Author: andrewlenz (Page 5 of 327)

Thursday, June 18, 2026 (Court Day #937)

I left work about 6:15 pm. after asking one of my staff to finish closing up. When I got halfway to Scotts Valley, the very light mist on my windshield turned to authentic rain. I figured I would get to Scotts Valley and once there, I’d either continue on, or use the overpass to turn around and head home. As it was, the rain lightened up and stopped as I approached Skypark.

Skypark

The courts were never full tonight. And when I arrived, I had the choice of two different parking spots in the lot. The rain scared a lot of players off.

Mo is back from her European trip with her family—I knew she had been gone since she had shared pictures on Facebook. She was playing with Spencer and Aaron Huang. Jax was probably in that group too. They stuck together like glue.

First Game

I saw Shreyas warming up with a tall, thin young man who I didn’t know. This turned out to be Nick. Not long after I got there and was warming up, Chuck arrived. He joined Nick and we had ourselves a game.

More Games

Once that game was over, I stepped over to the other side of the courts and joined Thad against Matt Babb and Mike O’Brien to up the challenge some. We would end up playing a series of games.

For the next game, Matt and I switched partners.

Honestly, I have no recollection of who won those games.

Play Misty for Me

It started misting again and then turned into like a very light rain. Then it went away for a while and then came back again. We continued to play, though a bit more carefully. It was close in this third game, but Thad and I pulled off a win.

On the moist court, Matt slipped and took a tumble. We paused to make sure he was not injured and that he was ready to finish up the last few points of the game. Matt didn’t appear to have hit his head and he said he was fine. Thad and I wrapped up the win and, given the precipitation that was falling, we decided to stop.

We chatted for a few minutes, and then I looked over and realized the courts were dry enough to play on again. I teamed up with someone—my voice-to-text noted “Serra” but that makes no sense, it was probably Shreyas!—and we played against Thad and Mike then we switched it up and I played with Thad.

The lights clicked off as we were close to wrapping up that last game. Summer solstice is in a few days and we still had enough natural light to finish.

It was nice to see some of the regulars out there tonight.

We all left shortly after 8:30 p.m. and as I drove home, it started to mist once again.

And?

Today was a weird mix of not-so-great shots, which I chalk up to being rusty, but also some nice shots. I did get some compliments after certain rallies.

I earned about half a dozen points off my serves that were not properly returned by my opponents. But I did end up with one of my serves in the net.

My left foot was starting to hurt in that last game. My Plantar fasciitis was acting up. It’s not too bad and I hope it doesn’t get worse. It’s been a couple of weeks now with it.

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Friday, June 19, 2026 (No Play)

Last month, a woman was arrested for felony assault during a pickleball game in Florida after she allegedly hit a man repeatedly in the face and head with her paddle. The police said there was a lot of blood involved and there were a number of drops of blood on the court after the incident, so this was not a little thing.
https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/pickleball-player-facing-felony-charges-after-bloody-match-st-augustine-park/WNZWEIUSXNDRBOKPRH56Z266HY/
She pled “not guilty” this week.

The woman was 47-year-old nurse named Michelle Bannister though she gave a fake name, “Aiyanna Lei”… which sounds a whole lot like “Anna Leigh” like in #1 women’s player, Anna Leigh Waters! So funny!

Next Generation Player

This past weekend, at the Boise PPA Challenger, Kelly Goodnow won the women’s doubles title with Carlota Trevino. Kelly, at 14 years and 3 months, became PPA Tour’s youngest gold medallist ever. Back in 2021, Anna Leigh Waters won her first PPA gold at 14 years and 6 months.
Now, to add some context, this was done at a Challenger event, not the main PPA tour with the top pros. When ALW did it five years ago, it was against the top pros and she has been a force ever since. One could argue that competition is harder these days—which is generally true—but I believe it would be a stretch to say that the Challenger pool today is better than the top players were 5 years ago. 15 years ago, very possibly.
https://kellygoodnow.com/
https://ppatour.com/athlete/kelly-goodnow/
https://www.instagram.com/kelly.goodnow/

Great Rally

This is a very good rally from PPA Tour Asia:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZw_jDfTEFz
I kind of wonder if there would have been a speedup sooner with PPA players here in the USA. I mean, there are dink rallies and there are speedups but the ratio seems a bit heavy on dinking, but the sample size is small (1) and I have never stopped to really analyze, so take this with a huge grain of salt!

