Sunday, August 24, 2025 (Court Day #844)
When I left my house at 8:25 a.m., it was overcast, but the sun was breaking through the clouds. It has been pretty warm this week and I was kind of hoping that it would be cooler today for pickleball, but I was resigned to just finding out as the day went on. That’s one nice thing about Santa Cruz compared to other parts of the country. It could be in the 80s, but then in the evening it would drop below 60° and get cool. This morning it was 63° at my house and 61° downtown where it was still completely overcast.
As I continued to drive, I was wondering how busy Brommer would be given to the Skypark courts are closed for resurfacing for another 2 to 3 weeks. (As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about!)
Brommer Park
It was solidly overcast at Brommer Park 8:35 a.m when I pulled in.
A guy named Chris (with longish blond surfer hair) and I played a pair of Asian brothers Matt and Mason. Matt and Mason were coming off a win and stayed on the court. We lost 6-11 and at least 3 of our points came off of my serves that they unsuccessfully returned. The brothers are good players. I wanted a rematch with a partner closer to my skill level, and fortunately that worked out.
This time I paired up with Mexican Tony. (I’ll note here that given a lot of us don’t know each other’s last names, so we have to use physical or other characteristics to identify each other! I will say that I’m not 100% comfortable referring to someone as “Asian” or “Mexican”, but I need a way to identify people!) This time Mason and Matt found more of a challenge and they lost 7-11. This game was much more fun with a bit longer rallies.
Matt Babb
Matt Babb and I played against lefty Dave Van Ness and JP. Dave is such a strong player, I love playing against him. I overheard him talking to JP and, if I heard correctly, he that he said that he does tennis four hours a day and “pickle” two hours a day. I wish I could spend that much time out playing! Dave gets almost as much play in one day as I get in one week!
Matt and I lost. Later, Matt apologized, saying that he wasn’t playing his best. But I have to say, that loss was not all on him. I would say that Dave won that game more than we lost it.
Someone said that there is a tournament going on down at Chamisal. It was a pretty light crowd today and a lot of the more serious players were not there. René was there, but she had a prearranged foursome and it is not rotating in or out. Sean and his brother Danny was there playing for a while with Kiko A. and Marquis, but they were also not rotating players in or out. At a certain point there was so little good competition available that I was considering just leaving out of frustration.
What are my last games, if not my last game, was paired with Taylor (a younger woman) against Kevin and Mary Kay. I was coming off the game where I’d played really well against Matt and Mason, but the first few times I touched the ball in this game, I hit bad shots—either into the net, or beyond the baseline. It was embarrassing. But after my fourth or fifth rally, I dialed it in and started playing well again. Taylor and I took bites out of their big lead but ran out of time and lost by just a few points.
Overall today, I felt good about my outing. I received honest compliments from my partners about my play. Was I even close to perfect? Heck, no. But solid.
Social Media
I like this. Drilling a backhand flick from a tee:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNlTmKsA7iI
Pickleball changing lives at San Quentin prison:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DNY9T1gvHgn
Monday, August 25, 2025 (No Play)
Nearby Los Gatos pickleball again in the news:
https://www.sfgate.com/news/bayarea/article/san-jose-spotlight-los-gatos-plans-renovation-to-20858781.php
Tuesday, August 26, 2025 (No Play)
Somewhere during my 4 1/2 hour session at Brommer on Sunday, I tweaked my left hip leaving it chronically sore over the past few days. That and my right knee is aggravated too. I guess I’m a walking poster child for common pickleball injuries right now! *hrumph*
So, no playing—Skypark is still closed for resurfacing anyway—and no drilling at Derby Park either. Recovery time.
I stopped by Skypark tonight to see how much progress has been made on the resurfacing after a week and took some photos.
Wednesday, August 27, 2025 (No Play)
Here’s a funny and very short video about some pickleballers’ car driving habits:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNon3Q8Swjy
Number of days on a court: 844
Number of total hours: 3,263
Number of paid coaching hours: 161.5
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