Author: andrewlenz (Page 88 of 327)

Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (Court Day #689)

Late afternoon yesterday, René invited me to go play as a group with her, Connor McNicholas, and Dave Ryan—whom I haven’t formally met or played with—at Brommer Park. We have full staffing today at work, and though the day wouldn’t be not busy for me, I figured I could spare a few hours.

I left my house at 8:50 a.m. It was sunny and 63°F. I figured it was probably going to be a warm day. My body was a little stiff and sore from play last night, so I took a couple of ibuprofen before applying sunscreen.

Brommer

When I got to Brommer Park at 9:08 a.m., there was plenty of parking. Some of the courts were still empty and on the far side, I could see René with Connor and Dave. When I introduced myself to Dave, he said we had met before. Drat, I hate it when that happens. I had totally forgotten, though he was very familiar to me . . . I had seen him around Brommer a few times before, we just generally play at different times and places.

Sean Lynch was there doing a private coaching lesson with a woman on one permanent court.

Games

The first few games would be René and Dave against Conner and me. René and Dave are doing a tournament together and are preparing. Conner set up his iPhone on the court dividing fence and was recording those initial games.

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Game #1

Conner and I went up 5-0 on a lot of initial errors by René and Dave. But then things turned completely around and Conner and I slipped more and more behind.

We ended up losing badly. Great start, horrible finish.

Analytics for Game #1:
https://share.pb.vision/video/share/mdn6opyri9we

The analytics by Pickleball Vision AI Inc. aren’t perfect (yet), but still provide interesting insight. Just in case the link goes away, I’m going to copy some screenshots here. This doesn’t include all the stats, but gives a good taste.

I can take some solace in my serve depth being really, really good. That was balanced by my returns depth being about as horrible as my serves were good. Assuming that the analytics are correct in this regard!

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Game #2

Conner and I took the second game, winning by a few points.

Analytics for Game #2:
https://share.pb.vision/video/share/nejg7k5ojmv6

And a snapshot of stats for posterity:

The “average serve speed” percentiles are interesting:
Andrew – 32MPH, 42nd percentile
Conner – 33MPH, 27th percentile
René – 29MPH, 50th percentile
Dave – 35MPH, 16th percentile
Aside from the percentiles being backward from convention, based on our performances in this second game, if you put 100 people in the room, Dave would be in the top 16 for fastest serves. I’d be in the top 42, Conner the top 27, and René would be completely in the middle at 50.

But, in the first game, if we look back, we’ll see:
Andrew – 31MPH, 27th percentile
Conner – 25MPH, 72rd percentile
René – 33MPH, 27th percentile
Dave – 32MPH, 42nd percentile
What weird is how can 33MPH and 31MPH both be in the 27th percentile when 32MPH is in the 42nd percentile. And my 32MPH serves in the second game were 42nd percentile and my slower 31MPH serves were in the 27th percentile.

That really doesn’t make sense to me and must be a bug. It’s currently free to use the system… they are almost certainly in “beta” phase and working through kinks in their program before they release it officially and start charging for their service.

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Game #3

Conner and I lost the third game, even though the analytics say that we won. Attention programmers: obviously if the last shot of the game is Dave hitting a winner, we can’t be the winning team!

Analytics for Game #3:
https://share.pb.vision/video/share/is3smlt1rjac

Analytics…

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Thoughts

Just to be clear, there are more errors and/or situations than mentioned above that confuse the A.I. system. One screen showed that I had a failed serve that started about 3 feet outside of the right sideline, went straight ahead, and dropped about a foot in front of the plane of the net… this is completely erroneous!

Playing Dave, aside from the fact that he’s better than I am and has some great inside-out shots, it’s like playing a mirror image of myself at the net. He has very, very fast hands.

It took some adjusting in these games. I had to be much more patient and adjust my mindset a bit more “not to lose” versus “playing to win” and forcing speedups. I have work to do on that yet.

More Games

I played with Dave against René and Connor. We won 11-2. That was the most lopsided game of the morning.

