Author: andrewlenz (Page 173 of 329)

New Years Day. Saturday, January 1, 2022 (Court Day #449)

I was experiencing a glimmer of a cramp—or tightness—in my right calf, so I drank some pickle juice. I figured that it was either that or mustard. It was a mere 42° when I walked out my front door. I knew there would be players at Derby, Skypark, and Brommer today with the holiday. I could pick my poison. The stiffest competition would be at Brommer so that’s where I headed and arrived at 9:23 a.m. It would be a sunny day and it would gradually feel warmer than the 54° it would be at the end of my session.

The four permanent courts were full. Jackie was setting up her portable net—and was helping another person figure out how to set up his SwiftNet. I trotted over and assisted. Jackie usually plays with a group of women, but they weren’t there yet, so after the nets were set up, I was in a game with Jackie against a woman named Amy and Steve . . . Steve the spinmeister. We lost the first game 11-5—it was definitely a “warmup game” for me—but won the second 11-3. In the second game, after I made a particularly good shot, Steve kidded, “Who are you?” Steve hasn’t seen me play right-handed for quite some time!

Hours of Play

I played a for a long time, cycling through games. I played a number with Duey and Patty. My last few were lefty older Dan, Patty, and . . . we’ll call him Mr. M since he asked to not be named in my blog. (He plays well, so it’s not that. Maybe he’s on the run from the FBI.) Regardless, both Patty and Mr. M. are respected as good players. I was expecting Dan and me to get killed playing those two, but we were surprisingly well in the mix. We lost the second game 13-11. Mr. M shared, “You were formidable.” Nice compliment.

In the Mix

It was nice to have at least half a dozen maybe ten, players on the courts who were better than me. Imran, Chris Y., and their foursome topped the list. I didn’t get to play with any of those four, they played only themselves though later Imran stuck around and played some games.

It was feeling late. I checked the time: a few minutes shy of 2 p.m. A solid 4.5 hours of play. I called it a day, leaving a couple of courts still going.

What did I learn?

I need to be patient. I need to stop being sloppy with my strategy. I can’t drive against strong players from deep in the court or even from the kitchen line and expect the ball to not come back. The soft game is necessary.

Arm

Steady as she goes. Only mild discomfort.

It was a great way to start a year—playing pickleball!

Number of days on a court: 449
Number of total hours: 2,181

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Thursday, December 30, 2021 (Court Day #448)

There are good days and bad days. Today? Frustrating.

I left work a few minutes before closing, went home, changed and was out to Skypark by 6:30. It was cold. If you exhaled deeply, a cloudy fog would hang in the air and drift.

Underwhelming

Tonight was underwhelming play on my part. A few failed poaches. A few slams into the net—turning winners to losers. Several returns that were too deep and sailed out. And while we were racing to finish the last game before the lights clicked off at 9:30, my partner served and I remembered just before I was about to hit the ball that I needed to let the service return bounce—in my exuberance to keep the game rolling, I stepped in . . . dumb!

Sure, there was a game of Tim and me against Nate and a new guy Colin (tennis background) where we won 11-0. And there was another game where my partner and I were up 7-2, so I played the rest of the game lefty. We still won, but it made the game closer.

The lights clicked off at 9:30 as expected and we were done.

Nate Erne

I’m envious, Nate (as my partner) had a winning Erne shot against Tim; a forehand Erne shot down the middle. And, while solid, he’s still relatively new. To date, nearly five years in, I have no Erne shots. But I’ve never tried. Maybe that’s a goal for the new year coming up. No more chances for 2021, this was my last play for this year! Next year will be my five year anniversary of playing pickleball!

Number of days on a court: 448
Number of total hours: 2,176.5

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

Monday, December 27, 2021 (Court Day #447)

It was a wet morning. I’d decided about a month ago to be closed today for an extended Christmas weekend. There was a fair amount of texting between me and Larry this morning and later I also texted Eric about playing if the sun stayed out. My son Nicholas and I had some errands to run while I waited. We made a stop at Best Buy for a 1TB external had drive for a new (refurbished) DVR that I ordered from the company last night. After my current one failed to record two football games that I’d planned to watch after the fact, it was time! (Super annoying when that happens!) We also picked up a mesh network to replace the two access points we have had in the house but haven’t been doing a good job handing off devices when moving around in the house . . . plus my wife has been complaining for a few weeks about the Peleton bike trainer losing its internet connection. Nicholas and I later got that set up with three access points in no time. Way better.

I also wanted to pick up a new pair of walking shoes so we stopped at Big 5 Sporting Goods down the street from Best Buy. Unfortunately they were out of the shoes in my size, but while there I checked to see how their pickleball selection was going. They had a Head paddle, a Gamma paddle, and three Onix paddles, along with a few Onix nets. The paddles were all between $65 and $85.

This prompted Nicholas to tell me about a demonstration where a PGA golf pro using cheap Walmart golf clubs beat an average playing using thousands of dollars of custom clubs. (Out of curiosity, I just looked and Walmart currently has a $150 set of clubs!)

Derby

I arrived at Derby around 1:30. Larry, Kim (not the Cabrillo instructor), Jules, and the fellow named Steve who’s been showing up at Derby recently were in a game. Eric showed up about 10-15 minutes later. After a while, we had three courts full. Janet appeared too, though I didn’t end up playing with her.

We played an assortment of games, rotating partners. It was more sunny than not, but when the sun went behind a cloud, it got cold.

When the rain drops got large and the chill penetrating, Eric and I came to the conclusion that it was time to call it a day at 4:30. When I was driving home minutes later, the sun popped out again. Nutty weather!

What did I learn?

Larry hit a crosscourt shot today and I hit a forehand drive return with topspin and the ball sank into my side of the net. 99 out of 100 times, that would have gone over. Larry’s spin on the ball caused my error. I was annoyed. Partly at him for making such a good shot (!), partly at me for not paying attention and recognizing the spin he was applying to the ball and adjusting appropriately.

Arm

It’s holding up. No noticeable changes. Chronic soreness with certain motions, But—that’s a big but—I count my blessings with that.

Number of days on a court: 447
Number of total hours: 2,173.5

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