This afternoon, my wife asked me if I was going to play pickleball tonight or not. Initially, I was thinking I was not but when she mentioned it, I started to think about it. By the end of the day, I decided I was going to go ahead and play. My wrist wasn’t bothering me too much and rain is predicted for next week according to my wife. I left work, raced home, changed, and drove out to Scotts Valley.
I arrived at Skypark in about 7 p.m. and the parking lots and side streets were full as well as the dirt parking alongside the courts. I pulled around and parked in the sketchy area in the back. I said sketchy because it’s more likely to get your car stuck in the uncompacted dirt.
As I walked in, all courts were in use and a few players were sitting or standing waiting to get onto court.
First Game
My first game was against Roman and Danny who were both at Derby Park on Sunday, and I was partnered with Max. It is a good thing that they were not among the strong players there tonight, because I started out slow. I was missing shots and feeding high easy balls for my opponents. Max and I found ourselves down a little bit, but my game still be improved and we came back and won.
My last game was with Rachel Kuo—my former high school classmate—against David and Minori. We played on borrowed time as it became 9:30 and we still hadn’t finished our game. Minori was mid-serve to Rachel, up 10-6, when the lights clicked off . . . ending our play before the end of the game. That was a funny one, we were scrambling to finish that game, getting into position and serving quickly.
And?
I made a handful of shots tonight where I kind of amazed myself about how good they were. On the flipside, I also had some shots, too many, where I was disgusted with myself. The disgusting shots definitely outnumbered the amazing shots.
Injuries
After Sunday’s play, I had a slight pull in my left quadricep. I barely noticed it tonight. But on a few backhand shots, I did notice the back of my hand hurting. When I got home, I had one cooling pack on my hand and the other on my right knee. Sigh.
Number of days on a court: 578 Number of total hours: 2,569 Number of paid coaching hours: 1
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My right wrist was doing well enough that I figured I’d play today. As I prepared to leave the house, it was sunny and I considered just a T-shirt and shorts. But I checked the temperature and it was a very chilly 44° . . . sweatshirt! And I was almost out the door when I realized that I forgotten to put on sunscreen. I guess not having played in the sun for at least three weeks I’m a little out of practice a the “sunscreen front”.
Derby with Help
I arrived at Derby Park about a quarter to 9, three people were already on a court—little Barb G. and two people I don’t know. I had a lot of help setting up this morning. Mark G. brought his personal blower and started blowing off the courts for me. Little Barb walked away from her warm up to help set up nets and got others to help too. (Kudos to Barb!) I got out the club blower and piggybacked on Mark’s work to finish blowing off the courts. The ironic thing was once the nets were set up, the scheduling board was hung, the courts were blown off, and the rest of the setup was done, there were four courts with games going and I was the odd man out with no one to warm up or play with. Alas.
Brace, Brace, Brace
Today, my right side was like the Bionic Man—wrist brace, forearm strap, knee brace!
More Newbies
There were four newbies today. Paul, his wife Tori, and their adult daughter. Paul and Tori had watched some YouTube videos so they had at least some basics down. There is another newbie, a woman, but after Barb told me about her, Barb must have trained her herself since I couldn’t find a newbie standing around waiting for training.
Good Battles
I got into some really good games against René and Rick. I had two games partnered with Avery against them and Avery and I won both games. I had the shot of the day in one of those. Rick (permanently playing lefty these days) and across from me, slammed the ball near my left ankle. I managed a low backhand half volley which was a successful passing shot down the sideline for a winner. With a smile, Rick complimented, “I was not expecting that to come back!” I also got compliments from René and Avery on that one.
Later, Eric and I played a game against René and Rick. I think we lost the first one, but won the second. Regardless, they were pretty close good games.
In that the last game with Eric, I asked him what time it was and he said 12:30. Oops. I supposed to leave at noon for a family birthday party at my sister’s house and by the time the game was done and I was in my car it was 12:53 p.m. I didn’t get to my sisters house until 1:07 p.m. and only a few were still eating, but people were happy to see me regardless. Gotta love family! I was in time for hanging out and cake and ice cream.
My brother Matt, nephew Patrick, and me.
