Month: September 2026 (Page 4 of 5)

Thursday, September 10, 2026 (Court Day #964)

I walked into the courts at 6:45 p.m. Fortunately, it wasn’t nearly as hot as it was yesterday. The heat climbed up over 100°F and it was surprisingly warm overnight. It was 75°F as I made my way through the Skypark neighborhood. I was tired, but not as exhausted as I had been on Tuesday night.

There were no games tonight for me with all strong players.

In my last game, I chose to play with Linda (who is a 3.0 player) against Jesse—the guy who has become a regular at Skypark—and Shane. Shane is a 4.0 player now. I was hitting shots to him tonight that I was not expecting to come back, but they would. I needed to change my mindset. In rec play, I always prefer to play against the two strongest players, since that is the most challenge. I would put Jesse as a low 3.5 player.

Linda and I were in the middle of our second game against Shane and Jesse when the lights clicked off. We lost the first game by a wide margin and we were in the process of losing the second game as well. It’s not a surprise.

In a previous recent outing when I played against Shane, he told me afterward that he knew whenever he played against me he needed to bring his “A game”.

It was still a hot and muggy 72° as I headed home shortly after 8 p.m.

---

Friday, September 11, 2026 (No Play)

Indoor pickleball facilities are up for sale and prices are dropping:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DdJ0T96GcE_
“Over the past 10 weeks, nine facilities listed for sale cut their asking prices, with the typical reduction coming in at 39%. One Florida club dropped from $1.5 million to $600,000.”

What Do You Say to Your Partner?

This short video about partner support sparks a conversation:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdFq09opuyQ/
I was thinking about this last night. My partner was making more than our share of errors given that she is a newer player, or at least, she plays like a newer player. She was already a little uncomfortable playing with our group as the weakest player. I gave her no tips and never said anything negative. Before the game started, I turned to her and said with a smile, “There are no ‘sorries’ in pickleball”. When she made an error, I would either say nothing or offer some little bit of encouragement and sometimes that encouragement would come with the form of me praising our opponents with something like, “great serve” or “nice shot!” With the idea of being that my partner could lay less blame on herself.

I’ve shared this before, but I have always played worse when I get criticism directed at me during a game. A tip here are there is totally fine, but outright criticism or negative comment often damages my mindset and my performance.

Pickleball Business for Sale

Last month I talked about a pickleball business that was for sale on Long Island, New York. As far as I can tell, the asking price has been cut in half.
http://eastcoastbusinessbrokers.com/properties/turnkey-pickleball-facility-absentee-owned-new-buildout-900k-gross

---

Saturday, September 12, 2026 (No Play)

A record number of countries participated in Pickleball World Cup 2026 in Da Nang, Vietnam. It brought together athletes representing 65 countries and territories.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DdAuWQxEXmB/

Number of days on a court: 964
Number of total hours: 3,538
Number of paid coaching hours: 231.5

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

Tuesday, September 8, 2026 (Court Day #963)

As my workday was winding down, I was feeling unusually exhausted. I was quite tempted just to go home and lie down, but pickleball is fun once I get started and I can always use the exercise.

At quarter after 6 p.m., I was driving away from work and heading to Scotts Valley. It had been quite a warm day and it was still 75°F.

It has been a full week since I took a serious tumble when my right leg landed on my paddle. I still have a large welt on my thigh just above my knee.

Skypark

There was still lots of parking in the lot when I arrived and an empty court. It seemed that the heat was keeping people home.

I don’t sweat a whole lot, but I definitely was this evening, it was very muggy.

Alfred was there tonight. I hadn’t seen him in months. He was playing with his friend named Anderson. Alfred was the better of the two players, but Anderson definitely held his own.

My play tonight was far from stellar. There are nights where you think, “Why am I even bothering to play?” Tonight was one of those. Sure, I had my moments of good quality play, but overall, it was subpar and I’d rather just forget the evening!

Surprise!

A young Asian guy came tonight named Jared. I overheard that Jared recognized Alfred from classes at UCSC. Jared wasn’t too keen on playing with our group, he said, “I don’t think that I can hang with you guys.” In his bag were an assortment of very cheap mass-market paddles and the balls that I saw were actually indoor balls with a larger holes. As long as it’s not all the time, I don’t mind ‘taking one for the team’ and playing with newer players as my partner. Jared and I played together against Alfred and Anderson.

Well, Jared played just fine! He’s easily a 3.5 level player. Not only did we hang, and I won the game. Towards the end of the game, I got points on consecutive serves that Anderson then Alfred hit back into the net. In a tournament, I would’ve kept going, but instead, I changed up the serve a little bit to make it slightly less difficult. Alfred has some really good serves himself. He serves fast and deep. It’s a good challenge. Alfred has quick hands, pretty much every time I drove at him, he was able to hit it back for a winner.

