Author: andrewlenz (Page 230 of 330)

Sunday, July 28, 2019 (Court Day #286)

46th day out playing lefty. Tennis elbow.

I arrived at Derby about 8:50. New guy Bill was already there, as was Chris. It was a quick start today, we had three games going just a few minutes after opening time. Nonetheless, it was a quieter day, topping out at about 35 people. The annual Wharf to Wharf race was today and some players participate in that in some fashion.

Janet was celebrating her birthday week by bringing donuts to share with everyone, Binh and I both had two each. I should have had none, but it is what it is—they were good!

Bryan, Mark G.’s friend from San Jose, visited Derby today. Binh said Bryan was down surfing—a new thing for Bryan, Binh said—then stopped afterward to play pickleball with us. Bryan is a 5.0 player and can make us look silly with little effort.

When Bryan would make an great sharp “angle it off the court” winning shot, I would bust up laughing. He does it so well, it just makes us look incompetent! He’d ask, “Why are you laughing?” “It’s just so amazing!”

I have to say, Tristan is really coming along. It’s amazing to be young. He’s just absorbing and adjusting so fast. There are holes in his game, but he’s quick and is already managing to add spin to shots. Binh and I played against him and Ted B. and lost both games—though in the second, Binh and I had lead for nearly the entire game but lost 12-10.

Bryan told me, “You are doing really well with that left hand.” Bryan played a couple games left handed himself. I can say that with my nearly eight months of practice, I’m better than Bryan when we both play left-handed. But both right-handed, he’d wipe the court with me—I know from past experience!

It was just after 1 p.m. when I left. I was thinking I might get one more game, but too many people had to leave.

Graphics/Club Signage

Karen Long sent out a draft for a SCPC sign to be posted at the courts. It had come to Leslie, Eric, and me. I had about 15-20 minutes to kill before my wife and I left the house, so I popped into Adobe InDesign and redesigned it and then sent it back for input.

Number of days on a court: 286
Number of total hours: 789.5

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Thursday, July 25, 2019 (Court Day #285)

45th day out playing lefty. Tennis elbow.

As a site coordinator, I was invited by Karen Long to a “train the trainers” workshop where we covered Santa Cruz Pickleball Club procedures such as handling new players, injuries, and harassment. It started at 4:30 at a Derby Park. I was five minutes late as I got tied up at work. This week has gone really fast. A lot going on, between ad deadlines and a big parking lot anniversary event and sale on Saturday to prep for.

Terry Long (black cap) leading the first part of the coordinator session as wife Karen (visor) looks on.

Terry Long led the first part and included some rules questions. Being that I have read the rules numerous times and frequent the Facebook pickleball referees group, if I didn’t jump over an important part of the question, I got the answers right. I have to say, it was cool when at one point Terry confirmed a rule by checking with me. I’m sure he knew the answer, still it was nice to hear, “…isn’t that right, Andrew?”

After about an hour and a half, Terry Long gave us some instruction on using backspin on crosscourt dinks.

Karen mentioned in passing that John P. is now a board member of our newly reorganized 501(c)3 club. Well, what do you know! Part of me was thinking, “Gee, I didn’t get asked” but I have plenty on my plate to be honest. I’m already on two non-profit boards and am additionally regularly attend two to five charity meetings each month, my wife complains already.

The funnest part was playing a game against Terry and John P. with Karen as my partner. Terry, to make the game more interesting for him, hit most of the shots to Karen, the stronger player of the two of us. Once, Terry hit it to me and I returned it into the net. I laughed and announced, “Terry hit it to me! What do I do?” Karen and I won 12-10 or thereabouts. It was a close game and a lot of fun. Afterward, Karen leaned in and said, “Now you can say that you beat him playing left-handed!” I dunno, Karen took care of most of the business in that game…

At about 6:40, I headed to Scotts Valley for Thursday night play.

Scotts Valley

[Note: I lost some of my writing for this entry, so here it is again, Hopefully, I didn’t forget too much four days later! I think I did pretty well.]

During a game with Jeanne, she figured out that I was playing left-handed: “I just thought you were playing easier for some reason.” I hadn’t even thought about that, but, sure, my left doesn’t have the power of my right.

During one game, I could feel my right ankle. Fortunately, it hasn’t been bothering me much lately. I did feel my back though, it was getting fatigued and sore as the evening wore on.

A lesson to remember. I was mentally being critical of a partner during a game. “She keeps hitting the ball high.” Or “She should be hitting the ball down during that volley rally.” Then I caught myself doing the same thing. At least I’m honest enough and aware enough to recognize that.

I played a two games partnered with Carol—sho’s been playing for about six months—against Wayne and a guy I’ve never seen before. The guy has a very strong forehand drive. Carol and I lost the first game in a lopsided manner. When presented with the opportunity for one last additional game, I suggested the same teams. It was selfish, of course. To improve, one always wants the strongest players on the opposite side of the net. Carol and I lead most of the game, but stalled at 10 points and lost 12-10.

Near the end, Shawnte said, “Your left hand is awesome.” Everything is relative, of course. Awesome for playing lefty.

Tristan was there. When I asked, he said he wasn’t related to anyone there. However, Jeanne is his neighbor down by the Boardwalk. His mom picked him up. I dipped my head near the open passenger window, and told her, “Tristan is very polite…he apologized after he said the F-word four times.” Tristan smiled and made a face. I came clean and admitted, “He didn’t say the F-word.”

Tristan is continuing to improve. I’m jealous of his ability to progress so quickly. He still makes strategic errors, but that will improve with time.

By 9:23, I was in my car and heading home for dinner. Play tomorrow morning at Brommer is out of the question. Maybe next week.

Number of days on a court: 285
Number of total hours: 786

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Sunday, July 21, 2019 (Court Day #284)

44th day out playing lefty. Tennis elbow.

I arrived at Derby it set up at 8:50 a.m. Wayne beat me there. It was about 60° and lightly misting. (It would be fully overcast until about 1 p.m. though the mist didn’t last very long at all.)

It was not my best day serving. I think I missed an average of two serves per game. Not good.

I got to play a game or two against David Black. Those are always challenging ones. Allan and I played against David and Patty. We gave them a run for the money, but as one might expect, we lost. I did make some nice shots—and some rotten shots—but it was a  game I could get more of. There was at least one point where David let me off easy—instead of putting it away, he angled it softly, passing on what likely would have ended the point. For his generosity, they lost that point!

I had my first ever game of skinny singles today. Deshen—the new Asian fellow whose name I couldn’t remember last time, pronounced “DAH-shen”—and I were the odd men out at the end of the day. We played just the right (my right) side of the court. He went up 1-0, but then I scored all the rest of the points until we got the chance to jump into a game of doubles, leaving the skinny singles unfinished at 5-1. Earlier, when I’d asked, he said he had played a good amount of tennis, but had stopped about five years ago. He’s got strong basic skills, but needs to starting using more soft shots instead of driving as frequently as he is. I was able to take advantage of that in our game of skinny singles.

The last game of the day was Grita and me against Charles and Deshen. Charles isn’t flashy but he’s darn consistent. He does a really good job slicing returns. He got me twice on those deep to my backhand at the baseline. When chatting right before leaving, he mentioned he was a 4.5 level tennis player. That explains his seemingly quick start in pickleball.

Cal was conducting a clinic after the morning club play was officially ended. (SCPC’s reserved court hours end at noon, but we regularly continue after that.) He had about eight players taking part.

It was nearly 1:30 when I finished locking up the club supplies and headed home.

Number of days on a court: 284
Number of total hours: 783.5

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