Author: andrewlenz (Page 197 of 329)

Monday, May 17, 2021 (No Play)

I got a surprise email from a guy I know, Reed. Reed and I were best friends when we were living on the same street here in Santa Cruz about 50 years ago. My mom took this of the two of us heading off to kindergarten:

My family moved across town, we went to different schools, life moved on. But these days Reed works two blocks from me at a company that supplies items we need for our family business, so I get to see him every month or so. Reed has an athletic background and coached volleyball for a number of years at the high school and college level:
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1998/mar/04/whitworth-volleyball-coach-picked/

So the surprise is that I got an email from him saying his sister is coming to town in mid-June and she wants to play locally and Reed found online that I’m a site coordinator for the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club. I gave him a call and he said it would be his sister Julie—I haven’t seen her since high school—as well as her husband and Reed’s niece … and Reed himself. Initially, I thought it was just going to be the visitors playing, but Reed said he wanted to play too: “How hard can it be?” I told him the story of my first time out—maybe it was a time or two later, I can’t recall, it’s been four years now—how I was going to “take it easy” on an older woman player and then she unleashed a fast serve that I couldn’t handle! Reed was interested in getting a jumpstart so he’d be ready to make a good showing when he sister arrives!

I sent Reed a couple of videos, one with highlights of pro rallies, and another of me and some locals playing a few years ago. Ok, fine. I’ve shared them before, but here those two are again:

I offered some nights to go play and Reed said he’d get back to me.

Pickleball Zoom Meeting

Ted arranged for weekly Zoom meeting of some of us pickleballers. Unfortunately, his wife was attacked by ants and Eric ended up hosting the Zoom meeting instead. In the conversation, it was mentioned that Ted was working toward arranging a league of sorts using a website that organizes such things, called Playtime Scheduler at playtimescheduler.com. I haven’t had a chance to dig into it yet.

Blast from the Past

It looks like John P., Eric, and I will play Friday night. It’ll be the first time in over a year that we’ll be on the same court. Eric said he’d work on finding a fourth for our game. (Eric is my partner in the video above.)

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Wednesday, May 19, 2021 (Court Day #376)

I got word back from Reed that he, his wife Sunshine, and his teenage daughter Mia were ready to go for tonight at 6:30. We were on for an introduction to pickleball. I had one of my staff close and I left work at 6:10. It had been quite windy outside just before, so I was concerned about that interfering. I arrived early at Skypark at 6:25 and they had beat me there. Fortunately, the wind was negligible. There was a court with four guys that I didn’t know playing a lower intermediate game and a couple of middle-aged women leisurely playing against each other on another. We had two of the four permanent courts to choose from, I picked the one next to the two women.

I spent about 10 minutes explaining the basic rules then handed out paddles and got them into dinking with Sunshine across from Reed and Mia across from me. I took my old autographed Tempest Wave paddle myself figuring I’d use the unsigned side for forehands. Once they got a bit of an understanding of the paddle and ball weights and how they interacted, I had them back up to mid-court and we hit some longer shots. Reed offered, “I can see injuries happening in this game! My sister said she hurt herself playing.” I told him that I’d wrenched my back twice, rolled my ankle, and developed bad tennis elbow. (My right shoulder rotator cuff surgery was almost certainly from playing league summer softball in the outfield, so I didn’t share that.)

We soon started a game with Sunshine and me against Reed and Mia. Periodically, between points, I’d stop and explain some additional rule or some key piece of strategy. They all had difficulty getting their serves in, but got the hang of it with some practice . . . there were a lot of service mulligans in this game!

I had forgotten how bad my old delaminated paddle was. Boy. I hit one shot and it should have gone over but made a thud noise and the ball sailed low into the net! When I wiggled the top edge of the paddle with my other hand, the paddle made crunching noises! Eep! (I have to give credit to Paddletek replacing it under warranty.)

Mia hit a shot between Sunshine and me and when Sunshine reached out for a backhand, she wrenched her back. Grimacing in pain, she stepped off and leaned against the light pole encouraging us to continue without her. (Later she said it wasn’t too bad, just sore.)

