I left work and headed to Scotts Valley. Shockingly even with the sun lower in the sky, it was still 88°. I can’t even remember last time it was that hot at this time of the day.
Skypark
There were more players in courts tonight, but it wasn’t too bad. The waits were generally pretty short.
I had an assortment of games tonight—nothing stellar.
Mid-evening, I bumped into Jess who I had played with a little bit on Sunday afternoon. I would either put her in a high 3.0 or a low 3.5. She has very good drives and is able to handle hard shots coming at her for midcourt, but she has no soft game to speak of. Jess and I played a game against Aaron Hicks and River and we took a substantial lead. They started making a comeback but then we finished them off 11–9.
I was in the middle of a game with a woman named Val, who I might have seen around but never played with before, against River and Rachel Kuo when the lights clicked off at 8:30 p.m.
And?
I wasn’t super thrilled with my play tonight, but it wasn’t horrible.
I earned at least half a dozen points off of serves of mine that didn’t get returned over the net. Those were low and fast.
I hit a couple of high balls into the net—giving up probable winners. I attempted 2-3 speedups where the ball was too low—ending the rally. I missed 3-4 serves tonight while trying to be tricky.
I have little work to do on court positioning at times, covering the middle.
I had a bit of a scare, one of my Aireo demo paddles was missing from my bag. I looked around, but it turned out that Humad had been trying one out and hadn’t returned it to my bag yet. Humad is a good guy, he wasn’t trying anything sneaky.
Friday, March 20, 2026 (No Play)
We had really big news in the Lenz Family this morning. Today was the national “Match Day” for those graduating for medical school. My daughter Charlotte got her first choice for her residency, orthopedic surgery down in Ventura. She is super excited about the program there and it’s still sinking in. Only three of her graduating class medical school (Burrell) matched an orthopedic surgery. It’s the 4th hardest specialty to match for residency, so she is thrilled. Last year, she earned “Student Doctor of the Year” and “Student Researcher of the Year” from Burrell, the first time in school history that both were awarded to the same student. (Each award is picked by a different committee, so there’s no “cross-talk”.)
Bad news here in Northern California. The $1.5 million pickleball courts have been shut down in Martinez. The Hidden Valley courts were built about a year ago, but the neighbors complained so much that the Martinez City Council voted to close down the new courts. Martinez is about 90 minutes of driving away. Here’s an article about it: https://abc7news.com/post/pickleball-debate-martinez-votes-shut-down-courts-noise-complaints/18733338
When I left my house shortly before 8:30 a.m., the sun was trying to break through the foggy haze. While it was 52°, the weather prediction this morning was for the high today to be in the mid-70s. It was going to be a beautiful day.
Today was my sixth day playing in eight days. That’s the most playing I’ve done in an eight-day stretch in quite a long time. I can feel it a little bit in my right knee and also, somewhat surprisingly, a little bit in my right elbow where the bones meet. Though both are mild and are nothing that would keep me off of a court.
Brommer
I pulled into the Brommer parking lot at 8:35 a.m. and I got into a game pretty quickly.
I would be playing with Brian and Kim, frequent regulars at Brommer Park, and our fourth would be John. I don’t know John’s last name, but he makes appearances now and then. John is a big dude—about 6-foot and stocky. This time he had his young son in tow. When I asked, he said that he had four children, three daughters and a seven-year-old son who is there happily hanging out on the wall while his dad played. Like Ashley, John has some really nice deceptive inside-out shots.
Brian and I teamed up and played against John and Kim. John was the best player of all of us. I would put him at a high 4.0 or even a 4.5 level player. Brian and I lost 7-11.
We asked if John wanted to play again, but he said that he was going to wait. Apparently, he wanted to get mixed in with other—maybe better—players.
The rest of us decided to go onto a court and hit the ball back-and-forth until someone decided to join us. There were a couple of other players that were on the wall, but they were taking a break and we’re not interested in getting into a game right then. It’s not like we were worse players, the ones on the wall were equal or weaker than our three. Fortunately, Mo arrived and we waved her over, so we had ourselves a game.
This turned out to be a well-balanced and long game. In the end, Kim and I won 13–11.
Kim, Dan, Brian
The next game was Kim and myself playing against Dan and Brian. Dan was playing very well. Kim and I lost 5-11.
We played a rematch, and this time the result was even worse, with Kim and I losing 1–11. I felt myself getting frustrated in that game—it wasn’t frustration with my partner or frustration with my opponents, it was frustration with me hitting attackable shots. That’s not to say I felt that I was mostly responsible for the loss—I didn’t—but I certainly played my part.
Fortunately, we played a third time and this time, while we did lose, it was a highly respectable outcome with the final score 10–12.
Dan and Me
Dan and I teamed up and played against Ed and the very tall Dave. I like playing games with Dave, he’s very upbeat and personable. Ed was also playing very well today, the best I’ve seen him play. Dave’s got a good reach and he got shots back over the net that I was expecting not to come back. He also puts good spin on the ball. Dan and I won 11-8, but it was a battle.
Dan and I played together again and won 11-6 versus Ken and lefty Greg. I was expecting us to win that game, but we did have to come back from being down to do it.
Dan and I played together one more time and we won 11-3 versus Ken and whomever his partner was for that game. I don’t recall. Maybe it was Greg again.
Last Game
In my last game of the day, Mickey and I lost to Dan and Ken 6-11.
It was now 11:50 a.m. and I needed to get home to get ready to teach.
Pickleball Royalty?
Bob Hansen, the former UCSC tennis coach, stopped by to see a fellow named Morgan play. Morgan is 57 and was playing with Casey, Sean, and Dave Van Ness, the Cabrillo tennis coach.
