Category: Pickleball (Page 110 of 324)

Friday, February 23, 2024 (No Play)

Last night, laying in bed, the inside of my right knee was aching a bit. It was then that I realized that I hadn’t used my right knee brace yesterday drilling with Jason. Oops. Recovery from knee surgery from June is still dragging on. Or maybe that’s just the way my knee will be going forward. Time will tell.

The Bracket

René had sent me the bracket that Jason and I were in, and later, Jason also sent it to me. I took a screenshot to share here:

Out of the 12 players on the six other teams, I know 5: Dave Cox, John Pacholski, Dieter and Bruce, and Chris Yoder—the husband of Jennifer Watson, the tournament director for this event.

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Saturday, February 24, 2024 (Court Day #628)

This PIG (“Pickleball is Great”) Chase tournament was supposed to be held at Cabrillo College but winds knocked over a fence on their courts recently, so the tournament was moved to Soquel High School. (We don’t have tornados here or particularly high winds, so I suspect some posts were corroding!) It’s been nearly a year and a half since my last tournament. My knee, and then knee surgery, put a damper on tournaments.

I got up, got ready, and downed three ibuprofen. As I drove through downtown to pick up Jason my car read 50°F. There were scattered clouds and it appeared that is going to be a very nice day.

I got to Jason’s house at 8:03 a.m.—almost on time—and he popped out his front door as soon as I parked in his driveway. A minute or two later, we were on our way.

Arrival

As I pulled into the Soquel High School lot at about 8:15 a.m., I could see a bunch of players warming up. The tennis courts had orange plastic tape on the ground marking out temporary pickleball courts.

Jennifer Watson was manning the registration table with some help from Josh, the young tennis player who also plays pickleball—and he plays it very well, I might add!

It turned out that an 8th team had been added to our bracket. Dan Bliss and Steve Bachman, both locals. The more the merrier and that meant there’d be no byes . . . we wouldn’t have sit even longer periods between games.

Warm Up

Jason and I warmed up on a court. A couple of guys joined us, splitting the court, a guy named Jason from Gerber and Allan from Red Bluff. Now, that’s a trek . . . Red Bluff is about 4 hour drive without hitting traffic. They asked if we wanted to play a warm-up game. We did and our opponents were up a couple points when Jennifer called everyone. (Jason and Allan went on to win silver in their younger 4.0 bracket.)

Everyone collected at the gate area near the registration table for instructions and the playing of the National Anthem. We’d be playing games to 11, win by 2, and we’d be playing our Men’s 4.0, 53+ matches on courts 7, 8, 9, and 10. (There were 12 total courts.)

Game #1 (Court 8)

Our first game would be an extreme challenge. We’d be playing against Chris Yoder (4.5) and his friend Jim Somerville (4.5). I talked to Jim and he’s a high school tennis coach from Monterey who has known Chris for 25 years.

It started out well, Jason and I were surprisingly up 3-1 against Chris and his friend. Jim got me on a few rallies by driving hard at my backhand and me failing to handle the shots. I was a bit frustrated with that. We ended up losing 7-11. Considering their rating and the level of respect around for Chris’ skills, I wasn’t overly disappointed with the outcome. We wrapped up that game at 9:20 a.m.

Jason later said he was surprised that I was having trouble handling Jim’s drives as I’d done well with those previously when I was drilling with Jason. Something went off the rails. Dunno.

Game #2 (Court 8)

The next game was against locals, Dieter and Bruce. Jason and I were leading 9-5, but then they started gaining on us. They started to lob over and over with us facing into the sun. Jason got very frustrated and threw the game ball over the fence and into the parking lot. He was not focused. We ended up losing 9-11. That was a major disappointment to lose when we were up by 4 points and let them go on a 6 point run. I have no problem with them using the sun as a weapon. We didn’t opt to do that, but it’s their choice and part of the game. There is no rule against it. Tournaments are cut-throat. We finished that game at 9:46 a.m.

Game #3 (Court 9)

Our next game was against John Pacholski and David Sullivan. I don’t know David, but I was expecting to win this game. We were up at least 7-0 before they scored any points. Jason and I did end up winning 11-3.  I played an error-free game. No mistakes.

