Category: Pickleball (Page 117 of 324)

Wednesday, October 11, 2023 (No Play)

I went to PT yesterday for the first time in weeks. (I was waiting for the insurance authorization for more sessions.) I met with Matt the PT at 5:30 p.m. and while it was officially a “class”, I was the only patient, so he spent 45 minutes evaluating me instead. He poked and prodded. He did an electronic strength test with me pulling my foot forward from a seated position—both legs were of similar strength, though I cut the “5 second hold” short for my right leg since my knee hurt. Going up and down stairs is the most painful, especially going down when planted on my right knee and it’s slightly bent.

Similarly, riding a bike with the seat much too low is quite painful . . . as I found out on Sunday at my folks’ house when my brother Mike wanted me to try his fancy mountain bike. I didn’t realized he’d intentionally dropped the seat down for me to adjust first.

Matt gave me a couple of stretches for the knee but was at a bit of a loss as to what is causing the issue. He did say that the “2-3 months” estimate that the surgery office gave me is actually much more like 6 months. In other words, me playing pickleball at the three month mark was pushing it.

County Coaching?

I received an email from the County of Santa Cruz’s court management company, “Rec”—based in San Francisco—asking if I’d be interested in instructing some beginner pickleball classes. I’ll have to give this some thought. There are some dynamics beyond just teaching or not.

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Wednesday, October 18, 2023 (No Play)

I had PT again yesterday at 5:30 p.m. When I asked about what to do going forward, Dr. Matt said my knee needs just time and stretching to heal. I have a follow-up appointment with the surgery PA Heather tomorrow morning. I also asked about ice and heat, Matt said to ice the knee and heat the quadriceps.

Coaching

This week, I’d set up an appointment for a phone meeting for this morning with Mike of Rec in San Francisco. Previously, after a couple of days of consideration, I’d emailed him back on the 13th telling him to check with Karen Haselden, the local certified instructor. Mike emailed back and told me he’d checked with Karen and she was too busy to take on the classes. With that, I told him that I was interested in talking further. They are interested in a beginner classes on Sunday afternoons held at Willowbrook.

Local Newman Clinic

SCPC president Mark Dettle texted me asking for clinic registration help on Wednesday next week since I’d offered to do so. It’s about 90 minutes of time starting at 8:30 a.m. I told him that’d I’d be there. Plus, heck, it’s maybe an opportunity to meet pros Riley and Linsday Newman.

Peloton

I set a new personal record last night of Peloton riding for a full hour and burning 200 calories. Afterward, I iced my knee with the cooling gel sleeve and finished watching the movie I’d started while riding. (“The King” on Netflix. Good movie.)

County Coaching

I wrote to Karen H. this afternoon and she confirmed that she’d turned down the county teaching position that has been offered to me. Sunday, November 12 would be the first day of this new class. I talked to my wife and Kristen was agreeable.

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Thursday, October 19, 2023 (No Play)

I had an appointment with Heather the surgery PA this morning to follow up and discuss my right knee. I asked what I should have just asked at the previous appointment weeks before: “Is this normal?” (Within context, of course!) She said that it was. So there you have it. I just have to wait out healing. Their original estimate of “2-3 months and back out playing” was overly optimistic. In our conversation, she said to not stretch the knee by sitting on the floor with my legs tucked under me and leaning back. Oops. I did that a few days ago. Bad. Got it.

MLP Paddles

Major League Pickleball has some rigorous on-site paddle testing and disqualified 28 paddles at a recent event. 28! I found that amazing. The PPA—now under the same ownership umbrella as MLP—doesn’t have nearly the same testing and some pros are unhappy that some other pros get advantages with paddles that have more power and would otherwise be disqualified under MLP. Sooner or later, there will be convergence, but not yet.

Teaching

I wrote Mike at Rec back this afternoon and accepted their offer to teach local beginners classes on their behalf. He wrote back a few hours later and said that “another instructor was able to confirm the slot”. Oh. I didn’t know they’d approached more than one person about teaching. Ah, well. Mike said that if that class series fills, I’m on the docket for an additional series.

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Monday, October 23, 2023 (No Play)

It rained nearly all day yesterday and we had our first full cancelation of club play for the season, at Derby Park. (Later note: Club play today at Brommer also ended up being canceled.)

Camp

Today is the first day of the Riley & Lindsay Newman pickleball camp held out at Cabrillo College in Aptos.

