Yesterday was the time change, which involves getting up earlier. Yesterday, I was feeling fine. I gone to bed early on Saturday night. There wasn’t much of an issue getting up to next morning. However, last night, had a really difficult time getting to bed… finally falling into a deep sleep around 2:30 in the morning. Then I woke up again about 5:50 a.m. and was awake for a couple hours before I fell back asleep for another 90 minutes. Overall, I was a miserable night of sleep.
Pick-le-ball!
This has been a weekend of what feels like nonstop pickleball. • Thursday morning, Mark Dettle and I were out the Warriors arena in the morning to scope out things and do some prep for the halftime show. • Friday itself was leaving work about an hour before closing to get ready for and then go attend the basketball game plus participating in that demonstration during the halftime break. • Saturday night was confirming and coordinating replacement students so that I would have two full courts. (And it was successful. I had two full classes.) • Sunday morning was pickleball play followed by a stop at my house to eat and grab my things then to Scotts Valley for 4 1/2 hours for teaching. • Today there was some play in the morning, followed by the board meeting.
Games
I played an assortment of unmemorable games.
Tony Sloss and I played against Steven and Laura (the one who moved here from Visalia). Steven is Eddie’s brother. Months ago, I’d heard that Steven has aspirations of going pro. Tony and I found ourselves down by a wide margin in the game but clawed our way back tying up the game 9–9. I hadn’t played with Steven before. Steven is an exceptionally good player. Aside from making almost every shot look effortless, he hit some shots back over the net that a normal player would not be able to get. He did a behind-the-back sideline dropshot that dropped perfectly low into the kitchen. Maybe it was luck, but it was really good! When I was on the right side across from Steven, he attempted a speedup at me and I drove the back between the two of them for a winner. He gave me a big smile and pointed at me. Yeah, I can have quick hands at times. Tony and I lost 9-11. As you’d expect, Laura—who is not a bad player—let us stay close.
Meeting
I didn’t get to the picnic tables for a board meeting until 12:26 p.m. Val and her husband Stan plus Mark Dettle were sitting there waiting. Not too surprising, George was deep in conversation with someone a little bit away. Jackie had arrived at the park but was off in the bathroom. Soon we were into our meeting.
More Games
After our board meeting ended at 1:54 p.m, Jackie asked if I could stay and play one game. As it turned out that one game was very short so we rolled it into two. Jackie and a regular named Bob who wears a visor played against Mark Dettle and myself. In the first game, I hit a shot and lost my balance and stepped into the kitchen. While I was in there, the next ball came back at me and that rally was over. I can’t remember the last time I did that. It’s been years and years.
At 2:20 p.m., it was time to go.
I have not been happy with my last outings. I’m hoping that I will play better soon.
Number of days on a court: 778 Number of total hours: 3,100.5 Number of paid coaching hours: 120.5
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I arrived at Brommer Park at 9:50 a.m. It was sunny and cool. It was a little breezy and that did had an effect on a few shots over the course of the morning.
Games
My first game was teamed up with a number of players I didn’t know. One I had seen before but the other two I didn’t know. I played with a guy who is a lefty. He didn’t seem to have that much of a soft game, but made up for it with his hard drives. We won that game.
My second game was Rick and myself against René and Evan. It turned out to be a close game but Rick and I pulled off a win.
Ball to the Eyes
Next, René and I played against Rick and Evan. We lost 2-11. René was not into this game for some reason. In this game, Evan attacked from the kitchen and however it got there, the ball hit me in the sunglasses. Evan felt very bad about it, but it didn’t hurt. After the game, I showed him my broken sunglasses frames. “Did I do that?” He was very concerned. But then I let him know that they had been already broken! Yes, I can be a stinker! And, yes, I always wear eye protection. (Well, with some very rare exceptions.)
René, Rick, Marco
René and I won 11-1 vs. Rick and Marco. It was Marco’s first game and he was still getting warmed up.
Rick and I played three games against René and Marco. The first game was lopsided in favor of René and Marco. Marco is playing very well. I’ll need to play more against players with that aggressive style to do better. In the second game, Rick and I took the lead late in the game but they came back to win 11–9. In the last game, Rick and I lost again, this time 5–11.
Last Game
Last game was Evan and myself against Dave Ryan and another Dave who I don’t know. I think the other Dave is a tennis player who is dabbling in pickleball. He was a combination of poor shots and poor shot selection, but he also had some really great drives at times—his play is a mishmash. Evan and I won 11–5. Dave Ryan and Evan both complimented my plan after that game. Nice to hear.
After that game, I checked the time, 12:02 p.m. The time change was today. There were good games to still be had but I had to go home and get ready to coach this afternoon.
New Sign
When I was leaving after teaching for a few hours, I noticed that a new sign had been posted by the City of Scotts Valley. Nothing like a sign to avoid arguments!
Number of days on a court: 777 Number of total hours: 3,098 Number of paid coaching hours: 120.5
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
Tonight was the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club’s halftime demonstration of pickleball at the 7 p.m. Santa Cruz Warriors “G League” basketball game. The local team is a direct feeder to the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and under their management.
