Sunday, September 27, 2026 (Court Day #972)
It was overcast and 57° when I left my house a few minutes after 9 a.m.
While my knee isn’t perfectly comfortable, it’s feeling better than it has recently, so that’s good. Though I suspect that it will be sore tomorrow. Plantar fasciitis continues to linger in my left foot, but it is far from crippling.
Brommer Park
As I walked in, after parking my car, I surveyed the courts, and I immediately noticed there were two tennis players. Uh-oh. That takes four pickleball courts offline. That stinks. To top it off, two of the pickleball courts were reserved, leaving only two out of the eight possible courts for rotational play. It was the worst case scenario.
When I arrived, there were seven players sitting along the wall. Binh was there, I haven’t seen him in at least a couple months. He told me that the tennis players said they had reserved the court for an hour and a half and that was half an hour ago. I checked the reservation website and it said the court was reserved until 10:30 a.m. As more disappointed pickleball players arrived, more disappointed pickleball players left.
Shika was at Brommer again today, the woman I played with Thursday night.
Most of the games in the morning were mostly with weaker opponents and weaker partners. They were fun, but the rallies didn’t last very long.
Later in the morning, I got into a game with Aaron Bartley against Shawnté and Mike O’Brien. Mike was playing about the best that I had seen him play. He held his own in a couple of firefights against Aaron. But it was only Aaron’s second game and he was still warming up. If he’s like me, it usually takes three games before everything is really dialed in.
In my last two games, I wasn’t playing all that great. I wasn’t playing all that focused, evidenced by the fact that each time I was serving, I wasn’t remembering the score!
Probably most notable today was Shawnté driving some very hard low shots at me, two of which I returned for winners. After one, Aaron Bartley told me, “I think I’ve seen that shot in some of those ‘how to beat bangers’ videos.“ I’ll take the compliment!
It’s just as well that I had to leave at noon to teach, because all the courts were reserved at noon for some kind of pickleball tournament that Monica had organized.
I checked the time 11:58 a.m. Time to go.
It was sunny and 70° when I left.
Teaching
This afternoon was the third meeting of my two 4-week classes. One of my students, Shannon, told me she would not be able to make the last class next weekend. She thanked me and told me that my classes are always so much fun. That’s great to hear. If my students can have a good time while developing skills, I call that a win!
Monday, September 28, 2026 (No Play)
In Vietnam, 310 counterfeit Joola paddles were seized:
https://www.timesnownews.com/sports/pickleball/310-counterfeit-joola-pickleball-paddles-seized-in-vietnam-owner-fined-article-156239610
The culprit in Vietnam was fined nearly $4,000 after the police found boxes of the counterfeit pickleball paddles at his premises.
New Ball Machine
A ball machine that is very different:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdvC0C0RW4C
Here’s another clip of that machine:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ddu97FnuLli
Pickleball Quicker Than Tennis
The reaction time available in pickleball is less than in tennis:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdyWddajz8-
Paddle Cores
Some number of months ago, there was a video done on paddle cores:
Number of days on a court: 972
Number of total hours: 3,554
Number of paid coaching hours: 240.5
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