Author: andrewlenz (Page 212 of 329)

Wednesday, February 5, 2020 (Court Day #333)

Yesterday, I had my first appointment with a new PT. It was with Ashley C. at Precision Physical Therapy & Fitness at 8:15 a.m. They are quite the organized technological operation. I filled out forms online, downloaded an app with the exercises . . . well, I get ahead of myself. I spent about 30-45 minutes with her as she measured the range of motion in my wrist, grip strength, had me try a variety of different resistance tests. The hardest part was assigning a pain number between 1-10. January last year was my “10” number—right-handed backhand shots were intensely painful, as where handshakes which brought tears to my eyes. It’s been better since, but it’s because I avoid using my right arm for pickleball and have been playing lefty for over a year.

Ashley gave me two exercises.

The first, I’d been given before, that is bending my right wrist down then holding my right hand with my left then pushing against it with my fully extended right arm. Holding but stopping short of actual pain.

The other she called “nerve flossing” and involved also bending my wrist down, but with my arm straight down at my side, moving my arm straight back then forward, repeating it several times.

She also recommended ice followed by heat to increase circulation and promote healing. She said the end of the day is the most important time to do it.

Derby

I arrived at Derby at 9 a.m. John P. was setting up and Barb S. was already there helping. Wayne and I walked up at the same time. I also helped set up and was soon in a game.

I played a few games and my performance was marginal. There was a guy I’d seen maybe once before. A tall guy with an unusual name, maybe 40, with some skills. John P. knew him by name. Paulo or something. Good player.

Binh and I played two games against John P. and Barb. They are playing in some tournament as mixed doubles partners. Binh and I stacked. I have to say, not having to use my backhand as much makes me perform better . . . it just goes to show where—one of—my weakness is!

Those two games were long and challenging and fun. Binh and I won both, but we had to come back in the second game.

I had to leave early and was out at 11:05.

Second PT Appointment

I headed right for my next PT appointment (11:30 a.m.) at Precision. Ashley got to me a few minutes late—pretty normal for health-related offices.

She worked my shoulder by moving my arm with pressure with my shoulder immobilized against her hip. She also worked the muscle in my forearm with her thumbs. Then she added a stretch to my routine . . . laying on my back, arms straight in front of me bent at the elbows with my open hands palms inward, then raising my elbows toward my head with my forearms parallel to each other.

I was out shortly after noon. Home, lunch, work.

Number of days on a court: 333
Number of total hours: 940

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Sunday, February 2, 2020 (Court Day #332)

I arrived at Derby Park to set up shortly before 9 a.m. I was the first arriver. It was a cold and overcast morning. We’d top out at a measly 19 or 20 players today, though it did get a little nicer as the morning went one.

Almost all my games were with weaker players, which was good since I was not playing my best.

Aside from one shot reaching back to return a lob, every shot today was made left-handed.

Monday, February 3, 2020 (No Play)

I called last week to set up an appointment for PT at a new facility recommended by my doctor. We’ll see if a third PT can make any difference on my right elbow. It’s been 15 months now of pain.

Number of days on a court: 332
Number of total hours: 938

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Thursday, January 30, 2020 (Court Day #331)

I emailed Mark Dettle to see if people were meeting at Skypark tonight. (I’m the last few weeks someone told me that they weren’t meeting there anymore—I figured it was mostly a weather thing where they were meeting indoors instead.) I didn’t get a reply after a few hours so I emailed Sharyl instead and she replied within 5-10 minutes that they were. Excellent. My legs and body were a little sore from yesterday’s mini tournament, but I wanted to get back out and play.

Skypark

I arrived just before 7 p.m. The four permanent courts were in use. (A fifth temporary net was briefly set up later.)

I got into a few games. Stuart was there. I was hoping to get a game in with him since one could argue he was the strongest player there. I did get a game against him and it was telling. His ball placement was excellent. For one point, he hit a sharp crosscourt shallow shot and I really had to stretch to get it and ended up popping it up which his partner slammed for a winner. Arrrgh! Stuart is good with those angle shots.

Husband Ryan

Jenny—who I’d usually see at Derby—brought her husband Ryan. He’s tall and fit, with short gray hair. Wayne and I played against them. It was a good game. Ryan had the perfect answer for Wayne’s drives from the baseline—drop it short at an angle off the court. He did this several times. (About a month ago, I did something similar, but I just dropped the ball right over the net where it just died, impossible to reach.) I earned a few points with spin against the two of them. At least three deep back spin drives were hit into the net. I had a great forehand slice drive. Spins are coming along left-handed.

Jennifer

A woman I’d never seen before named Jennifer was there. I played against her while she was partnered with Shawnte. I had Maria as my partner. After I messed Jennifer up with my serves and spin, I figured that she wasn’t the strongest of players so I told her I’d dial it back a bit. There was a funny moment of Jennifer assuming that Shawnte was younger than she was but he’s 42 and she’s 39. I thought both were younger than that—well, I learned a while ago that he was in his 40s.

The lights clicked off at 8:30. It was mentioned that the City of Scotts Valley neglected to reset the automatic timer after the time change. Oops.

Heading Out

Walking out, I told Ryan, “You need to keep playing. You are going to just get better and better. When I switch back to playing right handed, you’ll be a formidable opponent.” Jenny said, “Oh, yeah. You are playing left handed. You are playing awesome.” “Well, awesome is relative.” (Remember, I’d just placed 7th out of 8 players in our mini tournament yesterday!)

Number of days on a court: 331
Number of total hours: 935

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