Bob was saying that Morgan was a student of his decades ago, while he was at UCSC. He said that Morgan, while in high school, played quarterback for football basketball and tennis. Morgan wanted to play football in college, but they told them told him that he was too small. So Morgan came to UCSC which had no football team. He decided that he wanted to play tennis for the university, but—as Bob shared—Morgan didn’t make the cut. But Morgan was persistent and continued trying the next year. Bob said that because he kicked a player off of his team right right before, Morgan got to play for UCSC in nationals.
From there, Bob said the Morgan’s trajectory was just up and up and up and up. Morgan became one of the top tennis players collegiate tennis players in the country. Later, he did the pro tennis circuit for a while.
The years later, he played pickleball a few times then decided he wanted to play in the pro nationals. However it went, Morgan is now a top ranked senior pro pickleball player.
Bob was pointing out to me that Morgan would switch up his backhand—sometimes he slices and sometimes he comes over the top for topspin. The point of that, of course, is to throw off his opponents. Watching him, there is no question that he is a very good player.
And?
I felt that I was playing reasonably well today. I did slam two high balls into the net to may have otherwise been winners. I hit a handful of shots long over the course of the morning. My main issue today was hitting my drop shots too high. But better are too high than too low! With too high, you always get at least one more opportunity to get the ball back over the net.
Teaching and More Games
After my class ended, there was a player at the end of the courts that one of my advanced beginner students pointed out as being very good. Of course, I was intrigued and couldn’t help myself and walked up afterward my classes were done and asked the three standing there if they wanted to have a game.
There was a guy named Karl, Christen (a woman, tall and thin, pronounced “Kristen”), and a short athletic woman named Jess. Jess was the woman pointed out by one of my students.
We warmed up for about 15 minutes and then got into a game. Karl wanted to play with Christen, so I played with Jess. We played a game we won 11-4. Then we played a rematch and we won 11-1.
We mixed up partners and this time I played with Christen. This was a much closer combination did Christen and I won 11–8.
The three of them don’t have my soft game. I think they’re used to their drives and slams overpowering whatever opponent that they have. Instead, I didn’t have much trouble handling 99% of them. Karl drove one shot right at me and I had my paddle facing tip facing exactly towards the ball which flew past my paddle and hit me squarely in the chin. That was a weird one.
[Later note: I actually had a mark on my chin for a couple of days from that!]
Monday, March 16, 2026 (No Play)
Selkirk was the first paddle company to come out with a patent design with an open throat, that is, an opening in the paddle just about the handle loosely resembling a smiley face.
Well, there’s a new paddle company releasing a paddle that expands on this open throat design.
Here’s what they say: “Designed through a rare collaboration between an aerospace engineer, a race-team graphic designer, and a padel paddle designer, Thunder AXE Infinity blends aerodynamic science, structural innovation, and elite-level feel into one futuristic performance weapon.”
I got invited to play at 5 p.m. at Skypark. Initially, I didn’t think I was going to be able to pull it off, but then things lined up at work. It would be me, lefty Ben David, Mauricio, and Mike Cattivera.
I did get delayed a little bit and I texted the rest of our foursome to let them know that I would be about 10 minutes late. It was absolutely beautiful and sunny in Santa Cruz but as I drove into Scotts Valley, it was overcast. But I don’t mind the clouds when playing pickleball, it keeps the sun out of your eyes. Those clouds didn’t mean that it was cool however, it was still a warm 73°F.
Game 1 Mike and I won the first game 11-4.
Game 2 Ben and I were up 10-4. We slipped a little but still won 11-8.
Game 3 Mauricio and I were the first serving team, but never got the serve back and 0-11. That was a slaughter.
Game 4 After that, we wanted redemption, but we lost again, 2-11.
In my those two games paired with Mauricio, the losses were not entirely his fault. I was also not playing as well in those games.
Game 5 Mike and I won 11-3.
Games Won: Mike 4, Andrew 3, Ben 3, Mauricio 0. Mike had 4 games against Mauricio, Ben and I each had 3. This was not Mauricio’s best outing.
More Games
Here things got switched up. Ben and Mauricio took off. Talkative lefty Michael was off on another court with Ashley drilling. We invited them over to play.
Mike and I lost 9-11 to Michael and Ashley.
Then lost again 6-11.
We were up 8-4 in the third game but also lost that one 8-11. There was no question that we were being outplayed by Ashley and Michael tonight.
We wrapped things up at 7:40 p.m.
And?
Lefty Michael was absolutely on fire tonight. He played absolutely the best I’ve ever seen him play.
Ashley is very nonchalant playing. He looks like he’s playing so casually, but he is extremely effective in his shots. Plus it doesn’t hurt that he’s over 6 foot and he is able to reach a lot of balls easily.
I have to tip my hat to Ashley, he’s a better player than I am.
Saturday, March 14, 2026 (No Play)
This is a pretty amazing rally. The thing about high-level sports, is how the pros make it look so easy. It’s kind of interesting to watch this rally and think about how often you would normally see mistakes at the lower levels. Crosscourt dinks into the net, slams where the ball does not come back, drives they sail too long, unsuccessful serves, and more. Not in this one.
Fundraiser
Mauricio and his wife Shaye were key in hosting a fundraiser tonight to benefit a local robotics club for county high school students. My wife wanted to stay home, but I opted to attend. There were a smattering of pickleball people there, including Frabrizio and Jessie as well as little Linda (Linda Samaha). Also there was my former student Mary Youngdale and her husband Erik. (I’m looking forward to playing with Erik’s mom sometime, she’s supposed to be a really good player in SoCal.) Jessie, aside from being an attorney, is also a belly dancer and she did one whole dance with a sword on her head! Impressive!
Jessie dancing up at the front of the room.
Number of days on a court: 913 Number of total hours: 3,417 Number of paid coaching hours: 203.5
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