Game #4 (Court 10)

Our next game was against Tom Ho and Joe Schertler from the Bay Area. Jason and I were ahead 3-0, but went on to lose 6-11. Joe was the better of the two players, but both were good. Joe had two really nice unexpected poaches in that game for winners. Hats off.

Game #5 (Court 10)

At 10:58 a.m., Jason got text about next game against David DeMateo and Brian Ford from Aromas. Brian is a lefty and they stacked. Jason and I were up 2-0, but got creamed 3-11. Once Brian and Dave got ahead in the game, it was never in doubt.

So far in the tournament, we had won just 1 and lost 4. It was not looking good for playoffs nor medals for us. I was starting to get fatigued and my back was tightening up.

Game #6 (Court 9)

Our next game was against local Dave Cox and Dave Merritt. When I aske, Dave M. said he’s from Seaside. They have a tennis club down there which now has pickleball. He said a 1-day pass is $10 . . . and that a month pass is only $20! (We all know which is the better deal for locals!)

This would be the only game of the day where we were not ever in the lead. They clearly were targeting Jason in this game. Dave Cox no doubt shared some strategy with his partner. We lost 3-11.

Game #7 (Court 9)

Our last game was against locals Dan Bliss and Steve Bachman. Unheard of, my first serve of the game was long. I wasn’t focused enough. But it wouldn’t make a difference. We went on to win 11-2.

The round robin was complete. With record of 2-5, there was no doubt in our minds that we were eliminated from any additional play.

Jason and I agreed in advance when signing up in 4.0 that we’d rather take our lumps and have good games than stay in 3.5 and win medals.

Playoffs

Jason and I stayed to watch the playoffs. It was only about 70 degrees, but with no shade, the sun was making it hot. Dieter’s team would play Dave Cox’s team for the bronze medal in a game to 15 on Court #9. Chris and Jim would be playing for the gold medal against Brian and Dave on Court #7 in the best of three games to 11.

Jason and I sat in chairs along the fence along the sideline of Court #7 and we could see Court #9 beyond which was right next to it.

At one point, I heard the score called by Dieter, “4-4-1”. Close game!

Chris and Jim were ahead, but Brian and Dave came back and won the first game. There was some nice playing going on. Brian politely warned Jim about stepping in the kitchen. Jason, me, and Brian’s wife Michelle did see Jim make 2-3 more kitchen violations, but as observers, we couldn’t say anything other than to each other.

There was a brief break between the games and Dieter and Bruce came over from their court. They had won bronze 15-12. And to think we had them down 9-6! Ah, well. That’s my only regret of the day.

The second game of the gold medal match began. Again, Chris and Jim went out ahead, but it was a close game and was soon 7-7. Brian and Dave stuck it out and won the game, the match, and the gold medal.

Jason and I gathered our things and headed out. But I made a stop by the busy registration table. “Jen . . . [eye contact] . . . thank you.” Organizers don’t get enough credit for their hard work.

Jason admitted in the car that his frustration had cost us the game against Dieter and Bruce. Jason is very competitive. Overly so at times.

At a little before 2 p.m., I dropped Jason off at his house and I then was off to take care of some work responsibilities.

Results

Pickeballbrackets.com had results posted on their website later. Jason and I ended up fifth out of eight teams by virtue of point differential.

And a complete breakdown of scores.

Binh and Shawnté finished 5th out of seven teams in their younger 4.0 bracket.

This evening, I took a couple ibuprofen and iced my knee. I’ve got site coordinator duties at Derby Park tomorrow morning, followed by teach in Aptos.

Local Winners

Given it was a local tournament, we had a number of local players do well.

MEN’S Doubles Skill: (3.0) Age: (5 To 49)
GOLD
– Mauricio Cuervo (Santa Cruz, CA) (Maurico lives in my neighborhood)
– Diego Paramio (Santa Cruz, CA)
SILVER
– Samuel Udo (Santa Cruz, CA)
– Joseph Axisa (Santa Cruz, CA)

MEN’S Doubles Skill: (3.0) Age: (50+)
GOLD
– Piero Lorenzo (Aptos, CA)
– Gene Gutierrez (Aptos, CA)
SILVER
– Rich Wilson (Corralitos, CA)
– Sean McElhaney (Aptos, CA)
BRONZE
– Dexter Marr (Fresno, CA)
– Mike Leffler (Santa Cruz, CA)

