Author: andrewlenz (Page 316 of 331)

Friday, June 9, 2017 (No playing)

June (and some of May) has been a lot of traveling. I flew to Anaheim and with work, there was no time for games. Still, I had a moment that brought a brief smile to my face. This was it…

Funny. A simple ball brings up happy thoughts!

I wrote the following about the kitchen on my plane flight from Orange County (John Wayne) airport to Portland airport today.

Advancing to the Kitchen

People have kept telling me, over and over, “get to the kitchen”. Don’t stay back, it’s imperative, get to the kitchen.
So, I more aggressively advanced to kitchen. And sometimes had the ball slammed back at my feet for a winner.

What the heck? What was going on? Were they just making great shots?

Sometimes things don’t truly make sense until you have context. Then it clicks.

Often, in pickleball, winners aren’t earned through herculean effort, they are gifted by the opposing team. They hit bad shots that provide winning opportunities. Winners are just taking advantage of the gift. A dink that’s too high. A lob that’s too short. Opportunities.

So what was happening in my case?

I was doing one of two things. Either driving the ball at the opponent already at the net or I was failing to execute a proper third shot drop. Both of these provide opportunities to return the ball right at my feet.

So how to avoid providing these winner opportunities? Aside from better shot selection and better technical execution, it’s using expectation and observation after the shot has left my paddle. Don’t blindly charge the net. Be wily. If the opportunity is provided to the opponents to catch you in a disadvantaged location on the court, don’t be in that location! Stay back. Wait. Earn your way to the net. Be patient. Yes, get to the kitchen, but be smart about it!

Portland

I was in Vancouver, Washington for four days for extended family activities—a memorial service (inurnment for my nephew Peter who passed away almost 7 years ago and was receiving a final resting spot) and two graduating nieces. Between obligations, I was trying to find a workable time and place to play. I wrote to an ambassador in the area a few days before I arrived, but I got no reply. After a couple of days, I gave up and wrote an ambassador across the river in Portland and got a quick reply with three additional people carbon-copied on the message. Unfortunately, it was a rainy weekend—as if that is unusual for that region!—and one of the common indoor courts at a school were unavailable due to graduations. There turned out to be a slim window where I could have driven about 30 minutes to unconfirmed court times but I’d have to take the only available car belonging to my parents (who drove up from Santa Cruz) and being late would mean missing a family event. Alas, I wouldn’t get my first indoor playing experience on this trip.

TSA

I did get stopped in the Anaheim airport by security and pulled aside for an inspection of my backpack. The young agent pulled out my pickleball paddle and held it up in the air. “What’s this?” “It’s my pickleball paddle.” “Please wait.” He walked off and returned with who I surmised to be his supervisor. The agent waved the paddle in the supervisor’s direction and asked about it. He got a very quick unconcerned nod and approval and if I’m right, a slight grin as well!

Number of days on a court: 34 (still)
Number of total hours: 97.5 (still)

Sunday, June 4, 2107 (Court Day #34)

Work and other obligations prevented me from playing on Thursday night or Saturday morning. Even by yesterday, it seemed to be at least week since last playing but it had only been 4 days. It’s been busy.

I arrived at Derby Park at 10 a.m. to a full house—as you’d expect for an hour after start time! (Church this morning.)

You can see the $2 donation money jar while games are progress in the background.

Homework!

Jerry Louis was there ready with a folder with my name on it. “Andrew! Great timing!” Inside were handouts for his upcoming class. Homework! I emailed Jerry a few days ago explaining that my original plan of getting back in town on June 12 has changed and I’d unfortunately be arriving late in the evening the day of his first class! Jerry was very accommodating and arranged for one of the July class students to swap a day with me. By the sounds of things, that other person is Dave Allenbaugh who’s on the steering committee of the SCPC.

Goals

I had two goals set for myself today:
1) Make every serve.
2) Hit no ball short into my side of the net. (Unless it’s an impossible shot.)

I failed on both counts! I’ll have to try again next time. It’d hard to make your goals when you get distracted and forget about them!

There was one game of Marianne and me against Eric and a visiting RN from Southern California (as Terry Long told Eric and me). Marianne and I lost, but not badly. There was one point where I wish I had it on video. From the kitchen line at the left, Eric hit a shot short and angled off the court. I managed to dart there, stretch, and barely hit it back over the net. He hit it back toward the open space created between Marianne and me, but I got that one too. Eric hit it again but I was now at the kitchen too. Back the ball went and this time Eric dropped it about 6″ too short into the net. Point won. Marianne was very impressed. I was impressed with myself too! Something I couldn’t have done a couple months ago!

Bagel

The last game of the day was Terri (tall, tan) versus visor Geoff and a woman . . . I think her name was Christine. Terri and won 11-0. My first winning-side “bagel” as they say around the courts. (I was on the losing side a few weeks ago, if I recall correctly.)

Play wrapped up about 12:30 and I hung out about 15 additional minutes since one of the four rank beginners who had shown up was a pastel artist named Erika who is a patron of our family business. Jerry spent at least an hour explaining the rules to the four of them. Once he left, Maree shared her insight on city politics in terms of its impact on pickleball courts.