ChatGPT
My brother John was messing around with ChatGPT while at the party. He asked it to “Write a children’s story about three friends, one who is a grumpy turtle, one who is a clever rat and one who is a sarcastic goose who all want to cross a lake but can’t.” It wrote a story which was actually not bad, then John asked it…
“Tell a story about those characters playing pickleball”
One beautiful summer day, Tilly, Remy, and Gertie decided to try their hand at a new game they’d heard about called pickleball. They grabbed their paddles and headed over to the park, eager to try out this exciting new sport.
Tilly, being the grumpiest of the three, was skeptical. “I don’t see what all the fuss is about,” he muttered as they set up the court. “It’s just tennis, but smaller.”
But once the game got started, Tilly’s attitude quickly changed. Remy, being the cleverest of the three, had picked up the rules quickly and was able to teach Tilly and Gertie the basics. Gertie, being the most sarcastic of the three, made snarky comments about how it was “just like tennis, but for animals who can’t hit a real ball.”
Despite Gertie’s comments, the three friends quickly became engrossed in the game. Tilly, with his powerful shell, was able to smash the ball with incredible force. Remy, with his quick reflexes, was able to hit the ball in all the right spots. And Gertie, with her ability to fly, was able to cover the court with ease.
As they played, they laughed and shouted, their competitive spirits pushing them to play their best. They were having so much fun that they hardly noticed the time flying by.
Eventually, the sun began to set and they realized they had been playing for hours. Tilly, for once, was the first to suggest they call it a day. “I suppose it’s time to head home,” he said, a little breathless from all the running around.
Remy and Gertie agreed, and they packed up their paddles, each of them feeling a sense of satisfaction from the fun they had shared. As they walked home, they talked about how much they enjoyed playing together and how they couldn’t wait to do it again.
From that day on, Tilly, Remy, and Gertie became regulars at the pickleball court, delighting in the challenge and excitement of the game. They learned that even the grumpiest, cleverest, and most sarcastic of friends could come together to have a great time, no matter what the activity.
Wow, right? Pretty amazing story for artificial intelligence! If no one told me, I would completely believe it was written by a human!
There is a dark side, of course. A friend’s son recently decided to take a semester off from college. He had written a paper for a class but two of his classmates had used Chat GPT to write theirs and both got a better grade than he did. He was obviously frustrated and dejected. Why put in the effort when his classmates will cheat and get a better grade? As a society, we will all have to figure out how to fix this problem.
Wednesday, February 15, 2023 (No Play)
A momentous occasion. I’ve done a fair amount of unpaid coaching—training sessions for newbies either as part of club play or as part of a team of club instructors for a private session—but today was my first ever paid coaching experience.
Also new was the age of my pupils. I’ve never coached anyone quite this young. Kevin is 6 1/2 and his older sister Sienna is 8-years-old. I arrived at Skypark 15 minutes early—6 p.m. was the planned starting time—and their mother, Maria, pulled in with her two youngsters seconds after.
Midway though our lesson, a couple guys showed up and so I set up my portable net nearby to clear a space for them to play. (With our own net, we wouldn’t get bumped by someone seeking to play.)
I have to say, coaching young kids is harder than adults. Their attention spans are shorter and their motor skills are not fully developed. But I had done a good amount of preparation and was ready with drills for evaluation and help grow their ball control skills. I felt the hour lesson went well. I will say that successful serving from the baseline will be months down the road, but it was a good test to see how that would go, but we need to build a platform of skills first. We ended with a dinking game of the kids against their mom and me. I used my undersized training paddle. We let them win for encouragement. We finished up shortly after 7 p.m., so they got a little extra time. I showed the kids how to peaks down and stow a net.
Overall, I feel it went really well and Maria was also happy. I loaned my training paddle to Sienna as she was fascinated by it. Our next lesson should be in about a week. I gave them some drills to work on a home in the meantime. Ball control is the name of the game.
Oh, and I suppose that I should note that I’m not counting coaching time in my court time count.
Number of days on a court: 577 Number of total hours: 2,566.5 Number of paid coaching hours: 1
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What I left work and arrived at Skypark at 6:40 p.m. The truth is, I was debating going tonight or not. My right wrist has been problematic enough that I brought a wrist support with me to work yesterday, although I ended up not wearing it. Tonight, it turns out, was a mistake. I really should’ve rested my wrist. By the end of the session, certain shots were painful. Backhands were particularly problematic both in terms for pain and lack of power as a result.
