Category: Pickleball (Page 115 of 324)

Sunday, December 3, 2023 (No Play)

I left my house about noon and stopped by work because my staff was holding a parking lot art show. (Our family business was closed, so the parking lot was available.) I hung out there for a while—and briefly did some work in my office—then left about 1 o’clock for Aptos to conduct the third Sunday of my Parks & Rec class.

I arrived at Willowbrook Park at 1:15 p.m. A couple was starting to stake out one of the two rolling nets and I had to tell them it would be reserved starting at 1:30.

Last night, one of my students, Julie, emailed and said that her parents caught COVID and she would be taking care of them and not be able to make it to class today. It turned out another one of my students, Brooke, also didn’t make it to class, leaving me with six out of my eight students. At least it was a balanced set of pairs for drills.

Today, I had my students working on net volleys and later, we worked on how to lob and how to defend a lob. With last 20 minutes I had them play a game and—hopefully—put things into practice. I had Jennifer and Jana play against just me . . . with me occasionally suspending play to comment on the other student game on the adjacent court. It’s an interesting trick to play in one game but also watch another game going on nearby. It’s much better to be able to just sit out and observe, but you do what you have to do.

The quote of the day was, “You are such a good coach!” Oh, and also me overhearing Scot telling another student about a lobbing detail I shared; “I’m glad he said that, I would have never thought of that.” Learning! I love it.

PPR Online Assessment

Just before 8 p.m., while stretched out on my bed and starting to wind down, I remembered that I had planned to take the PPR online assessment today. They gave us a 7-day window to take the test. Originally, they wrote that they were going to send the testing link on Monday. However, it turned out that they actually sent the link the same day as our workshop on Friday. The link email said it typically took less than an hour to complete, so I figured I’d tackle it and just get it done.

I sat down to take the test at my computer and it took about an hour for the 100 questions. Some of the questions were very easy—such as court dimensions and rules tennis players wouldn’t know—some made me stop and and think, others appeared to intentionally try to trick you, and a few, I believe, were outright confusing and one even wrong (in my opinion). As you went along, the test gave you immediate feedback as to whether your answer was correct or not.

In the end, I scored 95% which is easily passing. The PPR has three different coaching levels: associate coach, coach, and professional coach. There are three evaluations, one for your playing ability, one for your live coaching ability, and then one for the test. Whatever your lowest evaluation was in any of those three segments would determine which of the three coaching levels you would be assigned. After workshop, I was graded as a mid-level playing skill “coach” candidate which was everyone except two very strong players who were 4.5 or better—one was a even a 6.0. The 95% on the written assessment would’ve garnered me the level of Professional Coach but since my playing level doesn’t warrant that, I’ll be assigned the “Coach” moniker. I wasn’t expecting to be assigned “Professional Coach”, my primary goal was to avoid being assigned “Associate Coach”.

Once I completed and submitted the test, I wrote to the PPR sharing with them which questions I felt should be rewritten to be clearer. I don’t know if they’ll write back to me or not, but maybe I’ll save some future candidates some trouble.

Hunger Strike

While talking to my son Nicholas on the phone—before the test—he mentioned a “hunger strike” over pickleball. I didn’t know what he was talking about, but he’d seen it months earlier and he was surprised that I hadn’t heard about it. He found the article and shared it with me:
https://www.theprogress.com/news/chilliwack-pickleball-hunger-strike-ends-without-a-solution-2355539
It was a couple in Canada concerned about game noise. The hunger strike didn’t last long—just two days!—and that was that. But they got a lot of publicity, and that was the point, right?

---

Tuesday, December 5, 2023 (Court Day #613)

I had physical therapy at 5:30 p.m. tonight. My knee seems to continue to improve. When my PT session ended at 6:24 p.m., I left and hopped in my car and popped over to the Skypark. The parking lot was extremely full. Cars were parked off-road between trees. I drove around to the backside behind the courts and there is no room back there either! Crazy. I put my car in reverse and backed out, then found a spot on the street a block away then hoofed it in.

