Thursday, March 5, 2026 (Court Day #908)

Lou Holtz, famous one-time head coach of the Notre Dame football team which he took to a national championship, gave a what looks like a commencement speech in his elder years. If you want a little inspiration in your day, watch this:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1855140311871749

This video short mocking pickleball partners is pretty funny:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUbW3qtkqW_

Probing Your Opponents

Jordan Briones sent out an article in his newsletter and this jumped out at me:
“I’ll intentionally send a few balls there [middle] early to see who takes it. Once I know which player is more aggressive, I can start targeting the other player’s inside foot and keep the pressure on.”

It’s one thing to know which of your two opponents is the weaker player. But there are more aspects to it. It’s also figuring out specifically what they are weaker at.

Classes

I sent out a reminder to my students that the time change will be this Sunday and that if they don’t change their clocks, they would be an hour late to class. When it comes to teaching, I don’t like unknowns. I like my students to be on time and to give me advance warning if they can’t make a class. One of my Advanced Beginner students said she wouldn’t be able to make class this weekend, so I’ve already arranged for someone to fill in and balance the drilling pairs.

Skypark

I left work early. It was a beautiful day, in the mid 60s and sunny without a cloud in the sky. It had been kind of blustery earlier, but the wind seemed to be calming down.

The courts were full and there are very few people waiting. I had two options. One would be to wait and hopefully break up a group coming off of a court or, two, to jump in with whoever happen to be available. I chose the latter.

Games

I paired with a young woman named Sierra against her friend Jonah, who paired up with regular Gowa. I would put the youngsters at a low 3.0 rating.

In games like this, there’s a question of how you want to play. Do you want to simply keep the rallies going and leave winners on the table? Or do you want to give them a true experience of playing against a stronger player? Sometimes it’s not fair to give them a false sense of security. I certainly wasn’t out for blood in this game, but I did hit winners when they were obvious. After Sierra and I had won the game (solidly), I asked Jonah if he wanted a tip. He said yes, then I went on to explain “shading” to him. There were a number of times during the game, where he had left the middle wide open because he wasn’t shifting over to the side with the ball.

More Games

The level of the games that I was getting into were so poor and strong groups coming off were just sticking together, that I was considering leaving. Instead, I sat on the bench and decided to be picky about who I was going to play with. As I was sitting Aaron Huang and Frabrizio arrived. This was good news. Now we just needed a fourth. Fortunately, young Jordan finished up a game and joined us.

Jordan and I won against Fabrizio and Aaron 11-4. We did a rematch and we won again 11-7.

We mixed things up, with me playing with Aaron. We lost, with Jordan and Fabrizio winning 12-10.

But Aaron and I won the next one 11-6. Aaron and I finished up our win about a minute before the lights clicked off. I’m glad I stayed—those last few games made the trip to Scotts Valley worth it.

And?

I felt really good about my play tonight. 

Friday, March 6, 2026 (No Play)

How Andre Agassi’s life has been changed by pickleball:
https://fb.watch/FHnZo1xqLO/?mibextid=wwXIfr&fs=e

Pro Mixed

I was talking recently about men taking over the court in mixed doubles—sometimes to the detriment of their game, but sometimes not. What is surprising is how much a male can get away with when it comes to hogging the court. Here’s a screenshot example.

The male player is literally past the female player and partly over her sideline, leaving the court almost entirely uncovered. If I recall correctly, I believe they managed to get back into their positions and continue this rally even with this wild situation.

Number of days on a court: 908
Number of total hours: 3,405
Number of paid coaching hours: 200.5

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