Category: Pickleball (Page 105 of 324)

Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024 (Court Day #642)

I went to Easter services last night, so I was free to open Derby Park this morning and play.

When I walked out the door, I found wet patches on the ground. The big question was whether I should’ve delayed play until 10 o’clock. I just had to wait to get to the courts to see. It was a very chilly 50°F and it was cloudy with no sun, though there were patches of blue on the horizon.

Derby Park

When I got to the courts, they weren’t too bad, but there were some puddles. I quickly and tardily sent out a club email blast via my phone delaying play until 10 a.m. It was a last minute notice, so some people showed up anyway. (Plus not all players are club members, unfortunately. ) In the meantime, between towels, the electric blower, and a push broom, I was able to get the courts in pretty good shape. The swampy court in the far corner continued to be a problem for most of the session since water would percolate up through the cracks making the court slippery.

While sitting on the bench waiting, two games finished and the players were walking off. To let the next group know, a few of us yelled, “Two courts open!” I was a bit bored, so I added on a few more yells:
“1 + 1 courts open!”
“Square root of 4 courts open!”
“Absolute value of 2 minus 4 courts open!”
Never get someone with engineering background involved! Nerd!

Newbie

There was a new player who goes by “G” (short for Gerald) who come for the free club beginner training at 11:30 a.m. I showed him the ropes and got into a game with him against a couple of newer regulars that I don’t really know—Rich and Joe, if I recall correctly.

I felt that I played ok today, though not my best. I didn’t get into any really good games with the exception of one or two. First one was Brandon and myself against Dave Cox and Alan Greenberg. We lost by a hair. Dave was playing pretty well . . . it’s nice to be retired and be playing nearly every day! The second game was Eric Schmidt and myself against Brandon and Brian. In that last game, I was fading fast as I was quite hungry. Eric and I lost, and it was a relief—I was starving and ready to go eat!

I left the courts at 1:15 p.m. My brother John would be hosting an Easter gathering for our extended family at 2 p.m.

---

Monday, April 1, 2024 (No Play)

This will be my last blog post.

April fools! Sorry, no plans for not subjecting you to more posts!

---

Wednesday, April 3, 2024 (No Play)

I got text today from Linsday at Rec.us saying they are in final talks with the City of Scotts Valley about taking over reservations and classes for their courts.

---

Thursday, April 4, 2024 (No Play)

Lindsay has been texting/emailing and followed up with a phone call today asking about my participation in a “launch event” at Skypark later this month, assuming talks with the City of Scotts Valley pan out. The event would be late in the day, so that should work for me.

Tennis Pro Makes Good

Folks, including me, were giving Genie Bouchard a hard time for seemly not taking pickleball seriously before jumping in. She kind of embarrassed herself. Well, times have changed—or at least partially changed. Genie upset Lauren Stratman 11-5, 7-11, 11-0 in singles at PPA tournament this week. Granted, singles plays far more like tennis than pickleball doubles does . . . there is a lot more baseline rallies and very little soft game in singles.

---

Thursday, April 4, 2024 (No Play)

PickleballUnion.com did a survey of pickleball players asking, “Do you follow professional pickleball players and rankings?” 113 people responded and I didn’t find the results a surprise at all…

Yes, two-thirds of players are not all that interested in the happenings of pro players, they just want to enjoy their rec games and perhaps local tournaments.

Number of days on a court: 642
Number of total hours: 2,766.5
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 24, 2024 (Court Day #641)

I’m in New Orleans for a trade show for the next few days, I don’t have any free time once it starts in earnest this afternoon. I’d done some reconnaissance a month ago and found a place to play that I could squeeze in. I had used the Places2Play app to reach out to a venue near to my hotel. I had exchanged emails with someone named Dale . . . I wasn’t sure if it was a man or a woman.

I left my hotel a little bit before 9 a.m. and started walking towards the Hilton Riverside Hotel. It was a fairly quick walk, it was only about five or six blocks.

Navigating the Hotel

When I arrived to the hotel, I inquired with the doorman “I hear that there is a gym here with pickleball courts, can you tell me where those are?“ With a smile, he told me to go through the lobby and take the elevator to the second floor. Once on the second floor, walk down the hallway and take a second elevator to the sixth floor. Ok.

I followed his instructions, but when I got to the second elevator, the group that was there between me and the controls said the elevator only went to the fifth floor. Since I couldn’t see the buttons, I had to trust them. Up we went. When they got out, I also got out and followed them up the stairs to the sixth floor. There was a man scanning mobile phone codes outside of the door to a gym that was full of screaming girls. There is some kind of volleyball tournament that was going on. I asked the man at the door about pickleball courts and he said that he did didn’t know much about that and I should go to the front desk down the hallway and ask there.

