Author: andrewlenz (Page 188 of 329)

Sunday, August 22, 2021 (Court Day #403)

It was drizzly and in the low 60s when I arrived at Brommer Park around 9:30 a.m. Three courts were full of doubles and a fourth had two older gentlemen playing singles. Boy. The sunbirds were waiting for nicer weather to play! I waited at least 20 minutes for another human to appear. In this case, Rick and his girlfriend Renee. 5-10 minutes later Steve came. Barb R., alert and kind as ever, called over and offered her portable net. I got it from her car then Rick and I set it up. Of course, about five minutes into warmup using that net, the singles game ended and that permanent court cleared!

Steve’s drops during warm up were consistently great. Mine were miserable. Too high or too low. They did get a little better, but so many months of playing only lefty has left my right a little rusty in some aspects.

On one court, a group of four older women were playing. While I have to give them kudos for playing, it seemed like each shot was an underhand pop up. They’d be eaten alive by nearly anyone else. But, I have to think, pro players would likely think the same about my own level of play!

I played a lot with Rick, Renee, and Steve. We rotated partners after each game. Fun times.

After an intense volley rally between myself and Rick, Renee mentioned that she was in awe of the skill involved. And, heck, we’re not pro players. But that’s one thing that strongly differentiates tennis and pickleball . . . the high speed net rallies.

Chris

Chris L. had appeared with his girlfriend Barbara and they warmed up on an empty court. When Steve left, Chris became my partner for two games, we won both. Chris is a very competitive guy and hates to lose—even in rec play. After you make an error as Chris’ partner, you’ll occasionally hear advice, a grunt, or exasperated body language. Me? I don’t mind losing if I played well and learned something. If I lose while playing badly, that’s just depressing. Regardless, if my partner makes a mistake, I try to share encouragement, “So close!” “I made that mistake already in this game.” “Ooooo, just two inches higher!” For me, an encouraging partner brings out my best play. Negative reinforcement from my partner, while perhaps accurate, stress me out, damages my focus, and typically makes me play worse.

Chris said that he’s moving to Georgia. It sounded like he hasn’t picked an exact spot yet, other than he wanted to find a place that “has good pickleball.”

That reminds me, I heard this week that Wayne moved to North Carolina during the pandemic. That’s a bummer. I’ll miss Wayne’s sense of humor and “banger” style of play.

Out just before 1:00 p.m.

Home

Very late at night, I received an email from a woman named Robin who said she’d reviewed my USAPA ambassador application and was forwarding it to the western directors, but she wanted to make sure the email I used was not my work email address. I let her know it wasn’t.

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Monday, August 23, 2021 (No Play)

This “chainsaw serve” video appeared in front of my eyeballs somewhere. It’s a 4.5 gold medal match in Utah.

4.5 is very much above my skill level—I’m probably a 4.0 on my best day—so I’m not going to speculate or criticize the losing team for maybe occasionally making things harder on themselves. Rumor has it that this “chainsaw serve”—which is a byproduct of allowances made in the pandemic to allow a server to not touch the ball—will return to illegal status next year. Spinning the ball off the paddle during the toss helps create even more spin.

Number of days on a court: 403
Number of total hours: 2,047

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Tuesday, August 17, 2021 (Court Day #402)

I got to Skypark right after 6:30 p.m. It was sunny and warm.

Sharyl was waiting and asked if I wanted to warm up, so we did. Soon Maria joined us. I can’t recall who Sharyl’s partner ended up being in my first game. (It was either Mark, Mike, or Larry . . . not exactly super helpful for you, I know!) Afterward, Maria said I played very well. It didn’t feel that way. I felt that I made a more than normal number of errors—for me anyway.

This was a “eh” kind of night. I played ok-ish. It’s wasn’t a depressing performance overall, but I wasn’t pleased either. And I have a harder time judging the ball in space under lights at night.

Areas to work on:
• Keeping drop shots low but also over the net. (Over is kind of important!)
• Not trying to backspin my deep/high service returns.
• Not hitting the “white tape of doom” with the ball. (See item #1 in this list.)

It seemed like at least once or twice a game that one of my shots would hit the white net tape. That’s got to stop.

Mike B. is a reliably really good player. He’s a good measuring stick for play. My last Skypark outing, I felt that I edged him in terms of performance, but tonight, it seemed that he got the better of me. An example was me being a bit too far from the right sideline and him hitting a dynamite topspin drive out of my reach for a winner.

Out at 9:00 p.m.

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Friday, August 20, 2021 (No Play)

I popped Karen Long a follow up email about her thoughts on me becoming a USAPA Ambassador. She gave a solid endorsement though suggested that I check with Steve Sutton (Western Region Director) about current expectations of time commitment.

I contacted Steve and he said to apply. So I did, with the USAPA online form. Now, I wait. If they take me, great. If not, great, I keep less responsibilities.

Number of days on a court: 402
Number of total hours: 2,044

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

Sunday, August 15, 2021 (Court Day #401)

It was overcast and lightly misting when I arrived at Brommer Park at 9 a.m. It would burn off later. Just like last Sunday, Craig was sitting on the wall waiting. I settled in then asked him if he wanted to warm up, and we did.

Mark G. showed up and joined on Craig’s side as we continued to warm up. Rick and Renee arrived and Rick joined on my side while Renee found a sweatshirt to place over her cold legs while waiting.

My warm up with Craig was a reminder of how successful it can be to dink at your opponent’s feet. It’s a tough shot when the ball is at your toes. I was trying to dink at Craig’s and Mark’s toes. Mark was better at getting the back back but even a few of his ended up in the net.

I think Rick and won that game, but regardless, the game was not lopsided and it was a good one.

There were four visitors from Fresno. One was an African-American woman named Karen. Karen had good form and ripped at least three dynamite passing shots down the right sideline—two against me! It turns out Karen is a former college level tennis player…she said junior college, but still, she’s turned that experience into very good pickleball skills. She has the strongest serves that I’ve seen from a female. She may have gotten me on one of them. She was very pleasant. I’d love to have her visit again.

In that game against Karen, I played my worst game righty since my “restart” a little less than two months ago. I haven’t felt this way after a right-handed game in a very, very long time. I was depressed, disappointed, disgusted, and some other negative emotions all rolled into one.

I did get to have a rematch against Karen. She had Patty as her partner and I had Mark G. Mark and I took a 6-2 lead. They eventually pulled within two points but Mark and I pulled off a win. What a fun game! And I was back to playing my regular solid self. A good place to finish the day.

1:30 p.m. and it was time to go.

Number of days on a court: 401
Number of total hours: 2,041.5

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