Monday, January 9, 2023. (Court Day #570)

Today, there had been a rash of flash flood warnings since the San Lorenzo River that runs through town is getting very full after the large amount of rain we have been receiving in the last week or so. But with our family business in the flood zone, after I arrived at work to open and got a rather serious alert on my phone, I decided to go the way of safety and remain closed for the day.

Invitation

Matt Babb texted me about 5:30 p.m. asking if I would like to join him and his friend Paul at Skypark between 6:30 and 9:30 p.m.

Matt said Paul checked the courts and that they were dry enough to play on. I asked Matt if he had a fourth player lined up for the game and he said that he was waiting to hear back from Mike. When I asked if he wanted me to check around, he said yes, so I did. It was very short notice, those I contacted were busy or didn’t want to stay up very late—or were injured. I contacted Rob, the fire fighter, and he asked who the other two players were and I let him know. He said that he would come and play but had to arrive closer to 6:40 p.m., which I passed along to Matt.

Skypark

When I arrived, I was surprised to see the parking lot pretty full and three courts in use. Jane was there again, this time with Cathy (who is Kim‘s friend) and Dan (who frequents Skypark regularly) and a young Asian player whose name I can’t remember—not David. Larry was on another court playing with Pauly and some others.

Games

Our group played two games of Matt and myself against Rob and Paul. And we split those games.

For the next game, Paul and I joined up against Matt and Rob . We lost both games.

The last two games were Rob and myself against Matt and Paul. Rob and I won by a sizable margin in the first game. It started to drizzle in that game and when we switched sides for the next game, the drizzle continued. It got heavier but it was still drizzle. Eventually, the court surface was covered with water. We were being a little bit more careful. Rob and I kept that second game pretty close and the lead went back-and-forth, eventually we were tied 9-9. The service went back-and-forth a few times with no one scoring. Eventually Rob and I scored two points and pulled off the win, 11-9.

It was about 8:15 p.m. after the second game and we decided we were done. No one wanted to play another game with the wet court.

COVID

This morning when I woke up, I had a strange flutter in my left lung. Extremely unusual. It went away, but I suspect it’s a remnant popping up from COVID. Hard to say. I’m still getting fatigued easier, it seems. But being tired at night is not a shock. It could just be the end of a long day.

Number of days on a court: 570
Number of total hours: 2,546.5

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Monday, January 2, 2023. (Court Day #569)

Since my work was observing New Year’s Day today on Monday, I texted René last night asking if she’d be willing to play at 8 o’clock this morning at Skypark. Rain was expected later in the morning, with a 60% chance of rain by 10 a.m. René and I sent texts to number people to see if they’d be available. Most were busy, but Jason and Rob A. (the firefighter) said they’d play.

Overnight, the rain forecast moved earlier by about two hours. René was gung ho to play . . . I probably would have pulled the plug otherwise. Rob was questioning the timing but was still willing to give it a shot.

Skypark

I walked out onto the courts at Skypark at 8:01 a.m. and Rob and Jason were there stowing their gear at the far end. There was one court with a game going on it. Rob and Jason started warming up as I walked up. I joined them and a few minutes later, René arrived. She was bundled up. It was in the 40s when I left my house and we could see our breath on the court.

With rain coming anytime, we kept our warm-ups pretty short and started the game at about 8:40 a.m. As the morning went on, layers came off of the rest. I stuck with my shorts and a sweatshirt, though I considered going to just my T-shirt and shorts later, but I didn’t.

Games

Jason and I teamed up for the first game and the second game. We won twice.

For the third game, Jason and I split up, and Rob and I teamed up. Rob and I won handily 11-1. In the next game, Jason and René made a better showing but Rob and I still won 11-8.

After those two games, we changed up partners again, this time I was with René. She and I pulled off a win 11-9.

For our repeat game, Jason and Rob pulled out to a 3-0 lead when sparse rain drops appeared. René was starting to get uncomfortable and concerned about injury with the court getting more slippery. She turned to me and said, “I’m not going to hurt myself trying to get to shots.” We played a few more distracted rallies with Jason and Rob stacking on more points. I think it was 7-0 when we collectively decided it was time to call it at about 9:30 a.m.

ATP

One thing about René’s wide crosscourt dinks is sometimes it’ll afford the opponent an opportunity for an ‘around the post’ shot. Jason hit one such shot across from me. I thought it was going to land out, but it caught the line.