Mark Dettle texted me last week asking if I’d make up directional signs for the camp and I agreed. When I delivered those this morning at 7:30 a.m., Cabrillo pickleball instructor Tony Marcopulos retrieved two white plastic A-frames to hold my signs and I set about installing those.

After I helped Tony set up a net or two, I spent some time helping Dan Bliss dry off the wet courts for the camp start at 9 a.m. Lots of towels and blower use! Barbara Gerry was manning the registration table and Patty Doler was there organizing.

Riley and Lindsay arrived. Both are quite tall. Riley is easily over 6′ and Lindsay is about 5’9″. Patty introduced them to Tony and Mark and Dan and me. Riley and Lindsay are both super nice. Definite thumbs up.

I had the two of them sign my “autograph paddle”. I told her that I’d gotten the Ben Johns, Kyle Yates, and Morgan Evans autographs at the Golden State Pickleball Championships. I was remembering it as a “one and done” tournament. But Lindsay said she’d played in that tournament later on. Lindsay texted Jordan Briones to check and see which of us was correct!

Lindsay was asking about my role as USA Pickleball Ambassador and what I do for a living. The Newmans are based out of Dallas, Texas and I shared that I have a niece who lives just outside of Dallas.

Once the session started, Dan and I headed out. It was off to work. Before I left, Patty invited me to a sailboat outing and dinner with the Newmans. (We’d have to pay our own way.) I figured that dinner would be “do-able” and fun. Driving back I realized that the other Golden State Pickleball Championships that I was discussing with Lindsay probably took place during the time I was nursing that really bad tennis elbow and was staying away from tournaments. Oops.

Dinner

I left straight from work and arrived at The Crow’s Nest restaurant about 10 minutes before our planned dinner. Just inside, Patty was talking to Lindsay and Mark Dettle was hanging out by Riley. Lindsay showed me the text set back from Jordan Briones which said he thought that he had run that tournament for about 5 years. Lindsay smiled and said, “I don’t want to say, ‘I told you so’.” I laughed and told her about my recollection in the car earlier.

I talked to Riley about his “pancake” shot. I still need to get clarification, but I think it’s a scorpion shot but with a western grip. Not sure. Rachel Kuo arrived—who was in my graduating class from Harbor High and frequents the Skypark courts. Aud also came. And a woman named Beth whom I’d see a few times around.

We were taken to our table. I sat across from Riley at the end. We chatted for a bit, ate bread and calamari before the waitress figured we wouldn’t be ordering any entrees—they had pizza on the boat!—and more or less kicked the eight of us out of the main restaurant for the upstairs bar area instead. Right then, Karen (middle-age Asian lady whom I’ve seen around but don’t know well) arrived and later did end up ordering an entree while upstairs, but it is what it is!

We had fun yapping. Lindsay shared some stories off the record. Things wrapped up around 8:30 p.m. As I observed to the Newmans as we all got up to go, Dallas is two hours ahead, making it pretty late for them. They agreed. We said our goodbyes and headed our different directions.

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Wednesday, October 25, 2023 (No Play)

Mark Dettle had previously asked me to help at the Newman camp today. I got there early and helped Patty register participants as they arrived.

Once the workshop started, I hung around for about an hour listening.

One thing that I thought was clever was having players play a short game of skinny singles for maybe 6-7 minutes, then losers would move down a full court and winners would move up a full court. (Of course, if you were already in the lowest court, you couldn’t down when you lost. Same went for winners in the top court.) The goal of all this was to sort the players by skill level so that any drills would be more balanced.

Lindsay made a point to emphasize “playing the odds” when positioning on a court. That is, you don’t need to hug the sidelines. If you can’t reach the last 12 inches of the sideline and your opponent wants to risk hitting the ball out by squeezing it in that space, more power to them, because you want to make sure the middle—the high percentage shot—is definitely covered well.

They got into drills with Riley and Lindsay constantly circling around and stopping into watch and make suggestions to players. I walked over and said my goodbyes to Riley and Lindsay—Riley said they might even be back next year—and headed to work.

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Thursday, October 26, 2023 (No Play)

Someone did a great job tipping off the local newspaper about our pickleball camp. That exact thing had crossed my mind and I’m a bit ashamed that as a USA Pickleball Ambassador that I forgot to contact them myself. Fortunately, someone else did.

Aside from the front page, there was a full page inside spread too!

Hard to beat that publicity!