Cleaning Clocks
When I arrived, Binh was there playing in a game with Avery, Evan (an Asian UCSC student), and Shawnte. Avery stepped out afterward and Binh and I played against Shawnte and Evan. In the first game, we got our clocks cleaned 11-1. We did a rubber match and we lost that one 11-4. We played a third and final game and we were up in that game, winning 7-2. But, they came back and won 11-7 after a 9 point run. At least the last game was respectable in terms of final score.
In that last game, I tried to really dial in and felt I did a decent job of focusing. The better your opponents, the margin for your shots gets slimmer and slimmer. You can’t just go on autopilot. You have to reduce your “cushion” and keep the ball low and as uncomfortable as possible for the guys across the net. Strong opponents take advantage of a ball that’s just high enough to attack—and it’s not a wild attack, it’s a ball that will be difficult to handle due to speed and/or placement.
Newbies
The numbers weren’t right for me to get into a game with other regular players since there are not enough waiting. But there were some unfamiliar faces across the courts. There is a woman named Anna, who is there with her 20-something son Adrian and Adrian’s girlfriend Hannah. I played two games with them, the first one left-handed. Adrian and Hannah are beginners. Hannah was somewhat better but still a novice skill level. Those two games were my community service for the day!
Ouch.
I went on to play a game with David and his girlfriend Minori and also Mike (Colin‘s dad). We played a couple of games with that grouping, Minori and me partnering. Then Mike stepped out and Tim F. stepped in for two or three games. Minori and I played together for all of those games. We lost every game. David hit a hard shot that hit the tips of my fingers of my paddle hand. That was a new experience after nearly 6 years of pickleball. Two hours later, those three finger tips were still tingling and sore with any pressure.
I play a game with Aaron against Paul W. and tall Mike. That was the game that really pushed my wrist over the edge. It was really hurting. That game wrapped up at 9:24 p.m. just before the lights clicked off.
I headed home and iced my wrist.
Wednesday, January 25, 2023 (No Play)
In the news over the past week, tennis greats Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Andy Roddick and Michael Chang will battle it out on a pickleball court in Florida on April 2 for a $1 million prize! They are calling it the Pickleball Slam and it’s arranged by Horizon Sports & Experiences (HS&E).
This one, I’d like to see. The bugger is that I’ll be a trade show that weekend. I hope it’ll be recorded.
Thursday, January 26, 2023 (No Play)
My right wrist is still hurting me, so no pickleball tonight.
Judi, one of my coworkers sent me an email early Tuesday morning and reminded me today about it. It’s an article about the Willowbrook courts out in Aptos and a pickleball event fundraiser hosted last year by the Capitola-Aptos Rotary Club.
With getting PT for my right knee and my wrist hurting, I figure it’s time for a break. I lined up Ted and Eric to open and coordinate Derby Park tomorrow for me. Too bad, tomorrow would exactly be my 6-year anniversary of pickleball, January 29, 2017 – January 29, 2023.
Sunday, January 29, 2023 (No Play)
I invited my son Nicholas to come over and watch the 49ers play the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game. Originally, I was planning to leave Derby early and have someone close for me, but with my wrist hurting I didn’t play at all. Ted called me and asked me to bring down the blower battery. When I got there, he blew off the damp courts and I helped towel them off until he was done with the blower then I headed home.
Damp towels hanging on the tennis nets.
I did share with some long-timers that today is my “pickleball birthday”. Ted said he was surprised it has been six years already. Ted and Eric started at the same time he said—actually a couple of months before me. Eric had immediately injured himself when he started playing those six years ago and was out for a couple of months, so he and I effectively started at the same time.
NFL Stars and Pickleball
Nicholas shared a video on YouTube where active NFL center Jason Kelce and his brother NFL tight end Travis Kelce host the Chief’s quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who is Travis’ teammate. About 40 minutes in, they start discussing pickleball for a couple of minutes. (There is some foul language, so not for kids.)
Oh, and the 49ers’ starting quarterback (their 3rd string) knocked out of the NFC Championship game, there was a bad call that gave the Eagles a touchdown early in the game, and the Niners went on to lose by a wide margin. Teams tend to lose when they don’t have a functional offense!
Wednesday, February 1, 2023 (No Play)
Today, NFL quarterback Tom Brady announced his retirement (which he did last year). What does the Wall Street Journal use as a headline? “Tom Brady Is (Finally) Ready for Pickleball.”
