Author: andrewlenz (Page 202 of 329)

Sunday, March 7, 2021 (Court Day #361)

Yesterday, Mark Renneson (Third Shot Sports) dropped me a quick email asking me to identify who was who of two players on the far side of the court in the game video that I sent to him. I let him know. Maybe he’ll end up using it.

My wife and I would be driving up to my sister-in-law’s house at noon, so I wanted to get an earlier start today. I was at Brommer Park at 8:30 a.m. sharp. I was the first player there . . . I don’t know if that has ever happened before. It was a sunny and calm day.

I was meeting Alain and Charlotte this morning, both from work.

Oleg, Olga, and Patty arrived and took a court to start warming up. I asked if I could join them until their fourth showed up. I got in about 10 minutes before I stepped out to make space as agreed. Another court was occupied by Kristin, Cece, Bev, and another regular woman player whom I forget her name.

I overheard Kristen mentioning something about “lights”. I asked her if people were back playing at Scotts Valley now. She said there is nothing official, but some people are arranging evening games there. Apparently, the city there has not locked access to court light switches.

Charlotte arrived at about 8:45 but Alain was a no-show. Something probably came up at home. I loaned Charlotte my “retired” Prince paddle then she and I warmed up and drilled on a court by ourselves. Today was her second-ever pickleball outing, the first being recently in Sausalito.

We warmed up for a while before I stopped for water and she drank some of her coffee. I checked my phone. 9:15. So odd. Where was everyone? The courts were typically all full with additional people waiting in the wings by now. Wayne arrived another 10 minutes later or so, and we added him to our court.

Mark appeared shortly after. When I mentioned the lack of players to him, Mark said Binh had texted him that he wouldn’t be coming and that maybe others decided to not come too.

First Game

We got into a game with Mark and Charlotte against Wayne and me. Mark is a good and patient instructor. Wayne and I won 11-2—I know it wasn’t particularly fun for Mark. Charlotte wasn’t quite the strong player she had seemed to imply at work . . . I suspect that the skill level up in Sausalito is very low or maybe Charlotte exaggerated a bit. Or they were talking her up to encourage her to stick with it. She’s unquestionably a 2.5 novice player. But her rusty tennis skills should develop. Occasionally, those skills did manifest themselves—like she sometimes hit low strong drives low over the net. Her soft game will need a ton of work. But she’s a good rough blank and seemed to enjoy the experience.

Mark suggested our second game be a kitchen-only/dinking game. It was good practice for all of us. Wayne and I won again by a similar margin. Impressive for Wayne . . . he’s a banger but he’s gotten a lot better at dinking over the last couple of years.

Rick & Renee

I played three games with Wayne against a man named Rick and his lady friend Renee. (I played against Rick and his son over a year ago at Derby Park.) Rick is a righty with shoulder problems so is playing lefty just like me. Rick is making an even better go of his lefty play. I can’t be too hard on myself, today was my third outing in about half a year. Wayne and I lost all our games and they were never very close though they weren’t fast games—their score would just slowly creep up.

Oh, I guess one rally worth pointing out was during one of those aforementioned games. Wayne hit a crosscourt shot that was bouncing near the sideline to Rick’s right and my left; we were across from each other. I saw what Rick was thinking. ATP. I think his mistake was not being patient enough. He did hit the ball around the post but it wasn’t low. I moved over with my left foot outside of the court and was able to hit the ball back, the ball passing outside of Rick’s lefty forehead reach for a winner. Afterward, Rick told Renee to make sure to come over to cover the space when he’s outside of the court—good advice—but I doubt she could have returned my shot. It was low, fast, and tight. Some accolades came my way for that one from the sitting players watching.

In the midst of my games I just mentioned, I got Charlotte into a game with Tim, Karen, and Rob—the firefighter who was my partner for one tournament. She and Rob played as a team. They all gave her pointers. When they were done, Charlotte said she would leave my paddle next to my backpack, which she did. I’m curious to talk to her when she’s back at work on Tuesday and see what she thought.

