Tuesday, November 9 , 2021 (Court Day #432)
It rained today. There was a text strand of a bunch of pickleball players who frequent Skypark in the evenings. Someone said the rain had stopped in Scotts Valley, another said he was going to check the courts . . . it all sounded like things were a go. Judging from the weather, I wasn’t convinced, but I’m always optimistic. Ominously, there were only four cars in the parking lot when I pulled in about 6:45 p.m. Not a good sign.
There was a man I didn’t know sitting and watching Larry L., Sabina, Maia, and Vanessa. (Mia is propounded “my-ah”.) Right before he left mere minutes after I arrived, the man said they had been there since 5:30 . Since they’d already been playing over an hour, the rest were happy enough to allow me to rotate in.
The courts weren’t entirely dry but I didn’t slip during my two hours of play. There is always that risk—we all knew that—and indeed, Sabina did slip and fall while dashing and reaching during one rally, but she was no worse for the wear. (Considering that she’s on the local roller derby team where they crash into each other intentionally, I suspect she’s used to bumps and bruises and falling.) The courts gradually got more and more dry and slipping faded away as a concern.
Taking It Easy
It was obvious to me that Larry was taking it easy on the ladies like I was. Larry and I are both significantly better than the ladies . . . but they are all pretty new after all. I opted to play lefty. Larry was pretty tired and took off about an hour after I arrived.
As the evening went on, Sabina chuckled, “He’s playing offhanded and he’s still kicking our asses.” I had to hold back a laugh after that one. She had no idea. I was working very hard to merely keep the ball in play and not hit winners!
I used various scenarios as lessons here and there. Some I waited until games were over. They all seemed appreciative of the coaching moments. Maia said Larry had four of them drilling at the NVZ line (less risk of slipping) with a one player dinking, another volleying, another driving, another resetting. I suspect there were some challenges accomplishing that, but nonetheless, drills are always good regardless of skill level and abilities.
Arm
I took every shot tonight left-handed tonight, so my right arm got a break. My right was feeling pretty good—knock on wood—so it probably would have been fine getting used.
Wednesday, November 10, 2021 (No Play)
This link below was suggested on the Pickleball Forums on Facebook—for videos of busy pickleball courts and unused tennis courts. One of the videos that I’m sure they were referring to is actually our local Brommer Park!
https://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/item/163889547-brommer-park-santa-cruz-california-full-pickleball-courts-sm
Number of days on a court: 432
Number of total hours: 2,128.5
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
Leave a Reply