Thursday, September 24, 2026 (Court Day #971)

I got to Skypark around 7 p.m. after work. It was slim pickings for players tonight.

Games

My first game was with Paul Winn against Gabe and Jerry. Paul and I built a big lead before they started coming back. When we had a wide margin, there were a couple of times where I intentionally went for high-risk shots—both of which failed, unfortunately! Regardless, Paul and I still won 11-7.

I played a game with Gabe against Jerry and Shika. We won the first game 11-0. Shika wanted to play again which we did and this time Gabe and I won 11-2. After that game, Gabe had to go home… “kids,” he explained.

Singles

Without enough free players for doubles, Jerry asked if I would play singles with him in preparation for his singles bracket at a tournament on Sunday. So this was the second night in a week where I have been playing singles. I told him that I wasn’t very good at singles, but he wanted to play regardless. Shika wanted to play and asked us to play just to 7… fine.

I build a good lead before Jerry earned any points and I went on to win 7-2. Shika then took my spot and I went and sat on the bench waiting for a game on the other court to finish. As I was sitting, I was listening to Jerry racking up points on her. I think he was up 5-2 by the time that the game on the adjacent court wrapped up.

Back to Doubles

I ended up in a game with Shika against Jerry against Jesse. Well, Shika is not a newbie but she had the weakest performance of the players on our court in that game.

It’s kind of funny when your partner tells you, “Let’s go!” when they made the previous three errors on your team. I mean, heck, I am already going. But sometimes players say that merely to get themselves focused and fired up.

When I left Skypark shortly after 8 p.m., it was still a toasty 72°. I was sweating.

And?

While it was fun playing tonight, it was pretty much throw-away games. My biggest challenge was simply paying attention.

Friday, September 25, 2026 (No Play)

Here’s an article from Florida talking about pickleball maybe becoming a sanctioned high school sport.
https://www.yourobserver.com/news/2026/sep/16/pickleball-high-school-sport/
My only beef with the article is this line:
“There isn’t much strategy involved, unless an athlete wants to test their talents on the APP Tour.“
The writer is obviously ignorant of the sport. Every single shot involve strategy except at the lowest level levels where a player is simply trying to return the ball over the net. And once you start getting at least some control and placement of the ball, which typically isn’t too long into playing, strategy becomes part of the equation.

Saturday, September 26, 2026 (No Play)

“Pickleball is not athletic”…NOT!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdwNpReBiWB/

Sliding singles player, stretching and reaching for a ball.

Number of days on a court: 971
Number of total hours: 3,551
Number of paid coaching hours: 237.5

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