First Game

They had to dry erase board going to rotate people onto courts and I added my name. My first game was with Darvin against the tall man named John and a woman named Cimarron, who I believe is his wife. It was a good warm-up game. John and Cimarron were better than I was expecting. Both are 3.5 level players. Darvin is more of a 3.0 level player and I did my best but we still lost by a few points. There is only so much I can do when they are targeting my partner.

Balanced Games

As the evening went on, I found myself in better and better games. I had a few games with Matt Babb against his friend Paul and Ann‘s husband Eric. Those were challenging and fun games.

Eric shared, “Whatever you are doing with your serves, you are doing it right. The balls aren’t coming back up.” Topspin!

Eric stepped out and David (Minori’s boyfriend) stepped in. We got clobbered in the first game. We went on to win some of the remaining games against Matt and Paul. We finished up the last game a few minutes before the late clicked out at 9:30 p.m.

Last week when I was walking off the courts on Tuesday night, my right knee was hurting. Tonight, I didn’t have that problem. Yes, my knee bothered me a little bit at times but it was surprisingly good. I chatted to some of the players afterward, then headed out. I got home shortly after 10 p.m. Once home, I iced my knee. It may not be feeling bad, but I don’t want to attempt fate!

---

Saturday, December 9, 2023 (No Play)

It’s official. I got my email notice from PPR—at 5:32 a.m. today when I was sound asleep!—that I’m now officially a “Certified Coach”. That’s a big milestone for me.

As a courtesy, I sent an email to Karen H., the other local active PPR certified instructor and let her know that I have no plans to get hired as a club pro or actively seek students, just continue teaching the classes through Parks & Rec.

I made it a whole 12 hours before I was stopped by a couple that I know while out and about and was asked about lessons. Ah, well. Maybe I’ll be doing some private lessons regardless!

Number of days on a court: 613
Number of total hours: 2,684
Number of paid coaching hours: 6.5

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

Saturday, December 2, 2023 (No Play)

This was the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club’s second time taking part in the annual Santa Cruz Downtown Holiday Parade. While it rained this morning, it had cleared by the time participants started to arrive and congregate. I got to our designated spot—we were group #61—around 8:45 a.m.

I’d brought a backup paddle and ball. I wasn’t going to bring my #1 paddle! Some others did the same thing, bringing paddles they didn’t care as much about.

There was no drizzle this year so we had a bit better turnout than our first attempt. There were a lot of conversations while we waited, mostly about pickleball, of course.

As I’d arranged, volunteers Jeff Hotchkiss and Sean McElhaney appeared with the temporary portable net made from PVC pipe. They also brought a metal pipe to which our club banner got secured through its grommets with plastic zip ties. The metal pipe didn’t sag like the PVC pipe last year. This was a much better solution. There’s no teacher like experience!

Paul and his son Declan spent some time knocking a pickleball against hard wall of the building . . . though the bike rack made for an obstacle. I joined Declan for a few minutes before it exceeded my attention span.

The parade kicked off at 10 a.m., but with us as group nearer the end—there were 70-some-odd groups—it wasn’t until shortly after 10:30 that we were ushered up to the actual parade route and presented to the crowd lining the street.

Along the route, myself, Mark, Jeff, Jessie, Paul and his son Declan and, at times, Linda hit a pickleball back and forth over our demonstration net.

I don’t know which woman it was in our group but she started us with a chant of “1… 2… 3…” then we all yelled “PICKLEBALL!”, much to the delight of the crowd.

Much like last year, we again received a fabulous reception from both the crowds lining the sidewalks and the parade announcers every few blocks over their loudspeakers. We gave a lot of families a very happy exposure to pickleball.

After the parade, I got stopped by a couple asking how to start playing. Of course, I took the time to answer and directed them to the club website.

Video

The Santa Cruz Downtown Association shared video of the parade. I made this link below take you right to the section highlighting our SCPC participation. I get a few seconds of “airtime”! LOL!

And?

It was a fun and enjoyable experience. And my staff at work didn’t begrudge me the morning off. They know I work at lot.

