Wednesday, August 8, 2019 (Court Day #179)

Work staffing was all situated, so I opted to take the morning off. I spent 2 1/2 hours last night in a meeting for work, so it’s not like I’m not getting my hours in! I arrived at Derby Park a few minutes after 9 a.m. and there were already half a dozen people there. Dave Allenbaugh is the opener/closer for Wednesdays, so he was there.

Harder Game

The games of the day were visor Tom and me against Kent and George. The first game went 12-10 with Tom and I taking the game. We had a rematch and this time, Tom and I won by a wider margin. A good couple of games.

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Eric and Art

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Greg and Gary (Terri’s husband)

I spent about 15 minutes after my last game waiting. I had told Dave that I’d close up the court for him so he could meet family.

Singles

Eric, Ted and Art needed to take off, so that left Greg and me. Janet, Olga and a couple of women were playing on the other side of the courts. Greg said, “What to play singles?” Singles? “Yeah!”

Singles is a very different animal! If you want to run 2-3 times as much as in doubles, play singles! I was panting! I won the first game 11-4. (The last point in the first game was hard won. We must have had a 15-20 hit rally!) We opted to play again but this time I lost 11-7. Greg got a few points on deep lobs. Greg observed, “In singles, you have to make all of your shots!” Mistakes are very costly in singles. I was exhausted, but it was super fun! It made me seriously wonder about maybe doing singles in a tournament sometime. I’d really need to train though. There is no way I could play a dozen singles games like the two I played today. I’d be dead!

I was off the courts at 12:45. I don’t sweat easily, but I was the drenched as I walked to my car. I had standing water dripping off of my arms. And it wasn’t too hot, maybe about 70°F. When I got home, I couldn’t pull my T-shirt over my  head because it was plastered to my body! Crazy

Thursday, August 9, 2018 (No court play)

I’m intrigued a bit by singles now. But most articles and videos are geared toward doubles since doubles is far more commonly played. Here’s decent video that I found:

 

Marcin Rozpedski’s advice as he posted to the Pickleball Forum:

1. Deep serve (most likely to the center of the side that you are serving to)
2. On a passing shot run around your backhand as much as possible (this will give you more options/choices either to pass or create an angle to drop)*
3. Once you put your opponent in trouble try to close to the net. This is where this game is won. Net.
4. Return 80% of the time down the line and you must come in after your return.
5. Split step when your opponent is about to hit (this will give you option go to many different directions)
6. Look at your opponent strength and weaknesses. Movement, grips, power, touch, volleys, groundstrokes, etc. Play your strength and his weakness.

*I was surprised on this one. Now, Marcin is a U.S. Open and Nationals singles champion, but admitted in a comment that:
“..I totally agree with your backhand down the line. I don’t have that shot so that’s why I run around it and control the point with forehand.”

As Mark Renneson of Third Shot Sports would no doubt say, “Do what works for you.”

Number of days on a court: 179
Number of total hours: 495.5

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