Alec and Mike. We found ourselves down by quite a bit. Thad was missing a lot of shots. He said that he was tired, and that I totally understand. By this time, it was 8 p.m. after a long day. We came back surprisingly and made a close game of it.

We switched sides for what would be the last game of the night. This time, it was more lopsided in their favor.

And?

I felt so-so about my play tonight.

Number of days on a court: 904
Number of total hours: 3,395.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 197.5

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

Sunday, February 22, 2026 (Court Day #903)

Last night, Mauricio Cuervo texted a small group of people asking for a fourth to join him, Mike Sullivan, and young Ben David the young lefty at 8 a.m. at Brommer. I replied saying that I was in. A few minutes later Mauricio asked if we wanted to play with an hour reservation at Brommer Park or have a two hour reservation at Willowbrook in Aptos. For me, there was no question. Aside from being closer to my house, the level of play is higher at Brommer. If I went to Willowbrook, I’d have to turn around and drive to Brommer once our time was done. In any case, we settled on an our reservation at Brommer.

For whatever reason, I woke up shortly after 4 a.m. and wasn’t able to go back to sleep for over an hour. If I hadn’t set my alarm, I’m most definitely would’ve slept in and been late or even completely missed out on our reservation this morning!

I left my house at 7:45 a.m. While it was sunny with only traces of clouds, it was a very chilly 46°F.

Brommer Park

When I arrived at 7:57 a.m., the parking lot was emptiest that I’ve seen it on a Sunday morning. Of course, it’s a rarity that I’m there before 9 a.m.!

Ben was there when I arrived but Mike and Mauricio were nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t too long before they were both there, however. I got in about 10 minutes of warm-up against Ben before our first game.

Game 1

Ben teamed up with Mauricio and I teamed up with Mike.

It was a close first game with Mike and I pulling off an 11-9 win. At the time, I felt like they were targeting my partner, but maybe not.

Game 2

In the second game, we rotated partners and I paired with Ben. We were half stacking, that is, only stacking while we were serving. For some reason, I was having a harder time than typical to adjusting to playing a lefty (Ben). Communication is super important when you have two forehands vying for the ball in the middle. Ben and I are the strongest players so I was expecting us to cruise in this game, however, we quickly found ourselves down 0–6!

But once we got things dialed in—mostly me coordinating with Ben—we went on 11-1 point run, winning 11–7.

Game 3

Mauricio and I teamed up for the third game.

We lost 7-11.

Game 4

Having gone through the full rotation once, Mike and I played together a second time.

We lost 6-11.

Game 5

Ben and I teamed up again.

A surprise to me, we lost 5-11.

Game 6

Ben and I played together again and this time we won 11-8.

Game 7 (Though the video says ‘Game 6’)

Before the game started, Mauricio suggested we switch sides at 6, and we agreed. Ben and I played together again, third game in a row, and we won 11-5.

Game 8
Mike and I lost 3-11. 

Game 9
Mike and I won 11-3. That’s quite the point swing from the previous game!

Game 10
Mauricio and I lost 8-11 after leading 8-4.

By then it was 11:30 a.m. and Mauricio had told his wife that he’d be home by then. 

At the end of the session, Mike S. told Ben he won the fast hands for the day. I mock complained that Ben said I had the fastest hands. To be precise, earlier, Ben said something to the effect of he’d never learn and he shouldn’t speed up on me.

In one of the games, Mike was standing very close to the middle of court when I was serving. I served a curved serve at Mike but he jumped out of the way but my ball—as intended—landed in. As Ben returned it, he announced to Mike that the serve had landed in. After the rally was over, Ben told me, “I thought you were going for a nasty Nelson, but in the ball curved and landed in!” Well, if Mike hadn’t moved, I would have tagged him with the ball!

Ben—who was playing very well—won 7 games, I won 5, and Mike and Mauricio both won 4 each.

Games with Others

Anthony had arrived and was sitting on the wall waiting to get into a game. I asked him if he wanted to take on the winners, and he said that he would.

There was a visitor today, a lefty named Mike who said that he grew up here and went to Santa Cruz High School—he graduated a year after I did, though I went to a different local high school. Work took him to Chicago where he lives now, but he still has parents and a sibling here in the area.

Rather than me playing with Anthony, Mike and I played against Anthony and Ashley. Ashley is over 6 foot and is a very skilled player.

Most of the local lefties—if they stack at all—tend to do half-stacking, that is, only stacking when we are serving and not when we were receiving. Mike wanted to do full stacking, and while I knew exactly what to do, it was still messing with my head a little bit. I ended up missing two or three of my serves. Anthony played really well and Ashley played even better. Mike and I lost and it was not a close game.

Michael and John

Our opponents moved off to greener pastures and we ended up playing against Michael and John. Michael is a short and lefty who is extremely talkative. John is the tall, thin tennis player who appears at Brommer now and then. Michael is an easy one to underestimate. He will mess up certain shots that you would expect to him to get back but then if you are goaded into a sense of security, he’ll rip some balls back that you don’t expect him to get.

The first game was very close and honestly, I can’t remember if we won or lost.

We switched sides and played again. This would be my last game of the day. My partner Mike was not playing his best in this one. He’s a little bit of a banger and a little bit lacking on his soft game. I made some errors in that last game, but for every one I made, Mike made two. As I said, he wasn’t playing his best.

I left shortly after 12:30 p.m. It was in the mid-60s and a beautiful day.

Major Pro Upset!

Top mixed doubles team Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns lost to Anna Bright and Hayden Patriquin this weekend. It had been about a year since the last time that Anne Leigh and Ben had lost a match! Nice work by Anna and Hayden!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVEhhUuEtfq

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Monday, February 23, 2026 (No Play)

I don’t know how I missed it from October last year, but DUPR has players registered with its rating system in 175 countries!
https://www.dupr.com/post/national-sports-day-data-reveals-how-pickleball-is-taking-over-america

Of course, one could ask how many of those players moved to the USA or frequently come to countries with a lot of pickleball where having a DUPR rating would make sense.

Number of days on a court: 903
Number of total hours: 3,393
Number of paid coaching hours: 197.5

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