Number of days on a court: 612
Number of total hours: 2,681
Number of paid coaching hours: 5

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

Friday, December 1, 2023 (Court Day #612)

I left Santa Cruz about 10:40 a.m., headed north over the Santa Cruz Mountains, and arrived at the Sunnyvale Tennis Center in the Silicon Valley at 11:30 a.m. It was a slightly overcast but mostly sunny day with little to no breeze. Walking in, to be honest, I was anxious about getting dirty looks from tennis players as a pickleball usurper. I could see that there were some tennis games going on. But my concern was unnecessary, they had four permanent pickleball courts and another four that were dual striped on a tennis court.

There were a few players hitting a ball back and forth on a pickleball court and one fellow standing next to a table outside those courts who appeared to be waiting for something. I wasn’t sure if he was the instructor or a tennis player or what. (Later, I learned that this was Ori, another PPR candidate.) Moments later, a large man walked up, dressed in a black polo shirt, and a black baseball cap. His name tag said Ali and his shirt and cap were embroidered with “PPR.” Ah! This was obviously our instructor! He asked if I was there for the certification program I confirmed “yes” and then he asked me my name. “Andrew.” We had a short conversation. Ali lives very close and was relishing his short commute. When I asked, Ali said there would be 13 people coming to his workshop.

Warming Up

The courts that were going to be holding the certification workshop upon were being used by unrelated pickleball players until our starting time of noon, so Ali had us warm up on the other dual-striped courts. We’d be joining the four that been there already.

I stepped onto an empty court and an older Korean man named Luc—pronounced just like “Luke”—walked over. He and I warmed up. Then a 20-something fellow named Ryan joined us. Ryan said he’d gone to Santa Clara University on a tennis scholarship. I asked if Santa Clara was a D2 or D3 program and Ryan told me that, in fact, it was a D1 program. Shortly after, a woman in a sporty skirt and outfit joined us. She appeared to be in her mid-50s and went by “Ad”, the abbreviation of her name. (Later, when I told her that I’m from Santa Cruz, she asked, “Do you know Jane Prince?” “Yes! I definitely know Jane.”)

Program Start

At noon, Ali announced that is time to move onto our reserved courts for the program. I’ll admit that I was a little anxious. I wasn’t sure what to expect. We all grabbed our things and moved onto the permanent dedicated pickleball courts. What was very impressive, was Ali had memorized all of our names by the start of the program. I think he may have forgotten one but it’s nonetheless quite a feat . . . and a goal for all instructors! (I will say, I greeted all eight of my parks & rec students by name at the second class a week after the first.) We had Luc, Ryan, “Ad” (Adriana), Lisa P., Lisa Z., Carrie, Kazuki, Amir, Oscar, Luke, Kevin, and Ori—and me, of course. Several candidates were instructors for Lifetime Activities (like Ali): Luke, Amir, Kevin and Oscar. (Ori is the pickleball pro at the newly opened The Hub in Alameda . . . which I didn’t even know existed until today! Ryan is also an instructor somewhere and his employers wanted him to get certified.

Games

Ali had us order ourselves into a line by birthday (disregarding the year). My birthday is during the summer, so I was in the middle of the line. He broke the line into three smaller groups of four, plus one extra person. Then Ali directed each foursome onto their own court to play doubles games to 5 points. Each group would play three games, and at the end, Ali wanted to know how many “stars” we achieved. Each game in which you were on the winning team would provide you a “star”. In the first round, I was partnered—in turn—with Ad, Luke, Amir. Amir didn’t win any games, so the rest of us all got two stars.

Since our court had finished our round of games first, Ali swapped out Amir for another professional tennis instructor, Kevin. This time Luke got three stars in the remaining players each got one. (Ali made the observation that there are only two mathematical possibilities: 3 players get 2 stars and 1 player gets 0 stars -or- 1 player get 3 stars and 3 players get 1 star. So, consider that two stars are awarded for each game, so for three games, six total stars are distributed over four players. It wasn’t discussed, but the only way to further evaluate players by results alone would be to either add more rotations or to take score differentials into account.)