Last Game

My last game was with David P. (the lefty Asian fellow). When I asked, he said lives in Scotts Valley. We played against Wayne and Rob. It was a close game, but we won 12-10. David played well and made up for my inferior play.

It was 11:20. I needed to get back home and shower and be ready to leave town at noon. It would be tight. They asked me to stay and play another game, but I really had to go.

I played “ok” today. At least I didn’t leave the courts depressed. Playing lefty is still frustrating, of course.

It’s now evening and I can “feel” my face. I bet I didn’t put on enough sunscreen on my face . . . hmmm. Or did I forget and only get my neck, ears, and arms?

Blog Contact

Tom B. filled out a contact form tonight for this website/blog after reading my post from two weeks ago—my very dejected one—and shared some words of encouragement. It was very kind of him to do so. I miss seeing him and other regular players. There are a bunch of people I haven’t seen in over a year. I have hope that we’ll be all out again before the year is up, maybe by summer. County COVID numbers are way down.

Today was court day #361. Four more and I’ll be at a “year’s worth” of court days. It seems like a million years ago that I was visiting San Diego playing right-handed. I just looked up when I started to make sure. I passed four (calendar) years of play unceremoniously in January. It’s been over two years of having to play lefty—no wonder I stopped keeping track of the number of days having to do that . . . it’s no longer days, it’s years.

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Wednesday, March 10, 2021 (No Play)

I saw the ratings guide below on the Facebook Pickleball Forum and thought it was pretty funny, it could be even funnier, but I’ll present it unedited.

REVISED PICKLEBALL SKILL LEVEL DEFINITIONS 

1.0 Skill Level: Beginner 

Calls the paddle a racket, poops in pants, serves overhand, thinks pickleball is a stupid sport for old people, wears huarache sandals to play, is bored and wants to start drinking early.  

2.0 Skill Level: Advanced Beginner 

Thinks the sport was named after a dog born 20 years later, walks slowly through your match, does not close gate, drinks the last beer, hits on your spouse who hates you for poaching, played last 6 months ago indoors at a Michigan Y with his cousin from Ypsilanti, smokes between matches, falls often, serves the ball into the next court. 

3.0 Skill Level

Forgets score frequently, talks during rallies, explains every freakin’ point (well the ball went this way, but I meant it to go there…uh, I know I was right here watching), hits their partner with ball or racket (still) at least once a game, trips partner regularly, thinks the third shot drop has something to do with an incurable disease, has a fit-bit. 

3.5 Skill Level

Frequently misinterprets NVZ rule, hits every single shot with maximin velocity, puts the ball in play roughly 50% of the time, argues line calls, laughs loudly, has new smart matching outfit, lays it up across the middle, only dinks accidentally, frowns at you when you say UP UP UP, calls the score for both teams, leaves phone on during match because daughter is expecting. 

4.0 Skill Level

Sighs loudly frequently, wants you to stay for one more game, coaches you up on every single point, swears like a sailor, practices dinking in garage, pretends to be interested in your personal life, talks crap about ATPs and ERNEs, shows you new paddle (it’s not a racket, newbie), acts like a baby after losing, smashes the living hell out of your weak-ass lobs, plays at 3.5 in tourneys, openly argues with spouse during matches when supposed to be just having fun. 

4.5 Skill Level

Brings 5 paddles, mysteriously disappears after playing once with mixed group of 2.0 2.5 and 3.0s, encourages you to poach so they can poach with reckless abandon, takes every shot across the middle, knows the rules but tells you to look them up so you can learn them, wears two gloves, hits you very hard with the ball at the NVZ (it’s part of the game) because your paddle was not up, subtly blames partner after loss, recommends videos, has stopped playing tennis, almost went pro, was club ping pong champion in 1987, had 3 ATPs and 2 ERNEs yesterday. 

