Thursday, July 31, 2025 (Court Day #837)

It was very sunny and 77° when I left work and headed to Scotts Valley. With plenty of experienced staff at work today for a change, I was secretly hoping to leave around 5 p.m., but then I found a needed project for myself, then another project, then I was the last one to leave around 6:20 p.m. I’m a demanding boss for myself!

Skypark

When I arrived at 6:35 p.m., there was good deal of parking.

My first game was with Frabrizio against Alec and his brother Eric—whom I’d never seen before. Frabrizio and I lost the first game but then came back and won the second game. 

It was then decided that we would have a rubber match. We were up 6–0, then they came back some, but then Frabrizio and I wrapped up the win 11–8. 

We played one more game—a four game—with these pairings and we won again 11–3. 

David, Alec, Eric

At this point, Frabrizio decided that he wanted to mix things up and get in with new partners. While I was waiting to get into another game, David L. arrived and we started warming up for a few minutes and then Alec and Eric and I made eye contact and I invited them over.

Alec was telling Eric right before the game, “This is our game.“ I had to chuckle at that. It seems that they’re unfamiliar with David’s play. David is an even stronger player than Frabrizio. The result was as I expected, with David and I winning in a very lopsided fashion.

After that, we decide to mix things up and Eric and I played against Alec and David. David is a stronger player than I am and Alec is a stronger player than Eric and the results would be as you expect, we lost.

We mixed partners again and this time Alec and I played against David and Eric. Eric got himself a win with David, although the game was close.

We played one more game with the same configuration, but this time Alec and I pulled off a strong win.

I wasn’t going to mention it during a game, and I forgot to tell him later, but a number of Eric serves were illegal. He would often serve with one of his feet outside the imaginary extension of the sideline. That’s a foot fault.

Lights

It was time to call it a night and when I checked the time, it was 8:45 p.m. Oddly, the lights were still on. It seems the setting is off because the lights are coming on too late and also staying on later than they are supposed to.

And?

My biggest problem tonight was cutting things too close with some shots. I kept track and I hit the white tape of the net a whopping 11 times tonight. I was announcing my count after every time the ball hit the white tape. After one such announcement by me, David said “Why are you keeping track? You should forget about it and move on.” It’s true, but it’s also a reminder of what to work on.

Saturday, August 1, 2025 (No Play)

There’s yet another official ball for the PPA Tour. It was the Vulcan ball, but now it’s the LT Pro 48 ball, the Lifetime Activities athletic clubs ball. Whoever pays, plays! If I paid enough next, I could have the “Andrew Lenz ball” be the official PPA ball!

A.I. Funniness

“When you show up after 5 p.m. to pickleball courts”:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DM0KJU_JSy_

High Profile Game

A nice rally of Andre Agassi & Steffi Graf versus Andy Roddick & Genie Bouchard:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGQRnpTtSUC

Air Zones

Now, this is an interesting take. I’m a total analytics kind of guy, but is this an over technicalization of this? What do you think? (You can even comment below, if you wish!)
https://pickleballunion.com/pickleball-air-targeting-9-zone-model/

Number of days on a court: 837
Number of total hours: 3,245
Number of paid coaching hours: 156.5

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