In the last 24 hours, it went public that #1 pro women’s player Anna Leigh Waters has signed with Franklin. That’s a big change since she had been with Paddletek for years. https://youtu.be/hKzgHNGLsOU
New Year
Tonight was my first day playing since last year. Between rain and illness, there was a forced break. That sounds dramatic, but we’re only talking about a week!
While I am sure that I’m no longer contagious after nine days, I’m still having to clear my throat from drainage—I still have a little bit of chest congestion.
I was tired and tempted just to head home instead of playing, but I could use the exercise.
I drove to Scotts Valley in the dark after work, my car thermometer was reading 46°F. Good thing I brought my sweatshirt!
Skypark
Commensurate with the easy parking situation, there were empty courts.
Matt Babb and I warmed up a little until Paul got out of a game then Matt and Paul played against Connor and myself.
We played five games. Conner and I lost the first four in a lopsided fashion. At night it takes me a number of games to get my mojo.
In the last game, we are ahead 9–6 when the lights clicked off at 8:30 p.m. as I was I was finally starting to dial things in.
In the first game, Paul hit a hard shot right at me and the ball hit my hand. I didn’t think too much of it until I looked down and blood was running down my knuckle. I licked the blood off below my knuckle a couple of times and once the game was done, I got a Band-Aid out of my wallet in my backpack. There weren’t any more blood issues after that. During the next game, Matt commented, “It’s like a battlefield over here.” Yes, they were about a dozen blood drips on that side of the court. Oops. I made the point of smearing them later with my foot until they were no longer visible.
And?
If we hadn’t had that last game, I wouldn’t have went home completely dejected about my play. However, I was really starting to play better in that last one.
Number of days on a court: 888 Number of total hours: 3,359 Number of paid coaching hours: 185.5
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
This morning, I woke up with a little bit of a cough, but it doesn’t seem to be anything serious. Pickleball is supposed to be one of the safest sports when it comes to illness transmission, but nonetheless, I used some hand sanitizer before I left work, just in case.
Unless something unusual happens, tonight will be my last pickleball outing of the year 2025.
While we are a week past the winter solstice, it is still—of course—quite dark early in the evening. And it was a nippy 57° as I drove to Scotts Valley.
Teaching
My teaching is supposed to resume with a new series of classes this Sunday, but rain is expected to hit tomorrow and continue for quite some time, including through this weekend. I reached out to Rec.us this afternoon to get an updated list of students since I will need to reach out to them one way or another with regard to this weekend.
Monkey
When I was a kid, on Christmas Eve, my grandfather would play a tune on a tin whistle in time with a battery-operated monkey which would clang miniature cymbals together. And if you happened to whack the monkey on the head, its eyes would budge out and its lips would pull back exposing its teeth and it would screech a few times, then return to clanging the cymbals. When we were cleaning my parents’ house a month or so ago, I rescued the monkey along with its hand-knitted matching Christmas beanie.
I brought the monkey on Christmas Eve this year to the annual gathering at my parents’ house and set it on the mantle during dinner festivities. The next generation thought that the monkey looks nefarious, but to my generation, it brings back fond memories! As I drove along tonight, I could hear the monkey’s cymbals rattling since the toy hadn’t made it out of the back of my car yet.
Skypark
I arrived at Skypark at 6:55 p.m.
My first game was teamed up with lefty Aaron B. against Matt and Paul. That was a fun game. Surprisingly, I started out playing quite well in that game only to get a little more sloppy in the second half. Aaron and I won, regardless, by a few points.
Once the game was done, Aaron said he had to leave, stating that he had been there since 3:30 p.m. Lucky guy, I was knee-deep at work at that time.
Alex, the bird researcher, jumped in and replaced Aaron as my partner.
We lost the first game, won the second, then lost the third. Aside from the first game, which was a lopsided result, the rest of the games were pretty close.
We wrapped our play at 8:28 p.m.
It was 52°F when I left. I kept my sweatshirt on the entire time tonight.
As common with night play with me, I felt that I played below average.