MEN’S Doubles Skill: (3.5) Age: (35 And Above)
SILVER
– Heyward Robinson (Aptos, CA)
– John Simmons (Aptos, CA)
BRONZE
– Stoehr Sukachevin (Soquel, CA)
– Jon Atterbury (Santa Cruz, CA)

MEN’S Doubles Skill: (3.5) Age: (5 To 34)
BRONZE
– Antonio Ruiz (Watsonville, CA)
– Freddy Ruiz (Aptos, CA)

MEN’S Doubles Skill: (4.0+) Age: (53+) (This was my bracket)
BRONZE
– Dieter Rothmeier (Capitola, CA)
– Bruce Bostock (Aptos, CA)

MIXED Doubles Skill: (3.0) Age: (5 To 54)
GOLD
– Melissa Finsthwait (Scotts Valley, CA)
– Spencer Edwards (Santa Cruz, CA)
SILVER
– Brianna Bemel (Scotts Valley, CA)
– Max Montgomery (Santa Cruz, CA)
BRONZE
– Yesenia Cardona-Muller (Santa Cruz, CA)
– Diego Paramio (Santa Cruz, CA)

MIXED Doubles Skill: (3.0) Age: (55 To 60)
GOLD
– Alexandra Norris (San Jose, CA)
– Gene Gutierrez (Aptos, CA)
SILVER
– Lacie Bowers (Watsonville, CA)
– Ron Whittle (Scotts Valley, CA)
BRONZE
– Melisa Schwarm (Santa Cruz, CA)
– Sean McElhaney (Aptos, CA)

MIXED Doubles Skill: (3.0) Age: (61 And Above)
GOLD
– Karen Wilson (Corralitos, CA)
– Rich Wilson (Corralitos, CA)
SILVER
– Ellen Glasgow (Santa Cruz, CA)
– Kip Scott (Santa Cruz, CA)
BRONZE
– Julie Montague (Aptos, CA)
– Freddy Ruiz (Aptos, CA)

MIXED Doubles Skill: (3.5) Age: (5 To 49)
GOLD
– Nicole Young (Santa Cruz, CA)
– Matthew Babb (Scotts Valley, CA)

MIXED Doubles Skill: (4.0+)
GOLD
– Rene’ Baker (Los Altos, CA)
– Nathan Fort (Hollister, CA)
SILVER
– Cassidy Sears (Sacramento, CA)
– Shawnte Hagen (Santa Cruz, CA)
BRONZE
– Jackie Signor (Ben Lomond, CA)
Dieter Rothmeier (Capitola, CA)

WOMEN’S Doubles Skill: (3.0) Age: (5 To 54)
BRONZE
– Brianna Bemel (Scotts Valley, CA)
– Maria Rimbe (Santa Cruz, CA)

WOMEN’S Doubles Skill: (3.0) Age: (55 And Above)
GOLD
– Lacie Bowers (watsonville, CA)
– Monica Lee (Capitola, CA)
SILVER
– Karen Wilson (Corralitos, CA)
– Robin Hopkins (Watsonville, CA)
BRONZE
– Melisa Schwarm (Santa Cruz, CA)
– Ellen Glasgow (Santa Cruz, CA)

WOMEN’S Doubles Skill: (3.5+)
SILVER
– Hui Lancaster (Aptos, CA)
– Robin Davis (Aptos, CA)

Number of days on a court: 628
Number of total hours: 2,731
Number of paid coaching hours: 15.5

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

Thursday, February 22, 2024 (Court Day #627)

When I reached out to Jason a few days ago about playing this week in advance of Saturday’s tournament, he suggested drilling at Skypark this afternoon. I agreed.

Shortly after 3 o’clock, I left work and headed to Scotts Valley to meet up with Jason. It was a beautiful sunny day in the mid 60s. With blue skies and barely a cloud to be seen except for some puffy ones floating on the horizon. There is some rain predicted in the next few days but hopefully it won’t impact the tournament in two days or my pickleball class on Sunday.

I pulled into Skypark’s parking lot and walked in. There were three people on one court and then another two people on another court playing pickleball. Jason was drilling with a guy who is about to head out. The tennis courts had a doubles game going on one of the two.