And?

My biggest issues for tonight were hitting shots too high, and making ill-advised speedups. Failing on speedups can often be a case of underestimating opponents, which was happening tonight. Also, I slammed a few overheads into the net. It was bad all around!

Tonight was bad. I always play worse under the lights, but I was also exhausted.

---

Wednesday, September 9, 2026 (No Play)

Today was one of the handful of days that I can remember where Santa Cruz has crept over 100°. My car was still reading 106° at 6:44 p.m. I checked online and it said temperatures peaked at 101°, but that always depends on where those weather stations are. My car was parked above a black asphalt parking lot, that could have added 5°. Nonetheless, hot.

Number of days on a court: 963
Number of total hours: 3,537
Number of paid coaching hours: 231.5

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

Monday, September 7, 2026 (Court Day #962)

I spent the last four days in the Bay Area helping run bagpiping and drumming competitions at the Caledonian Club of San Francisco Scottish Games held annually in Pleasanton. I’m pretty beat. I was up late on Thursday, then up early on Friday morning compiling soloist information for the pro piping competition—nothing like learning getting assigned something at the last minute—then I was up at 6 a.m. Saturday and Sunday to get ready and transport the international judges from the hotel to the fairgrounds. Then I was the primary announcer for the pipe band competition. John Biggar, who has done the band announcing for decades wandered off to attend to other things and left me to go it alone at times. It was a fun and enjoyable weekend, though there are a lot of work.

Ouch

I really did a number on my right knee last Tuesday night when I fell on my paddle while going for an ATP. There is still a large welt about an inch above my right knee cap. Surprisingly, there isn’t a whole lot of discoloration, just the big lump and scab where the skin broke. Thankfully, I had my knee brace on, and that must’ve softened and dispersed the blow slightly. The knee brace is primarily just stretchy fabric so it’s not like it made a huge difference, but I’m sure it helped a little.

Nice Day

It was 64° and a perfectly clear sky as I made my way to the courts. With the direct sun, it felt quite a bit warmer than it was.

Being that it was a holiday, I expected the courts to be busy. I had a number of options… Derby Park and Skypark with no organized play, or Willowbrook and Brommer both with organized club play on Mondays. The best bet for the strongest play was Brommer, so that’s where headed. But I expected the waits to be long.

Brommer Park

I pulled in at 9:27 a.m. and took one of the last of two parking spots. Oscar and cohorts were in the process of leaving as I arrived.

Games

Club play was underway, so the signup board to get onto courts was in effect. I played a couple of warm up games of mixed skill.

At 10 a.m., the various colored pens appeared to denote the assorted skill levels. I signed up in blue, which is supposed to be 4.0+.

Skill Games

I played with a woman named Sam against Mo and Ken Lancaster, the fellow who organizes some local tournaments. It was a close game. We lost 9-11.

We played again and lost the rematch 6-11.

This time, I played against Sam instead of with her. Ashley D’souza and I beat Shawnté and Sam 11-3. That was with me trying to hit more to Shawnté.

Shawnté gave me a compliment, telling me that I have hard, fast serves. He explained that his shoulder is recovering from an injury and otherwise he would’ve been able to return the two serves of mine that didn’t make it back over the net.

Mo and I lost 4-11 against Paul and Ashley. I hadn’t seen Paul for quite some time. He is in his mid 70s, and said that he hasn’t been playing for a couple of years due to a back injury. That said, he played really well.

Mo, Kim, Oscar

Mo told me that she is no longer playing with Spencer in tournaments at
The Hub—the indoor facility in Campbell. She says that she can’t hang in the 4.5 tournaments that Spencer is playing. Instead, Spencer has been playing with Aaron Bartley’s wife Kim. Mo said that Kim is better than her husband and was very likely the best player out on the courts today. At that given time, Sean Lynch and Kiko and some of the other stronger players were not there yet. Mo was saying that Kim can speed up just about anything and hit hard with accuracy and topspin to keep the ball from going out. Mo added that she’s been playing mixed tournaments with Oscar and gender doubles with Kim.

The last game wrapped up, and when I checked the time, it was 12:15 p.m. I was supposed to be at a family birthday party for my niece at noon. Oops. Somehow, I lost about 30 minutes of time! Time to go!!

Pro Shocker

Anna Leigh Waters and Ben Johns were taken down in the semi-finals over the weekend in PPA National Championships. Those two have been a steamroller for quite a while.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc7LUffDh8D/
They were beaten by Jorja Johnson and JW Johnson.

Here’s a clip of the final rally of the match:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dc7H72KOQ1A/

Number of days on a court: 962
Number of total hours: 3,535.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 231.5

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