Tuesday, April 9, 2024 (Court Day #644)
A few days ago, Mauricio and I had tentatively set up a drilling session this morning, our first. I followed up last night around 8 p.m. and it took him about 45 minutes to respond, but he said our arranged time would work.
Drilling
Set my alarm for 7:00 a.m. and by 7:25 a.m., I was out the door with my pickleball backpack, some orange cones, and my mini practice net. I had never use the mini practice net before. As I walked to Mauricio’s house it was a rather chilly 45°F.
I arrived at Mauricio‘s driveway and he popped out a minute later at 7:30 a.m., right on time. We went through his side yard front gate, then his side yard back gate, then through the community green space shared by the ring of houses, then down to the shared tennis court. After Diego‘s description of the court, I was expecting something very horrible. However, while it was bad, there were areas that were workable. Mauricio and I figured out a reasonably decent spot and I set up my portable mini net there using one tennis court baseline as one kitchen line and we used the cones to vaguely indicate another kitchen line.
We spent the next 90 minutes dinking and then volleying. I suggested that we take one step inside the kitchen line to make the volleys a little bit faster so they when we got to a real kitchen, we’ll have more reaction time and the ball will seem slower.
Mauricio is very consistent with a soft game, perhaps even more so than mine. His volleying was good, though not quite as strong as his extremely reliable dinking.
Our drilling session wrapped just after 9 a.m. By that time, I felt like I might be getting a sunburn on my face. The sun had creep up above the trees and was shining at my side of the net.
Skypark
After working all day, I left shortly after 6:30 pm. and headed to Skypark in Scotts Valley.
While the shadows were long, the sun was still up and it was a nice 66°F as I arrived at Skypark. I had to park down the block and around the corner. Not too bad.
Right after I hung up my backpack and was putting on my tennis elbow strap and wrist brace, but tall man who I didn’t recognize walked through the side gate. He asked how things work here. I asked him if he is visiting, and he said he was from Vacaville. His name is Jeff and he’s is in the area for short time while working at the Moss Landing power plant. He’s staying in Aptos but made the drive to Scotts Valley after getting some information about play here from the Facebook group. I asked him if he wanted to warm up and we warmed up at a court together.
Not long after two young fellows join us—Kyler and one of his friends. I’d never played with Kyler before but based on conversations overheard later, I think he’s in the Christian group from UCSC that has been appearing on a regular basis. Kyler is friend with a number of younger people there, Griffin—who seen before, Caitlin, a stocky fellow named Hudson, and a few others. Kyler comes from a strong tennis background and it shows.
The evening started out with me playing pretty well. The problem was, as soon as the sun went down and we had to rely on the lights, my performance suffered a little bit. I must have missed about half a dozen of my serves tonight. I guess the good news is, but I only hit the white tape of the net two or three times over the course of the 2 1/2 hours.
A Distracting Hinder
Mosquitoes were out in force tonight. That’s unusual. One flew right past my eyes when I was returning a serve. My return didn’t go so well and I asked for a replay! (Which we did.) By rule, that’s a “hinder” by the way, not a “distraction”. A hinder is from outside the court—like a ball rolling on or an insect in your face. A distraction is something outside of normal behavior done by your opponent—like randomly yelling as you are about to hit the ball.
Overall, I was satisfied with my play tonight.
There were two or three shots noticed I was a little bit out of position and should’ve been hugging in the middle more. As it was, I left a little bit of a gap and that is enough for my opponents to hit winners in those instances.
As typical, the lights clicked off shortly after 9:30 p.m. I spent the next half hour chatting with Tim Feickert, Mauricio, Pauly, Matt, Paul, Aaron, Mike, and there is a tall guy there that I don’t really know as well and I keep forgetting that his name is John. When I got to my car, it was 54°F.
Kevlar Paddle?
Paul W. had a paddle that is made with Kevlar. It is an off brand, but it’s the same company that makes his backpack that looks the Joola brand version. An interesting notion, Kevlar.
Paddle Grip
During one game, during a firefight at the net, I had a backhand volley, and the ball flew out past the end of the court. I haven’t mentioned it before, but I noticed recently that I’m gripping my paddle rotated slightly to a closed face from the continental grip that I have been using since the beginning. It’s more of an eastern grip. I’m not sure exactly when this happened. I know Dean would be happy with that change, years ago he had suggested that I’d be better off with a slightly closed face on my paddle.
Son Nicholas
Tonight, my son Nicholas texted me asking about two pickleball classes that are being offered over in Santa Clara where he’s living. There’s a beginners class and also an intermediate class.
Nicholas was asking which one I thought he should take. Nicholas has played half a dozen times and knows the rules and he is coordinated. Early on, people were asking incredulously if he was really brand new to the game. Nicholas, like me, has good hand/eye coordination, and is somewhat athletic. Anyway, I asked him if he wanted to be the best student in the class or if he wanted to be in the lower half of the class. He said that the only reason he was considering the beginner class was that he might know some people taking it. I told him there is some merit to that consideration. We’ll see how that all ends up.
Number of days on a court: 644
Number of total hours: 2,775
Number of paid coaching hours: 24.5
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
Recent Comments