Month: September 2026 (Page 3 of 5)

Tuesday, September 15, 2026 (Court Day #967)

This is a really impressive rally!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdSjz0Bxg97

Trouble on NJ courts

Aside from the normal neighbor issues, some pickleball players are hogging the courts. Someone decided it would be a good idea to issue fake parking tickets to cars parked at the courts:
https://shorebeat.com/lavallette-seaside/2026/09/lavallettes-pickleball-war-fake-tickets-neighborly-disputes-and-police-investigations/

Skypark

I forgot who my partner was, but we played against two players in their 20s. We beat them 11-0 in a game that was never close. I felt kind of bad for them, but we all have to start somewhere and take our lumps early on.

Paul Winn and I played two games against Ashley and Frabrizio. We got absolutely clobbered in both games. Let me reiterate how much I hate playing under lights. My depth perception gets very questionable.

I was playing a game with Adam (the newer regular with salt and pepper hair who is about an inch or two taller than I am) against Paul and Jess. We were leading 10-8 when the lights clicked off.

Tonight was one of those nights I would prefer just to flush. It was far less than thrilled with my play tonight—even if, when I was playing against him, Paul referred to “That Lenz Backhand” after I slammed a ball high to my left shoulder.

---

Wednesday, September 16, 2026 (No Play)

This woman says that switching from tennis to pickleball allowed her to stop taking antidepressants:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DdVFEi-Eao_
After how I played last night, I might have to start taking antidepressants!

Joola Lawsuit

Joola has reached settlements with 7 of the 11 paddle companies that Joola had sued over patent infringement:
https://www.thedinkpickleball.com/7-paddle-brands-settle-joola-patent-case-holdouts-remain

Revolutionary Paddle Design!

New paddle design like Apple new iPhone Duo!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdKr4lOFc_u

---

Friday, September 18, 2026 (No Play)

I didn’t play last night, my best friend from 1st grade to 3rd grade was visiting from out of state and we went out to dinner. My next pickleball outing should be on Sunday morning.

New Certification Requirements

PPR, the certification organization that I use for my coaching certification, sent out an email today adding new criteria to maintain certification. I think this is a good thing. Ongoing education was lacking in the PPR program. They’re going to require a certain number of coaching education hours annually. That and a background check every two years. They’re also adding a coaching safety requirement. Newer coaches will also be required to complete a CPR/First Aid training. (This will not be a requirement for me since I have been grannied in after coaching for so long.)

Pickleball High School

Pickleball being considered as a high school sport in Florida:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DdXCkaSyCUf

Fastest Growing Pickleball Locations

Top growing pickleball cities:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DdZfUMoEfld
One such city is Fremont, which is just under an hour of driving to the north.

---

Saturday, September 19, 2026 (No Play)

Is pickleball quieter than tennis?
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dddv9VfgRhA
According to this guy, since a pickleball hit is quieter than a tennis hit, it’s not the volume, it’s the pitch that bothers people about hearing a pickleball game.

Number of days on a court: 967
Number of total hours: 3,544.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 234.5

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.

Monday, September 14, 2026 (Court Day #966)

For golf, they have indoor simulators. In St. Petersburg, Florida, there’s an indoor tennis and pickleball simulator business opening called Game Set Sim:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdMfj4RSaO9
It’s not a business that’d I’d want to get into. Especially in a nice weather state like Florida. Would you pay to use a simulator like this when you can just go out and drill with a friend?

How to Improve

This is a really good article about how to improve with insight from Zane Navratil as well as other coaches:
https://pickleballunion.com/improve-pickleball-without-changing-technique/

Getting Ready

I woke up, checked personal and work email, sent some messages, texted staff regarding work matters, took our younger dog out for leisurely walk and once that was done, I made my way to Derby Park. Today was our monthly SCPC board meeting. I missed last month meeting due to work demands, so it’s good that I was able to make this one.

Derby Park

It was sunny and 64° as I stepped through the chain link gate at 9:54 a.m.

The crowd was light at Derby since it was not a club day and only about half the courts had players on them.

I played with an assortment of people I knew—Sam, Glenn, Matt Zachary, plus Joan and Lauren of the board. There were also others whom I didn’t know.

My partners were getting targeted like crazy. I would go entire rallies touching the ball once or twice or not at all. (One of the suggestions in the article I linked to above is to hit to the stronger player during rec play—not avoid them!)

Midway through one game, Sam announced from across the net, “Andrew made an error!” I wasn’t happy about the making the error, but I was happy that it was rare enough that it warranted an announcement! Ha!

Meeting

We called our meeting to order at 12:22 p.m. and later closed out the meeting at 1:11 p.m.

The only thing of significant note was the news that work is scheduled to begin on the eight new pickleball courts—conversion from two tennis courts—on UCSC property on Delaware Avenue next month, October 19. And this indeed is significant. This project has been in the works for years. Things would almost be worked out with the university and then the athletic director would leave hampering arrangements. Then, of course, there is a bunch of legal paperwork involved between the city of Santa Cruz and the University of California. Regardless, this is exciting.

Number of days on a court: 966
Number of total hours: 3,543
Number of paid coaching hours: 234.5

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.

Sunday, September 13, 2026 (Court Day #965)

As I walked around in my kitchen—a real kitchen, as in my house!—there was pain in my right knee. It is so chronic these days, most wonder if it’s worth mentioning anymore.

I still have a significant welt on my right leg from my tumble almost 2 weeks ago. It’s kind of crazy how significant and how long this bump is lasting.

Heading to Brommer

It was clear skies and a sunny 64° morning as I left my house. I had two new classes starting today, my Beginner class at 1:30 p.m., followed by my Advanced Beginner class at 3 p.m.

As I drove to Brommer Park, I was hoping to wash the taste of my play from Thursday night out of my mouth. Thursday was bad.

Brommer Park

I pulled into the parking lot at 8:41 a.m. to find the parking lot only a little bit over half full. I ended up waiting to get into a game.

I caught a photo of Gary. It’s the look of focused anticipation!

I made a note of two body bags… but I can’t remember if it was me bodybagging someone twice or me getting bodybagged. In any case, some bodybagging went on today!

I teamed up with Mary Kay and our opponents were relentlessly targeting her. 

I played with Marcus against tattoo Aaron and bird-researcher Alex R. and we lost 8-11.

Stacking in Rec

John, the taller stocky guy who often shows up wearing a 49er sweatshirt, has his birthday today. We ended up in a game together and we were playing against Conner and Aaron, the tan, bearded, tattooed guy. We found ourselves down 3-9, mostly through me trying too hard. We went on a run after John suggested that we started stacking with him on the left. That worked well. It was a battle back-and-forth for those last remaining points. We ended up winning 12-10. That was nice good game, not a cakewalk by any stretch.

Gabby & Becca

It was getting closer to time for me to leave. Gabby was hitting balls back-and-forth with a young woman who I had met once before named Becca. I asked Conner if he wanted to play a game with the girls—I wasn’t going to have a lot of time just sit around and wait for some other game to finish.

I suspect Conner was taking it a little bit easier in this game, I know that I was. I was passing on winners and trying to hit the ball to Conner more frequently. Becca and I ended up losing this game 10-12.

Hit the Road

I checked the time and it was 11:51 a.m. I needed to get home to teach.

It was 70°F when I left. That was nice, it only climbed 6° since I arrived.

Most of the games today were with one or two weaker players. I think they were only two games that I’d consider strong and challenging games.

Number of days on a court: 965
Number of total hours: 3,541
Number of paid coaching hours: 234.5

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.