We continued with me covering the entire court on my side of the net and getting only one serve while Reed and Mia played their side normally.

With Sunshine nursing a sore back and merely watching, Reed decided that our first game would be the last. At one point, I intentionally hit my serve into the net. (I didn’t want the game to end too quickly!) And strongly avoided hitting any winners. I was up 10-6 and I attempted to miss another serve but to my chagrin, got it over anyway! I gently played the point, just getting the ball back over for each point, but eventually, Reed hit it into the net. Game over. Sometimes, it’s just too difficult to keep a game going—even playing left-handed!

We finished at 7:30. An hour lesson. I fished out my “Pickleball Strategies” handout I’d made up for a club group lesson we’d done about a year and a half ago. I had hoped it was one of the sheets at the back of my backpack and it turned out that I had several still and passed one to Reed.

It seemed like a successful evening.

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Thursday, May 20, 2021 (No Play)

A friend from high school, Tom Carter, stopped in at work to get some picture framing done and said, “Hey, that paddleball or whatever it is you play is really taking off! It’s on the Olympics on TV right now!” “It’s not the olympics, but it might be nationals.” (Knowing that it wasn’t nationals, but I didn’t know what the heck he was watching.) “It’s really taking off! I wish I was the one who invented it! I’m going to have to try it.” I told him to just let me know and, as a matter of fact, I was showing some newbies the ropes last night.

News from the Pros

The big news of the day is while playing singles, Simone Jardim withdrew just 2 points into her second game. Someone said this was the second time she’s done this in a tournament. Having played rec singles, I know singles are draining. A person online complained about singles being scheduled before doubles and mixed at tournaments, saying that you can “lay it all out there” if singles is the last event, while if it’s before, you owe it to your partner(s) to not injure yourself. I get that. On the other hand, from an energy/physicality standpoint, it’s good to get the most demanding event out of the way and “coast” (ha, ha) in the following events where you only have to cover half the court.

[Later note on May 24: I found out that the PPA tournament that Simone was playing in was a “Best of 5” format, that is, a five game match—very demanding. I can sympathize with the physical demands of having multiple finals on a single day when using best of five.]

Speaking of Nationals, the USAPA sent out an email saying it has been moved from November to December. A big tennis event will be hosted at Indian Wells to close in time to a November Nationals, so we’re getting bumped. I say “we’re” as a member of the greater pickleball community, not as a participant. I hope it doesn’t stay in December. I still have hope of playing in Nationals some day—when I can play right-handed again—and if it’s held in December when it’s super busy every year at work, I’ll never get to go. The challenges of running a family business…

Number of days on a court: 376
Number of total hours: 1,067

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Friday, May 14, 2021 (Court Day #375)

I had one of my staff close our business for the day and I was able to get to Skypark in Scotts Valley at 6:25 p.m. There were two tennis players but other than those two, the courts were completely empty. I don’t think I’ve ever been there when there are no pickleball players.

Terry (who likes to play barefooted) arrived a few minutes later, so she and I started dinking back and forth. Allan K. arrived then the three of us warmed up. Since we didn’t have a fourth yet, we opted to start a rotating 2 on 1 game, with the 1 having to protect only one half of their court, all of us changing positions after each service was broken, rotating as the “1”. Kind of like skinny singles on one side, doubles on the other.

At 6:45, I texted Alain to see if he was still coming. The funny thing was, he was in the parking lot when I texted! We were soon in a full doubles game and rotated through partners after each game.

That’s a ‘Pickle‘

While we were playing on a nearby court, two couples arrived to play doubles—one in their early 30s another in their 50s, it appeared. At least one of the men knew the game, as he was explaining it to the women. I’d never seen any of them before. At one point, the man told the women that something was called a “pickle”. I thought it was weird, as there really isn’t any universal convention as to what a “pickle” is. In fact, I’ve never heard it used locally—or in any of the venues I’ve traveled to—over the last four years. Sure enough, Allan walked over to me amused and quietly said, “Did you hear that? He said something was a pickle. I’ve never heard of that.” Terry said, “I’ve heard of a ‘golden pickle’.” I had too, just not a pickle. When Allan asked Terry what a golden pickle was, she gave a good explanation, “When the game is won with only the first server ever serving.” Based on what I heard later, what he was calling a “pickle” was when a member of the serving team volleyed a third shot violating the double-bounce rule. But maybe I misheard. I didn’t ask.