Another Altercation

More fighting on the court… this time at Poinsettia Park in Carlsbad near San Diego.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZx-MqJxS6T

Aireo Paddle Interview

Matthias Kling, co-founder of Aireo Sports, who lives about an hour from me, is appearing on a podcast that I’d never heard of, This is Pickleball Podcast.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZqJ1KVv71d/
It should be out soon. I’m assuming it’s going through editing first.

Just for kicks, here is Matthias’ personal Instagram account:
https://www.instagram.com/klingmatthias

Number of days on a court: 937
Number of total hours: 3,479
Number of paid coaching hours: 215.5

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

Sunday, June 14, 2026 (Court Day #936)

I’m still dealing with varying degrees of plantar fasciitis in my left foot. And my right knee continues to be mildly painful here and there.

Derby Park

It was overcast and in the low 60s.

I arrived at the court at Derby Park a little bit before 10 a.m. It was a club day, so we were using the dry-erase board to sign up for courts.

I played with a lot of players today who I didn’t know. As the sport continues to grow, there are more and more players whom I don’t know. Especially at venues and/times that I don’t frequent often.

Games

In my first game, I was paired with Rob and me against Laurent and Pat. We won 11-3.

Then Pat and I won 11-5 versus Rob and Jesse.

It was 10:45 a.m. at this point and there was a bit of a wait between games.

Pat and I lost 8-11 against Rob and Arno.

My last game was with a man named Ford against Pat and Sean McElhaney. We lost 8-11. To be honest, it was kind of surprised that it was that close. Ford is a total banger. I don’t think I saw him hit one drop shot or one dink the entire game. That said, he does have good hand-eye coordination and good drives.

Time to Go

It was still busy and by the time I would have gotten into another game and completed it, it would likely have been another 30 minutes. I wanted to be heading home no later than about noon to get ready to teach, so given that it was 11:50 a.m., I made the decision to simply leave instead of pushing things and causing stress later!

There are shots today that I definitely chalk up to being rusty. I’ve played so little in the last month. A couple shots into the net.  A serve or two that were long. Shots that I’m very used to making but missed.

There was nothing of great note today.

Skypark Sign

The City of Scotts Valley has modified the Rec.us sign at Skypark to cover up the Rec logo and add their own QR code. But you’ll notice that there are still references to Rec.us on the other sign further from the gate. I’m sure they’ll get that figured out sooner or later. I’ll drop them a note to make sure they are aware.

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Monday, June 15, 2026 (No Play)

I finished up designing, printing, and laminating the posters/fliers for the club’s annual social event. It was decided to try and keep the cost down, so it was moved to daytime instead of evening. Unfortunately, it will be at a time that I will be teaching, so I can’t go. Ah, well.

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Tuesday, June 16, 2026 (No Play)

There’s been another settlement in the patent infringement lawsuit brought by Joola against various paddle companies, this time the settlement is with Proton:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DZpo9GrxBKn/

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Wednesday, June 17, 2026 (No Play)

According to the SFIA, 2.5 million children ages 6 to 12 played pickleball in 2025:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DZsy7mySXRG
When people say that pickleball is only for “old people,” tell them this!

Lonely Paddles

This is hilarious:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZaqcaYqvZG/
(Though they show padel paddles at the end of the clip! Faux pas!)

Number of days on a court: 936
Number of total hours: 3,477
Number of paid coaching hours: 215.5

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

Monday, June 8, 2026 (Court Day #935)

This morning didn’t quite go as planned. I conducted an interview at work (which went well), followed by coordinating some things at work and then I ended up on the phone with AT&T for over 40 minutes trying to navigate all kinds of billing headaches before telling them that I just couldn’t continue to wait and I really needed to leave for a meeting. It was unresolved, so I’ll need to spend some time on the phone with them again in the future.

Board Meeting

As it was, I arrived at the SCPC board meeting about 20 minutes late. The meeting was pretty routine. Nothing earth-shattering. Talk about the website and the upcoming club social event in August and the condition of various court venues, etc.

A few of us stayed to play after the meeting ended.

Games

Mark and I played against Allan Goldberg and a middle-aged Asian woman whom I don’t know. We finished up that game and I still wanted to play.