For the last game, we went back to the original configuration of Dave and René against Connor and myself. Conner and I lost 7-11.

I left the courts at 11:45 a.m. and headed home for lunch, then work.

Dave was unquestionably the best player of the four of us today… not like a 5.0 or something, but he had some shots/consistency that made him better.

Dave is really good at driving the net forcing pop-ups and following up by crashing the net and driving the ball for winter. I told him it’s like a solo “shake and bake.” He smiled and corrected, “Auto bake!”

So?

I could really get into this private game circuit. The quality of the games was night and day compared to playing club play at Derby Park.

Tourny Invite

Dave Cox texted me tonight asking if I’d partner with him for a local tournament on Saturday, August 17. I was in the middle of an ad deadline for work and told him that I’d get back to him.

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Thursday, July 18, 2024. (No Play)

I had a nonprofit board meeting tonight for the Santa Cruz Art League that ran from 6 p.m. until 8:41 p.m. That’s 11 minutes after the lights already went off at Skypark. No pickleball for me today. It’ll probably be Sunday before I touch a pickleball again.

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Friday, July 19, 2024. (No Play)

Two days ago, there was an article appearing at 3DPrinting.com:
Accel Digital Solutions, a 3D printing startup in Walker, Michigan, has developed a quieter pickleball to address noise complaints from neighbors near public courts. The co-founders, Brandon Teets and Tyler Marvin, designed the ball to emit a soft, low-decibel “click” instead of the typical loud “pop.”
https://3dprinting.com/news/3d-printed-quiet-pickleball-unveiled

What’s interesting is that Accel Digital Solutions has already received approval for their ball from USA Pickleball, so it has quietly been in the works for a while. (Hmmmm, inadvertent pun!)

USAP Membership

I renewed my USA Pickleball membership today. With the new website being kind of confusing and not entirely “visitor ready,” I let my membership lapse this week. I renewed it today. $60 for a year for the competitor level. A recreational membership is cheaper, $25.

Family Stuff

We’re having a memorial service tomorrow for my great-uncle John “Bud” Penniman. He had a long live, passing away at 102-years-old back in March. He was living in Oregon near his daughter (my mom’s cousin), but he was born here in Santa Cruz.

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Saturday, July 20, 2024. (No Play)

“Uncle Bud”—as my mom called him—was a hysterical guy. I fancy myself to have a pretty quick wit—and have been told so by others—but Uncle Bud could easily give me a run for my money. He did substitute teaching into his 80s and students would request him as their sub when they found out their regular teacher would be out. He admitted he was not the best student in school himself, but he turned out to be an amazing teacher.

Family members gathered at Santa Cruz Memorial for the 10 a.m. service from Santa Cruz, Southern California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Colorado, and Texas.

Uncle Bud had been a Navy pilot during WWII, flying domestic transport, so we had four Navy sailors there for a flag ceremony and the playing of Taps. (With too many veterans dying from old age, The Navy has to rely on bugles that play a recording instead utilizing actual musicians.)

After two of Bud’s children eulogized him and his wife Margaret, it was my opportunity to play “Amazing Grace.” I have an assortment of bagpipe competition medals—including a trophy—so it wasn’t difficult to pull off a strong performance, even being rusty. (About 10 years ago, I was the Executive Secretary for the Western United State Pipe Band Association.)

The bagpipes that I played today originally belonged to Bud’s older brother, Warren… who was my grandfather—my mom’s dad.

Number of days on a court: 689
Number of total hours: 2,897
Number of paid coaching hours: 52.5

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

Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (Court Day #688)

In the bandwagon realm, even Chick-fil-A has a pickleball set in their online shop. (I didn’t even know they had an online shop!)

Pickle Pickle™ Pickleball Set

Stepping Down

The board and other site coordinators have been very supportive of my decision to relinquish my role as the Sunday Site Coordinator at Derby Park. And Barb offered to cover for me this Sunday. That’s great, as I have a boatload of relatives in town—including from different states—for my great-uncle’s memorial service this weekend.

