Author: andrewlenz (Page 157 of 329)

Thursday, May 12, 2022 (Court Day #494)

Good news. In a recent post, I mentioned the “Mayor of Pickleball”. Well, he is off the hook with a settlement with the City of Denver:
https://denvergazette.com/news/courts/mayor-of-pickleball-reaches-settlement-with-prosecutors-in-sharpie-incident/article_71f1ca98-d142-11ec-be35-771a327bfd1d.html

He really should have asked permission before taking a permanent marker to their floor, but a prison sentence and a huge fine was a bit extreme.

Traveling

My dad has his 62nd high school reunion this weekend. After discussing it with my siblings and my parents, it was agreed that it’d be a good idea if I drove my dad (81) and my mom (77) the six hours to Yreka, CA.

Before we left home, I used the Places2Play app to see if there were any locales nearby with games. Yreka and nearby Montague both popped up! I was very surprised. Pickleball is spreading! Fairly isolated, Yreka has just a population of 7,800 and Montague 1,200. (I remember as a kid, Yreka being about 5,000 and Montague about 900. They haven’t grown that much over the decades.)

I reached out to both contacts listed in the app. Mid afternoon, I called Brandon on speaker—my earlier text bounced since the number was landline!—and he turned out to be a staff member of the Yreka YMCA and not too up to speed on local pickleball play other than their own and he still needed to double-check their schedule. He confirmed they had play there tonight from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. At a reststop, I texted Snow, the contact for Montague. A little later, she texted back that she was heading out of town, but she very helpfully gave me some advice about places to play within a 40 minute radius of Yreka. It’s nice to have options.

Arrival

We pulled into the motel in Yreka at few minutes after 6 p.m. We checked in, unloaded, and I quickly changed. My parents dropped me off at the YMCA—they wanted the car—and I walked in at 6:32.

As quickly as I could, I filled out necessary paperwork with the woman behind the counter and paid my $5. “Through there, take a right, and through the double doors at the end of the hall.” As I turned the corner, I heard the telltale sound of pickleballs—it brought a smile to my face!

I entered a big toasty gym with two temporary nets set up. The players were using orange indoor balls. It would turn out that those took some getting used to. That and the light blue lines on the tan wood floor were not easily seen. (I twice stepped on the kitchen line while volleying tonight and served a couple of times past opponents’ baselines I could barely see.)

I walked up and introduced myself to a tall 50-something man with gray hair named Brian. Brian’s blonde wife Diane was there playing too. Both were very welcoming.

The first game was against Diane and Tito (the size of a college football lineman) with Brian as my partner. All three are solid players. Diane, a lefty, was better than I originally expected. She may not look athletic, but she can definitely get the ball back over the net! Brian and I won that one.

Ken and Aaron

Ken and Aaron were from the Mount Shasta pickleball group, based about half an hour away.

Brian and I next played Ken and Aaron. Brian warned me that Aaron is very good and we shouldn’t hit to him. I replied, ”…unless I want to get better, then I’ll hit to him.” I played the game dictated by a strategy of assuming both my opponents were equal. As it was, we fell behind. Brian and I started coming back—with no alteration in my strategy—but we ran out of time as Ken and Aaron scored a couple of points and finished us off.

Aaron is a good player. I was hoping to get more than just one game against him, and not only my second game, but he packed up and departed, unfortunately.

Lining Up More Play Days

Ken and Brian both said they’d help and see if they could arrange a game for me tomorrow.

I gave my ambassador cards to both of them. Ken said, “I’m an ambassador too!” Diane pointed out Ken’s ambassador sweatshirt and shirt.

Brian said he was on the steering committee of the Shasta pickleball group but didn’t know much about the Montague group.

More Games

There was a young guy named Gage. Gage is a good rough blank and has nice fast serves. He seemed like a newer player. Other players were trickling away, leaving less and less of us.

We rotated the remaining five of us, I partnered with Chris or Diane. Chris, whom Diane had just met. Chris is athletic but is obviously pretty new, not yet being able to handle harder shots. I called a “See ya, Gage!” to Gage as he left. Fun guy.

