Author: andrewlenz (Page 163 of 329)

Tuesday, March 15, 2022 (Court Day #476)

Tonight at 8 p.m., there was a scheduled district ambassador meeting. Given than I usually play pickleball on Tuesday nights, I arranged to leave work an hour earlier than I usually do. As such, I arrived at Skypark at 5:30 p.m. Parking was easy. Disturbingly easy. There were two unfamiliar couples playing doubles on one court and Tim and Sam playing/drilling on another. Just six people before me? Wow.

2 on 1

Soon, it was Tim and me against Sam. Sam said he wanted to cover his whole side of the court. I just shrugged. Ok. We beat 11-1 or 11-2.

We played again, this time having Sam only cover half of his side of the court, the side he received the serve on. Surprisingly, resulting score was about the same, 11-2. It didn’t help that Tim and I are both stronger players than Sam!

Conventional Games

Mark Dettle showed up, followed by Judy, then Sharyl. More conventional games followed.

It was a crazy quiet night, No tennis players and only and handful of pickleball players. It was eerie. Where was everyone? Had Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine taken a devastating nuclear turn? Was there some big news we had missed? I still don’t know. Sure, it was the first evening after the time change, but this change made it lighter later, not darker earlier.

I called over to Paul W. asking the time and got back “7:30!” We finished that game and then I was on the road home for the USA Pickleball Zoom meeting.

I went home feeling pretty good about my play. But while I was playing with solid players, points were over a bit two quickly . . . whether it was my partner or my opponents. Playing against stronger players challenges me and could have sent me home depressed but pushed to grow . . . that was not tonight.

Ambassador Meeting

I was home and set up just in time for the 8 p.m. Zoom meeting. Steve Sutton was leading the group. There were only about half a dozen of on the meeting. Steve said it had been decided that skinny singles would soon be an officially recognized tournament event. Also that the background checks required of USAP Ambassadors is part of the drive to make pickleball an Olympic event . . . existing Olympic organizations make background checks mandatory for those involved in running the organization. Steve also talked about funding, retreats, and some other topics before opening up meeting for updates/questions regarding pickleball in the various cities represented. Steve asked everyone but me, but I’m a relative newbie as far as Ambassadors go.

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Wednesday, March 16, 2022 (No Play)

We had a funny event at work. Our youngest staff member (19) spaced out and put his instant soup in the microwave for lunch without adding any water. The result was a whole lot of smoke which set off the smoke detector and the fire department was dispatched! We had Engine 3112 pull up and I had to explain that one of my staff was a dork. The coincidental thing was today was the 20th anniversary of a several alarm fire which occurred under business and shut us down for nearly 2 weeks. It made our building sell like smoke for 9 months! Looking back at an old photo, on scene near the entrance 20 years ago was Engine 3112. (That rig was replaced in the last 20 years, but sports the same number.) It’s not that weird that 3112 was on scene, there were about 6 engines fighting our fire back then . . . though 3112 was parked in almost exactly the same spot.

Pickleball on TV

So, CBS thinks it would be good viewing to see a celebrity pickleball tournament fundraiser on their network. It’ll be a 2-hour TV special named “Pickled”.

From The Hollywood Reporter:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/stephen-colbert-funny-or-die-primetime-pickleball-cbs-1235111617/

And Deadline:
https://deadline.com/2022/03/celebrity-pickleball-special-cbs-stephen-colbert-funny-or-die-1234978928/

It’ll be interesting to learn more about it over the coming months.

Number of days on a court: 476
Number of total hours: 2,260.5

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

Sunday, March 13, 2022 (Court Day #478)

The hardest part of a site coordinator’s job is the decision to proceed, delay, or cancel in the event of wet weather. Today was the time change, meaning we had an hour less sunlight to dry a wet court. My kind wife warned me while I was still in bed, “It’s wet outside.” I got up and took a look. Yep, ”wet” as in no dry spots at all.

Making the Call

With new club officers in January, I wasn’t sure who to contact for delays. The last email I had said Dave Allenbaugh or Leslie. When I texted Dave at 8:13 a.m., he said he no longer had access and to try Leslie or Mark. When I contacted Leslie at 8:16, she said she was out of town and hadn’t done it in a long time, but she’d contact Tony if she couldn’t do it. The “delay until 10 a.m.” email finally went out at 8:51, a mere 9 minutes before opening time. (Leslie said Mark had sent it.) I wish they’d just let me send those myself so they could be more timely, but I can understand concern about control and risk of abuse, so I haven’t even bothered to ask.