Jason and I worked on crosscourt dinking, working our way up from the transition zone, and some straight-ahead dinking. We worked on that for about an hour and 15 minutes until about 4:40 p.m. Ying show up then we continued to work on the soft game with me dinking against Jason and Ying. Any ball that came up high would get driven hard so they were fire fights too.

At about 4:45 p.m. Nate showed up and then he dinked with Ying and I dinked with Jason for a couple more minutes and then we decided to have a game.

Game

We played against Nate and Ying. Early on, Jason went for an Erne, jumping to his left to try to attack a ball going to Ying. However, he jumped too soon and telegraphed the play and Ying hit the ball between myself and Jason for winner. By the time I realize that Jason was going for Erne I didn’t have enough time to cover the space. I told him if he did that during the tournament he would owe me a beer!

There was one shot while we were all at the net with Jason left and me on the right. Nate was across from me diagonally and hit the ball between Jason and me. Court positioning. I left too much space. I needed to close the middle more.

It was a pretty close back-and-forth game until Jason made four or five mistakes in a row and then we were down 5-8. I was playing pretty well. We tightened up the score until was 9-10. We were down by one point. In the midst of a rally at the net, I managed to get Nate to pop a ball up in the middle then I got set and slammed the ball… tight into the white tape of the net. Such a disappointment! Nate kidded, “You won’t get another one like that!” They ended up scoring another point and took the game 11-9. Nate has really nice serves though I can handle them just fine. He has pace, depth, and spin.

At 5:10 p.m., it was time to go. The courts were filling up with players out to have fun, but I had Santa Cruz Art league duties as a board member—there was a teacher meeting to be in.

Wrap Up

My big take away from me today is doing a better job leaning into the kitchen and taking balls out of the air even if they’re awkward. That is definitely better than the ball landing right in front of my toes and me trying to take it as a half valley with little to no margin for error. I was finding that my shots were ending up in my side of the net for those. So, out of the air. It was a bad habit that I slipped into.

I felt I played pretty well, I actually happy. If I play like that during the tournament I’ll be pleased with myself, even if we don’t win a medal.

I spent the evening basking in the glow of good play. I was delighted with how I played. I got all my serves in and one was returned by Nate into the net. I successfully returned all the serves in the game. I didn’t hit any shots into the net except that overhead when I got too excited.

On the downside, my back is still sore and tight. I this is shaping up to maybe take maybe months and not weeks to get back to normal.

Number of days on a court: 627
Number of total hours: 2,728
Number of paid coaching hours: 15.5

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

Friday, February 16, 2024 (Court Day #626)

Over the course of this week, I’ve been arranging a private group to play at Derby. Monday is Presidents Day so some people are also off from work today such as Jason, Charles, and also my wife. It took a bit of doing since a lot of people already had plans, including other set groups. Later on yesterday, Jason said that Sean was able to play and join us at 8:45 a.m.

Skypark. Nope.

My plan was to play at Skypark last night after work. In fact, I was actually dressed and in my car on the highway heading there directly after work when I got a text from my wife saying that she was throwing up and that I needed to come home and take care of the dogs for her. I took the next freeway overpass, turned around, and headed home. Last night, I slept in a separate room… I didn’t want to catch whatever she had!

Nearly Dead Phone

But when I woke up this morning, I discovered that my phone had not charged. When I turned off the light switch—in what had been my son’s room—it also turned off the outlet that my phone was plugged into. Oops. I had to track down a portable battery or work wouldn’t be able to reach me before too long. (As the boss, I need to be reachable!)

Derby Park

It was overcast, 57°F, and an oddly muggy winter morning. After the battery hunt, I was about five minutes late. I didn’t feel too bad, Sean was just parking ahead of me when I got to Derby Park. Charles and Jason are already on the courts. Jason was in a game with someone and the game wrapped up the immediately when we arrived. Maybe Jason told them that he could only play until we got there. Dunno.

Jason had said yesterday he was expecting us to get our butts kicked against Charles and Sean. (Hey! We did want tough competition to prep for the tournament!) To cap off our choice of opponents, due to COVID and tweaking my back, this was my first time playing in a full three weeks. (Remember, no “warm up” play last night as I’d originally planned!)