There were a few rallies where a ball hit the rim of a basketball hoop above the court. These were generally replayed, though once, Brian recognized that the ball they’d hit would have sailed out of bounds and instead passed the ball over as a sideout. Respect.

Closing Time

At 8:15 p.m. it was time to be done. I was lead to believe that the facility closed at 8 p.m., but a few people were still milling about in the building—including a woman on a treadmill—and no one had come to kick us out.

We exited and Brian got my mobile number. Diane asked me for my last name so she could find me on Facebook. She sent me a friend request and I immediately approved it. She said there is a Siskiyou group that could prove useful in find more games while I was in town. (Siskiyou is the name of the local county.)

I let my parents know I was ready to be picked up. When Brian saw I was waiting alone, he kindly offered me a ride. It wasn’t too long before my folks arrived.

I brought my Black Ice cooling strap from home but I hadn’t tossed it in motel room refrigerator before I left. At least I had the massage gun for my forearm, that helped.

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Friday, May 13, 2022 (No Play)

Play didn’t work out today. A woman wrote to the Mount Shasta pickleball email group last night that she was interested in playing this morning. Ken had dutifully replied and CC-ed me telling the group that I was in town and wanted to play. But there weren’t enough takers. Brian had checked in with me too. Good guys.

Is Pickleball Doomed to Fail?

This is an interesting take on the rise and collapse of racquetball and a comparison to pickleball’s growth and possible collapse:
https://thepickler.com/blogs/pickleball-blog/pickleball-fastest-growing-sport-racquetball

Drill Video

And some solo wall drills:

Saturday Play

Things are looking good for a place for pickleball play tomorrow. My right arm is a bit sore. Golfers elbow, a touch of forearm, and with certain motions, where the bones meet at my elbow. But I’ve been far, far worse, of course.

Number of days on a court: 494
Number of total hours: 2,314.5

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

Tuesday, May 10, 2022 (Court Day #493)

Yesterday, my wife and I left my son’s apartment in Durham at 9 a.m. eastern and walked into our house in Santa Cruz about 10:45 p.m. pacific. It was a long day. I finally got to sleep about 11:30 p.m.—also known as 2:30 a.m. eastern! My wife and I were both miserable from delayed sleep, delayed takeoffs, a 3-4 hour layover at JFK in New York, and being stuck on airplanes for hours on end.

Pro vs. Amateur

This morning, a guy promoting his blog, posted an article link in one of the pickleball groups on Facebook. The premise is interesting: What do pros say differentiates themselves from amateurs?
https://www.thatpickleballguy.com/p/3-reasons-why-pros-are-pros-and-amateurs/

And what do they say?

• Great shot execution consistency;
• spending more time drilling than playing;
• better at resetting a point (drop into the kitchen from anywhere);
• better spotting/predicting/anticipating strategic opportunities;
• better ability to adapt to win (changing tactics and having the tools to execute various tactics well).

Time to Play

Arrived in Skypark at 7 p.m. Obviously a few people had recently left, because there were cars parked in weird places but when I drove in there were three empty normal spaces. Things are hopping; there were several temporary nets set up.

Overall tonight was one of those nights that you prefer to forget. I felt pretty good about my play . . . until the last three games.

Smoked

Tim and I took on Matt and his friend Paul. In an absolute stunner of a game, they beat us 11-0. It was one of those games where you just shake your head and laugh.

We had a rematch and this time Tim and I won 11-7.

We played a third game, switching sides, and this time it returned to a lopsided result like the first game, Tim and I lost that one 11-3.

Matt and Paul are definitely getting better, and they have a tournament this coming weekend in Monterey. Matt was saying that there are only five or six teams in the 3.0 bracket even lumping all the different age groups together. I expect them to do well. They should medal.

Maybe I can blame jetlag for my poor performance in the last few games. Tim made some mistakes too but I suspect the number of mine were double the number of his.

We checked the time after the last game, 9:24 p.m. TK and some friends were playing in the court next to us and they wrapped up their game just before the lights clicked off at 9:30.

Um, Keys?