I found the front desk and asked the woman about pickleball. She asked me if I was a guest at the hotel and I told her no. She had me charge a $10.95 fee onto my credit card. She then kindly pointed to the door labeled with a big number “4”.

Gym

The door opened up a on a thick vinyl cloth blocking the view of anything. I found a seam and walked through and found a tennis court that had been taped off with four pickleball courts in a very large gym space. Between us and all the screaming girls was just a large mesh screen to keep the balls in their respective spaces.

There was a man and a woman sitting on a row of folding chairs next to the nearside court. I walked up and said I was visiting and asked for Dale. The man, Craig, smiled and said “Oh, you don’t want to talk to Dale. He’s crazy.” Of course, having never met Dale, I wasn’t quite sure to make his warning other than to assume that he was teasing Dale.

Next to Craig was a woman named Sharon who Craig introduced me to.

Games

My first game was with Craig against Sharon and Douglas. Douglas, young African-American gentleman, a 4.0 player who I later learned that he had just entered his first 4.0 tournament and had a similar experience to me. (Yeah, no medals!) Craig and I were down initially in that game, but came back to win.

When I talked to Douglas later, I said the thing with 4.0, is all the balls come back. You hit what you think is a winner, but the ball still comes back over the net.

My second game was with Douglas against Brittany and Billy. Sharon told me that Brittany is a good player. I think she’s a 4.0  She was also very nice. Douglas and I won that game. After we started scoring points, the result was never in doubt. I think it was 8-0 before they scored any points.

Later, Craig introduced me to a woman named Charlotte and he told her that I was a good player. Then he added, “For an East Coast player, he’s good. For West Coast player, he’s so-so.” I like Craig, he’s got a good sense of humor! Charlotte turned out to be the most accurate lobbers that I’ve ever seen. She’d hit balls to within a foot of the baseline and many of them were winners.

I met a man named Billy who is also a local, and he’s an oil painter. Being that my job is selling art materials, you got to talking a bit about supplies for painting. I gave him my card telling him to visit if he ever got to my area of California.

A man named Jay and I played a game against the man named John and another fellow named Britt. All three of them are in their 60s. They’re all decent players, I would say slightly above average compared to players in my area.

It was quite humid in the gym. I noticed it later in the session I went to serve. I had a new experience of several drips of sweat sailing into the air trailing the ball when I served!

About 10:45, a man named JT arrived. JT is from Austin, Texas. I played in his first game. While warming him up, from how he was hitting his dinks I could tell he was special. I asked him “Are you a 4.0? Or 5.0?” He smiled and replied, “5.0.” That makes sense. It’s funny what you can sometimes tell from simply warming up at the net with someone.

JT has one of the best serves that I’ve gone up against. One local in town, Adrian, is probably the closest, but not nearly as consistent as JT. I’d love to play against JT regularly, he’s a step up for sure.

Heading Out

By the time 11:45 a.m. rolled around, most of the players were gone, but Douglas and two younger players were on a court. I walked over and asked, “Can I join your game or are you waiting for a fourth?“ Douglas said that his buddy was there and pointed over to another young fellow. I thanked Douglas for the games and collected my things to go. Vicky bid the rest of us farewell and walked out, leaving me with Charlotte and John. John said that some number of months ago he’d had a heart attack right here on the courts. He was rushed to the hospital, and they installed a stent in an artery. He said the condition was called the “widow maker.” He joked that he’s not married so it didn’t really apply to him. He said that within 19 days of the procedure he was back out on a court playing. That’s dedication!

John, Charlotte, and I left the gym. Out by the desk, I told John that I might see him again in November. I have a smaller distributor art materials show that takes place in the fall every year in New Orleans.

I left the gym and headed back to my hotel on Canal Street.

Today was another lesson about not judging players by their age or gender. All the players today that I met were all at least strong 3.0 players and perhaps even 3.5 level players.

---

Monday, March 25, 2024 (No Play)

I bumped into Andrew C., a sales rep friend, at the trade show. He shared a photo that he took in Target, figuring that he’d see me.

Yes, that’s decorative pickleball paddles in the women’s section!

---

Tuesday, March 26, 2024 (No Play)

This popped up on in my YouTube suggested videos:

Fun when our little—not so little anymore!—sport appears in on a popular YouTube channel. Not thing earth shattering in the video, but worth a quick watch at 1.25x speed!

Tomorrow, later afternoon, I’ll be flying back to California.

---

Thursday, March 28, 2024 (No Play)

My new Klitch Shoe Clip showed up today. It gives me some flexibility for carrying shoes—or extra shoes—to rec or tournament play.

