Author: andrewlenz (Page 155 of 329)

Thursday, May 26, 2022 (Court Day #500)

I arrived the Skypark at about 6:45 p.m. under cloudy skies and moderate temperatures—not overly warm, but not chilly either. Maybe slightly humid . . . though humid for Santa Cruz County is very mind compared to elsewhere in the country!

There were five courts with games already going, but there were three people waiting to play. One was Sam, who I asked about a game. I asked Mark Dettle if we could set up another net and he pointed and said that there was a bag already sitting on a court. Sure enough, the court right next to the gate.

Harry’s Back!

Harry, who hadn’t seen for quite a number of months, was there with a woman who I didn’t know. He introduced me to his friend, Leah. Sam, Harry, and I set up the temporary net making a total of six pickleball courts. Leah said she would just get in the way so she stayed off to the side and let us set up the net.

Leah turned out to be decent, getting all but the hardest shots from Sam or me back over the net, though Harry is the much better player. The game was a bit back-and-forth, with Sam apologizing to me a few times for errors. But Sam and I got things dialed in with us winning 11-5 or something in that ballpark.

I played a game with Kristin L. against Mark and young Asian David. David is very quick getting around the court and played well, outperforming Mark. We did win that game, but we had to come from behind and then we stretched out a lead.

Spider

Kristin showed a photo on her phone of a massive black widow spider in a web which she found tonight in the locked pickleball bin with all the nets and gear. That’s a bit unnerving! She said she saw one crawl out of one of the temporary net tubes here one time, but was able to step on that one…though she said she’d gone to show it to someone and when she got back, the spider was gone! Crawled away? Yipe! Resilient!

Games of the Night

The games of the night were Matt and Paul against me and Casey. In the first game, Casey and I lost by about a two to one margin. It was the same side of the same court where Matt and Paul beat Tim and me 11-0 in recent weeks. I felt I made an extraordinary number of errors in this game. When Casey and I switched sides and Matt and Paul went to the darker side, that’s when we performed better and went on to win the game in a fairly lopsided fashion. I made far fewer mistakes in the second game than the first.

Young Lucas

Matt had brought his son Lucas to the courts, since his wife (“Spring”, I learned) was out of town. Lucas spent nearly all the session playing video games on a portable gaming device with headphones covering his ears. (It helped him miss some swear words later!)

The last two games of the night started with Paul and me taking on Lucas and his dad. Then the second game was Matt and me taking on Paul and Lucas. Lucas, for being a slight nine-year-old, played pretty well. Sure, he made errors, but also made some pretty amazing shots. Some of them were so good they had me laughing in surprise!

We finished our game about 9:20. Then we talked for about 20 minutes. Paul’s wife’s name is Sara. Matt said that he and his son were going to Arizona to hotel with 17 pickleball courts and will have training sessions as well as a lot of Pickleball and they would be there for a week, with his wife and daughter joining them.

Recap

Tonight, I was not thrilled with how I played overall. I hit 9 shots into the white tape of the net. I do this far too many.

It turned out to be a fairly warm night. When I left at about a quarter to 10, it was still about 60°.

Heel Injury?

Midway through my first game with Casey, my right heel had some kind of pain going on with it. This is unique, and something that I’ve never experienced before. I was considering playing at Brommer tomorrow morning but the pain in my ankle is making me question that. We’ll see. I’ll also share that when you are tired and crawling into bed and get warm, one of the last things you want to do is strap a cold pack on your arm! But I know it helps.

500

Tonight was my 500th pickleball outing. And I completely forgot to mention it to anyone! I thinking playing with a 9-year-old was a fitting way to spend part of it.

Number of days on a court: 500
Number of total hours: 2,332

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

Tuesday, May 24, 2022 (Court Day #499)

I got the Skypark after work at 6:35 p.m. It was quite warm. The parking lot was completely full as were all the closest parking spots on the street leading up to the park. Busy! I had to park on the other side of the stop sign down the block and walk in.