Games

In the first game, Jason and I were leading 7-1, but ended up losing 9-11.

We played again and lost 6-11.

The courts had filled up and people were waiting to play. Matt Smith (the retired firefighter) was there—he came over and said “hi” to me, I hadn’t seen him in months—and Matt announced the suggestion that everyone shift courts and come off after games were done. (Like organized club play.) Jason wasn’t too keen about this, but our group abided by the suggestion along with everyone else. The waits were fairly short, thankfully. While off, I asked Sean about if he had tennis background. He said he was on the tennis team at Santa Cruz High School and helped teach at Bob Hansen’s summer tennis camps held on the UCSC campus years ago. Ah! That’s why he caught on to pickleball so relatively quickly.

In the third game, Jason and I were up 6-3, but lost 6-11.  Yes, they went on an 8 point run. Sad.

And the next one was even more of a disaster with us losing 1-11. The script flipped. Jason was the stronger player of the two of us initially, but in this game Jason was not playing his best and I was the one playing stronger more consistently.

A consolation was 4-5 of my serves weren’t returned by my opponents. That said, I had a couple serves by my opponents that I messed up the returns. Typically, those are low to my backhand.

Mixing It Up

For the next game, it was decided to mix things up and I played with Sean. Sean and I won that game 11-3.

We switched up again and Sean played with Jason and I played with Charles. Charles made uncharacteristic series of errors and we lost that game. (Heck, I make errors all the time, but Charles is usually pretty reliable, but not in this game—which he even admitted later.)

And it turned out that Jason and I did lose every single game. But it was great! There were some amazing rallies with ATP resets, dink battles, speed-ups with more resets . . . the rallies were great. Super fun games.

Jason had to leave by 11:30 a.m. and indeed left shortly before that. Sean left at the same time.

Extra Innings

Charles and I went on to play a game with Dan, the Mission Hill Junior High School teacher against Allen and Charles. Dan and I won that first game.

The second game was closer. It went to 11-11 and someone eventually won, but honestly, I can’t remember if we won or lost that game—regardless, it was pretty evenly matched.

My last game of the day was playing with Mark G. against Ted B. and Dan. I expecting us to win that game but we didn’t. I was a bit distracted, and Mark wasn’t playing nearly as well as he did in the game right before that when he and Dan had beaten Ted and myself.

Catch

One thing that bugged me—and don’t get me wrong, I really like Dan—but I hit a shot near the right sideline and as the ball was dropping, Dan grabbed it out of the air about shoulder height. I was thinking the ball might have landed in. It was close enough that I was very surprised. I’ve been playing over seven years and never had someone to that. Dan must have seen my face since he looked at me, pointed and nodded indicating that it would have landed out. It’s one thing in rec play if a ball is obviously a good foot or more out, but if it’s inches, let it bounce! (If it’s a tournament, never catch a live ball!)

My back was fatigued and tight by those last few games. But it wasn’t inhibiting my play much. It was much more of an ache than anything resembling a sharp pain.

I left Derby at 12:30 p.m. with half the courts still busy.

Brommer

I told René that I would head to Brommer Park to play with her since we have that tournament a week from tomorrow. I texted her at 12:37 p.m. telling her that I would be there about 1 p.m. . . . and low and behold, I pulled into the lot at 1:02 p.m. There were a few free parking spots.

When I arrived, René was in a game with Caty and a guy named Mark who was visiting from Oakland. Their fourth was a guy I never seen before with long curly red hair. They finished that game but she asked me if I’d mind if she went and played another one with that group and I told her it was fine. I ate the snack bar that I grabbed this morning and washed it down with some of my remaining water.

First Game

My first game was with Lisa, the petite older British woman, against Hugh and John, who normally plays in Scotts Valley. I played decently in that game but we lost.

The Real Stuff

After the game against Hugh and John, I got into a game with René against Mark (from Oakland) and Caty. I’d played with Caty once before. Mark was new to me. I started playing really, really well. René and I were ahead but our opponents came back and won the game.

We went on to play a more games against Mark and Caty. We lost all of them—mostly on me—but it was fun. Long rallies, speed-ups, resets, ATPs. Fun.

Mark made several comments about how I had “fast hands” after some net rallies.