Skypark

I left work and arrived at Skypark just before 7 p.m. and sunny skies.

It was a light crowd and rotations in the games off of the whiteboard happened fairly quickly.

Rachelle stopped me and thanked me for getting her driver’s license back to her. She said my daughter, who dropped it off to her a few weeks ago, was very nice. I had picked up her license on the ground at Skypark and my daughter Charlotte was heading out past Rachelle’s area of the county anyway, so it worked out.

First Game

My first game was paired the Rachelle. She’s a lefty, and still a fairly weak player. She is still learning the game . . . I had to frequently remind her of the score and where to be on the court. We played against Barry and his wife Christy. Rachelle and I fell behind really quickly. Then we crawled back and tied up the score, but we couldn’t pull off a win. Yes, it was my first game, but, boy, I was not playing well in that game. There was no way I could make up for Rachelle’s inexperience.

In that first game, I played horribly. That generally came from me underestimating my opponents—doing net speedups or drives from the baseline, where Barry or Christy then put the ball away. There were a couple instances where I decided mid-shot to return a serve intentionally to Barry (who is the better of the two players) and I distinctly remember hitting two of those into the net. It was just weird.

Next!

Roman and I played against Barry and Christy. I played so much better. We clobbered them.

Lefty

I played with Beth against Mark Dettle and Laura (formerly from Visalia). We won.

In the rematch, I decided to play the entire game left-handed and Beth and I still won. Mark wasn’t playing his best.

Tall vs. Short

I played with Roman—young guy—against tall lefty Aaron and tall Mike. Aaron and Mike are about the same height, both over 6 foot. Roman and I are also both about the same height . . . but shorter! About 5’8″. Aaron is getting really good. While I was able to return all of Aaron’s serves, but Roman wasn’t so lucky, he missed a few. Mike has also gotten quite a bit better over the last few years. But Aaron is definitely the stronger of the two. After the game, Roman thanked me for playing with him and apologized for his performance. I told him he had some really nice shots, which he did. He just needs to be a little bit more consistent and not try to be so tricky with his shots . . . like trying too hard to add spin.

Spencer

Spencer was there tonight although I didn’t get a chance to play with him. Someone told me this week that he and Diego had taken silver in the 4.0 bracket in recent tournament. Between rallies, I congratulated Spencer when he was playing next to me on an adjacent court. Spencer is a good guy—upbeat and a good player.

Last Game

The last game of the night was Mark and myself against Beth and Laura. I decided to play lefty in that game too and for a series of side outs, the score was stuck at 5-3 with Mark and I leading. Then Beth and Laura went on a 4-point run and when their service ended they were leading 7-5. When they were up 9-5, I decided to switch to my right hand. For whatever reason, I had a hard time switching back to righty after playing three games left-handed and I missed a few shots, so I can’t say that the loss was all on Mark for this one.

Night, Night!

There were still four games going on in the twilight and Laura, Beth, and I wanted to play one more game, but we couldn’t find a fourth. With that, I helped out Ofer by taking down one of the temporary nets. After that, I was in my car and on my way home.

Tennis elbow is kind of acting up and my right knee was a little sore. *sigh*

Number of days on a court: 688
Number of total hours: 2,894.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 52.5

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

Sunday, July 14, 2024. (Court Day #687)

For the first time ever, I found myself already irritated driving to Derby Park to open up the courts. Skill creep is getting under my skin in a big way. When I got there about 8:45 a.m., I wrote a note on the white dry erase board asking everyone to sign up one level below what they did last week and that the blue pen is for 4.0+ tournament players only. A regular, a 3.5 equivalent, signed up in blue. I reminded him blue is reserved for 4.0 tournament players. He said he doesn’t play tournaments. That was that, I thought. I added a big arrow next to my skill level note on the sign up board to call more attention to it.