I had to take my daughter Charlotte to San Jose Airport at 8:30 p.m. so I wanted to get in as much play as possible before that obligation cut my session short.

Only Half

But when I walked in the two tennis courts were full as well as the third tennis court which is dual striped for four pickleball courts. So we had four courts available, not eight. As a result there were about 10 pickleball players sitting along the fence and standing around waiting for the two tennis players to finish so temporary pickleball nets could be set up.

Also tonight, Ann had arranged for a “party” honoring Janet who is retiring from teaching this month and is moving to Washington State next month. There were a variety of drinks, some cupcakes, some cookies, and someone had brought garlic bread as well. I later helped myself to half a large fancy cupcake that Tim half brought and cut in half.

John and Peggy and Erne

A group cleared a court and I got into my first game which was with Scott against John A. and his wife Peggy. (As soon as the two tennis players left, which was about 5 minutes into our game, temporary nets are immediately set up and those courts filled.) That was a fun game, Peggy is still a weak link, but she’s getting better with time. Walking off the court, John said to me, “You played really well in that game.”

John had shared between points that he had his first successful Erne shot recently. I gave him congratulations. I have yet to attempt an Erne shot. It’s not a opportunity I’m looking for in games. If your partner isn’t ready, attempting an Erne can leave a hole and give your opponents a winning shot. But, obviously, it’s a very cool shot. Maybe I should be attempting those. I have had three Ernes attempted against me in my years playing pickleball, all in tournaments. The first Erne was hit into my chest. The remaining two—one in the same game, the other in a different tournament—I saw the attempt coming and simply sent the ball elsewhere.

Antlers!

Ann had brought a bag of…I’m not sure what to call them. Costume springy hair bands? Regardless, you’d wear one on your head and it’d give you rabbit ears, antennas, pig ears, or in my case, green deer antlers. We also wrote positive adjectives about Janet on a pickleball for her and we all signed a big card, which was a piece of paper with a tracing of a paddle.

I had a game with Maya against Scott and barefoot Terry. The first game we lost by a significant margin, there is only so much I could do to carry our team. I made some nice shots, even with those antlers slipping off my head!

Looking over, I saw Paul pull off a nifty shot in his game on the adjacent court. To get to a drive, with his back to—and moving away from—the net, he swung his paddle down and back in the direction of the net and successfully dropped the ball back over the net. It was an amazing shot. Could he do it consistently? Bet he’d laugh and say no way, but it was a very nice shot!

Terry, Scott, Maya, and I rotated off the court but then when no one filled it we went back again for a second game, a rematch, and this time my team didn’t have the sun in our eyes. Maya played much better in this game and we actually were leading by a pretty good margin. Terry and Scott came back though and won the game. It had been looking very hopeful for us to win that one, but it was not to be.

Tim and I played game against John A. and Scott. (The antlers went back into the bag for this one!) There was a lot of back-and-forth and it was pretty challenging. Tim and I won that one but it was not lopsided by any stretch.

Game of the Night

The last and best game of the night, was Tim and myself taking on Paul and his friend Matt. Paul and Matt were playing very well. This was the first time when I looked at them and thought, “They could end up better than me.” They went ahead, then Tim and I went ahead, then Matt and Paul went ahead, then Tim and I went ahead and finally pulled off the win. 11-7 or 11-8. It was a fabulous, very challenging game. I wish there were more like that. As we walked off, Tim told me, “You played really well.” I shrugged it off. Did I feel I played well? Yes, but I made some dumb mistakes. Like slamming what would have been a winner into the white tape of the net. Tim replied knowingly, “Well enough!” When I told him that he had played well, he sagely replied, “Well enough.”

Oh, I should mention Paul’s ATP. From my right, Tim hit a dink crosscourt and the ball bounced in then out wide. Paul saw the opportunity. I saw the ATP coming and shifted getting ready for it. But Paul’s shot was outstanding. He slammed the ball hard and very low, literally hitting my left foot. Just excellent.