My play got worse and worse over the two hours I played, my back continued to be sore and tight and I just wasn’t playing that great.

Normally, I would be depressed given the deterioration of my play at the end of the two sessions today but I haven’t played pickleball in three weeks. Plus my back is not 100% after pulling it two weeks ago.

I noticed midway through the morning session at Derby Park, but I was having trouble when I took a particularly deep breath. I wonder if this is a consequence of having COVID three weeks ago. 

I left the Brommer Park at 3 o’clock, went home, ate, and made a brief appearance at work.

Jennifer Watson asked if I was coaching and I said “yes” and she asked what level I was teaching and I said I was teaching beginners classes. She asked me to contact her and left her card in my backpack.

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Saturday, February 17, 2024 (No Play)

Boy. I am sore from my 5 1/2 hours of pickleball yesterday. My back is sore, my right glute is sore, my legs are sore and strangely, the muscle above the interior bone on the top of my right forearm is sore. Maybe that’s because yesterday was my first extended session for years without wearing the BAND-IT tennis elbow strap. I did wear my right wrist support and that seems to be working. My wrist feels pretty good.

Mixed Doubles

After talking to René, I decided to cancel my mixed doubles event with her next weekend. With how sore I am today after playing yesterday, my back still not 100%, the rain and lack of time playing together, I can’t imagine that I’d be 100%. I’m sure René was relieved.

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Monday, February 19, 2024 (No Play)

I’m still a bit sore from Friday. But not bad. What better way to kill some time on lazy holiday than to take a USA Pickleball Rules Test? I spent about 10-15 minutes answering the 50 multiple-choice questions. I have to admit, I’m always surprised that I don’t score better than I do. I took it and got 86% (43 out of 50). Sure, some are just me not reading the question correctly. Some are kind of obscure questions about how long a match can be delayed by a no-show before it’s forfeited, or how many technical warnings and technical fouls you can get before a game or match is forfeited.

Ball Machines

Larry has a ball machine. Shawnté has a ball machine. I’ve been thinking about one for a while. But they aren’t cheap. Most are over $1,000. One recently came out that really impresses me. The Titan ball machine. The problem is that it’s  $2,200. Ouch. It’s hard for me to justify that. I guess I’m not the only one who is impressed, even with that price tag, it’s sold out and not available for the next two months.

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Tuesday, February 20, 2024 (No Play)

I’m a lot less sore from my extended Friday outing. It’s back to only my lower back being sore and that’s less sore than before.

Over the weekend, I emailed PBAW, the makers of the pickleball backpack my wife and daughter had gifted me for Christmas. I had noticed about a week ago that one of the seams had ripped through. It’s not like I carry a bunch of bricks in it.

Anna, from PBAW, got back to me today, the first day after the holiday, and said they aren’t happy either about me experiencing that problem and said they would swap out my defective bag for a new one. I just need to send the old one back once the new one arrives so they can review it and see what went wrong and how they can improve their product. I told her I’d be happy with that arrangement.

Afternoon Group

Conner M. added me to a WhatsApp group for “late risers” for organized play. He mentioned something about an early group, so I texted him separately about that. He said there’s a group that meets at Brommer at 6:45 a.m. Honestly, it’s harder for me to get away from work in the afternoons. While I don’t naturally get up early, mornings work better for me.

Tourney Prep

I texted Jason tonight to see if we could get some play in before the tournament on Saturday. We ended up settling on drilling at Skypark at 3:30 p.m.

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Wednesday, February 21, 2024 (No Play)

I took the rules test again and got an even lower score, 82%. There was one question that I took issue with. I emailed the association test admin this:

“Question #71.

‘If the referee is uncertain whether a server has violated any of the 3 components for a legal volley serve, the referee should immediately stop play and order a re-serve.‘

I said false. The test says it’s true. However, the rules say ‘may’, not ‘should’

I believe this is an error.”

We’ll see what I get back from them, if anything.

Funny!

This reel came up, it’s a clever parody of Kenny Roger’s classic song, “The Gambler”, but this one is called “The Pickler”!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3I8mdePjH5/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D

Backpack

I got a notice that the replacement backpack went out today. That’s quick service from PBAW! One day after our email conversation.

Number of days on a court: 626
Number of total hours: 2,726
Number of paid coaching hours: 15.5

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