Sunday, June 14, 2026 (Court Day #936)

I’m still dealing with varying degrees of plantar fasciitis in my left foot. And my right knee continues to be mildly painful here and there.

Derby Park

It was overcast and in the low 60s.

I arrived at the court at Derby Park a little bit before 10 a.m. It was a club day, so we were using the dry-erase board to sign up for courts.

I played with a lot of players today who I didn’t know. As the sport continues to grow, there are more and more players whom I don’t know. Especially at venues and/times that I don’t frequent often.

Games

In my first game, I was paired with Rob and me against Laurent and Pat. We won 11-3.

Then Pat and I won 11-5 versus Rob and Jesse.

It was 10:45 a.m. at this point and there was a bit of a wait between games.

Pat and I lost 8-11 against Rob and Arno.

My last game was with a man named Ford against Pat and Sean McElhaney. We lost 8-11. To be honest, it was kind of surprised that it was that close. Ford is a total banger. I don’t think I saw him hit one drop shot or one dink the entire game. That said, he does have good hand-eye coordination and good drives.

Time to Go

It was still busy and by the time I would have gotten into another game and completed it, it would likely have been another 30 minutes. I wanted to be heading home no later than about noon to get ready to teach, so given that it was 11:50 a.m., I made the decision to simply leave instead of pushing things and causing stress later!

There are shots today that I definitely chalk up to being rusty. I’ve played so little in the last month. A couple shots into the net.  A serve or two that were long. Shots that I’m very used to making but missed.

There was nothing of great note today.

Skypark Sign

The City of Scotts Valley has modified the Rec.us sign at Skypark to cover up the Rec logo and add their own QR code. But you’ll notice that there are still references to Rec.us on the other sign further from the gate. I’m sure they’ll get that figured out sooner or later. I’ll drop them a note to make sure they are aware.

Tuesday, June 16, 2026 (No Play)

There’s been another settlement in the patent infringement lawsuit brought by Joola against various paddle companies, this time the settlement is with Proton:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DZpo9GrxBKn/

Wednesday, June 17, 2026 (No Play)

According to the SFIA, 2.5 million children ages 6 to 12 played pickleball in 2025:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DZsy7mySXRG
When people say that pickleball is only for “old people,” tell them this!

Lonely Paddles

This is hilarious:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZaqcaYqvZG/
(Though they show padel paddles at the end of the clip! Faux pas!)

Number of days on a court: 936
Number of total hours: 3,477
Number of paid coaching hours: 215.5

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