Tuesday, September 1, 2026 (Court Day #961)

At 5:30 p.m., I hopped onto a private Zoom meeting which included Scotts Valley Parks & Recreation division head Allison, the P&R commission chairman, a couple of parks consultants from the Bay Area, Santa Cruz Pickleball Club president Mark Dettle, and a fellow named Lance—who I suspect works for the City of Scotts Valley.

We spent the next 45 minutes discussing how pickleball works at the Skypark courts for the three hours of weekly organized club play as well as just general public usage the rest of the time. The pickleball classes that I am teaching at the courts also came up in conversation. The primary function of the meeting was to provide insight for the consultants about what we would like to see for pickleball in the new Skypark master plan. Of course, there are the limits of funding, land, and impact on the surrounding neighborhood.

Injuries

Aside from mild plantar fasciitis in my left foot—which I barely notice most of the time—and the chronic varying pain in my right knee, I’m doing pretty well.

Skypark

It was sunny in 68° when I pulled into Skypark at 6:45 p.m. With the new lighting schedule, I would only be able to play for a little bit over an hour. It hardly seems worth the time—about 30 minutes total driving for about 60 minutes of play—but given that I’m going to be having a very busy week helping run the piping and drumming competitions at the highland games up in Pleasanton this weekend, I won’t be able to play pickleball at least until Monday and possibly Tuesday, so I wanted to get in whatever play I could get in.

As expected, the lights clicked off at 8:05 p.m. We were trying to squeeze in the last bit of a game.

I was tired tonight and not moving nearly as fast as I should’ve been.

There are no games tonight with all strong players. It was a more relaxed evening of play.

Missing Cap

Frabrizio is bummed because he left his black PPA cap at Skypark a week ago and no one has turned it in. He posted on Facebook that it was missing, but no one replied saying they had it.

Serious Tumble

The biggest event tonight was me going for a wide crosscourt shot to attempt an ATP and while on the run, my foot clipped the net post on the adjacent court sending me into a tumble. I didn’t break anything, but my left hip was a touch sore—though not nearly as sore as the outside of my right knee, which took the brunt of my roll. After my fall, I got up and was immediately back into the game…. though I was understandably distracted. The palm of my left hand was bruised near the base of my thumb as well. Driving home, my right knee was aching. Aaron Hicks recommended getting into a hot tub. That sounded like a good idea to increase blood circulation and I did that. When I got home and took off my knee brace… wow. Right above my knee, it had swollen up like an orange! I don’t ever remember having an injury resulting in swelling like this. Ow.

New Pickleball Venue

The Ace Pickleball Club in San Jose is opening in a couple of weeks. Here was a video explaining the different tiers of membership:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dcj8zKkhz_6
The entry level is $79 per month, which allows for four visits, in other words, about $20 per visit. The top end membership is $179 per month and allows unlimited visits.

That’s not for me. The Hub in Campbell is closer—about 40 minutes from my house—and I still have never been in that facility. I do want to check out The Hub at some point though.

Wednesday, September 2, 2026 (No Play)

This morning, when I woke up, my right thigh was still very swollen right above my right knee where I fell on my paddle. It’s pretty obvious what happened since there is a perfect line mark. It explains why when I fell, I had the feeling of tumbling out of control. I usually fall into a controlled roll. Landing with most of my weight, if not all of it, on my paddle was an unexpected variable, not that I had more than a split instant to process what was happening. Regardless, aside from a sore left palm, a bruise on my left hip bone, and a big lump on my leg, I am no worse for the wear. I will count my blessings!

Lifetime Ball vs. New Franklin

Here’s another comparison of the Lifetime ball versus the new Franklin X-44:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcyQ6i3RZ2p

Thursday, September 3, 2026 (No Play)

Today, I’m heading up to the Bay Area to help coordinate the bagpiping and drumming at the annual highland games held in Pleasanton. I won’t be playing any pickleball until Monday at the soonest.

My knee is still swollen—though not nearly as bad—two days later:

Pickleball or the Olympics?

This is pretty wild, the opening ceremony of the 2026 Pickleball World Cup:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcymZeNPs-q
That’s quite some pomp and circumstance.

Vandalism

Pickleball players cars are getting vandalized in Erie, Pennsylvania:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcytCi4R-Ea

Here a guy turned off the main power to a commercial pickleball facility:
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DajXk9ZR3Bk/

Big Balls

Toledo just installed with what is believed to be the largest pickleball in the world:
https://www.13abc.com/2026/08/13/worlds-largest-pickleball-just-might-be-toledo

Rules, Rules, Rules

The Pickleheads newsletter included a rules question. I got it correct, but half of respondents got the answer incorrect. A sad state of affairs.

Funny

This clip is pretty hilarious, so how do you feel after playing pickleball for hours?
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dcugab1Oh_5

Tennis Coach on Pickleball

Pro tennis coach Brad Gilbert talks about pickleball:
https://www.cnbc.com/video/2026/08/31/pro-tennis-coach-brad-gilbert-on-the-2026-u-s-open-rise-of-pickleball-and-future-of-tennis.html

They don’t start talking about pickleball until 4 minutes and 42 seconds into the clip so feel free to skip to that part if you’re only interested in their pickleball discussion.

He says that he is “not a pickleball hater” and goes on that there are tennis players who are pickleball haters, and pickleball players who are tennis haters. I’m not saying that he’s wrong, but to kind of treat them as equal size camps as wildly accurate. They are far more tennis players going out of their way to bash pickleball than pickleball players bashing tennis.

Number of days on a court: 961
Number of total hours: 3,532.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 231.5

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