Sunday, August 29, 2021 (Court Day #406)

Given that last week I had to wait a while for more players to arrive, I took it a bit slower and got to Brommer Park at 9:15. As I was parking, I saw Shawnte walking in. A few minutes later, I found him sitting on the top step outside the courts. All four permanent courts were full of people I didn’t know. (Amazing. Yes, pickleball is growing!) Nearly all were older folks. A temporary net was set up away from the other games and had the normal foursome of early ladies, Kristin L., Barb R., etc.

Shawnte said he was waiting for Hemi to show up so they could drill as they had planned, but that wasn’t going to happen. Hemi arrived a few minutes later. We chatted for a few minutes, then Shawnte noticed that a woman had waved us over to their court. We go to the far side and the woman said that they were done. We started with some dinking drills then Steve arrived and we had ourselves a game.

Steve and I ‘walked away’ with the first game against Shawnte and Hemi. We switched sides and I made a lot more mistakes in this one. I turned to Steve and said, “If this was a tournament, I’d call timeout right now!” We lost that second game barely, then played a third which we won.

Lina

One of Shawnte’s 11 o’clock foursome arrived. Her name is Lina, probably mid-50s. She has a slight accent that I can’t place. Since the others hadn’t arrived yet, Shawnte and Lina started a game against Steve and me. Lina is a strong player and this was a fun game where I had to play well. Steve and I were leading 9-4 when Lina called it after an anxious Jane reminded Lina for the 3rd or 4th time they were supposed to start their own game at 11 a.m.

Into the Net

So, today I hit an overhead slam into the net in a game with Karen as my partner. I hate that. A shot that goes from a likely winner to a 100% loser. Today—after 4 1/2 years—I realized how/why it happens. You are looking up at the ball. You don’t have the net in your line of sight. Of course, my engineering brain kicks in for a solution . . . “should I be looking at the net?” Duh. No. Just be aware and hit the ball deeper. Think, don’t just get excited and react.

Game with John P.

John P. and I played a game against Art B. and Karen. I hadn’t played with John for months. John was obviously taking it easy on them—there was an easily attackable ball and John merely knocked it back over the net. A few points later there was a high ball at the net and I backhand smashed it at Art’s feet. We got back to the baseline and John said, “I thought we were taking it easy on them.” (We never actually discussed that.) I jokingly replied, “If I wasn’t taking it easy on them, I’d have hit him in the face!” (Looking back, maybe saying that was kind of lame of me!) I told John I was switching to playing lefty and played lefty the remainder of the game. John and I were taking it pretty easy—I was playing lazily—and they caught back up 7-7. John said, “Ok, we can play now.” And we won 11-7, with me still playing lefty.

Oh, and in that game, I wound up and drove a backhand rocket low over the net to Karen. Rally over. I think that’s a remnant of those college PE tennis classes I took as a senior back when dinosaurs rules the earth.

The Ben Johns Story

Shawnte was on the court next to us during my game with John P. and Shawnte mentioned something about Ben Johns to his courtmates. (Currently, Ben is the #1 ranked player in the world.) I called over feigning indignation, “I’ve met Ben Johns and you are not him!” (I briefly talked to Ben at the Golden State Pickleball Championship about three years ago. “Why do you want my autograph? I’m just a scrub.” He was easy-going.) Shawnte explained something about some shot that Ben does. Jane laughingly shared, “Ben Johns was in my hotel room once . . . he was lost!” After both games were done and I was about to leave, I walked over to Shawnte and said, “Ben, I just want to say how much I am a fan . . . can I get an autograph?” Jane laughed and Shawnte looked confused. (He thought I had said “Bihn”—whom I haven’t seen for at least a month, by the way.) Jane went on to tell her story about being in Hawaii for a tournament and staying in a condo. She was talking to a friend when they turned around and—surprise—Ben Johns was suddenly in their living room. “Is so-and-so here?” (Jane explained that all the condos looked the same.) She told him “no” but they got into a conversation about how he started with pickleball and how Ben was his brother’s tennis training partner. “…who is now Ben’s doubles partner,” Jane said. I concurred and went on to say how down-to-earth Ben is. Not egotistical at all.

I checked the time: 12:20. I was supposed to be home, shower, then to a birthday party for a friend at 1 p.m. Time to go!

Lesson for Today

Trust your partner. There’s a saying, “Don’t poach unless it’s a winner.” In a game today with Karen as my partner, I got far too aggressive, reached way over to my right and clipped the ball with the far edge of my paddle, sending the ball flying out the side of the court. Rally lost. I apologized to Karen. Bad decision—obviously. There was a shot in a game with Steve that, had I let it go, he would have been in position to make a good shot instead of me making a bad shot. Trust your partner.

That said, lesser players will be out of position and leave easy shots down the middle. One needs to cover the sideline and the partner needs to scoot over and close the middle. Leave open the hard angled shot, not the middle open.

Monday, August 30, 2021 (No Play)

Today, I received an email from Dan M., the PT assistant. He said he had lost my business card but found it again and was interested in playing. I explained the skill levels often associated with the various local courts and offered some times. Hopefully, we’ll connect and work out a time to play.

Tuesday, August 31, 2021 (No Play)

I forgot to mention previously. At dinner a week ago, when I told my wife Kristen that Casey’s wife had purchased a pickleball paddle for him for Fathers Day, stunned, Kristen stared at me then blurted out, “She’s delusional!” Then she added, “Just wait until that new baby is mobile!” I shared that story with Tim (Casey’s dad) and Tim laughed.

Wednesday, September 1, 2021 (No Play)

I received an email from an out-of-town player named Joe Mcdonald. He is going to be in my area this weekend and was referred to me for advice on where to play. Joe is also a regular reader of this blog. (Hi, Joe!) Joe is the athletic director and coach at a school about an hour north of me. He shared that he wrote an article about his experiences so far:
https://www.pickleballuniversity.com/home/why-pickleball-is-a-sport-for-all-according-to-a-coach
I believe that his experiences mirror thousands, if not millions, of others. No wonder pickleball is growing so fast! What’s not in his article is that he’s already played a couple of tournaments is playing at a 3.5-4.0 level already—no doubt his past training for squash, racquetball, and tennis. Nice work, Joe!

Ben Johns Streak Broken

I just saw that Ben Johns’ winning streak of 170 matches ended recently when he lost to JW Johnson. He dropped into the consolation bracket for a second chance at a gold medal but lost to Spencer Smith. From no losses for a very long time to two losses in one day. Ouch.


Number of days on a court: 406
Number of total hours: 2,055

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