Author: andrewlenz (Page 318 of 331)

Prelude

It was evening.

She was a bit sweaty.

I was a bit sweaty.

We were both a little out of breath from the exertion.

Then I heard something every man likes to hear from a woman.

“Andrew, you are amazing!”

Yes, I returned a ball over the net no one had expect me to. Laura exclaimed, “I had already relaxed!” (Thinking she had hit a winner.) I got a few of those back over tonight.

Thursday, May 25, 2017. (Court Day #29)

My sister asked me to pick up my niece and nephew from a class that ended at 6:30, the time when pickleball started at Skypark in Scotts Valley. So, I got to the courts a few minutes before 7 p.m. Maree was there, she smiled and said, “You’re late!” I gave my explanation on my way to park my backpack along the fence with the others near the bench. I was the odd man out, so I have to wait about five minutes before I could join a game. (Deja vu.)

I played my first game with Ted against Bruce and his wife Janet. It was a fairly even game.

Jenny

I played a number of games with Laura, her husband Terry—I had no idea they were married—and their daughter Jenny, whom I’d never seen. Jenny was wearing a T-shirt bearing a phone number: 867-5309. Now, anyone familiar with ’80s pop music will recognize that number as the title of a very popular song by Tommy Tutone, “867-5309/Jenny”:

“Jenny I’ve got your number

I need to make you mine

Jenny don’t change your number

Eight six seven five three oh nine”

I like Jenny already. I remember decades ago, hearing that a family in the San Jose area had that phone number and got so sick of people calling up and asking for “Jenny” that they changed their number!

Anyway, Jenny is not a bad player. Not as good as her mom, but with more playing time could become a force.

Tick tick, tick. Silence.

The last game of the night was Eric and me against Laura and her husband Terry. Eric and I had been comfortably leading but Laura had a serving run like I had earlier in the game. They went up 10-9. I was on the left, Eric on the right. Laura hit a shot as I approached the net. Time stopped. “Just get it over the net. Don’t try to drop it close. Be safe.” I hit the ball back about 2 to 3 feet past the kitchen line. The ball was over. The point could continue.

I’m going to draw from a seemingly unrelated experience. Bagpipe competition. Competing pipers are graded by their regional association, usually 4, 3, 2, 1, Professional. (Sometimes, you’ll see a grade 5 competition, but those are not very common.) Most competing pipers, maybe as many as three-quarters, at any given time are grade 4 pipers. Most competing pipers never make it out of grade 4. I made it to grade 3 before “overuse syndrome” with my hands forced me to stop competing and drop out of my pipe band. Back to my point. (Yes, it’ll make sense in a second.) Unlike higher grades, in grade 4 competition, in most smaller competitions and even some larger ones, it’s not about perfect expression or tuning. It’s about simply hitting all the right notes and playing them cleanly. (The musical fingering for bagpipes is more complex than a casual observer might think. Pipers have to squeeze in a lot of quick embellishment notes. A test performed in the U.K. found pipers to have the quickest fingers of any musician group—faster than pianists, flautists, any number of others.) The grade 4 winning piper is often the one who makes the least mistakes. And why do I mention this? The same applies for most typical pickleball games. The team/player who makes the least amount of mistakes wins.

Back to the game. I hit the ball 2 to 3 feet past the kitchen line when I could have hit it into the net like so many times before. What happened? Laura hit it into the net instead and we won the point. I didn’t need to hit a winner. I just didn’t need to hit a loser.

My great shots are still all too often accompanied by embarrassing shots. But at least there are some great shots that amaze people. That’s at least promising.

Oh, and Eric and I did pull out a win. Despite our errors. We just made less of them!

Play wrapped up and I was in my car at 9:07 to head home for a late dinner!
Number of days on a court: 29
Number of total hours: 83

[Click on “1st Post” above to start at the beginning!] 

Wednesday, May 24, 2017 (Court Day #28)

i arrived at Derby Park also the precisely at 9 a.m. It was overcast and cool. Turnout was lighter. The sixth net didn’t get set up until halfway through the morning.