That last game would not have been possible except for my wife texted and said instead of 8:30, we could leave sometime between 8:45 and 9:00. The game with Matt and Paul took about 20 minutes. When I checked the time it was 8:51 and then my wife had texted asking where I was. I texted back that I was on my way and that was that. Charlotte is flying

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Wednesday, May 25, 2022 (No Play)

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted to rename Willowbrook Park in Aptos after a sheriff shot and killed in the line of duty just about two years ago now, Damon Gutzwiller.

https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2022/05/24/willowbrook-park-renamed-in-honor-of-sgt-damon-gutzwiller/

I didn’t know Damon personally, but he was a friend of an friend. I was told he’d be seen at mass at St. Joseph Church in Capitola with his wife Favi and their kids.

Sgt. Derby Park in Santa Cruz is also named after a local law enforcement member, Sgt. Charles Derby. He passed away of a heart attack in 1972 after nearly three decades as a police officer. He was reputed to be very supportive and friendly to youngsters, going out of his way to befriend at-risk youth.

My next pickleball outing will be my 500th. A milestone!

Number of days on a court: 499
Number of total hours: 2,329.5

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

Sunday, May 22, 2022 (Court Day #498)

When I arrived at Derby Park at 8:50 a.m., there were already seven players there. That is a first. A handful, sure, but seven? Mark G. was drilling with Dave Cox on one court, a game was going on with Larry and Janet and a couple of others, then there was another female player who was simply hanging around waiting for the club session to formally start. It was 53°F and overcast, but it would burn off later for a nice day.

The first games were decent, but then I got into games that were not very challenging.

Newbies

As I was hanging around waiting for my red/advanced box to come up, a woman stopped me, “Are you the one in charge?” I said I was. ”I thought that recognized you from the website.” It turns out she (Lori) and her husband, Scott, were brand new players. They’d heard about the game, knew next to nothing about it, and came to check it out. I got them club paddles and had them hit a ball back and forth out on the grassy area, then came back and explained the basic rules. I then had them watch while I got into my already scheduled game. That was a fun game of Eric and me against Rick and René.

Someone stopped me after that game and pointed out another brand new player, Sonya. I signed up the four of us in a box for an instructional game. That took probably 45 minutes all told…between drilling and then playing.

Come on now.

My last game of the day was a good one. I was paired with a player who generally doesn’t come to Derby. He played well today, but I believe I’m a better player on average. That didn’t stop him from criticizing my play if I made a questionable strategic choice—like driving at Rick from the kitchen line—or I otherwise helped lose a point. When he made a poor shot or missed an opportunity, I didn’t criticize him. Instead, when he made good shot, I complimented him. That is my way. He knows what he did wrong. He doesn’t need me to point it out. When, after one rally, he gave me a hard time for not getting to a shot when he was off the court (and he was a bit slow getting back on)—and I was already fully into his side of the court—René countered on my behalf, “There’s only so much of the court Andrew can cover!”

When the game was done, he called another player over to the court then turned to me and said, “Thanks for playing.” Not, “I’d like to play with so-and-so, do you mind?”, instead he forced me off the court. I had a family party to get to anyway, but still…I took it as rude. You don’t invite someone else to replace a player who may not wish to be replaced. That is very presumptuous. And who says you get to stay on the court?

Fulfilling my site coordinators duties, I made sure everything was stowed in the bins then headed home, annoyed, leaving a couple of games still going on the city-owned nets.

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Monday, May 23, 2022 (No Play)

I emailed the player who made what I considered the rude move, explaining my thoughts on the matter. He did apologize twice in his reply for his “misstep” and that it wasn’t personal. I’m closing the book on that episode and moving on.

Number of days on a court: 498
Number of total hours: 2,327.5

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