In a later game, again Jason was across from me again and this time went around the post to my right. Jason executed the shot very well. He hit it a mere foot or two off the ground and—even with me preparing, I figuring it was coming—I could only get my paddle on the ball but not get it back anywhere near back over the net.

And?

I felt I was playing well. It’s good when you are on the winning side for every game . . . not counting the rain distracted/interrupted game. If you do count that one, then I finished the morning 5-1.

It’s looking like a lot of rain off and on over the next couple of weeks—mostly on.

County Numbers

Oh, and we weren’t the only ones squeezing in some games. Dan Bliss was in a game with Jane (whom I hadn’t seen for many months) and a couple of women. Jackie was on another court playing another game. There were six courts going. That’s 24 people. That’s on top of those who went to organized club play at Brommer Park, at least another 40 people, I’d suspect. Maybe even some at Derby and Willowbrook. It could easily be 100 people playing pickleball at one time in our county.

René texted a bit later saying she’d gone to Mitchell Park in Palo Alto and it was dry enough for her to get some additional games up there.

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Tuesday, January 3, 2022 (No Play)

An article from People Magazine yesterday lists celebrities who own sports teams. Number 6 is Tom Brady, listed as an owner of an “unnamed pickleball team”:
https://people.com/sports/celebrities-who-own-sports-teams/

Here’s the Brady announcement they refer to in the article (from October):
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjngEXnAyeV/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=

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Wednesday, January 4, 2022 (No Play)

I made a trip to Precision Physical Therapy today in Scotts Valley to address my right knee. It’s been getting better, but it’ll still get a bit tweaked at times or sore at the end of a long playing session. I met with Matt, who moved my leg around and had me walk around barefoot and did an evaluation. He gave me some exercises to do and wants me to do a lower body class that’s held every week at their clinic next month.

He said my right quad was very tight leading into my knee.

Broadway

Well, not really. This is in Michigan. Actor Jeff Daniels wrote a comedic play about pickleball. It started at the end of September and ran through mid-December. It got extended a week due to its popularity. The actor learned of pickleball through his wife.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/michigan/article/World-Premiere-of-PICKLEBALL-by-Jeff-Daniels-to-Kick-Off-The-Purple-Rose-Theatre-Companys-32nd-Season-in-September-20220831

Here’s an article from The Pickler website:
https://thepickler.com/blogs/pickleball-blog/pickleball-play-a-smash-hit-with-theater-audience

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Thursday, January 5, 2023 (No Play)

There’s a bit of drama in the pickleball world this week. The PPA Tour decided that they’d schedule a big tournament in conflict with the U.S. Open and require all their signed athletes participate in their own tournament and leave the venerable U.S. Open out in the cold. Of course, there are two sides to every story. Like the players knew they signed exclusivity causes in their contracts. And pickleball is growing so much, date conflicts are going to happen for tournaments. Though some argue that the billionaire owner of the PPA is trying to edge out other events and take over the pickleball universe. Growing pains.

Number of days on a court: 569
Number of total hours: 2,545

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Sunday, January 1, 2023. (Court Day #568)

It rained significantly last night, but it was sunny this morning. The problem with January is the sun is low in the sky. There was no way that the courts would be dry by the 9 a.m. start time. I emailed out a 1-hour delay notice to the club.

When I got to the courts at 9:30, six people were there drying the courts with towels. I had brought a broom from my house to sweep water off the courts. It was an ongoing battle.

It would take hours for all the courts to dry out. And even then, bizarrely enough, the court at the far corner had water coming up through the cracks in the surface.

Partway through the session, I realized that I’d forgotten to put on sunscreen. A rarity. I was more concerned about the wet courts than I was with my own personal preparations!

Games

Hugh and I played a few games against Rick and René. We won all three and were leading the last game 10-0 until they scored a couple of points to make it a slightly more respectable 11-2 loss for them. Hugh has gotten so much better in the last few months.

Still Busy

The big issue for me was the sheer number of players still around when I wanted to leave as it neared 2p.m. Nicole was hosting one group but they were using three club paddles which I had to collect. But they were understanding.

Some people were so desperate to play, they set up the two old horrible city nets that sag badly.

Oh, well. I couldn’t stay, I had things to do at home.

Number of days on a court: 568
Number of total hours: 2,543.5

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