After three regular doubles games, Allan said he was tired from playing pickleball in the morning and swimming in the afternoon, so he called it a day.

With only three of us, we reverted to 2 against 1. This time, we didn’t rotate after each service change but after a complete game.

Singles

Terry wanted to drive home before it got dark, so that left Alain and me. We went on to play three games of singles.

Playing singles is exhausting. I lost all three. It’s hard when you have a fit 20-something who can run a 4.4 40-yard dash and a 50-something who needs to lost 30 pounds that hasn’t been getting near enough exercise! And, yes, I’m still playing left-handed from right shoulder surgery, but still… For the last game, I was leading 7-2 but ended up losing 11-7 . . . go figure! Alain is quick. I’d hit the ball to one corner, he’d race there, get it back over the net, then I’d hit it to the other corner, he’d race there, get it back over the net. Sheesh. Singles is so different and it takes some time for me to adjust—I suspect many people have that problem of adjusting, especially when you don’t play singles much. Even my strategy and experience advantage wasn’t enough to keep Alain at bay. Hats off to him.

It was getting late and I was beat. We grabbed our things and walked to the parking lot. Alain asked about Sunday. I told him that I’d be playing but that I had to leave by 11 a.m. It sounded like he’d come. I turned on my car. The clock read 9:11. “Home, James”, as they say.

A bright side of singles was that even with the demanding starts and stops, my right knee wasn’t bothering me. After the MRI on it, the surgeon was ready to go on the minor tear, but I’m going to wait until it really needs it.

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Sunday, May 16, 2021 (No Play)

I had a meeting this morning at 11:15, but figured I could get in a couple hours of play. That was before I woke up around 2 a.m. and tossed and turned for about 3 hours. I was going to get up at 7 a.m., but after losing that much sleep, I reset my alarm to 8:30. But I didn’t even make it to that. At 8:28, a smoke detector went off at work alerting my phone and prompting a call from the monitoring service. I scrambled and met the fire department for a false alarm. Miserable. At least it wasn’t in the middle of the night. Thes dirty looks from the firefighters weren’t as bad this time. (I’m going to see about fixing this issue. We’re having a smoke detector false alarm on average every 5-6 months. It’s super annoying.) But with the time I got home—approaching 9:30—and with a bit of drizzle and lack of sleep, I decided to give pickleball a miss today. Bummer.

Tonight, I emailed John P. and Eric S. to see if they were interested in playing an evening this week at Skypark. With COVID, they’d been playing singles with just the two of them. Eric has said that once I was fully vaccinated, he’d play with me. I’ll be three weeks—only two are required—past by second shot as of this Wednesday.

Number of days on a court: 375
Number of total hours: 1,066

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Sunday, May 9, 2021 (Court Day #374)

I dropped my daughter off for work and was out to Brommer Street Park about 9:10 a.m. It would be a warm and sunny day. The courts were already hopping.

Vistors

Rick and I played my first game of the day against Tanya and Norm, whom I’d never seen before. We lost 11-5. They are strong intermediate players. Tanya said they usually play at San Juan Bautista. When I asked, Tanya said she is from Hollister. I can’t remember exactly where Norm is from, but also down there somewhere. (Renee later said she and Rick had played against them yesterday.)

UCSC Ringer

Barb called over to me at the wall from her game in progress and offered her net then gave me her car keys to retrieve it. Rick and I set it up, but we needed players. I ended up getting Steve as my partner against Ethan (a freshman biology student at UCSC) and his friend Robby (a junior at UCSC in computer game design). Ethan is a strong player! Robby is still learning the game, but Ethan was all over the court. He even had a flying Erne shot in that game. Steve and I lost 11-8, and Steve is not a wimpy player!

Art and I played against boys next and this time we lost by more—expected as Steve is a stronger player than Art.

