Sunday, January 18, 2026 (Court Day #892)

Yesterday, Mike Sullivan sent out a group text saying that he and Mauricio had reserved a court at Brommer Park from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. I found it kind of odd that there were no takers. I told them that I would come as long as my back wasn’t any more sore than it already was.

A little bit later, Mike texted asking if I would come from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. I asked about the change in time and he said that they had changed the location from Willowbrook to Brommer. I looked back at his original group text and read it more closely—it had actually said “Willowbrook”! In my haste, I had completely missed the location! Being that I am teaching today, driving all the way out to Aptos and then driving back in time to teach would be a total pain. I could see why there were not a lot of takers, aside from the distance, Willowbrook is not a venue known for strong players.

Today

I set my alarm for 7:20 a.m., figuring I would have plenty of time roll out of bed, put on sunscreen, get dressed, and get out the door. But, boy, I was moving slowly. I typically wake up about an hour later since I don’t have to get to work until closer to 10 a.m. When I reached for my sunglasses and was to put them on top of my head, the frame snapped right near the nose. That’s a spot where no amount of tape will fix it. So annoying. I grabbed a different pair of sunglasses that I had previously taped above the right ear as a stopgap measure. Those would have to do!

The sky was full of puffy thin clouds with patches of blue. It was 50°F . . . a little bit colder than perfect pickleball weather, but it would get warmer as the morning stretched on.

The 49ers got blown out in the playoffs last night, leaving no team with Bay Area connections buying for a Super Bowl appearance, unfortunately. The Raiders, formerly located in the East Bay in Oakland, and now Las Vegas, were eliminated pretty early in the ceiling season in fact that’s the number one overall pick having been deemed the worst team in the NFL. A sad state of affairs, but no games to interfere with pickleball!

Brommer Park

I arrived at Brommer a few minutes after 8 a.m., the guys were already there warming up with Kyle. Kyle stepped out when I got there.

I won my first two games. First with Brian, then with Mauricio (11-4) shown in this video:

Midway in our game, the 9 a.m. court reservation group claimed the court, so we moved to another.

Lost third game 7-11. Me Mike. (Got half game on video.)

Mauricio and I lost 0-11. Ouch. What’s funny is that this is the exact combination that won 11-4. This was a complete flip.

Brian and I won 11-8. We came back from 0-4. It was a rough start, but we got it going.

More Games

Ken and I paired up and lost 6-11 against Allison and Alex. I hadn’t played with Allison before. She often shows up and plays in a group of women at Brommer on one of the reserved courts. She’s not flashy but does a good job getting the ball back over the net.

We played again with a similar outcome, losing 7-11 against Allison and Alex.

Mario and I played against Alex and Mike but lost 6-11.

More Games

The guy named Mickey and I played two games against a young Asian fellow named David, who I didn’t know, and another young Asian guy named Kai. David has really good serves and hard drives, he is a high 3.5 or maybe a 4.0.

The last game was Kai and myself against Marquis and Mickey. Even with me intentionally hitting more shots too Marquis, we won. Kai is a decent 3.5 player. Mickey is more of a high-level 3.0.

Toward the end of the session, I was pretty tired and not moving quickly.

I checked the time after the last game, 11:56 a.m. It was time for me to go home and have lunch and get ready to teach.

I felt that I played ok today. Not great, but ok. 

Paddle Testing

USA Pickleball has announced that they will be doing field testing of paddles at Golden Ticket events. There are so many fake paddles coming out of China. Some are showing a “USA Pickleball approved” logo even though they did not go through the approval process. They are fraudulent. It cost nothing to illicitly add an approved logo. Other fake paddles are knockoffs of known brands and even have the brand name on the paddle but use different materials and construction. The association, in conjunction with paddle manufacturers, have decided to take a stand and do something about it.

Distant Line Calls

I was running a drill with my students today which required calling a ball in or out along the baseline. That was not the main point of the drill, but an opportunity presented itself when a student standing outside the net post called a ball in and a student observing behind the baseline called the ball out.

I told them a story from years ago when my partner and I were standing at the baseline and our opponent hit a ball a couple of inches beyond the court. We called the ball out. Our opponent, who was at least 44 feet away, got quite upset and claimed that his ball was in. My partner and I were in the perfect position to observe the ball—we were standing on either side where the ball bounced. It was close, but there was no question that the ball had bounced outside of the court.

I told my students to always accept an opponent’s call in situations like that. There’s no way you are going to be able to make a better call from 5-10 times further away and from a poorer viewing angle.

On the flipside, I told them to never assume that a ball you’ve hit is out when it’s a close call and, instead, just continue to play. There have been instances where I thought that either my serve or my return had bounced just outside the baseline, but we played on. Again, my opponent is always a much better judge of a baseline call when they are far closer to the bounce than I am.

Wednesday, January 21, 2026 (No Play)

My back was bothering me so I didn’t play last night.

PPA Singles Experiment

PPA is experimenting with new court dimensions for singles by eliminating 1.5 feet off of each sideline of the court to help keep the rallies going longer:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DTyEgCRkcZj
I’m of a mind that the court is already smaller than a tennis court, and the ball slower. Why change? It seems this is more a response to more powerful paddles than anything else.

Pro Advice

Pro Hanna Blatt shared some good advice on social media:

I wish someone told me this when I went pro:
1. Patience is key
2. Winning comes from patterns, not power
3. The first 3 shots decide more points than long rallies
4. Be confident in your shots
5. Paddle face angle > swing speed
6. More margin = fewer errors
7. Grip pressure changes everything (soft hands win)
8. Confidence comes from repetition, not talent
9. The best paddle is the one you trust under pressure

I can’t say that I disagree with any of those.

Friday, January 23, 2026 (No Play)

Upset. Camden Chaffin defeated Frederico Staksrud in singles. Camden is ranked 44th in the world at only 14-years-old and Federico is ranked #2.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DT0n5E6EaSk

Typti

Typti, a new sport played on pickleball courts, is starting to gain a little traction. I’ll talk more about it soon. I heard about it last year from a tennis instructor who attended a racquet sport conference, but this is the first I’ve seen or heard anything since:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTv_8UeCmCy

New Pickleball Ratings Record on Network TV

The PPA Masters was the most watched program at the time of broadcast. 791,000 average viewers. 1.05 peak viewers. It beat out college basketball games on NBC and ESPN and also an NBA game on Amazon Prime:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DT3N-d9kQOI

And another post on the same subject:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DT3DGHtgLkO

Instagram Funnies

I’ve never had a comment or post removed by Instagram before. So here’s the original post by Third Shot Sports:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DTy752ZEbIR

Me, never letting many opportunities to insert a joke, made a comment on the post…

“But what do you prefer to make the ball high? Crack or cocaine? Around here crack for balls is popular…”

Number of days on a court: 892
Number of total hours: 3,369.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 191.5

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