Author: andrewlenz (Page 140 of 328)

Tuesday, September 6, 2022 (Court Day #544)

I left work about 6:30 p.m. and when I got to Skypark 10 minutes later, strangely the parking lot was full but not all the courts were set up. Firefighter Rob A. got there just before me, so the two of us warmed up across the net from each other on an empty court.

First Game

Soon, I got into a good game with Larry against Rob and Casey. I played very well in that game making only a few errors the entire time. A bit of a shock, Larry and I won by a decent margin. For Casey and Rob, and well, me too, it was our first game.

Psyched Out?

After that, I got partnered with Rob against Casey and Tim. Some people get the yips when serving. I think I sometimes have a mental block when I feel that I’m inferior and I want make a good showing. Tonight, when I partnered with Rob, I was speeding up shots that I should not have sped up and I made a bunch of other errors. Rob and I played two games against Casey and Tim and we lost both of them. For every mistake that Rob made, I probably made three or four. My play was disappointing and frustrating.

Newbie Dan

Eric, who is Ann‘s husband, brought a friend named Dan. Dan said he played many years ago and is getting back into it. He’s extremely rusty and he’s not too far off from being a beginner. I volunteered to partner with him and we lost both games we played in a lopsided fashion. Those results were expected and inevitable—unless our opponents were to unexpectedly implode! (Which they didn’t.)

The Return of Tristan

Tristan, whom I had not seen for a quite a long time, came tonight. I was able to partner with him for two games against Casey and Rob. That’s a pretty high powered combination against us. Tristan and I lost both games… well, more like I lost those games. Tristan is an excellent player which is pretty amazing considering he’s only 18-years-old. I was a bit dejected after two losses.

The Boys

Paul and his friend Matt were looking for a game but we need a fourth. Retired firefighter Matt Smith said that he and Tim just got clobbered by Matt and Paul. I talked Matt Smith into playing as my partner. This time, I was playing well and we went up pretty fast, leading 6-0. Matt S. started making more errors and I even made a couple myself, so Matt and Paul climbed back into the game and tied it up 8-8. Matt S. and I did go on the win, and that made Matt a happy guy—he said he could leave for the evening on a high note.

I played another game this time with Aaron as my partner against Matt and Paul. This was quite a battle. Aaron has come along way and is doing much better. While it was close, Aaron and I could not pull off a win. The game ended at 9:24 p.m., a few minutes before the lights clicked off at 9:30. I end up hanging out with them and talking for 30-45 minutes.

Lost Wallet

I left the courts and drove to Safeway in Scotts Valley to pick up 2% milk as my wife had requested. When I parked in their parking lot, I realized that I couldn’t find my wallet, so I texted Matt and Paul asking them if they could look. Then I drove back to the courts. I couldn’t find it on the courts or on the ground. It turned out that I had dropped it into the part of my backpack where I keep my paddles. I never do that. But it was unusual that I had walked onto the courts to warm up with Rob with my phone and my wallet still in my shorts’ pocket which I never do either. Lesson: take the time to put things were you normally keep them!

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Thursday, September 8, 2022 (No Play)

It’s not uncommon for people to ask online how to know what skill rating they are. Others will respond with the USA Pickleball guidelines or the PDF created by “The Pickleball Guru“. I’ll often jump in sharing how inaccurate those are and how it often misleads to players into thinking they are a higher rating. Instead, tournaments—or indirectly, tournament players—tell you what you really are.

As far as a written guide, I believe one of the better ones is published by the IPTPA:

IPTPA Rating Skills Assessment

What’s typically not shared is the USA Pickleball skill checklists, which have a similar vibe to the IPTPA assessments:
https://usapickleball.org/tournaments/tournament-player-ratings/player-skill-rating-definitions/

Of course, in tournaments, the problem isn’t players assuming they are better than they are, it’s them sandbagging and signing up for a lower skill group so they can win and collect medals. Or so is the claim. I’ve never experienced that myself. Or it was never obvious to me.

Pipe band practice tonight, but I should be able to play tomorrow morning.

Number of days on a court: 544
Number of total hours: 2,468

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

Monday, September 5, 2022. Labor Day. (Court Day #543)

Today was in the high 90s. It was a miserably hot day. I had originally arranged to meet with Binh, Charles, and Jason at 3 p.m., but Binh suggested that 4 or 5 p.m. might be better. The group settled on 4:30 p.m. which is the latest time I said I’d want to start.

After having trouble locating my portable net—my wife had moved it to a new place in the garage—I was five minutes late to Derby for our arranged time. My net was not needed, since we were the only ones there. (That would change, a large family showed up around 5 p.m. and took two courts.) It was still pretty warm, but the temperature was dropping. The nice thing about Santa Cruz is that it always cools down in the evening.

Jason and I paired up for the entire time.

I recorded our games, here’s the first game:

Jason shared that wanted to leave at 6 p.m. since he had to get up for work very early the next day, but we convinced him to stay for one more game.

Right before I left, I took the five “SCPC” balls that I’d slowly been accumulating over the past few months and put them in one of the two club bins. (I never use them for personal play, people just find them at the courts give them to me.)

It was good for us to get out and play. Jason and I have that tournament coming up this Saturday.

Number of days on a court: 543
Number of total hours: 2,465

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

Sunday, September 4, 2022 (Court Day #542)

Yesterday, I went to the annual highland games held in Pleasanton. I usually go with Jay Salter who taught me how to play bagpipes and is my mentor and friend. He had students competing in the various events at the games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but felt that three days was too many for him. He asked me to tune up one of his students, Brian, who was competing in his first event at 9 a.m. I left my house about 7:30 and arrived in Pleasanton at about 8:30 which gave me about 20-25 minutes to tune Brian up. This was his very first bagpipe competition so I gave him advice based on my own competition experience—telling him to relax and enjoy playing and not stress over it too much. He was very appreciative of the time that I spent tuning and also helping him with his mental preparation.

Brian placed in the middle of the pack at the competition which is pretty good for a first time out, I definitely have to give him some credit. A lot of people never get out to compete in the first place due to the stress, expense, time, and fear of failure. I spent the rest of the day meeting old friends and listening to pipe bands perform. It was a long hot day. I got home about 6 p.m. then headed to a friend’s party with my wife.

Bleh

There occasionally days when you feel a lack of motivation, today was one of those days where just didn’t really feel like going to play pickleball. If I was not a site coordinator I might’ve either given it in a miss or arrived late at 10 a.m. instead of early to prepare for a 9 a.m. opening time.

A nice surprise today was Tim F. walking in. I can’t remember if I’ve seen him anywhere other than Skypark in Scotts Valley. He said that his son Casey wanted to try out Derby on a Sunday and then he’ll be coming shortly.

Casey and Tim took on me and Hugh. During the game, Tim told me, “You are playing like a beast today, Andrew.” Maybe part of that was proper lighting. I much prefer to play during the day than under lights at night.

Hugh’s Gift

So, yes, Hugh was there with his dog Groot and—as he had offered on Friday at Brummer Park—he gave me a T-shirt that he had made up for some of his buddies.

Annoyed

Eric and I started an advanced box and two intermediates added their names under ours. I was annoyed. But the crowd was thinning, and I wasn’t going to be overly picky. It was a uneventful game of very short rallies.

Home

I got out my gift “Brommer Street Bangers” T-shirt and took a photo to share:

Number of days on a court: 542
Number of total hours: 2,463

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