Of course, there was news months ago of Tom Brady becoming an owner of a team in Major League Pickleball.
Sunday, February 5, 2023 (No Play)
It rained this morning and with no consistent sun, so I canceled club play at Derby Park. Good thing too, it rained off and on all day. It was strange too. Sun, rain, sun, rain, sun, rain.
I pulled the trigger and registered for the 2023 Zin 2 Win Tournament in Templeton. It’s the one that Binh invited me to be his partner and we’ll be playing Men’s Doubles on March 19. My wife Kristen is going to a play with my daughter Charlotte (who will be home for Spring Break from medical school) on that same Sunday and with Oliver our corgi recovering from spine surgery—thank goodness for doggy insurance!—she was a bit concerned about both of us being out of town on the same day. I’m sure we’ll figure it out. As far as the tournament, there are a few things I need to trust. That my right knee and right wrist will be playable. That there isn’t some emergency with the dogs. At least being on a Sunday, there shouldn’t be any work conflicts.
Wrist Brace
I got my wrist brace today. As much as I hate Amazon and try to support local businesses, I couldn’t find what I was looking for in town. So the 2-pack I ordered came today. These are the ones that Larry had recommended back in July last year.
Lots of Velcro!
Tuesday, February 7, 2023 (No Play)
Jordan Briones came out with a new podcast this week. “Briones Pickleball Podcast” can be found on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere. I’ve been listening in bit and pieces. It’s over an hour. I did turn it to 1.25x speed since Jordan and his second host are leisurely speakers. The first episode was mostly about Jordan and his co-host talking about their friendship then on to specifics about certain pro players who they know. Not must of value to a non-pro player . . . I suspect future episodes will be more apropos.
Injuries
My wrist is improving. It’s still not 100%. I’m going to give it at least until Thursday to heal.
I have my first PT knee “class” tonight at 5 p.m. at Precision PT.
Friday, February 10, 2023 (No Play)
My sister in law texted my wife and me. She saw an article in the New York Times about a pickleball dress.
Not that I have plans anytime soon to wear a dress!
Trophy
For work, I needed to stop by the local trophy shop, Brink’s. Of course, I asked about pickleball trophies. The owner said some were recently released and went on to say that his wife has been playing some pickleball. He enthusiastically dug out a catalog and looked up a couple of pages that he then shared.
Trophy topper.Plaques.
Who knows, maybe appropriate for our new league.
Saturday, February 11, 2023 (No Play)
A couple of days ago, Maria posted in the Santa Cruz Pickleball Facebook group asking for a coach for her two young children. I’ve been thinking of doing some “official” coaching for a while. (I coach newbies all the time as a site coordinator.) We wrote back and forth and then last night, Maria messaged me a saying I was a go as their coaching. Now we just need to work out a start date.
Other League
Today, Larry texted me inviting me to join his league. He said I’d have to play two matches a week. Between work, injuries, and demands of the SCALPEL league too, I didn’t feel that I could commit. But I did tell him to let me know about the next go-around.
Tennis vs. Pickleball
This video got shared and I couldn’t help but watch a lot of it. Granted, I sped through sections.
I’ll admit that some of the comments posted to the video annoyed the heck out of me. They were talking smack about pickleball athletes. John Isner is 6’10”. Jack Sock is 6’3”. Anna Leigh Waters is 5’6”. Jessie Irvine is 5’8”. Those guys did not just walk onto this pickleball court for the first time and play this game. While the ball and court function to “level the playing field” in pickleball, men and women are generally not equal. (I say “generally“, since, for example, the top female pickleball pros would kick my butt!) Men typically have more power and are, on average, taller and have a longer reach. If you put top male pickleball pros against female tennis pros (with pickleball training like Isner and Sock) into a game together, I have little doubt that the males would handily win. Would tennis players be talking smack then too?
I greatly respect the venerable game of tennis and the elite level of play given its age acceptance around the globe and the prize money involved. I’ll readily admit that it’s an easier transition from tennis to pickleball than from pickleball to tennis. That doesn’t mean that pickleball players aren’t worthy athletes or aren’t skilled. Heck, Ben Johns drills five hours a day from what I hear.
Anyway, I could go on. Obviously, I’m a bit defensive about my favorite sport!
Number of days on a court: 576 Number of total hours: 2,563
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