This was all with the intent of judging how well we play . . . this was the skill level evaluation portion of the workshop, obviously. I didn’t keep track of him at all, but Ali must have been watching the games on the three courts.

Introductions

Once done with the games, we gathered up and then went through introductions. Each person gave their name, their pickleball background, and their coaching background. When I said that I’ve been playing for seven years, there is an audible reaction from the group indicating that they were impressed with that length of time. Ali had also asked about any injuries or medical conditions we were dealing with. I shared that I’d had knee surgery in June and was very recently working my way back onto the courts.

It was a diverse group in terms of experience. One woman had been playing pickleball for only a year, Lisa Z. There was a very experienced tennis coach who had been playing pickleball for a week, Amir. Luc had been a pro badminton player and coach in Korea. And though I didn’t know it at the time, also in the group was a 6.0 rated pro level player, that is, Ryan. (I later looked up Ryan and found a video of Ryan and his partner playing against the Johns brothers!)

Coaching Advice

After the introductions, we took a quick bathroom and water break, then Ali launched into a wide range of assorted advice based on his experience as a coach. This ranged from making sure to learn your students’ names to having plastic cone targets to use for drilling.

He suggested attaching value to good behavior such as providing points in a game. He mentioned “live ball coaching” vs. “fed ball coaching”. He suggested variety in warm ups and variety in drills. This went on for a couple of hours.

Occasionally, one of us would throw out our own helpful tidbits. I think it was Luke who shared that pyramid targets (three balls as a base, one on top) are great for kids since they “explode” when hit and they get really excited. But Ali did nearly all the talking.

This by far was the main thrust of the day. While some candidates sat, there was a fair amount of standing around and listening. And that was fine, it was all valuable information. I stood the entire time, though I moved into what little sun there was peeking through the trees. Regardless, it was worth standing in the chill . . . I was one of only two candidates wearing shorts at that point. And I was the only one without long sleeves available—my typical pickleball attire had some shortcomings!

Live Coaching Evaluation

The last portion of the afternoon, around 4 p.m., was our individual live coaching evaluations. This, by far, was the most stressful part of the experience. We were given the opportunity to pick a skill we wanted to coach for the evaluation. Given the number of people and the limited amount of time, Ali had three live coaching sessions going on at the same time. On three courts, there were two groups of four and one group of five. Ali moved from court to court observing and asking questions of the “students” about the “coach”—did he do this? what did he do about that?—and making notes. All of us were nervous about being evaluated, but we did fine.

It was starting to get dark. Ryan had to leave right at 5 p.m. and he was done with his coaching evaluation, so Ali shifted Amir from the group of five to our group. We stopped and did a quick group photo before Ryan departed.

Nearly everyone was gone by 5:15 p.m. although a few of us—including me—volunteered to stay later and act as students for Amir’s evaluation. Amir did a fabulous job. His extensive professional coaching experience showed.

Overtime

After the official program concluded, one participant, Carrie, asked Ali about lobs. This was fortuitous, considering that one of my students had emailed me last night asking about lobs. The more perspectives on teaching something, the better. Carrie and I stuck around for about 20 minutes while Ali kindly explained, then demonstrated, how he’d teach defending lobs. Since our reservation had ended, we had to leave the court and we finished talking off to the side while Ali sorted his cones by color for storage. I said my goodbyes and Carrie and I left Ali alone to take care of his things. (We both offered help, but he turned us down . . . I’m sure he had a specific way and system of doing things.) Ali did share with us that we had all passed our coaching evaluations—that’s a relief!

Dinner Time!

It was 6:31 p.m. when I texted my son Nicholas that I was done and would be heading his way to join him for dinner in Santa Clara—Mongolian BBQ! It would be a relaxing change of pace after today. (And sadly, no, it didn’t quite live up to my memory of the last time I had Mongolian BBQ about 30 years ago!)

Number of days on a court: 612
Number of total hours: 2,681
Number of paid coaching hours: 5

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