As a SCPC officer, I had sent out several email blasts to the club members letting them know that we would be some informal socializing at Abbott Square downtown prior to the game tonight. With all the food vendors there, there would be a chance to eat something too.
I got stuck at work and then afterward—with my wife out of town helping my son Nicholas for the afternoon—I needed to go home and feed the dogs and get them out to do their business!
By the time that was done and I got downtown, it was shortly after 6 p.m. For about ten minutes, I joined the dozen or so people who were socializing, then David Ang and I walked over to the arena. Since I was part of the halftime demonstration, I wanted to get there early and scope things out.
Arena
As fortune would have it, our staff contact with the Warriors, Spencer Arburn, was going through security just as I walked up. I called over and after my explanation, Spencer instructed the security guards let pass me through with my full water bottle—a “no no”—in my backpack. Fantastic timing!
Once inside, I realized that there didn’t seem to be a place to pick up the limited-edition Santa Cruz Warriors pickleball paddle covers inside the arena either. Spencer kindly went back out and retrieved one for me and one for David. Wherever we were supposed to go to get the paddle cover, it was not obvious. I did look for it outside!
Also, Warriors bucket hats were given out to the first 1,000 attendees. I did pick one up, though I planned on gifting it to someone later.
Pre-Game Prep
Spencer suggested that I store my backpack near the fully-assembled pickleball net for halftime. I wasn’t super comfortable leaving by backpack unattended even if it was behind a flap where no one could see it—but I did. Not too long after, I went back and grabbed it and brought it to my seat.
After club president Mark Dettle and I had done a dry run on the portable fabric court lines yesterday, those lines had been very carefully folded up and set on top of the net so they’d be ready to go at halftime tonight. Unfortunately, in the meantime, the staff had gotten them back out again to test the corner weights (to stretch the lines straight) and somewhat haphazardly put them back with the net. Before the game, Mark and I tried to get the lines organized as best we could, but with no way to lay them out completely, there is no way for us to know for sure that we had them configured them correctly. We crossed our fingers and hoped for the best.
The basketball game started and it was back and forth, close, and entertaining.
Pre-Halftime Prep
I previously arranged with Jackie, Mo, and Spencer that we start to warm up for our demo with 10 minutes left in the second quarter. Arena was kind of muggy so it was nice to get out the back door into the cool night air. I hit a ball back-and-forth with Mo and Jackie hit a ball back-and-forth with Spencer. Mark was also out there keeping an eye on the time and keeping us coordinated.
Mo, me, Spencer, and Jackie out back, posing for Mark.
Jackie and I decided we’d get into the team spirit and wear our free bucket hats for the demonstration.
With about three minutes left on the game clock, Mark ushered us inside where we waited near the corner of the court. The Warriors staff was poised, supporting the portable net in the air with our fabric court lines draped over the top of it.
Halftime
When the game clock struck zero, the staff immediately started making their way onto the basketball court. It was a little tricky navigating random people while carrying a 22 foot long portable net.
They started showing our prepared video on the big screen while we set up.
After the staff set the net on the court, we started trying to get the temporary court lines down. That part was a stressful fiasco. We got the corners out but the center part of it was a tangled mess. After about a minute of trying to get that figured out, we urgently decided to just jettison the court lines and do our best without.
I was with Jackie on the Arena entrance side of the net, Spencer and Mo were on the other side, of course. The arena announcer, who was going to commentate our demo game, had a little experience with pickleball having played three times himself.
There was a bit of a challenge not knowing where the court lines would have been plus playing with an unfamiliar indoor ball, but still it was fun. I was mostly unaware of the crowd except when Mo and I had faster net rally when we heard the crowd go, “Ooooo!”
Considering how little experience he had and the weirdness of this particular game, the announcer did a good job commentating the game. The game was a blast, if bizarre.
The announcer was helpful in counting down how many seconds we had left. He called out, “44 seconds!” “20 seconds!”
I’d asked some people to record the demonstration but no one recorded the last minute or so. Here’s what I put together of it.
When halftime was over, I gathered up my things and headed back over to the corner where are we had initially gathered. The staff had put the net back where it was along with the rats’ nest of fabric lines. Mark and I broke down the net and stowed it in its bag. Mark stuffed all the random court lines into a separate bag—it would be sorted out later. As we started walking back to our places, Mark turned around, stopped, and held out his palm. High-five! Well, Mark obviously felt it was an unquestionable success!
The Basketball Game
When I got back to the bleachers, it appeared that my bench seat between Jackie and David had disappeared so I sat on the end of the row right in front of Wendy and a man who I assume is her husband. It turned out to be a really good basketball game. The Warriors has fallen behind and then came back and tied it up with only a few seconds left. Unfortunately, they fouled the other team and the final points in the game were those free throws. They gave the other team a win.
As much as I would’ve liked our hometown team to win, I was very happy that the game did not go into overtime. It had been a long day and I was very ready to get home.
David very kindly gave me a lift from his car—which was parked nearby—to my car which was about 10 minutes of walking away. Thanks, David!
Saturday, March 8, 2025 (No Play)
I heard from a number of people that the crowd last night had gotten into our demonstration game and our demo was successful. That’s excellent to hear!
Number of days on a court: 776 Number of total hours: 3,096 Number of paid coaching hours: 114.5
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
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