---

Saturday, March 30, 2024 (No Play)

Shock of shocks! My wife is taking my May pickleball class. “The only reason I’m doing it is my friends are taking your class.” All it took was for several of her teacher buddies to sign up and now she’s in too! I never imagined that she’d sign up for my class. It’s kind of funny that our household paid to take a class that the household is getting paid to teach.

Number of days on a court: 641
Number of total hours: 2,762.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 24.5

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

Friday, March 22, 2024 (Court Day #640)

It was a chilly morning, overcast and 54°F. I fly out early tomorrow morning to head to New Orleans for a trade show and won’t be back until late Wednesday night.

Tennis Elbow?

I’ve been playing more in the last two weeks than I have played in a two weeks period in the past nine months. That is helping me regain my skills. A bit concerning, however, is I have very slight tennis elbow symptoms with very slight soreness in my forearm plus a little bit of soreness when I make certain motions where the two bones meet at my elbow. Hopefully, that won’t develop into anything more serious.

Departure

I left my house at 8:50 a.m., after checking in for my Southwest Airlines flight. Southwest has open boarding, so the earliest you can check in, the better. Even checking in within 30 seconds of the start time, I completely missed the “A group” and end up being assigned B-35. I should still get a reasonable seat with that though.

Brommer

This morning at Brommer Park, it was club play, so it was very organized however I wasn’t be able to stay for the whole session. I had to get home and shower, run my mother-in-law—who is in town—to a tax appointment, and then I had to get out near 41st Avenue for a radio interview on the Think Local First program . . . it’s a chance to promote our family business for free.

Warm Up

When I arrived only half of the courts were full so I warmed up with a regular named Mike T. who sports a white beard. Mike solid 3.5 level player.

During my warm-up with Mike, I was hitting a lot of my drop shots into the white tape. I have some work to do on that. I need to think about where I want the ball to land, not what the ball has to clear or I need to think about a space a foot above the net instead of the net itself. The good news is I nailed—by far—most of my drop shots in actual games.

Games

Mike and I played game against Patty and Gregg, the left-handed player. Well, Patty and Gregg came back to make a game of it, Mike and I still won. Gregg was the weakest player and I was playing very well.

After the first game when Mike and I beat Patty and Gregg, when it came time to sign up for our next game, Patty said “I want to play with you. You know how to play the game.“ That was a nice compliment. She is saying that my game is not one dimensional, She’s complaining about some players: drive, drive, lob. Drive, drive, lob. Drive, drive, lob. And they have no soft game. My game is well-rounded.

Busy

There were some long waits today and court time was at a premium. The clouds are burned off and it got to be pretty nice. The rain was expected later today.

I got into a game with Patty against Leslie and Dan Bliss. This was an all OG game. I definitely wanted to play well in this game—honestly, I felt little anxious—and I did. Patty and I won handily.

My last game of the day was also with Leslie and Dan. We had signed up in blue. My partner would be Mike T. who also signed up in blue. I was a bit surprised if he had done that but that would be the game. (Maybe Mike was having an off day, I don’t play with him enough to know.) Mike was the weakest player on the court. Leslie and Dan won pretty easily but I played well and they complimented my play after the game.

I did miss one of my serves today, but for that one serve that I missed, I had four or five that were returned by the receivers into the net.

I got to my backpack after the last game and checked the time. 11:06 a.m. It was time to boogie.

Radio

I got home, showered, dropped my mother-in-law at her appointment, then I headed out to the studio for the SantaCruzVoice‘s Think Local First radio show. The show features local businesses which are members of Think Local First, a local collective that promotes supporting independent local shops.

The show was originally on KSCO, but when the owner laid off nearly all their staff in favor of mostly syndicated programming, the now-unemployed crew started their own internet radio station. I don’t know their listenership, but appearing on the program is low cost—just my time and gas—and I’m comfortable in a radio studio (I’ve been interviewed maybe half a dozen times on various programs), so there wasn’t much to lose.

While the program went live at 1:06 p.m., I was there about 15-20 minutes early and I ended up sharing thoughts on air while Susan O’Connor Fraser and her husband wrapped up their previous program, Noon Balloon – Eat. Drink. And Be Local. They were talking about the Giant Dipper roller coaster at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and I told them that my uncle had designed the coaster’s sign that’s been hanging there for many decades. And that my great-grandfather had done the concrete work for the carousel there as well. Then we went into the break—national news time and ads.

I felt the nearly hour-long show went really well. It certainly went quickly. Afterward, we said our goodbyes and I made my way to “work work”!

Number of days on a court: 640
Number of total hours: 2,760
Number of paid coaching hours: 24.5

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