I arrived at Brommer Park shortly after 9:30 a.m. I planned to be there earlier but I had some last-minute preparations to do for the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club Board meeting today.
We were only somewhat busy today so the waits weren’t horrible.
I only got one really good game today and that was with Ethan as my partner against Josh—Bruce’s son—and another fellow that I don’t really know. It was a close back-and-forth game and honestly, I can’t remember if we won or not. That was the only truly challenging game I had. Sure, there were some good rallies, but balls coming back and longer rallies are more fun.
Shaye asked Ethan if we’d join her and one of her friends. In that game, he and I were both trying to keep the ball going by hitting soft shots and avoiding winners. It was entertaining just because it was so ridiculous . . . like dinking back high pop-ups instead of smashing them.
SCPC Board Meeting
Once Mark Dettle finished up his game at about 12:15 p.m., we started our monthly club board meeting at a table in the picnic area.
At that our 2-hour meeting, we spent about 15 or 20 minutes talking about how to properly sort players by skill appropriately so that at club sessions people have games that are challenging. All it takes is for one weaker player to sign up above their skill level and that messes up the game for three other players. This has been ongoing problem. The question is how to solve it. There was a discussion about having challenge courts, forcing players to use DUPR with their games, having a board/club ranking committee, having peer-rating system of some kind. We didn’t come up with a firm solution. I suggested maybe polling the membership to select one of several options to try. Who knows. It’s been a problem for years. I just seems that it’s getting worse.
Number of days on a court: 686 Number of total hours: 2,889.5 Number of paid coaching hours: 49.5
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Work wrapped up and I gathered my things to go change for pickleball when I had the sudden realization that I had left my shoes at home. Earlier, I’d made sure to gather up other things like the new business cards for the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club for the board meeting tomorrow, my shorts, cap, T-shirt, and my water bottle . . . but forgot that one key element of my attire, shoes!
Since I will be playing tomorrow morning at Brommer, I was trying to decide if I simply wanted to go home or if I wanted to make the effort to go home and get my shoes and then drive back through town and then the way out to Scotts Valley. My wife and daughter were mildly encouraging me to go play and it doesn’t take me much to go play, so that’s what I did. I went home, changed, put on my much-needed shoes, then headed out to Scotts Valley.
Skypark
Normally, I park in the remote lot, but since I was a little later tonight, I decided on trying to park right next to the courts. Surprisingly, it was only 7:06 p.m. when I got to the courts. There was one spot in the lot and a car was pulling out of another. I slipped into the newly vacated spot.
There only about 35 people playing, so the waits to get on the courts weren’t too bad tonight.
Games
My first game was with a young woman named Natalie—who is a newish player—against Gregg and Natalie’s friend Harmony, who is also less experience player. It was a no pressure game and probably a good one to start with to get warmed up.
I got into a game with Kenny and Chuck and Ethan. Ethan was unquestionably the most skilled player on the court, followed by me and then the other two players. So Ethan and I were on opposite sides of the net for that game.
A regular named John (tall, probably his late 50s) and I played against a man named Daniel and woman named Shelley. Daniel is tall and has very good drives. Shelley has good hand-eye coordination though she was lacking in some pickleball skills. The game ended at 11–2 and I overheard Shelley telling Daniel, “Those two are very good players.“ Well, everything is relative. I’d say John’s a high 3.0. Daniel would be a 3.5 if he had more of a soft game—instead, he’s more of a banger. There was one rally that stuck in my mind where Daniel was repeatedly driving shots from the baseline, we blocked all of them and the ball of eventually made its way to Shelley at a somewhat high speed and that ended the rally. If he’d changed to drops and made it to the net, he would have neutralized our advantage.
The lights went out 8:30 p.m. and it was time to head out.
Number of days on a court: 685 Number of total hours: 2,887 Number of paid coaching hours: 49.5
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
My brother Matt was working on checking in an order at work and would be staying late, so I left work at 6:15 p.m. and left him to let staff out and close up.
It was sunny and 72° as I drove to Scotts Valley.
Paddle Issue
I emailed Players Pickleball yesterday morning, but I have not heard back from them yet regarding a possible replacement of my Rogue 2 paddle, which is rattling. It’s a couple of years old, so it’s not like it’s a new paddle that’s failing.
Registration
The City of Scotts Valley wants us to register for play on Tuesday and Thursday nights. I went ahead and signed up for one of the 24 slots for Skypark between 6:45 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. . . . and I was the only person to do so! After I signed up, there were 23 additional spots left. I can guarantee that there will be more than just me there tonight!
It was a little bit lighter crowd tonight than common recently. Later, I figured out that a bunch of women were doing league play over at Brommer Park.
Games
I don’t remember my earlier games other than I felt that I wasn’t playing that great initially. The first game, I jumped in with no warm up. As the games went on, I got more and more dialed in and played better and better.
Tonight, I got to play three or four games with Tim Fieckert against Jordan and a young guy whose name starts with the G. G what? I don’t recall and when I texted Tim, he couldn’t remember either other than the games were a good challenge.
In the first game, Tim and I lost by a significant margin. Both of us were pretty disgusted with our play. Fortunately, it worked out for all of us to have a rubber match.
The second game, we still lost, but at least it was close.
We went on to play another game and this time Tim and I eeked out a win . . . I think. Honestly, I can’t remember.
We played a fourth back-and-forth close game. We lost 13–11.
Visitors
I got talked into playing a game with Ofer against a couple visiting from Temecula, Sue and and her husband Russ. (She originally said “San Diego,” but being a little familiar with that area, I asked for where exactly.) She said they are on the tailend of a cross-country road trip. Sue is a banger. Ofer wasn’t playing as well as he typically does but I was playing very well. We had a strong margin, even with me missing a couple of shots as the light was slipping away. I overheard her saying something to Russ about Ofer and I being “good players.”
Lights
It’s definitely a bummer having the lights go off at 8:30 p.m. these days since it’s better for me to get more exercise. But I will have to say that there is a part of me that actually likes getting home closer to 9 p.m. versus 10 p.m.
Wednesday, July 10, 2024 (No Play)
37-year-old tennis superstar Novak Djokovic expressed concern this week about the future of tennis: “…at the club level, tennis is in danger. If we don’t do something about it, like I said, globally or collectively with the growth of padel in Europe and pickleball in the United States, we’re going to see more tennis courts converting to padel and pickleball because it’s cheaper.” https://en.as.com/other_sports/djokovic-tennis-is-in-danger-clubs-are-converting-courts-for-padel-and-pickleball-n
As a pickleball player, let me make it clear, I do NOT want tennis to go away. And I don’t expect it to. That said, pickleball, with its low physical barrier for entry, smaller demand for space, very social aspect, is continuing to grow like crazy. All of my 4-week beginner pickleball classes since November have sold out. And Sean has been also teaching beginner classes, so it’s not like mine are the only ones.
The Santa Cruz Pickleball Club continues to train new players with short intro sessions at club play, on average, about one every day. In June, we trained 28 new players, for example.
There is more demand for pickleball courts and cities and counties are not keeping up.
I don’t expect padel to catch on here in the USA. It’s has similarities to racquetball but with glass walls and a net. It looks like fun, but courts are much more expensive to build and there is no way to quickly set up a temporary court . . . you can’t just temporarily prop up glass walls. Pickleball is far easier. In a pinch, you can relatively easily lay down tape and set up a portable net.
Number of days on a court: 684 Number of total hours: 2,885.5 Number of paid coaching hours: 49.5
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
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