5.0 Skill Level

Knows Ben Johns, has many many medals, post incessantly on PICKLEBALL FORUM about balls, rules, paddles and tournaments, wants pickleball channel on ESPN (cornhole wtf?), strategically hits to your backhand every shot, apologizes for hitting you very hard with ball at the NVZ because your paddle was not up, will gladly give you a lesson for $50, has 7 supercool pickleball outfits, drinks mysterious electrolyte concoction, is way younger than you, patronizes your terrible backhand, would love to play one more with you but has a dentist appointment and will see you at the clinic Saturday. 

6.0 Skill Level

Shows up on the FORUM in foreign places playing pickleball, has savage tan and incredibly white teeth, can beat you in doubles as a singles player, sponsored but still broke, has a cool nickname, returns your ATP like it wasn’t nuthin’ bruh, dropped out of high school to go pro, walks on water, heals the pickleball lame, has a weighted paddle, stacks with partner in fast food line, has met you several times but still has zero idea of who you are, posts videos of 73 hit rallies, wears white unitard, dink…dink…dink then backhand rocket drive that hits you in the head and ricochets off your partner’s teeth. You’re in love, fanboy. 

7.0  Skill Level

Communicates with partner telepathically, lectures frequently on the unified theory of pickleball, only plays for Bitcoin, went viral before covid, appears in David Mitchell novel as pre-Colombia Incan pickleball god, Shroedinger’s cat is doubles partner, played on the moon, serve vaporizes, backhand contrails, body shot leaves you with a permanent tattoo. Damn. 

David lopez (via thE facebook pickleball forum)

Number of days on a court: 361
Number of total hours: 1,020.5

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

Sunday, February 28, 2021 (Court Day #360)

I was meeting Alain from work at Brommer Park at 9 a.m. I was up early and was a few minutes early. Since Alain had never been there, I didn’t want him to beat me there and he didn’t. He arrived about 9:15 or so. I was in the midst of a game.

I got him warmed up and into a game. We played with Shawnte who was very patient and gave Alain advice in a kind upbeat way and without overdoing it.

Today, I played bad game after bad game. Rusty, lefty, new paddle. A bad combination.

Wayne, Alain and I were on a court, hoping for a fourth. It was 12:30. Of the few players hanging around, no one was interested in joining us. They were all either tired or waiting for a promised game. It was time to go.

While today I didn’t play well, it wasn’t as soul-crushingly bad as last time, my first outing in half a year. I’ll try to dwell on the improvement as a positive.

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Tuesday, March 2, 2021 (No Play)

Yesterday, I emailed Mark Renneson a link to a YouTube video of Eric, Jeff, Oleg and me playing a game about three years ago. He had put out a request in his newsletter for videos of playing for some “secret” Selkirk project. I asked Eric’s permission first and Eric was fine with it—though he wasn’t familiar with Third Shot Sports and Mark’s series instructional YouTube videos. I’m not expecting a reply, I’m sure Mark will get a lot of videos from players.

Number of days on a court: 360
Number of total hours: 1,018

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

Sunday, February 21, 2021 (Court Day #359)

Apparently, my shoulder has gotten to the point where it’s not keeping my “lizard brain” from wanting to get out and play again. I got the itch a couple of days ago—it’s been months since I had that feeling. Midweek, one of my staff, Charlotte, shared that she would be trying pickleball this weekend with a friend of hers up in the Bay Area. I asked if she wanted to drill a little bit after work to get her exposed to playing. She agreed and we hit a ball back and forth for about 20 minutes. She used Alain’s backup paddle—he’s taken to just leaving his paddle pack in my office—and we did just the same as I do with Alain, that is, using a stretched canvas as a net and being limited to kitchen drills given the room we were in surrounded by displays of merchandise.

Yesterday morning, I texted Binh to see what what was up with the pickleball these days. I asked if he was playing the next day (Sunday/today) and he said he’d be at Brommer Park with Shawnte and that others would surely be there. Perfect.