Brommer News

Google’s aerial view of Brommer Park when it was in better condition—and notice no visible pickleball court outlines! (Older photo apparently.)

It was announced mid-morning to the group that construction would begin in approximately two weeks on the new permanent Brommer pickleball courts:

Later, Dave Allenbaugh sent out the following in a message to the entire club:

“Thanks to every ones great effort, Santa Cruz County has approved four permanent pickleball courts at Brommer Park. This will include re-surfacing the entire area and re-locating the basketball nets. One tennis court will remain which will have painted pickleball lines so we can play with 8 courts, 4 permanent and 4 lined courts.”

That’s exciting. That means no dragging a 40 pound net bag around and setting up a court if you want to play at non-club times. There will be some ready to go 24/7! Cool!

Number of days on a court: 34
Number of total hours: 97.5

Unfinished Business

I forgot to share a few of things.

Unlike two previous slips where I ended up on the ground, I had my first real fall on Monday at Brommer trying to get a shot from Rich. I landed on my right elbow. No bleeding but a scrape and it’s still sore two days later.

And when I played that recent game against Terry Long, he asked if we’d be ok playing with a different ball. He was trying to get used to it since it would be the ball used in an upcoming tournament. We said fine. It was a bit bouncier. Before the first serve, as a test, I dropped it and a typical club ball (made by Onix, I believe) from the same height at the same time and Terry’s came back up a bit more. It was my first time playing a full game with a different ball. I can now totally relate to players online complaining about “such and such ball” being used at a tournament. It does affect one’s game some.

“Good serve” is a comment I hear more and more frequently. I heard it in a number of games on Monday. It’s not so much speed (they aren’t impressively fast) as it is placement. And failed serves are becoming more rare. So, trending up on that front.

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 (Court Day #33)

I got up a bit stiff. I took a couple of Advil and headed to Derby Park. I arrived at 9:10 a.m. It would be a warm day.

One of my first games, if not my first, was with Alan against Jennifer (whom I’d never met) and Deana (whom I’d also never met). Before the game, Allan told me that Deana is Jerry Louis’ mixed doubles partner—that tells you something right there! She’s not one that you’d just look at and immediately say, “There’s a strong player.” (Karen Long looks the part, however.) But appearances are deceiving in pickleball. Ya never know! And Deana played well. That first game was rotten for me. An inordinate amount of errant balls. Alan and I were down badly, came back, but lost in the end.

Jennifer, Deana (“Dee-nah”), Jerry, Eric, Karen Long (in teal), Terry Long (in blue). Waiting to play.

Mike

Mike is growing on me. Maybe I’m just gettting used to him blurting out his feelings when things go awry. And the fact that he’ll put his hands on his knees and bent over in disgust if you accidentally mess up a serve. But he has learned my name. Maybe I’ve earned a spot as a “regular” in his book. And I’m not always going to be a horrible partner—I do make occasional good shots on the same court as him. He’s maybe not super mobile but he very reliable with drop shots and placement. Not perfect—he occasionally bats one into the net—but consistency and control is aspects of his game to admire.

His big beef when we were partners today was me rushing up to the kitchen when my dropshot was too high and got smacked back at my feet in no-man’s-land. He told me not to do that. But, of course, I did it again a couple shots later. He was frustrated and rightly so. But he does praise good shots too. We did win.

Karen

Karen Long and I played against Eric and Mike. Karen makes some amazing shots. Shots you’d expect her not to get, she does. She and I won, though that was no surprise. She covers a lot of others’ errors. If I hit a ball to hit and it got slammed back, she’d return it anyway! Karen is also humble and encouraging. A genuine and nice person.

Things were busy with people lining the fence to play. Games were called to be “play to 9, win by 1”. After an hour, it thinned out and returned to normal scoring.

Last Game

The last game was visor Geoff and me against Eric’s friend Ted and John P. It was back and forth. There was a strong breeze at my back and I had two serves go long. Geoff also had at least one. I’m getting to the point now where I’m starting to get close to John’s skill level. He still has more experience and may be better at the net. I still manage to drop soft shots into the net. The opponents are back at the baseline and all I have to do it dink it over the net for a winner. But no. I drop it into the net. Don’t get me wrong. I do pull it off now and then, but failure is too often and painful! Funny. I’m not even sure, but I think we lost, but it was very close.

Play wrapped up about 12:20. Long and fun morning.

Traveling

My pickleball playing will be limited due to travel this month. I’m heading to Anaheim for work on Tuesday, June 6 and will be returning Tuesday, June 13 from Portland, then gone again on June 16 to Ontario, CA and heading back on Sunday, the 18th.

It’ll be weird not playing for a while. BUT, maybe I’ll get to squeeze in a game in Portland. We’ll see. Though I’m not there for me. I’m there for family. Still, I might be able to sneak away for a few hours.

A break may be good for my body. I’m nursing a sore right knee, a sore right ankle, sore hips, sore back, sore right glute . . . none of it is bad enough to keep me from playing, but still it’s a pain. I’ve played six times in eight days. Or you could say 18 hours of play in that timeframe. I suppose that’s what I get for playing hard!

Number of days on a court: 33
Number of total hours: 95