On a court nearby, a mother and her daughter were playing. I didn’t recognize the mom with the hat and sunglasses, but it was Julie A., a good friend of my wife… plus Julie was part of a private group that I coached last year. I’d never met her daughter Jillian.

Mark played with Julie and I played with Jillian. It was Jillian’s third time out.

Mark and I have differing opinions about what serve is easier for a beginner. Ultimately, each person is different, but I’m inclined to start with a drop serve versus a volley serve—especially after Jillian was initially having trouble with the volley serve. Mark was very vocal of his opinion that the volley serve is easier to learn. In my three years of teaching rank beginners, I’ve found most people have an easier go of it with the drop serve and hitting the ball off the bounce. All that said, Jillian did eventually seem to have an easier time with a volley serve after more attempts. Of course, she might have had faster success with more practice on the drop serve… but as I said, each person is different.

After the first game, we switched partners played again.

Once that game was finished, Mark needed to go and I needed to make a return to work.

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Tuesday, June 9, 2026 (No Play)

Womens #1 player, Anna Leigh Waters, was named to Time Magazine’s “The 100 Most Influential People in Sports 2026“:
https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026

And here’s the link directly to the snippet about her:
https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/anna-leigh-waters

“As pickleball popularity has soared since the COVID pandemic, and the sport has become a ubiquitous presence in communities across the United States, one player has set a standard of excellence. Anna Leigh Waters, 19, the top-ranked player in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles on the PPA (Pro Pickleball Association) Tour, is not just the best; she’s nearly unbeatable. Waters, who lives in Boynton Beach, Fla., discovered pickleball in 2017 when her grandfather introduced her to the game in Pennsylvania–her family had evacuated up north during Hurricane Irma–and she and her mother started playing at a local club back in Florida. Waters turned pro at 12, making her the youngest professional pickleball player ever, and climbed to the top of the rankings at 15. In January, Nike signed her as its first pickleball athlete, which has only raised her profile. During Super Bowl week in February she appeared on The Pat McAfee Show and snapped a photo with Joe Montana.”

A quick story.
Back in the 1980s, my uncle Ed’s second marriage was to a woman (who did modeling) and he gained two blonde teenage step-daughters, the slightly older one being Kim. The younger one, Kiersten, was walking after school when a man in a convertible stopped and, with sparkling smile, asked her if she needed a ride. She shared that she, in fact, did need a ride home. The man had her get into his car and off they went. After a few blocks, he asked how old she was.
“17.”
He immediately pulled over and gave her an order: “Out!”
The driver of the car? Joe Montana, famous quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers. (In fact, Joe Montana appeared on the cover of TIME magazine in the early 1980s—I remember pulling that issue out of my parent’s mailbox when I was in high school. I also recall the photo looking obviously airbrushed!) This took place within a few miles of where Dwight Clark—the legendary wide receiver on Joe’s team—quietly lived in Capitola.
Joe was divorced in 1984 and married to his third wife in February 1985. I don’t know exactly when the above event happened, but I’d hope it was in the small gap between his second marriage and his third marriage.
My uncle Ed and his second wife later divorced and I lost close contact with that family. (Though I am still Facebook friends with my former cousins.) From what I heard, Kiersten went on to do a little of her own modeling before getting disillusioned with the demands of the field.

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Wednesday, June 10, 2026 (No Play)

So my daughter Charlotte, recently graduated from medical school, is in the process of moving to Ventura for her residency in orthopedic surgery. This involved clearing out section of our living room and part of her room of her belongings after a year or two of storage. We packed her car within an inch of its life. I was very happy to spot the contents of one of her storage tubs… pickleballs!

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Thursday, June 11, 2026 (No Play)

This is interesting. A couple players setting up pickleball court and playing at the Great America amusement park about 40 minutes north of my house in Santa Clara.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZb8zZ_SkAm

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Friday, June 12, 2026 (No Play)

John McEnroe talking smack about pickleball:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DZc7iR3jjLD/
Seriously, John? Towing the tennis party line…

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Saturday, June 13, 2026 (No Play)

Two of my staff got together and bought me a pickleball pen. Obviously, not a big investment, but, hey, it was very thoughtful nonetheless!

Number of days on a court: 935
Number of total hours: 3,475
Number of paid coaching hours: 212.5

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