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Saturday, October 28, 2023 (No Play)

The actor made famous by the “Friends” TV show, Matthew Perry, was found dead today. Apparently, he fell asleep in his hot tub and drowned. 54. A little younger than me. The only reason I mention it here—no, I’m not a fan—is that he regularly played pickleball and was purported to have played some hours before he died.

Perry’s pickleball coach chimed in:
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/matthew-perrys-pickleball-coach-says-sport-gave-routine-during-recovery

A shame.

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Monday, October 30, 2023 (No Play)

Pam had asked if I could help at the SCPC Halloween scramble tournament at Brommer Park. It’d be a good excuse to see people I hadn’t seen for a while with my forced hiatus due to knee surgery.

I was there about 8:30 a.m. and it was chilly to start but got warm. There was me and another gentleman registering players for the tournament. Lots of wild halloween costumes!

After the quirky tournament, we had lunch courtesy a hired taco truck, and some potluck food items.

Then it was to home and then to work!

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Thursday, November 2, 2023 (No Play)

Mike at Rec got back to me today and said that the original pickleball class had sold out and asked if I wanted to coach a second class from 1:30 p.m. until 3 p.m. I got back to him within a few hours and said I’d do it. He’s proceeding tomorrow.

Parade

I had received word from the SCPC board that we are a “go” for the downtown holiday parade again this year . . . on the condition is that I’d organize it! Of course, though with some hesitation, I said yes. I was kind of hoping someone else would step up, but it’s not all that much work, probably about 2-4 hours of coordination in advance. Today, I got us officially registered. I received permission from Mark Dettle, the president, to send out email blasts to all members about the parade, so I sent out a “save the date” email today.

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Friday, November 3, 2023 (No Play)

With coaching income coming from the class I’ll be teaching, I can roll that money into getting credentialed as a pickleball coach.

Step #1 was signing up as a member of the PPR (Professional Pickleball Registry) which certifies pickleball coaches. It’s about $180/year. I signed up and now I have a PPR member number! The PPR has a pickleball video library. Colin Johns, Ben Johns, and Sarah Ansboury all have clips explaining certain shots. An interesting note, it’s very different watching videos with the intent of teaching versus implementing oneself—a totally different mindset and perspective.

Step #2 will be going to a PPR Certification Workshop which are held around the country and cost about $150. There’s one in about three weeks nearby (Sunnyvale) but with my back being sketchy and me still recovering from knee surgery, I’m not super keen on committing to that at the moment.

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Sunday, November 5, 2023 (No Play)

So, the pop star Katy Perry is an avid pickleball player:
[Video removed after a month, so link here now removed! Bummer!]
So, the video had Katy Perry recommending that people enter a contest for a pickleball facility. The most entrants from a city had the sponsoring business build there. Katy Perry shared that she’s a regular player.

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Monday, November 6, 2023 (No Play)

Mike at Rec provided an image for me to post in the Santa Cruz Pickleball Facebook group.

I had an almost immediate signup.

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Friday, November 10, 2023 (No Play)

Ok. This is crazy.

On Monday morning, I strained my back putting on my left sock. So lame—and so severe! I couldn’t stay upright. I laid down on my back on my bed and proceeded to not leave my bed even once for the next 48 hours. I couldn’t even turn on my side without intense pain . . . so intense, I couldn’t make myself do it. Thank goodness I have local family! I had a video appointment with a doctor and between the muscle relaxer she prescribed, ibuprofen, and a pain patch, I could eventually sit up and carefully hobble around. It was miserable. I canceled my work trip to New Orleans, where I would have otherwise been right now.

My Class

I now have 6 students signed up (out of a maximum of 8) for my beginner pickleball class on Sunday. Apparently, there was some mistake and the folks at Rec forgot to mention to the students that they have to bring their own paddle. Yesterday, Mike at Rec arranged to send me four paddles and some balls to use for my class and those items arrived today—fast! The paddles are wood and the balls are cheap knockoffs of the Onix Pure 2 balls. Not anything I’d personally like to play with, but they’ll work for a beginner class. Mike asked me to pass the paddles on to Sean Lynch—who I don’t know—who will be teaching the second class right after mine out at Willowbrook Park in Aptos.

Debate

There’s some debate about how you would start teaching new players. Some recommend dinking, others recommend ground strokes. I’m a “start with dinking” kind of guy. Sure, beginners likely won’t use dinking much in their actual games, but I believe it’s a good place to understand the dynamics of how a pickleball acts in relation to a paddle.

Costco and Pickleball

I can’t remember if I shared this, but I don’t think I did. Back in May, Costco featured a 2-page spread in their magazine on pickleball.

