Sunday, June 28, 2026 (Court Day #941)
It’s been two months since I’ve been to Brommer Park. Between traveling and wanted to take it easy with various injuries, Derby Park has been by Sunday morning destination.
Injuries
I’m still dealing with this relatively new plantar fasciitis in my left foot, but it seems to be trending in the right direction. The bottom of my left foot is tight when I get up in the morning and walk around, but I wouldn’t call it painful. The tennis elbow in my right arm has been staying at bay. I played my last few outings righty without too much in the way of issues.
Weather
It is mostly overcast in 59° when I left my house. My wife, the weather princess, shared that was supposed to be warm later and almost 80°F. Cooler would be better for my classes in the afternoon, but I would definitely take low 80s versus the 100° day that I had a couple of summers ago while teaching.
Today would be my second outing with this new pair of FILA brand pickleball shoes that had been sitting in my garage for a few years. They feel slightly tight in the toes, but the shoes should wear in at some point. Sooner or later, I’d like to try a pair of shoes with a wider toe box.
Brommer Park
I pulled into the Brommer parking lot at 9:09 a.m. The parking lot was just over half full.
Games
Diana and I played against Mo and the fellow with the hearing aid implant—I don’t recall his name. We won 11-1.
Hispanic Chris and I won 11-4 versus Dean and Tish.
Tish and I lost 11-13 vs. Chris and Che.
Trevor and I won 11-8 against Che and Stoehr.
Stoehr and I won 11-6 versus Taylor and young Marcus. (I made the mistake of underestimating Taylor once before… not this time!)
Second String
Kiko ran over and answered his phone from the middle of a game. It must have been his wife. He announced that he had to go, waved to the court he had come from on his jog to—and out of—the gate.
Sean Lynch was standing there by himself across the net Casey and Marquis. There was a pause as the question was considered of who would replace Kiko in a high-powered game. From someone else on the wall came a yell, “Andrew! Get in there!”
There was some brief hesitation, but we proceeded. Marquis had the game restart at 0-0.
I could tell that they were hitting more to Sean, much like I would do in a game against a team with a weaker player. But is the game went on, I believe that I earned my stripes. I bodybagged Marquis on a speed up from the right side off of a dink. Between rallies, while walking back to the baseline, Sean told me, “Nice dinking.” I did make some errors. I did hit a return long past the baseline, giving them a point. But then again, in uncharacteristic fashion, Sean had three of his returns long of the baseline. (I had a brief passing thought wondering if Sean was throwing the game, but no.) I hit one dink volley that I took far too much off the shot and the ball went nowhere, landing short of the net. (Embarrassing!) During one rally when I was on the left, Casey hit a shot to my right intended for Sean, but I poached the shot and hit the ball down into the middle… Marquis did manage to get that shot back, but it was a pop-up which I then slammed for a winner. Sean and I went on to lose 8-11 against Casey and Marquis. Later on, after the game was done, Sean told me that I had played well.
I had to sit and wait around a little bit for my next game. I chatted with Sean about teaching. He teaches classes at Willowbrook in Aptos which I left to him alone when I moved my teaching from there to Scotts Valley.
Another Aaron
My next game was with Mickey against Dragon and a very tan lefty named Aaron. Aaron can rip shots like nobody’s business. I suspect that he came from a serious tennis background with some kind of training such as he was on a high school or college team. I’ll have to ask him the next time I have the opportunity. This game was never in doubt. We lost either 4-11 or 5-11. It took me a little time to get used to the speed of Aaron’s drives.
My last game was teamed up again with Mickey against Shreyes and a tall older guy whose name I forget. We won 11-6.
I got invited into another game but I checked the time… it was 11:54 a.m. Time for me to get home and get ready to teach.
And?
I would absolutely love to play against Aaron more often. It’s rare that I get to see anyone who can hit a shot that hard. It was awesome! I love the challenge.
It wasn’t nearly as warm as the predictions had projected. It was still only in the high 60s when I left Brommer Park. It was a lovely day.
Teaching then More Games
After teaching ended, and I was giving my farewell talk to my students, Jerry—who is a regular at Skypark—walked up. When I was done, I asked him, “Are you looking for a fourth?“ He said that he was and I decided to join them.
I teamed up with Jerry against his friends, Dan and Ron. Jerry and I lost the first game by a little bit. Jerry is a bit of a banger. He has an Aireo Cyclone paddle, which is very poppy with a lot of power, which makes him even more of a banger.
We switched sides and played it again, but this time Jerry and I won.
We switched sides and played again and Jerry and I won by a little bit of a wider margin.
During one game Dan was telling Ron, “He has super fast hands! It’s annoying!“ It’s not the first time I’ve been described as having fast hands.
We switched things up and this time I played with Ron. If I had to pick one of the three as a tournament partner, I would pick Ron. Jerry would be the next, followed by Dan. That ranking became evident in the last game with Ron and I winning 11-4.
I checked the time, 5:56 p.m. It was definitely time to get home.
It was in the high 70s as I made my way home under clear blue skies.
And?
My right knee was bothering me after the morning session and it was bothering me more after the afternoon session. Plantar fasciitis isn’t too bad, though I could feel it.
Next weekend will be Independence Day. I have a break from classes for a month, with classes resuming the first Sunday in August.
My left foot and my right knee were both kind of painful after the two sessions today. Not exactly a surprise.
Newspaper Insert
There was a newspaper insert today, a magazine featuring regional leisure spaces… and one of the features was a pickleball court in Los Gatos, about 25 minutes from my house.
Here’s a link to the online version of the article. The second half of the article is all pickleball:
Monday, June 29, 2026 (No Play)
I woke up to minor plantar fasciitis and strange pain in the main part of my left foot out in the direction my little toe. Fortunately, both gradually mostly went away over the course of the day. My right knee continued to bother me all day, however.
Advantages of Pickleball
The advantages of playing pickleball, this is funny:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaJWF5NSeXc/
New Paddles
Dunlop has entered the pickleball realm and has several paddles newly approved by USA Pickleball.
[Later note: Even in early August, this paddle was not available for shipping.]
Number of days on a court: 941
Number of total hours: 3,489
Number of paid coaching hours: 221.5
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