When I came back out later, there was a new box in blue with the guy’s name right at the top, and Ted (3.0-3.5) and a couple of others, none of which are 4.0 players. There were only 2-3 true 4.0 players there today and since we’d have to play with red players anyway, I pulled the blue pens and wrote “no blue today”. I really wanted to reset the skill levels, it’s been very frustrating with everyone signing up higher than their skill level.

Anyway, while waiting, I see the 3.5 guy walk up to the whiteboard, erase my note on the board, and go to the bin to get blue pens—which I had intentional moved elsewhere—and start walking back to the board with a blue ballpoint pen, which was all he could find. He complained to Val—the Wednesday site coordinator—about why I had any authority to “change the rules.”I calmed smiled and explained that I’m the site coordinator, which he already knew, of course. He ended up leaving in a huff. I understand his frustration, I’m experiencing it myself. We need a reset. That said, if you doesn’t like what the site coordinator is doing, you don’t go rogue and take over, you bring it to the attention of the club board of directors.

Pickleball is supposed to be fun. I typically work six days a week and have limited time to play, I want to get into good games. That is not happening at Derby. It’s a source of frustration for me. Plus, teaching—which I love to do—takes four hours out of my day on Sundays. That’s over seven hours on courts . . . I’d like the easy flexibility to adjust on a given Sunday to keep my wife happy. Something has to change.

“Sick ATP”

I was in a game with Hugh against Larry Yein and someone else that I forget. Larry hit a great sharp crosscourt shot bouncing the ball very wide outside the right sideline. I was in an all-out sprint and was looking away from the net when I hit the ball. Hugh exclaimed, “That was a sick ATP! You need to put that in your blog!” The thing is, I didn’t even see it since it took me a moment to turn and start heading back onto the court! We did lose that rally, but at least I added a few more shots to it. Here you go, Hugh!

Teaching

I left about 12:15 p.m., raced home, ate quickly, changed, grabbed my things and headed to Skypark for my class starting at 1:30 p.m., the first in a 4-week series of both my Beginners class and then Advanced Beginner class.

After teaching, I played two games with some of my students at their prompting. Mary was my partner against Ray and his wife Melaney. I played both games left handed and I was taking it easy on them. Mary and I still won, not that I cared.

Birthdays

My niece and I both have birthdays this month, so my parents arranged for a dinner party tonight. My brother John gifted me with a pickleball action board game. So funny! When you pull the trigger on the plastic “paddle gun,” it flips a mini paddle up with the intention of hitting the plastic pickle on the end of a metal rod that swings back and forth over the net.

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Monday, July 15, 2024 (No Play)

Today, I finally did it. I’ve put in nearly seven years as the primary SCPC Site Coordinator for Derby Park on Sundays—since October 2017. Yesterday was the final straw. I’m done. After hinting for months, I notified the board that my last day will be the last Sunday in August. It’s not worth the aggravation and it’s not worth getting games with players who think they are better than they are. Done, done, done. I’ll be free to sleep in on my day off from work. (My workday ends about 6:45 p.m., I’m not an early bird.) I’ll have flexibility to do what I want, and I can arrange private games with better players elsewhere.

Switching Hands

This is exactly when I switch hands in a game. Some pickleball pundits say “never switch hands.” Well, here’s the guy who has been the #1 player in the world for years—up until very recently, now he’s in and out of #1—Ben Johns, doing exactly that. Switching hands!

Paddle Testing

USA Pickleball shared a video of part of their paddle testing equipment which I found interesting, if only a small taste…
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9fmlSBS70I

Rogue 2 Paddle Rattle

Macy at Players Pickleball got back to me today about my paddle:
“About the rattling–check on that edge guard and see if it’s loose anywhere. Otherwise, a little faint “rattling” can occur as when the honeycomb core is created, very tiny bits of polypropylene sometimes become trapped inside the cells of the honeycomb. When you shake it, you might hear a faint rattle sound. The good news is that it’s no cause for concern and won’t affect the performance whatsoever. “

Number of days on a court: 687
Number of total hours: 2,893
Number of paid coaching hours: 52.5

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