When I went to leave, I couldn’t find my car keys. I ended up taking out a bunch of items out of my backpack’s zipper pocket but I eventually did find my keys. They were in an interior pocket—in the bigger pocket—that I never put them into. I’ll have to be a little bit more careful next time so that I don’t stress myself out thinking that my keys had disappeared and that I wouldn’t be able to get home!

Number of days on a court: 493
Number of total hours: 2,312.5

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

Sunday, May 8, 2022 (Court Day #492) – Mother’s Day

My wife and I landed in North Carolina on Friday morning. And my son Nicholas graduated from Duke University yesterday with an E.E Masters in machine learning.

The ceremony didn’t take too long, there were only roughly 150 E.E. masters degrees conferred. They didn’t announce those who did it, but Nicholas was one of a relative handful who earned a GPA of 3.9 or higher. Nicholas was a 4.0 with straight ‘A’s.

Ephesus Park

The last time I was in Durham, I played several times at Ephesus Park in Chapel Hill. I rechecked the forecast this morning. It rained here and there the last couple of days.

Cold, overcast, and breezy. I was hoping there would be enough players there to play with. I didn’t pack a sweatshirt, so I borrowed my son’s UCLA sailing one. It wouldn’t be warming up like a California day!

Since we only had one car, my wife dropped me off at the courts at 9 a.m. with the intent of picking me up at noon. About 10 people were either playing or warming up. There was a good-sized puddle next to a court inside the fence, but the rest was dry.

The first person I talked to was Jack, who is out playing at the age of 82—kudos to Jack! I told Jack the story of me getting beat years ago at Mitchell park in Palo Alto by an 83-year-old on a challenge court.

(Here is that blog entry from about five years ago:
https://pickleballjourney.com/2017/09/25/palo-alto/)

I brought two paddles, my recently renovated Rogue2 and my brand new Rogue2 Carbon. Both are the identical “Hybrid” shape. I opted to play with my new paddle—of course, right?

Jack and I warmed up, dinking. Jack did well, getting all but the hardest shots back. The wind was affecting some shots, even with crosscourt dinking.

When someone said it’ll be warmer tomorrow, Jack shared, “That’s what my wife was suggesting to me. But I told her, ‘I don’t know if I’ll be alive tomorrow, I’m playing today!’”

First Game

I got into a game with Jack against a very tall man named Steve and his wife, whose name escapes me. They are all 3.0 players—well, Jack might be a 2.5. Jack and I lost the first game—the wife apologized to Jack telling him they’d be hitting a lot of balls to him. But late in the second game—the score was very close—she got nauseous and had to walk off the court. Steve apologized on her behalf, but no apology was necessary.

Next Up

Jack and I played next against Linda and Brian. We got clobbered. Linda said she and Brian played a total of three 3.0 tournaments (60+) and medaled in all of them. There was only so much ground I could make up on my side. Still it was fun.

Linda and I played a game against Mike and Melissa. (Linda’s husband Brian got into a different game with some stronger men.) Mike is either a high 3.5 or a 4.0. Linda and I won the first close game but lost the second in a lopsided fashion. Mike is a good player. Give him an inch and he’ll take a mile. A smidge too high—bam!—the point is over. He’s not perfect player, but I wish he was in Santa Cruz, Mike is a very worthy opponent. Melissa was solid too, though not the level of Mike. There was a slam I made and I was thinking it wasn’t going to come back, but Melissa managed to get it back over and I wasn’t ready. Nice, Melissa! (Reminder Lesson: always expect the ball to come back—and never underestimate your opponent!)

Linda and I stepped off, leaving Mike and Melissa to take on some others. I mentioned to Linda that I didn’t see any players from my trip here in March last year. She smiled and waved at the courts saying she wasn’t surprised, there were fewer people out due to the weather. Linda said she’d put her paddle in the next up reservation spot in the fence (next to mine), but she said she would step out if there was a good “guys game” for me.

Stronger Games

And that’s what happened. Linda stepped aside and I played a game with Brian against John and Bill. Brian warned me that John hits really hard, drives everything, and is great with angles. And John was. But we won. It wasn’t easy to handle John’s hard drives, but I managed to get all but 2-3 of them back over in my assorted games against him. John just needs to develop the other aspects of his game.

