Sunday, April 19, 2026 (Court Day #927)
In three days, I’ll be flying to Alaska to join up with my daughter Charlotte who flew up there yesterday. It’ll be a very rare vacation for me, spending a full week visiting my wife’s cousins and her aunt in Anchorage. They have some activities planned for us, but honestly, it’ll be nice just to get away from work and hang out with extended family.
Knee
My right knee has been bugging me, but in a different way. It hasn’t been aching as much, but there is the sensation of it being swollen. It’s a bit weird.
No Rush
Since I’m not teaching classes later today, I took it a bit slow this morning, since I could play as long as I wanted. If I needed to leave at noon to get ready to coach, I probably would’ve sprung out of bed and been at Brommer an hour earlier! Instead, I left my house at 9:17 a.m. It was 61° and hazy.
Brommer Park
I pulled in about 9:30 a.m.
In my first game, Dan Dewey and I won close one against René and Rick, 11-9.
And we also won the rematch 11-1.
We switched things up and I played with Rick this time and we won 11-7.
For the next one, I played with René and we lost 7-11. I made a few mistakes in a row at the end, but otherwise I played reasonably well.
New Partners
Rick and René went off to play with some others, so I teamed up with Kirk against Dan and Tony. We found ourselves down 2-10. Not a huge surprise—I’d pick Dan or Tony over Kirk as a tournament partner. But, a shocker, we came back against Dan and Tony won 12-10. I would have bet money that was not going to happen!
I ended up in a game with Marquis against Tony and Anthony. We won 11-2. Marquis and I were both playing well in that game.
Tony and I played against blonde Taylor and Marquis. To keep it more balanced, I played 4-5 rallies lefthanded. Tony and I weren’t taking that game super seriously. But then they went ahead and Tony and I couldn’t turn it back on and went on to lose 6-11! Oops!
In the next game, Mickey and Tony beat Dan and me 11-6. Mickey played very well.
Alessandro and I beat Dan Dewey and little Linda.
Alessandro and I lost to Chris (the tennis player) and bearded tattooed Aaron 6-11. That was a good and tough back-and-forth game. Chris is very formidable and Aaron is a strong player too.
Evan and I played against Abhi and Ashley. Perhaps a bit of a surprise, Evan and I had a decisive win.
As the session went on, the wind had picked up and affected some rallies by pushing the ball around.
Leaving… Not!
I drank some water, packed up all my gear and put on my backpack and was about to go when Evan called over and asked if I had one more game in me. At that point, I’ve been there almost 5 hours. I would’ve been expected to be completely exhausted at that point, but I wasn’t. Certainly, I was a little tired and starting to drag just a little bit, but I still had some energy.
Evan and I were up 6-2 against tattooed Aaron and tennis Chris. (Chris’ dad Darrell was around somewhere playing too.) We ended up losing 6-11. Kind of a crazy swing in momentum. They had a comeback, but it wasn’t all at once, they did need to earn it. There were a lot of side outs.
As I was walking out of the courts, I said goodbye to Aaron and Chris. Chris called over, “Nice playing.” I’ll take it. High praise from Chris.
Time to Go
I left at 2:40 p.m. under sunny 63° blue skies, a little over 5 hours after I arrived.
As I was pulling out, I stopped to say hello to Shawnté. Shanté said that he had played a couple of games with Oscar starting at 7:50 a.m. but then he left to get some chores done. Now, he was back. He could take my “spot”!
I was really pleased with my play today. Rally-ending errors were limited.
Tuesday, April 21, 2026 (No Play)
A PPA referee called a technical warning for blowing on a ball during a rally:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXYGnLEDRyB
What struck me is a comment on this post by OG Kyle Yates:
“First time I did this in 2014, ref called a fault… I petitioned to USAPA afterwards since there was no rule about it at the time. They ruled it was legal, been doing it ever since”
Seattle Courts
Seattle is considering removing a whole lot of pickleball courts:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DXZ0QvoCRXp
“If approved, the plan would reduce Seattle’s pickleball courts from 92 to 56. Seven neighborhoods would lose a combined 36 courts as soon as June. Tennis courts would remain largely intact, with 107 courts preserved.”
Ouch!
Classes
A pleasant surprise, not that there have been very many yet, but I have been receiving emails from Scotts Valley’s new software system notifying me of new signups for my classes. I wasn’t expecting to get any such notices when students sign up, so I am pleased.
Yet Another Invented Sport?
OK, now things are just getting crazy. Yet another racquet sport? Like if padel and tennis had a baby?
https://www.instagram.com/p/DWpuy6cDC64
Wednesday, April 22, 2026 (No Play)
Today, I flew to Alaska to meet up with my daughter and see relatives—my wife’s Aunt Pat (my mother-in-law’s little sister), cousin Nuri, cousin Krag and his wife Joli. This was my first trip to their state. Charlotte and I are staying at Krag’s house. We got a warm welcome!
Krag’s neighborhood has a communal recreation area which includes a tennis court striped for pickleball too… but Krag said that almost no one ever uses it for tennis anymore, only pickleball. We would have gone out and played but the court was covered with snow!
DUPR
So, DUPR has added some new features:
– Mixed-gender rating
– Age-based rating
– Average partner rating
– Average opponent rating
These are all additional data points. I’m not sure what I think of an “age-based rating”, but as long as they keep the true key DUPR rating, I think that’s fine. I think ratings should age irrelevant. Such as, if I end up being a 3.0 when I turn 75 because I’ve slowed down, that’s the way it goes!
Funny!
What archeologists will find in the far future:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXH10XIRHR1
Friday, April 24, 2026 (No Play)
Charlotte and I continued to tromp around Alaska with Aunt Pat today. We took a trip to Seward, then took a boat tour around the coast. Cold, windy, and a little wet but the scenery was breathtaking.
Proton is Back
After initially being banned for non-payment of their sponsorship bill, Proton paddles are back for PPA/UPA play:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DXcyE8rCSTp
Monday, April 27, 2026 (No Play)
Today, Charlotte, Pat, Joli, and I drove out to Anchorage to the Matanuska Glacier. The brochures say it’s the largest glacier accessible by car… though there was a short hike and a snowmobile ride involved! As far as sight-seeing, this was the highlight of the trip! Some of the hiking was a little sketchy, but aside from a few slips here and there, everyone managed fine.
Usurper Rules
The UPA-A, the umbrella organization that oversees one pro tour and a handful of their own amateur events, decided to release their own rulebook. Up until a year or so ago, there was one governing body for pickleball in the USA, the venerable non-profit USA Pickleball which has been around for decades. In a power grab, the UPA created their own “governing body” and they have there own new rule book:
https://www.thedinkpickleball.com/pro-pickleball-rulebook-line-calls-paddle-throws-ball-blowing/
This causes all kinds of confusion for amateur players who think this rulebook applies to them—it doesn’t unless they are playing in a PPA tournament.
Number of days on a court: 927
Number of total hours: 3,455
Number of paid coaching hours: 209.5
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
Leave a Reply