Pickleball is very much heading into the mainstream.

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Saturday, November 11, 2023 (No Play)

I worked for about six hours yesterday and my back hurts more today than it did then. The doctor said the more I move around, the better my back will get. I’m not so sure about that! Ok, kidding. I’m sure she’s right. Still, my back is less happy today than it was yesterday.

Golden Oldie

So there’s this 96-year-old man, Joe Gaeta, in Long Island who is teaching other seniors how to play pickleball. 96! Wow. I have a new role model to admire!
https://abc7ny.com/islip-96-year-old-joe-gaeta-pickleball/13494937/

I was impressed with the guy in his 80s who beat Maree and me up at Mitchell Park about five years ago—this guy Joe takes the cake!

Class

A box of pickleballs showed up at my door this morning courtesy of Rec. A dozen Dura 40 knockoffs. At least those should be better than the softer balls that came yesterday with the wood paddles.

I’ve been making notes and trying hash out in my head what I’m going to say and what drills we’ll be doing at my first class tomorrow. With my experience training new players as an SCPC Site Coordinator for the last five years, it’s not new territory exactly, but this is a larger group and it’ll be a longer session and with approximately six hours of instruction over the four classes. Plus I like to be, if anything, over-prepared and totally organized.

Number of days on a court: 609
Number of total hours: 2,675
Number of paid coaching hours: 2

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

Monday, September 4, 2023 (Court Day #609)
Labor Day

Organized play on club days are always super busy when it coincides with a holiday. I wasn’t too keen on waiting for long periods only to get funky games. So I texted Charles last night to see if he was available to play at Derby today. When he said that he was, the next step was to get two more players. There were a lot of good options and we worked though player after player—one had food poisoning, another was injured, another didn’t want to play two days in a row, some were already booked or had conflicts or were out of town.  Eventually, we lined up Binh and Dan Dewey.

This morning, Dan shared that his knee had swollen up and he couldn’t play. So we went back to work finding a fourth. Binh was able to get Avery. Excellent. We should get some good games in. 

I was walked around getting ready to go, my post-surgery knee was complaining some. It was sore. Honestly, I probably should have rested my knee, but I really wanted to play.

Derby

I parked and grabbed my portable net and as I walked into Derby Park, Avery was about 20 feet in front of me. I’d seen Charles walking in from Swift Street when I passed him in my car and he was inside the gate.

Last night, I looked for my sport video camera (GoPro knockoff) and it wasn’t next to my computer, so I figured it must be in my pickleball backpack. Nope. What the heck. Too bad, private games are ideal for recording since there is no mid-game court shifting—unlike club play.

We had the choice of one of two empty courts and we decided on the one that was in the better condition. I even before he finished warming up, the best court—next to the gates—opened up and we moved to that one.

Game 1
Charles and I won the first game 13-11 vs. Binh and Avery. We were up 5-0, but they came back let 10-9 only to fall short. 

Game 2
We won the rubber match 12-10. They were leading originally, but we came back. 

Game 3
We mixed partners. Binh and I got clobbered by Charles and Avery 2-11.

Game 4
That first one wasn’t a fluke, we lost the rematch also by a score of 2-11. Our only points came early in the game from two of my serves, one after the other, when Charles hit his return into net followed by Avery hitting his return into the net.

Game 5
Avery and I  won 11-6.

Game 6
Avery and I lost 9-11 against Charles and Binh. Avery made one ATP, but later missed two. I missed one backhand ATP on the left, hitting it a few inches too wide.

Between games, it was 11:58 a.m. when I checked my phone.

Game 7
Having split the two games, Binh suggested we play a tiebreaker. Avery and I went ahead 9-6, but went on to lose 9-11, giving them 5 unanswered points.

Ouch

In that very first game, while I was on the left and Charles was on the right, Avery, who was diagonal from me, hit a hard backhand volley down between Charles and myself. The ball l hit the end of my paddle and really tweaked my wrist. That was significantly painful. I took a moment then to re-strap my right wrist a bit tighter and even closer to my hand to provide more support. The pain didn’t completely go away, but it went from 8 or 9 on a scale of 10 down to a more nagging 1 or 2 constant ache by the end of our session. I really do need to schedule that X-ray for my wrist.

Warm

There is no shade and while there is a fairly constant breeze, it was pretty insignificant. Fortunately, the temperature never got over 70°F. I don’t sweat particularly easily, but I was doing some sweating. In-between the last few games, I was telling sweat off my forehead.