Talking Smack
Pickleball players generally don’t go out of their way to mock tennis players for the sport of their choice. But there sure are tennis players that like to attack pickleball, like this guy: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSvpV5XEso7
Thursday, January 1, 2026 (No Play) – New Years Day
I woke up unquestionably sick today. Congested, fatigued, sick. At least it was wet outside and it was unlikely that I’d get to play anyway.
Evan shared a photo of the Brommer Courts at midday.
No Respect
Remember when I said that pickleball players don’t bash tennis players for their sport, but tennis players bash pickleball players? Yeah, here’s another: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRuq3YgDwWP
Friday, January 2, 2026 (No Play)
Anna Bright shared 26 things you can do to get better in pickleball this year. I feel this is worth sharing…
I was supposed to start my new round of classes today, but rain prevented it. I notified all my students in advance that we’d be starting classes one week later. I’m still not over the bug I caught, but I was well enough to go into work for a short time yesterday. My voice was a bit weird due to the chest congestion, but I was mostly sequestered in my office anyway.
Dwayne Gingrich
Dwayne is a popular coach on social media who isn’t afraid to counter conventional wisdom. He’s got some confidence too, or he wouldn’t post a video like this of him messing up! https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTD5RLGEprC
I commented on it:
This usually happens after I hit some kind of highlight shot. Then this happens. Then you hear the words, “same guy.“
Dwayne replied to my comment with a series of laughing face emojis!
Genie Bouchard
Former tennis pro turned pickleball pro Genie Bouchard was interviewed by Jared of The Kitchen:
Movie Review
So the Lifetime network came out with that Pickleball Christmas movie that aired last month. Well, some guys watched it and shared their comments. I enjoyed this! (It’s not a surprise that they had some critical things to say!)
Did I talk about this already? There were several pro players that went overseas and played exhibition games as part of a tournament in Asia. The PPA was not happy about it and voided their contracts saying proper permission was needed to participate in events not under the PPA purview. But there is speculation that the players were dumped because, unlike other players, these particular players had not agreed to the new contract pay structure rolled out after the PPA/MLP merger. They were getting paid more than other players and many see this situation as a good excuse for the PPA to drop them. Some question, for instance, if top players Ben Johns or Anna Lee Waters had done the same thing, would they have been dropped? (Probably not!)
Number of days on a court: 887 Number of total hours: 3,357.5 Number of paid coaching hours: 185.5
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
Yesterday I was working, so no pickleball for me then. Organized club play over at Skypark yesterday had been delayed an hour due to wet courts. I also heard that Brommer Park was very busy later on.
Today, it was sunny without a cloud in the sky, but it was still brisk in the mid-50s.
While sitting earlier this morning, I noticed that my right knee was bothering me. Like Friday, and it decided to wear my knee brace again. I will admit that I’m slightly vain and don’t want to end up with one tan leg and one pale leg due to the knee brace!
Brommer
I pulled into the parking lot at 9:50 a.m. and the lot was a little bit over half full.
Alec and I lost to Austin and Jesse, something like 7-11. But we won the rematch 11–5.
Me and Alec waiting to get onto a court.
While I was at the net and left-hand side, Jesse ripped a crosscourt drive that I couldn’t handle. The shot came right between my hip and my armpit of my paddle side, making it very difficult to handle. I complimented him about the shot. But Jesse told me, “You had your paddle down! Every time you have your paddle down, I’m going to drive it!” This is why it’s so important to record games of yourself and analyze. I didn’t realize that I was keeping my paddle down while at the net. I don’t know if it’s something that I do all the time, or if it is something I only do when I’m tired. Regardless, it’s something to try to be aware of and think about.
It was busy today, with relatively long waits.
I called it a day at 1:57 p.m. after 4 hours of play.
As I drove away, I was of a mixed mind. Today was a combination of solid play, highlight shots, and horrible shots.
Monday, December 29, 2025 (No Play)
Womens #1 player Anna Leigh Waters has been removed from the Paddletek website. ALW has been sponsored by Paddletek her entire pro career. There is some speculation that she’ll sign with Joola, but who knows.
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