Tuesday, February 11, 2025 (Court Day #772)

I was cold and very tired and I was going back-and-forth debating whether or not to play tonight. Eventually, I opted to play. As I was driving to Scotts Valley, I was still questioning myself whether it was a good idea or not. It was 52°F… not freezing, but not exactly warm either. 

Rain is expected to start tomorrow night and last at least a couple days which will eliminate Thursday night play.

My brother Matt had brought donuts to work. Me, being of little willpower, ate 1 1/2 of them. I’ve been trying to lose weight lately, so running around on the court to compensate for donuts seemed to make sense.

As I approached Skypark, the thermometer in my car dropped to 48°F. Yep, it would be chilly.

Skypark

I arrived at the courts at 6:50 p.m. and I warmed up with Francis a little bit. After a few minutes, Mo and little Scott came out of a game. I grabbed them and Mo and I took on Francis and Scott. It was a thumping with Moe and I winning 11–2.

After that game, Mo said that she was waiting to play a game with Diego and she stepped off the the side. A young fellow named Jordan whom I haven’t seen for months came tonight and I helped him warm up.

More Games

Once Diego was available, Jordan and I paired up against him and Mo. Being that was Jordan‘s first game and he hasn’t played for a while, he was a little rough. We found ourselves down, but crawled back into the game and took a lead, eventually closing out the game with a close win.

The next game, the last game, was Mauricio and myself against Diego and Mo. Mauricio made a lot of mistakes early in the game but redeemed himself as the game went on. About a third of the way through the game it started to sprinkle and people started to leave as their games ended. It took a number of sideouts, but Mauricio and I won 11–8. At 7:47 p.m., we were done.

By the time I was five minutes into my drive home, the sky had opened up and it was raining in earnest.

Even though I only got to play for an hour, I was happy that I went. I played quite well.

Saturday, February 15, 2025. (No Play)

Ouch. More below.

Monday, February 17, 2025. Presidents Day. (No Play)

After being on the waiting list for a few years, our number came up at the La Madrona Athletic Club. My wife Kristen was very excited. She wants to use their pool and classes. La Madrona down a side road between Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley, about 10-15 minutes from my house. 

My wife needed to sign paperwork to formally join. I told her that the odds of me using their facility more than a couple times each month were very low and to just sign only herself up. 

I have the day off from work for Presidents’ Day. We drove up, passed the assortment of tennis courts, parked, and found the office. The office manager, Diana, gave us a tour of the upper portion of their campus, which included their swimming pools, saunas, hot tubs, and various workout rooms.

Diana shared that Jane Prince had just been hired as their new pickleball coach. Karen Haselden had left there last year. Good for Jane!

Tuesday, February 18, 2025 (No Play)

So, Saturday evening, I was moving one of the dumpsters at work, and it was unusually heavy since the items inside had become waterlogged in the rain. The rain had also made the ground soft, which made it even more difficult to move the dumpster. I was giving it my best “heave ho” when I heard a popping noise in my left hip! That is something is always disconcerting! I was able to move the dumpster, but soon after I was hobbling a bit that night. While lying in bed later on my left side, my hip was tender, and I could feel the injured injury area throbbing in time with my pulse. Yesterday, on Monday, I made an appointment for today to get seen.

This morning, I went to the medical clinic and the nurse practitioner poked and prodded, pulled and pushed my leg around, had me walk back-and-forth and move my leg. At the end of all that, she figured it was likely just a strain or mild tear and that it should be completely healed sometime in the next two weeks. She said that if it wasn’t better or got worse than to let her know. She said no pickleball until I can move without any pain. I didn’t ask, but she seemed familiar with pickleball since she immediately knew that the game required a lot of lateral movement. My hip had already improved a little, but I was still far from running out onto a court.

Targeting

Today, the UPA, the umbrella company of the MLP and PPA, announced a new rule penalizing intentionally hitting a ball at an opponent’s head. 

Admirable in theory, but the referees are going to hate it. The USAP has gotten away from rules that may require mind-reading. Sure, there will be blatant instances, but most will be in a gray area where it’s hard to tell. I can already foresee arguments on the courts with refs about this. 

And I should remind everyone that this only affects the MLP and the PPA. 99.9999% of the pickleball playing world is not affected by this new rule. I’m not. I’m a professional businessman. Now, if someone came up to me with a guaranteed 10-year contract paying more than I’m making now to play pickleball that would be hard to turn down. That said, I’m the steward of a half-century old family business, I wouldn’t just lock the door and walk away!

Great Reset

There’s this clip of Anna Leigh Waters hitting an ATP into her opponent. But, what I want to point out is her shot before that. There was a slam to the corner of the court and she hits a fabulous drop shot… not perfect, but extremely difficult.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGPM_XOg-Gl/

No Pickleball

One of my staff, Julia, texted me a photo of a sign that she stumbled across while traveling up north:
“Tennis Only
No Pickleball”

Initially, I was grumbling a bit. But I searched online for the Cameron Park courts (about 25 miles east of Sacramento) and found this…

Yes, that’s four pickleball courts next to the three tennis courts. Not so bad!

Wednesday, February 19, 2025 (No Play)

I got email Chamisal today promoting a round robin on Saturday, March 22. No medals. No thanks. If I’m going to take time off from work, I want consistent strong competition.

Saturday, February 22, 2025 (No Play)

Last night, watched August 2018 tournament. Rob Aranda and I partnered up for that one after I’d been only playing for about 18 months. I could see the errors that I was making. Inferior shot selection, poor execution, subpar court positioning, and more. A phrase came to mind: “Embrace the suck”. While it’s interesting to watch, I think it’s too old to really learn from to improve my play.

Ball Machine

I emailed the folks offering the new Rallie ball machine. Within about an hour, Eric Fransen, the owner emailed me back answering all the questions I had sent. Impressive.

Number of days on a court: 772
Number of total hours: 3,090
Number of paid coaching hours: 111.5

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