Today was good game after good game. I can’t tell you how many times myself or my partner would hit a shot that during normal circumstances would’ve ended the rally only to have that ball come back. Remember a rally where we had such a shot and I was thinking “winner!“ and then the ball would come back anyway, we’d hit another one, and I would think “winner!“ We had this happen several times within the one rally. It was a whole lot of fun.

Analysis

Me being a nerd, here is my analysis of our seven games. Below is the difference of scored points of each game totaled up. Negative numbers are losses.

Being we played one more game than a perfect round robin, here’s a grid only taking the best and worst games with a specific partner.

It’s easy to rank our play for this given day. Charles played the best, followed by Avery, then me, then Binh. It’s the same player ranking as taking all the games into account. The last time I did an analysis like this two years ago (back when I was playing left-handed), there was a 61 point spread from the best player to the weakest player over all the games. Today, it was a 44 point total spread.

Ow

So, my right knee is hurting. Walking is uncomfortable. Sitting seems fine, but walking is definitely painful, maybe 5 on scale to 10. I’m limping a bit.

Incoming E-mail

So, little Barb G. found my blog here (“Hi Barb!”) and dropped me a note. My favorite line: “I went down the rabbit hole for a while. It’s so fun to read about the club and the people before I arrived in 2021.”

I do wonder once in a while about players who I don’t see anymore. They either gave up pickleball, moved, or passed away. A couple players that I remember are Geoff and Grita who both died in the last 6 years. Both nice people. Wayne moved to the east coast. He’s missed. I’m sure there are others whom I have not thought about. I’ve been meaning to go back and read my own blog, but I have so much on my plate!

WordPress

On a completely different note, the latest upgrade of WordPress (used for this site) broke the toolbar which makes some editing nearly impossible . . . such as adding image captions or adding a link to some text. I may need to delay posting until it’s fixed. Such a pain.

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Wednesday, September 6, 2023 (No Play)

I came down with a sore throat and stinging sinuses. Not fun. I’m home from work sick.

I really did a number on my knee playing 8 hours over two days. While it’s getting better, it’s still hurting a bit to walk. My knee pain would wake me up last night every time that I turned over.

Funny

There are so many basic rule questions that get asked on Facebook that one random fellow, Mike Bray, posted this question…

What’s perhaps even more funny was the people answering his question seriously! Really, people?

Drill

I found this in a message that emailed to myself, but I can’t recall if I shared it or not, in case I didn’t, here it is:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CqqZZcBgDma/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
I think this is a brilliant means of increasing hand speed.

Charlotte

My daughter Charlotte asked if I had an extra “pickleball racket” for her to have. I have that barely used Paddletek Wave paddle that I haven’t touched in 2-3 years. That should serve her well.

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Thursday, September 7, 2023 (No Play)

I’m still down with a sore throat and irritated sinuses. I went so far as taking a trip to urgent care for a strep throat test and they also did a COVID test, though two home COVID tests had already came back negative. The doctor said that this latest strain of COVID isn’t always showing up on home tests.

Ping Pong?

I keep getting fed versions of this ad on social media this week:

Apparently, as a pickleball nut, I’m a good target for ping pong ads.

Knee

My knee is improving, but it’s still far from me being comfortable to play on it. It often hurts when simply walking and side-strain on it is always painful.

Football

I watched portions of the first NFL regular season game tonight. (The Lions beat the Chiefs.) During the game, Subway had an advertisement. Of course, I wouldn’t be mentioning it if it didn’t include their Pickleball Club sandwich!

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Friday, September 8, 2023 (No Play)

My throat has gotten mostly better, but now I have a constant runny nose and coughing. I can’t win.

So, this weekend, September 8-10, is the first event of the former Pacific Pickleball League (PPL) newly rebranded after an agreement as “MLP Australia”. The battle for players and turf continue between the MLP and PPA tours.

Sunday Out

Between being sick and my knee still giving me trouble, I asked Barb G. if she’d cover Derby Park for me on Sunday, to which she agreed. Thanks, Barb!

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Sunday, September 10, 2023 (No Play)

This cold is still just dragging on. I feel a little better but I’m still really stuffy.

I found my missing sports camera in a desk drawer. My wife had cleaned up. Ah, well. I would have really liked to analyze those Monday games.

My knee is getting better, it’s been almost a week now, but I’m not close to playing on it yet.