There was nothing of very significant note today; it felt like a little step backward from Sunday.

Eric and I played against Terry Long and Marianne, which made us fairly balanced. Terry is a 5.0 doubles player and Eric and I are both better skilled than Marianne. When Terry was about to serve me for the first time, I suggested, “Put some spin on the ball.” If I was going to play with very strong player, I wanted to take advantage of it. I didn’t want him to play down to our level. “Ok,” said Terry, “I’ll challenge you.” Boy, he could get some speed on the ball! And spin on serves. I was able to return most of his serves, I think I might have missed one, maybe two. It seemed Eric had a bit harder time, but we were both having off days. I did get Terry with one of my outside short serves where the ball didn’t get back over the net. I earned a “nice serve” from him for that one. Eric and I lost by a couple points. Terry was great in taking advantage of every point opportunity that we gave him.

Lauren and I took on Daniel (whom I hadn’t seen in while) and Eric. After Terry, Daniel wasn’t so intimidating. Plus a month more of experience makes the ball “slow down”. Daniel may have been rusty, though. He put at least a couple of shot shots into the net—no one’s perfect.

Speaking of into the net, I inexcusably hit a couple of relatively easy returns into the net today. The same thing Stuart had instructed me about. “Give yourself time to get up to the net.” You don’t have to hit it hard back. A deep soft return is just fine. I played a game against Mike this morning. He stopped me after and kindly shared, “You don’t always have to hit it hard.” It’s the old “It’s placement, not power.” Or maybe more accurately, “Placement over power.” You can use both sometimes, but placement always trumps power. You can hit a ball at 2000 miles per hour, but if it doesn’t land in your opponent’s court, it’s useless. Mike’s point was angles and drops are your friend. Hit the ball for a winner where your opponents are not, if they let you.

Overall, again, my play didn’t feel like a step forward. But each time out should help improve it.

I wrapped up the day at 12:10 and headed home to shower then on to work.

Number of days on a court: 28
Number of total hours: 81

Wednesday, May 17, 2017 (Court Day #26)

Work went off the rails as there was a big accident on Highway 1 the main freeway between the south end of the county—where some of our staff lives—and the north end of the county—where our family business is! Four of our staff were going to be late to work. So into work I went. By the time all the staff arrived, I went home, I changed and got to Derby Park, it was 10 a.m. I’d missed an hour of play, but that’s the way the ball bounces—or doesn’t—sometimes!

As with any new activity, there are climbs and plateaus and perceived regressions. Right now, I feel as though I my game has plateaued. I don’t think I’ve regressed, but I don’t feel like I’m improving. Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not. But it feels like I’m not. Jerry Louis’ class next month can’t come fast enough. I keep talking about drills, but I’ve yet to make that happen.

Oh, my foot. It’s still bothering me sometimes, but most of the time, I don’t even notice it anymore.

Joyce made a pertinent comment as my partner: “If you are going to poach, make sure it’s a winner.” In other words, don’t screw things up for your partner and accidentally end up in a worse situation when you poach!

I videoed a few games from the side of the court instead of behind the court. I much prefer this view. It’s much easier to tell what’s going on since bodies generally don’t block the action. Like so:

I did send back the Akaso camera this afternoon, however. I couldn’t get the remote control to work even with a new battery and so they said to send it back for a replacement. With shipping cross-country and all, I expect it to be at least 2-3 weeks before I get one back in my hands. I have to say, I do really like the far crisper image over our old GoPro Hero camera.

I could go on about how I’m currently unhappy with my play—such as hitting several service returns into the net or deep out of the court—but here’s a photo after a passing shot I hit perfectly between my opponents—and about 4 inches beyond the baseline:

And they call football “the game of inches”!

Number of days on a court: 26
Number of total hours: 75

—

Needed That

Sunday, May 21, 2017 (Court Day #27)

Having gotten back from a long driving trip and getting to sleep about 2 a.m., I got to Derby Park at 9:10 …

[Rest of post lost due to lame WordPress software error. Stinks!]

Number of days on a court: 27
Number of total hours: 78