At 9:48, I texted Mark that we needed to cancel the session altogether. When he didn’t respond for over 10 minutes, I texted Tony and he sent the cancelation email at 10:09 . . . after the time we said we’d delay to. Ah, well.

Consolation Time

Right before I texted Mark to cancel, Eric S. called me suggesting we drill around 11 a.m., if the courts dried enough by then. I need to to drill badly. And it worked out, I arrived about five minutes after my countered suggested time of 11:15. There were two games going and Eric was there. Allan K. was leaving just as I arrived.

Drills

Eric asked what I wanted to work on. I told him backhand crosscourt dinks which we drilled for about 10-15 minutes. After that, we did the “Get to the Kitchen” drill. Terry Long taught us that one. One player cooperatively serves from the net to the other player at the baseline who then tried to get to the net while the net player tries to keep the baseline player back. If the baseline player survives four shots, they win and the drill starts over.

Skinny Singles

During the pandemic, Erick and John P. played a lot of skinny singles as they were not playing with anyone else at all. Eric and I played today and he showed me how he and John were doing it. After serving diagonally, we’d either stay diagonal or one of us would shift so we were straight on with each other. For me, the right side would always straight (Eric would shift) and the left side would stay diagonal. The intention would be announced so there would be no confusion, so “6-3-cross” or “5-5-straight”. I lost the first game 11-6. I got better as that game went on and I figured things out. In the second game, I had it hammered down and won 11-2. Even with skinny singles, I found myself breathing hard, surprisingly!

2 on 1

Eric and I played a game against Eric (Ann’s boyfriend) who had showed up and had watched us play. Eric and I lost, Eric made a lot of errors. I was going to play as the single against the other two, but it was 12:40 p.m. and Eric S. said he was 20 minutes past the time he was supposed to leave.

Singles

Eric and I played a game of singles. He surged ahead, but I came back and won the game.

UCSC physics doctoral students Evan and Nolan appeared. Eric and I played four games against them. We lost 3 and won 1. They are coming along.

I was very unhappy with my play, though I played better than the two Erics. It’s apparent that I need to work on my low backhands. This is continuing to be an issue now and then, that’s where my right shoulder surgery still hasn’t come back completely.

At 2 p.m., I called it a day. I had things to do.

With the odd schedule today and the clouds, I forgot to put on sunscreen and so I got a little sunburned.

Evening

Another couple of national articles on pickleball!

https://www.shape.com/fitness/trends/what-is-pickleball

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/sporting/a39323873/pickleball-trend-one-percent

Number of days on a court: 478
Number of total hours: 2,265.5

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

Thursday, March 10, 2022 (Court Day #477)

I got to Skypark about 7 p.m. and things were busy.

My first game was played with Sam against a young Asian fellow who goes by TK and his friend Caleb. Sam and I won 11-2. TK was obviously the stronger of the two players.

I had a later game against TK when he had a better partner. He has a wicked fast serve which is hard to handle . . . when he lands it in, and and he has work to do there—fortunately for the rest of us! He got me on his first serve to me. The rest were either slower, long, or into the net. He said he’s only been playing a few months, but he’s already a good 3.0 player. He has a very high ceiling, I could see him getting to 4.0 or beyond.

Adrian and I played 2 or 3 games against Tim and his son Casey. Adrian and I lost every game. Adrian wasn’t playing his best and Casey is continuing to improve and his height gives him a natural advantage.

Singles

Casey wanted to play a game of singles—we didn’t have enough for doubles. I lost 11-0. Yep, I got creamed. There were a fair number of service changes, but I was outclassed. I rarely play singles, but I don’t remember ever being shut out in a singles game before. It’s a very different game than doubles. Casey made at least 2-3 winners that landed on the white lines delineating the edges of the court. It’s hard to defend against that!

And?

Singles game aside, I was unhappy with my play. I really need to drill or my improvement will be slow.

Lights out at 9:30, then off for home.

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Saturday, March 12, 2022 (No Play)

Someone shared a comic strip online that mentioned pickleball. For those unfamiliar with this comic strip, Jeremy is actually a teenager but for this cartoon, he’s seen as a middle-aged man by his friend.

I guess if I was 80 years old, I’d feel less mixed about pickleball getting national attention in a popular newspaper strip, but showing it as a sport for fat middle-aged men. Hmmm.

Number of days on a court: 477
Number of total hours: 2,263

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