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Monday, September 11, 2023 (No Play)

I returned to work today, even though I am still congested and not feeling 100%. I took the morning off, but my plan of leaving early got buried under work duties.

My knee continues to protest going down stairs and getting up after sitting in a low position, like a couch.

Facebook

There are so many . . . well . . . dumb questions that get asked in the Pickleball Rules Facebook group that could be answered if the asker would simply take the time to read the rulebook. Especially NVZ questions. I figured I’d make fun of these questions with a question of my own. Apparently, one of the group moderators didn’t like my post and deleted it as being “off topic”. I guess poking fun is off topic. You can comment on this post and tell me what you think.

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Tuesday, September 12, 2023 (No Play)

During the day, I’ll sometimes feel pain on the outside of my right knee, and more frequently on the inside. It’s weird. It’s getting to the point where I’d almost consider playing on it. But, regardless, I’m still congested from this week-long cold. I went to work again today. I’m no longer blowing my nose all the time, but now, it’s heartily to try and clear things out. I’m in a constant state of being some degree of stuffy.

Charlotte

My daughter Charlotte sent me a photo of the pickleball courts where she played again. It looks like Apodaca Park in Las Cruces where I played while visiting her in July last year. She says she will play with me when she comes home for Thanksgiving in a couple of months. I’m looking forward to that. She’s been out playing with a couple of her friends who, she says, play twice each week.

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Thursday, September 14, 2023 (No Play)

I’m still stuffy from being sick, but I rode our Peleton last night. I wanted to work off the pizza I had at work yesterday!

40:09 minutes.
Resistance (%): 33
Distance (mi): 8.85
Calories (kcal): 212

That’s a record for me. I could have gone longer, my legs were fine. But my right knee wasn’t super happy though.

I’m hovering between 177 and 178 pounds. I did weigh in at 176.9 this week, that was a new low. When I get down to 176.8, I will have lost 20 pounds.

Paddle

I noticed that the pickleball paddle I’d set aside for my daughter’s boyfriend Aiden to pick up was either gone or moved by my wife. Hopefully, it’s on its way to New Mexico. I had an extra new “swirl design” paddle cover that I put it in for Charlotte. She should like that.

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Friday, September 15, 2023 (No Play)

The war is over. It’s official! MLP and the PPA have merged. That’s good. The less drama, the better.

One big happy family!

Math and Pickleball

As I was almost a math minor in college and my son was an Applied Mathematics major at UCLA, we have math in our family. If found this article somewhat interesting:
https://news.vt.edu/content/news_vt_edu/en/articles/2023/09/cm-mathematicsofpickleball.html

Still Out

Given the fact that I’m still regularly blowing my nose and am congested plus my knee is making itself known with just regular activities, I asked Barb if she could open Derby for me and she said she would. (Thanks, Barb!)

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Saturday, September 16, 2023 (No Play)

This is a clip claims to be of 1980s pickleball in action:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvoLQHYt6dq/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Now, one never knows with the internet, but I don’t see anything that indicates that it might be a modern game. In fact, you can just glimpse a paddle face off to the left. It appears to be an old Prolite model. Prolite started in 1984—making this video 1984 or later—and you can see their original logo in this 2021 blog article:
https://pickleballcentral.com/blog/prolite-sports-the-company-that-changed-pickleball

Sure, someone could have “planted” an old paddle and had the woman cut her hair in the popular 1980s “Dorthy Hamill” style and got vintage clothing for everyone, but it’d be a lot of work for a short clip simply posted to social media. I believe it’s legitimate.

One thing to think about. It’d be a mistake to use this one clip as an example of the primary play style of the time—like little to no dinking . . . any more than it’d be to take a clip of some random recreational play this week and use that to make assumptions about the popular style of play in the 2020s.

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Sunday, September 17, 2023 (No Play)

This morning laying in bed on my back, the inside of my right knee was very mildly aching. We had a party at my folks for my niece and goddaughter Gigi, who is turning 7 this coming week. Walking around, and in particular, turning certain ways, was causing noticeable pain. I was thinking, “If I were a pro athlete—like playing in the NFL—this would force me into retirement.” And, “What does this mean? Will this just go on and not get better? Will I have to give up pickleball? Will I need a knee replacement to be pain-free?”

I rode the Peloton again tonight—it’s been three days since the last time—for about 25 minutes before my knee was feeling weird and worried me. I need to get some exercise somehow.