Brian had to leave, so Brad—a tall lefty—stepped in. We rotated through players.

It briefly drizzled while playing with the guys and later during another game that made the court mildly slippery but we kept playing (no mad attempts for the ball) and it dried out each time after a few minutes.

I kept checking the time and my phone for messages. My wife texted that they would be there at 12:20…I got another couple of games in!

I felt a bit bad for Bill. Bill lost every game regardless of who he had as his partner. He’s a super nice and humble guy. He did pull off some nice shots though.

As the last and rather quick game ended (Brad and I won 11-5), I saw my son’s car pull into the lot. Perfect timing!

I must have hit at least half a dozen, maybe a dozen shots into the white tape over the session today. I have to R-E-S-P-E-C-T the net. This continues to be an issue with my play. If I clean that up, it’ll make a big difference in my game.

Odds are that I’ll never be back to Chapel Hill. With my son now graduated, there will be little reason for me to return. Life moves on. Alas.

Oh, and I absolutely love the new Rogue2 Carbon paddle. Big fan. It played like a dream.

Fancy Attention

Afterward, my wife and mother-in-law and son went to a deli for lunch, then to Golf Galaxy. At my wife’s prompting, Nicholas has played golf as an occasional hobby since he was little. He played on the high school golf team, but didn’t excel. (He was a far better sailor than a golfer.)

My wife’s mom recently got Nicholas golf lessons as a gift. The instructor told Nicholas that he needed to get fitted for clubs, so that’s today’s project.

I have to say, I felt like a fish out of water at the golf store. I know nothing about golf. I played 9 holes once with my in-laws and son. I felt proud of myself I could even hit the ball with a club! I did get better over the 9 holes, but I have no dream of getting good at golfing … I’d much rather be out playing pickleball! I will admit I did try and imagine if that size of store was full of pickleball products instead!

Golf is an expensive sport. Cheaper than racing cars, but boy. Between equipment, green fees, shoes, a person could blow tens of thousands of dollars per year golfing. Pickleball is far cheaper. I can tell you, I’d be playing far less frequently if I had to pay $50-$100 each day I went out!

The fitting golf pro, Jeff, had Nicholas hit a bunch of differently configured 7 irons while getting analyzed by a computer.

The guy was pretty impressed with Nicholas’ drives. “Most people want an extra 10 yards, you don’t need distance.” Nicholas was regularly hitting in the 180 yards range, and some over 200 yards. We looked it up later, and these are pro distances. Male golfers hit an average of 120 yards with a 7 iron. Fortunately for the golfing world, it takes more than good 7 iron drives to win golf games. It’s like a pickleball player with 70MPH forehand drives. A good start, but you need consistent accuracy and a short game too. You need to practice and play more than a handful of times each year to improve too.

I wandered by a stall nearby and this guy was obviously a real golfer.

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Monday, May 9, 2022 (No Play)

Coincidentally, while sitting on a flight today, someone posted this article to Facebook comparing pickleball to golf:
https://www.desertsun.com/story/sports/2022/04/22/pickleball-and-golf-some-surprising-similarities/7412288001/

I think its a bit of a stretch, but I guess so…

Some Really Expensive Markers!

Here’s another bit of recent news that I missed. On March 14, a retiree in Denver, Arslan Guney, used a permanent marker to remark court boundary indicators in a gym. The city claimed he had done felony damage to the floor—the Parks & Rec staff used the wrong solvent to remove the marker and stripped the hardwood finish—and issued a warrant for the 71-year-old Gurney’s arrest.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/03/28/pickleball-arrest-felony-drawing-marking/

Gruney turned himself in and, of course, got a mugshot taken.

Guney—called the “Mayor of Pickleball” by his local community—received all kinds of support, as you’d expect. His lawyer released a statement today:

Hopefully, this will be resolved in a reasonable fashion. Given that Guney has offered to pay for damages and do community service, it would be a true travesty of justice if he were to serve any time in prison—let alone three years!

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Long post, but hey, what else am I going to do with hours and hours stuck on an airplane?

Number of days on a court: 492
Number of total hours: 2,310

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