Tuesday, March 19, 2024 (Court Day #639)

I realized that while out walking our younger corgi, Pepper, that I could take the USA Pickleball player rules test again on my phone at the same time or simultaneously, if you prefer! Sooner or later, I’ll get every question right. But this time, I got 88%. Invariably, there is one that I read incorrectly, plus others that are specific to tournaments such as technical warnings, how long before no-shows are forfeited, etc.

Coaching Validation!

One of my current students, Susana, came into my work today as a customer. She said that she just got back from Panama this morning so that’s why she missed the first class on Sunday. But her husband did attend. She said that the two of them had taken another class from one (non-Rec) instructor and a single private lesson from another coach, but her husband told her that I was “amazing”. She also commented on the long email with information I had sent out about where to get paddles and appropriate shoes locally, some videos on scoring, information about the local pickleball club, etc. Susana said none of their prior coaches had done that. My goal is to give my students an experience that I’d like to have myself.

Skypark

As I drove to Skypark, I had two concerns. Immediate one was where I would be forced to park. The second one was whether I could start fast or would it take me a number of games to dial in my play. I’ve been playing better the last week, so I hope that I can gear up quickly.

Arrived a few minutes before 7 p.m. and apparently recently someone just left because there was a parking spot right next to the wooden fence which I quickly gobbled up.

Once on the course, someone had the sign-up board hung on the chain link fence which is really good because it was needed!

It was a comfortable night. You couldn’t see your breath at all. And it was very busy. I was talking to Paul W. and he said he counted 20 people waiting and with 32 on the courts—that’s 52 people out playing tonight. Yes, Pickleball continues to grow! There is at least a dozen students there from UCSC and some of them were from a Christian club on campus.

I was playing very well. During one game when we were partnered together, Lester complimented me, “Maybe I should take your class!”

I feel like I’m continuing to play better and better. I will say that tonight I didn’t get to play against a full complement of good players. Nonetheless, there were shots that I got, where I kind of amazed myself. Aside from one game towards the end of the evening, I felt I played pretty well.

Even though I wasn’t hungry at all, I ate a protein bar right after closing time at work. I think I really helped me out as I had more energy through the session and wasn’t dragging at the end.

I missed two of my serves tonight, one was the hair long, and for the other one the receiver’s partner was dancing around at the kitchen line. It’s kind of silly, but I proved to be enough of distraction that I hit the ball into the net.

I walked off the court after my last game, and I asked one of the UCSC students who was sitting on the bench and looking at his phone what time it was. He told me “9:30”. I didn’t believe him. It didn’t seem anything like 9:30. I would’ve figured between 8:30 and 8:45, but he showed me a phone. Sure enough, it was indeed 9:30 p.m.! While it wasn’t technically my responsibility, I immediately got to work putting away some of the unused portable nets. I got the nets stowed and locked up the bin then said my goodbyes and headed home.

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Wednesday, March 20, 2024 (No Play)

So this image popped up on in my YouTube suggested videos:

With “pickleball” in the description, I had to watch the entire interview, linked here:

While they did touch on pickleball briefly in the interview, there was no reference to his “love of pickleball”. There is this note on the video however:
“NOTE: A portion of this video has been trimmed due to broadcast rights.”

Mystery Person

My daughter doesn’t like me to post anything about her on social media. I won’t tell you who this person is, but she listed “pickleball” as part of her hobbies…

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Thursday, March 21, 2024 (No Play)

I went ahead and ordered a Klitch shoe clip today. $14.99 with free shipping. It’ll allow me to clip my shoes to my backpack instead of having to carry them separately . . . much more convenient!

Number of days on a court: 639
Number of total hours: 2,758
Number of paid coaching hours: 24.5

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

Sunday, March 17, 2024 (Court Day #638)

I arrived at Derby Park at 8:45 a.m. The sky was mostly clear, but there was a large bank of ominous clouds floating nearby over the ocean. Fortunately, those would burn off and it turned into a gorgeous sunny day.

Bruce

Today, I got games that were more challenging than Sunday last week. There’s a tall guy named Bruce. I’d only previously seen him at Brommer Park, but this morning, he came to Derby Park. Bruce is a good player with a long reach and is a blast to play against. I was able to play 2-3 games against him. Fun stuff. I think think the feeling is mutual. When I added my name below his in the sign up box, I heard an audible sound of approval from him nearby. Unfortunately, one of our group was a 3.0 signing up as an advanced player. Oh, well. It lead to a lopsided game.

Cimeron, John, J.J.

Cimeron and her husband John were there too. My last game was with her against John and J.J. Cimeron and I won that game 11-9. John and J.J. are primarily bangers.

In that last game, Cimeron was to my right and hit a crosscourt dink that went wide enough that J.J. was able to hit an ATP. The good news is that I anticipated his shot and was able to get my paddle on the ball but the ball ended up in the net. My cohorts on the court seemed pretty impressed regardless that I had almost successfully defended J.J.’s shot.