Perspective

I’ve been watching the tennis documentary Break Point on Netflix. I had forgotten that I hadn’t finished the series a few months ago and had more episodes left to view. A year ago this month, Ajla Tomljanovic, a young top tennis player, was walking to center court to play in the third round of the U.S. Open against the greatest female tennis player of all time, Serena Williams. Talk about intimidating. There’s a plaque posted on the wall at the entrance to the court.

”Pressure is a privilege.” Indeed. It’s so easy to get into your own head and forget to enjoy the moment and what you’ve earned for yourself. I think I generally do a pretty good job of keeping perspective. I’ve played in several tournament gold medal matches over the years and I feel I’ve done a reasonably good job of enjoying the experience. (Maybe not so much after losing, but during the game, I don’t freak out.) Sure, there are medals and sometimes prizes involved in my tournament matches, but unlike, say, Ajla, I’m not playing on a court for multimillion dollar sponsorship deals for huge prize purses or putting my full-time job of training on the line. In that case, losing can be a major impact on your livelihood. But even then, no one is going to die if I—or Ajla—lose playing a match.

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Monday, September 18, 2023 (No Play)

Thanks to Brenden Zimmer for granting my request today to moderate the Santa Cruz Pickleball Facebook group that he started. (I was starting to think he forgot that he said he would!) There’s a Santa Cruz Pickleball account that’s run by the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club, but that account is set up as an individual and not a group, so it’s a different animal.

The Cold

It’s been a solid two weeks now since I started showing symptoms of this cold. It’s still dragging on. It must be a rhinovirus which thrives in the human sinuses.

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Tuesday, September 19, 2023 (No Play)

I went and had my hand X-rayed this morning. They reviewed it pretty quickly, with the following results within a few hours:
Bones: No acute fracture or dislocation.
Joint: No significant degenerative or inflammatory changes.
Other: None.
I suppose that’s good, but it’s still a bit of mystery. The PA suspects that it’s “some smoldering tendonitis”. If I were to put my palm on the floor and press down on my wrist as if to do a pushup, there is still significant pain.

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Monday, September 25, 2023 (No Play)

Barb and Eric S. covered for my site coordinator duties at Derby Park yesterday.

Medical

I messaged the surgery PA, Heather, at the end of last week about my knee pain. Walking hurts. Shifting my foot from the gas pedal to the brake pedal and back has some pain. Heather called me while I was at home for lunch. She recommended a standing X-ray. As opposed to a lying-down MRI, which doesn’t show weight on the knee. I have an appointment on Thursday for the X-ray followed immediately by an evaluation of it. (Modern technology is great, no wait for developing film!)

Local Pro Workshop

The SCPC sent out an email notice yesterday about a workshop in October put on pro players Lindsey and Riley Newman. There’s a 2-day workshop for intermediate players 3.0-4.0+ and a 2-day workshop for 4.0+ players. The cost of the workshop is $700, $699 to be exact. $700 divided by 10 hours = $70/hour. I have conflict on both days of the 4.0+ workshop and that’s the only one that I’d be interested in. I think I’d rather take 10 hours of private instruction at $70/hour than be one of 20 people (or whatever that cap is) in a group workshop. Still, there’s something to be said for advice from pro players.

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Tuesday, September 26, 2023 (No Play)

I reached out to Patty, who’s the contact for the Newman workshop, via email and offered to help on the day for check-in or whatever else she’d need help with. Maybe I can get out and see people.

Knee

As of yesterday, it’s been three full weeks since I last played. It’s frustrating. On the flipside, with my knee hurting, my subconscious is dampening my desire to play. Just the thought of bending and twisting my knee gives me major pause. Going up and down stairs is a slow step-at-a-time process, especially if it comes very soon after sitting.

USA Pickleball Launches “Quiet Category” Initiative

Last Friday, us Ambassadors were notified of a new initiative by USA Pickleball that was publicly announced yesterday:
https://usapickleball.org/news/usa-pickleball-announces-quiet-category-for-pickleball-products/

Basically, USAP is trying to address the “sound of pickleball is annoying” complaint we get when courts are near residential areas. It states “USA Pickleball’s Quiet Category for equipment will promote products that deliver essentially 50 percent or less of the acoustic footprint…”

They’ve been quietly (no pun intended) working on this since the beginning of summer last year.