My morning was busy, so I arrived at Brommer at 10:15. It was sunny day and I was fine in shorts and a T-shirt. California winters! All the permanent courts were in use. Binh and Wayne were partnered against Shawnte (just inside the gate) and an Asian fellow whom I didn’t know. He introduced himself, David. David is a strong player who is great with angles. He’s a lefty. Judging by his play, he’s a natural lefty and not a forced lefty like me.

My former neighbor, Dave Cox, was there and he gave me a boisterous greeting. I told him about my shoulder surgery and he said my wife had already filled him in. (Dave’s ex-wife still lives next door with their disabled son who Dave visits and occasionally takes for activities.) I explained my absence and the surgery to a number of players.

I won my first game, but it was I was a major contributor to my side losing almost all of my games today. There were some that were close, but I missed a bunch of shots. What was surprising—but should have been expected—was my back got tired and fatigued just like when I first started playing pickleball three years ago. The crouching and leaning takes its toll.

There was a first, one of my serves hit the net cord but landed in the service court well short and out of reach of the receiver. My partner for that game, Dave Cox, exclaimed, “Point!” Oh, yeah. I would have forgotten. The new 2021 rules are in effect. My first formerly-a-let serve.

Kevin showed up and Kent showed up not long after. I warmed them up with dinking. Kent said my lefty play is much better than the last time he saw me play—at least six months. Maybe at the net, but my ground strokes are very rusty.

One of my partners kindly admonished me to hit my dinks crosscourt so they aren’t attackable. And I made an effort to do that, but one I hit forward and it was attacked and we lost the rally. I felt about one inch tall.

In a game partnered with Mike—tall, strong player Mike—I hit a ball a little too high and Rick slammed the ball for an apparent rally winner. But Mike noticed something: “The net is moving.” Rick had followed through into the net. Fault! Our point. A good thing to remember to watch for!

It was 1:15. I was the odd man out. I could wait for an opening, but there were things I wanted to tackle at home, like continuing to battle configuring a VoIP phone system temporarily staged at my house for work. Plus I was so disgusted with my play and didn’t want to subject anyone else to having to be my partner. It’s a horrible feeling knowing that I’m very much the weakest player on a court.

Today was so frustrating and embarrassing. I’m not sure if I want to continue playing pickleball if I have to do it lefthanded.

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Monday, February 22, 2021 (No Play)

I woke up to sore legs. Boy. I am out of pickleball shape. My legs didn’t get tired like this was I was regularly playing.

I had a PT appointment today and he was saying that the ball at the top of my humerus in my shoulder socket isn’t dropping to allow my arm to raise as much as it should. More exercises. I’m going to have to double-down on those. I don’t want to have limited range!

If I’m going to be playing pickleball for years to come, it’s going to have to be right-handed. I don’t think I can handle the frustration and disgust of playing lefty forever.

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Friday, February 26, 2021 (No Play)

On Tuesday, I asked Charlotte about her first pickleball outing over the weekend. She said really enjoyed it and that she and her friend beat a “really good player” 11-0. Hmmm. Ok. Call me skeptical of the evaluation of their opponents. She also said someone told her that she has “the best serve they’d ever seen”. Charlotte does have a tennis background. It’d be great to have another strong player around, we’ll see. She did admit that she doesn’t like the kitchen. “No other sport has that!” I explained how when the sport of pickleball started, one of the neighbors was really tall and would just hit the ball off the court and that the non-volly zone neutralized that and made the game more fair. I invited Charlotte out to play and some Sunday in the next few weeks we’ll make that happen. I’m really looking forward to playing her and determining her skill level firsthand, even if I have to do it lefty.

This afternoon, Brett, one of my staff who has been sabbatical since September, texted today and said he’d like to return to work. He also said he’s been playing a lot of pickleball while away. I was pleasantly surprised. He said, “I want in on the pickleball games.” I asked him a question…

I don’t think I’d ever describe pickleball like that, but ok!

Number of days on a court: 359
Number of total hours: 1,014.5

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