Art and I ended up on a permanent court on the far side playing against Norm and Tanya. We got clobbered. Tanya can hit harder than most women players. We lost 11-2. 

In what turned out to be a great game with all kinds of wild and long rallies, Rick and I beat Tanya and Norm 11-6. That was a really fun game. Two guys, us, playing with their non-dominant hands beating two good players. (As mentioned in prior blog entries, Rick and I both are having right shoulder issues and are playing lefty.)

Mr. Ping Pong

Rick’s girlfriend Renee showed up. Rick was in a game, so I asked Renee if she wanted to play. I had never seen them before, but there was a couple sitting on the wall. Brenden (who later told Juls that he is 6’5”) and his friend—maybe girlfriend—Hemmie. After some massively spun shots and some tricky angles, I asked him if he had a ping-pong background. “Did you tell from my grip?” He demonstrated that he was choking up on his paddle. Honestly, I hadn’t noticed his grip, it was purely from his style of play. It was Renee’s first game of the day and she said it usually takes an hour before she’s really warmed up. We were down the whole game and at one point it was as lopsided as 9-2, but Renee and I started dialing it in, she got warmed up, and we came back to win 12-10. We rallied 10 points to 1. Not bad!

Next, I invited Juls to play with me against Brenden and Hemmie. Juls and I mounted a valiant comeback effort, but still lost 12-10.

The Strong Game

Jon B. (with the trim white beard) and I played a game against Binh and Dave Cox. At about 7 points, Dave suggested we play to 15 . . . so we did.  It was a back and forth battle with lots of trash talking. Jon was very animated if I missed a shot or if I got to a ball with my lefty forehand before he got to it with his (stronger) righty forehand . . . he’d drop his paddle on the ground and make a dramatic fuss. Binh would say something like “uncanned” whenever I’d miss a shot. If I wasn’t already so self-conscious about the extra mistakes I make playing lefty, the lack of power, and the inherent frustration that all entails, then it wouldn’t have eventually gotten on my nerves, but it did. Silly. It’s just a game and it was all in fun! Anyway, towards the end of the game, when Jon hit a shot into the net, I dropped my paddle, threw my hat on the ground and shook my arms up to the sky. All in jest with a smile on my face, but I did want to remind people that I wasn’t the only one making mistakes. Jon B. and I won 16-14. Close one. All that said, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely enjoy playing with Jon and Dave and Binh, they are all good guys. I just have to sometimes put on my big boy pants with the thick skin!

It was time for them to roll and there were no games to be had, but my wife was dropping off her visiting mother in the Bay Area and wouldn’t be back to town until 3 p.m., so I was in no rush to go.

Newbies

There were three beginners on an adjacent court, playing 2 on 1. I asked if they wanted a fourth player. The oldest one, the mom, smiled and said, “You’ll need to be patient, these two haven’t played before.” So I met Courtney and her tall kids, Georgia and Gus. Gus—sporting braces—is in middle school, but tall, so probably about 13-years-old. Georgia is a senior in high school and will be heading to college in Southern California. Georgia warned that they’d been playing with their own rules since they didn’t know the official ones. We played two games where I did a lot of instruction about the rules and really basic strategy. They were very appreciative. Courtney said, “We lucked out!” Yep, I’m paying it forward.

Last Game

Shawnte arrived with his mom Carol. Pre-COVID, she’d been learning to play left-handed since she was also having shoulder problems. She was a regular at Scotts Valley. It turns out that she ended up having rotator cuff surgery last year too, but in May, much earlier than mine. We invited an older man to join us, Dave, who I think is of Korean descent. Dave is a lower intermediate player. Shawnte and I were both playing down a notch . . . or at least, not focusing and playing an “A game”.

During that game, I was feeling fatigued. Afterward, I knew why. 2:37 p.m. 5 1/2 hours of play! No wonder.

Sunburned

As I drove home, a familiar car was in front of me. It was my wife. We were driving home at exactly the same time! Funny. Later on, my daughter pointed out, “The back of your legs are sunburned.” Sure enough, I overdid it a bit.

Number of days on a court: 374
Number of total hours: 1,063.5

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