Tuesday, June 23, 2026 (Court Day #939)
I took a rare day off from work today. My wife and I drove down to Monterey to shop for a new bed. After success doing that, we drove back north and had quick but leisurely lunch in a Mexican restaurant in Aptos. When we got home, I took the dogs for a walk and caught up on my email—first for work then for personal.
SV Meeting
Tonight is a meeting of the Scotts Valley Parks & Rec Commission. The future of the pickleball courts at Skypark are part of the discussion. I couldn’t go to the last commission meeting two months ago since I was running my mom and brother around for medical appointments at the same time. (My brother has recovered from his pneumonia and my mom‘s hearing has returned.)
I left my house at 4:15 p.m. to head to the courts in Scotts Valley to get a little bit of play in before the meeting. It was sunny and in the high 60s.
When I arrived, there is a group of six pre-teen children playing on one court at the far end. Then there was a woman—whom I’d had seen out before but I don’t know her—giving a lesson on one of the courts. I texted Paul and Matt to see if they were available but Paul was at a baseball game and Matt was about to make dinner for his family. Matt did add that he was going to jump onto the meeting virtually later.
Drilling
I spent about 20 minutes alone working on different types of serves—short serve, backhand, forehand, drop serve with slice, etc. Then a woman named Cheryl arrived. I asked if she wanted to hit a ball around and she said she would until her friend arrived. That would turn out to be a while!
After about 10 minutes of Cheryl and myself hitting a ball back-and-forth at the net, Gabby and a friend of hers, a guy named Aaron, arrived. I’ve seen Aaron around a few times but I definitely do not know him well. They played against Cheryl and myself.
Gabby was the weakest player and, of the players on the court, Aaron would be the one I would pick as a tournament partner.
Cheryl and won both games. Aaron had solid play punctuated with some great shots. Cheryl’s friends had arrived and that was that. Cheryl did say, “I should take a lesson and you can teach me that serve you use!” (I’d earned a few points in a row with unreturnable serves.)
I did manage one last game playing with a young woman named Eva against a regular, Doon, and his friend Phillips. We lost. I felt bad about a speedup I hit that headed right for Phillips face—fortunately, he was able to dodge it.
They wanted to play again but I asked the time. 5:46 p.m. Time to get to the meeting.
Meeting Time
After some administrative stuff by the commission, Allison, the director of P&R, talked briefly about a recent soccer event and new animal tamper proof trash cans at Skypark. (Which, I have to admit, are very effectively designed.)
Then Allison went on to present the community survey regarding the Skypark courts. There were a number of slides, but here are a couple…
It was brought up that someone had brought portable lights to extend playing time. I can see doing that at Brommer Park where there are no close homes, but Skypark is in a neighborhood.
There was also a complaint about about pickleball players blocking driveways.
A number of speakers got up to talk on behalf of pickleball, including Mark Dettle. A handful of neighbors got up to speak about traffic and noise. With the Chief of Police present, the neighbor who angrily insulted one of the commissioners was on his best behavior.
I got up myself, shared who I was and what I do for pickleball. I shared my points.
- Private portable lights are unacceptable. We’ll send out an email about that to the club.
- Blocking driveways is unacceptable.
- Vast majority of players are happy to have police enforcement.
- I recommended that if we are considering cutting the lights earlier, give players a chance to try quiet equipment after 8 p.m.
- I was at the courts before I came here there was a group of children playing aged about 9-12. There’s a player I know who is 88. The sport provides exercise to a wide range of ages.
- A survey by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association shows that an estimated 24.3 million Americans play pickleball. The sport has grown by 479% over the past five years.
- My three summer beginner pickleball classes are all sold out.
- The club will encourage players to park at skatepark.
Some additional speakers got up addressed the commission.
Actions
The commissioners discussed reducing the number of pickleball courts from 8 to just 4, but that didn’t gain any traction among them.
But what did gain traction and passed was a motion was cutting 30 minutes off of the evening lights for a trial period of about six months. So, 8 p.m. instead of 8:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 9 p.m. instead of 9:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.
Ouch.
Painful for the nights I can’t leave work until 6:45 p.m. I’d only get about 60 minutes of play before the lights turned off.
I stayed after the meeting and talked to the commission chairman afterward, sharing that I might only get to play a hour in the evenings. He suggested, “Maybe you get off from work earlier?”
“Maybe.”
Truth be told, I am the boss. I set my hours. (That’s why I work 6 days a week!) But my work doesn’t end because I say so. That 30 minutes of lights lost will very likely mean 30 minutes lost for my play too.
A couple of years ago, when the lights went from 9:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. I didn’t get to arrive an hour earlier. I when from 2.5 hours of play to 1.5 hours.
Number of days on a court: 939
Number of total hours: 3,482.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 218.5
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