About five minutes later, a similar thing happened but this time John was the one going for the ATP to my backhand. He hit his low ATP and this time I was able to get the ball back over the net. Unfortunately, my return of the ATP was pretty high, and J.J. was able to do an overhead slam at my feet, which I was unable to return. Still, to be able to return a low and wide ATP as a backhand . . . there has to be some satisfaction in that. Cimeron was funny, “I’m tempted to do more of those to see what you can do with them!”

After the game, Cimeron gave me a compliment, “Your soft game is so consistent.” 

And?

I feel my play is continuing to strengthen and get better. I have been able to play four times in five days and that helps a lot.

I left Derby Park at 11:50 a.m. Ted closed for me so that I could go home and have lunch before heading to Willowbrook to teach this afternoon at 1:30 p.m.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, it was St. Patrick’s Day today. There was an atypical amount of green worn by people on the courts today!

Number of days on a court: 638
Number of total hours: 2,755.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 23

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

Friday, March 15, 2024 (Court Day #637)

I woke up this morning with my knee a little bit sore on the inner side and my back was a little tight.

I told my staff that I was going to take the morning off. I had a business meeting with my parents at a corporate attorney at 1 o’clock, so I couldn’t stay the full club session at Brommer Park.

If I’m going to return to my old form, either need to drill or play a lot. Finding time and a partner to drill has been a little difficult, so I’ll take what I can get, so play today it is.

I left my house at 8:35 a.m. I saw on the news last night that in Southern California severe winds knocked over trees and caused other damage. It has been somewhat windy up here as well the last day or two, so I was hopeful that the windscreens at Brommer Park would keep the balls from being too squirrely. It was a sunny morning with no clouds to be seen in the sky and the temperature was very nice 63°F.

Arrival

I pulled into Brommer Park at 8:48 a.m., and there was a boatload of parking. There were a few empty courts. A couple of players were wondering out loud where everyone was.

Play

Today was a dichotomy. I started playing extremely well. Game after game was great play by me. Very few errors. Good shots, good shot selection. It felt awesome. However, I had one last game with Mary Kay against René and Brian. I don’t know what happened to that game but my play imploded. Mary Kay and I were leading 5-1 but end up losing 11–6. I did get all my serves in, those were fine. I was popping up shots or not being quite in the right place on the court, and having balls come right to my feet. René did a couple excellent shots crosscourt at a sharp angle for a winner out of my reach.

René asked if I’d sign up for another game with her, but with my work obligations, I couldn’t and left at 11 o’clock.

And?

If you throw away that one last game, I had a fabulous morning. Top-notch. However, that last game kind of poisoned the session. But it’s been a long time since I had a series of games playing that well. I have to take consolation and hope in that.

I will say that in that last game, Mary Kay and I were on the side of the court with a tree shadows. The ball would go from sun to shadow to sun to shadow to sun to shadow all in the path from one side of the net to the other. I’d like to think it didn’t make any effect on my play, it did, unfortunately. There were probably two or three shots which were affected by me not being able to track the ball properly. Though once we moved to a court with complete sun, my play didn’t improve all that much, so who’s to say?

Players Paddles

I got an email tonight from Players Pickleball:
“Introducing Rogue2 Carbon with Ultra Gel-Core!”

And on their website:
“By adding MORE elastomeric Gel-Core™ material to the honeycomb core of the paddle in strategic locations, we have amplified the key benefits it provides:
Increased Vibration Damping for reduced fatigue and RSI-type injuries
Increased Paddle Stability on Off-Center Hits
Increased Sweet Spot Enlargement“

Sounds like something I might want to try.

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Saturday, March 16, 2024 (No Play)

Pickleball made an unexpected appearance in “good deals” YouTube video about Costco. Remember that Selkirk paddle set that my mom sent me a photo of recently? Yeah. That one. Pickleball is mentioned at 6 minutes and 50 seconds into the video.

Players Paddle

So I swapped some of the reward points I accumulated at Players Pickleball for a “$50 off” code. I was hoping to apply it to the new paddle on sale but when I applied the code in the shopping cart, it eliminated the sale and instead took the $50 off of the regular price, not the sale price. So the code only saves me $9 off the sale price. Hmmm. Save $9? Wait and use it later for something else? I’m going to give it a day or two.

New Class

I have a new group of students starting tomorrow. I used to get anxious about class starting, but this will be my fourth group and now I’m simply excited. I have no doubts that I do a good job teaching.

Pickleball Smash 2 Revisited

This popped up. Highlights from the Agassi/McEnroe rematch. I only saw highlights from the first one and only watched about 10 minutes of this one, but Agassi and McEnroe are getting so much better. This doesn’t quite look like a real pro match, but it’s getting closer.

Entertaining regardless.

Number of days on a court: 637
Number of total hours: 2,752.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 21.5

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