What I’d really like to see is a quieter ball that holds up significantly longer than balls we currently see. Balls are becoming far more durable, but we still see breakage. The trick is we don’t want performance of the ball to change. Maybe with new 3D printing technology, something will be coming. There is a new 3D printed basketball that is hollow and has a honeycomb surface (that you can see through the holes out the other side) but bounces and behaves extremely similarly to a traditional inflated basketball. There are some who hope that the NBA will adopt this ball that doesn’t need to be inflated.

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Wednesday, September 27, 2023 (No Play)

Patty got back to me and put me on the list to help with the Newman workshop.

New County Beginner Classes

Yesterday, a woman named Elise Hudson posted in the Santa Cruz Pickleball Facebook group a notice for “Pickleball 101” classes next month at Brommer Park. Nolan will be teaching them.

There were immediately protests over the time, which is mid-morning. Morning—especially weekends—are peak times for play at all the courts.

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Thursday, September 28, 2023 (No Play)

I went to my knee appointment this afternoon.

I was expecting to have an X-ray taken. Instead, I’ve been instructed by Heather (the PA) to take 600mg of ibuprofen three times a day for six days and see how it goes. I have a follow-up appointment set up for three weeks, but she said if we get to two weeks and it’s miserable to let her know and she’d squeeze me in. She said to ride the stationary bike at least 5 minutes each day but to stop after that if it hurts. If it doesn’t hurt, ride longer. She also gave me a informational page of knee care for me to review.

More on Beginner Classes

I messaged Elise Hudson who was posting on Facebook’s Santa Cruz Pickleball group and it turns out that she works for Rec, the company partnered with the County of Santa Cruz to have the new paid reservation system for the courts at Brommer and Willowbrook.

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Saturday, September 30, 2023 (No Play)

The ibuprofen is unquestionably helping. I’m not as prone to limping. My knee felt good enough that I rode the Peloton for about 20 minutes last night. I bought a product called a “Freeze Sleeve” and tried it out last night for the first time.

You are supposed to put it in your freezer, but I tried it first by just keeping it in the fridge. (I’m a bit concerned about it being too cold.) I may try it the second time with keeping it in the freezer, though I put it back in my fridge. It comes with a white plastic “Ziplock-like” bag that you are supposed to keep it in.

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Sunday, October 1, 2023 (No Play)

Well, that’s a first. An article from a few days ago…

Utah Tech University is now offering pickleball scholarships
https://www.sltrib.com/sports/2023/09/28/utah-tech-university-is-now/

Also in that article:
“Utah Tech competes in DUPR Collegiate Pickleball, the only collegiate-level pickleball league. Last season, the team finished second nationally and has already qualified to compete in the DUPR Collegiate National Championship in November.”

I believe this is going to continue. Pickleball will be a club sport in college across the country and eventually will become a D1 sport.

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Thursday, October 5, 2023 (No Play)

Yesterday, “Monica Lbc Lee” posted this link to the Santa Cruz Pickleball Facebook group, obsensibly with regard to Nolan teaching beginner classes (for a fee) sponsored by the County of Santa Cruz:
https://okpickleball.ca/risks-of-using-uncertified-pickleball-instructors/

She also mentioned an instructor who go sued in Connecticut. I tracked down an article about the incident two years ago:
https://patch.com/connecticut/fairfield/judge-sues-town-fairfield-over-pickleball-injury
I may have even shared that article here before. The photo of the instructor looked familiar in another article linked from the one above:
https://www.ctinsider.com/news/ctpost/article/Judge-sues-town-over-pickleball-injuries-15944196.php

Knee

Heather, the PA, had prescribed 6 days of ibuprofen and that ended yesterday. Today, I’m not taking any. My knee is still a bit sore, but noticeably better than it was a week ago, for certain. And that was even with me riding the Peloton for 45 minutes last night.

Holiday Parade

The Santa Cruz Downtown Association is hosting its annual Holiday Parade again. The deadline for registering is a few days into November. The clock is ticking. I reached out the SCPC board and told them about it. Club president Mark Dettle got back to me and said they’d be discussing it soon, though a few other board members voiced their support of participating in the parade for a second year.

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Tuesday, October 10, 2023 (No Play)

I have a PT appointment tonight.

It’s been a over a month since I played and I don’t know when I’ll be playing again, so I’m just going to go ahead and push this blog post out and start work on the next one.

Number of days on a court: 609
Number of total hours: 2,675
Number of paid coaching hours: 2

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

Sunday, September 3, 2023 (Court Day #608)

As I was driving to Derby Park to open up, I was musing that this is just about the most perfect pickleball weather. Overcast, negligible breeze, and 63°. I don’t know if I would change anything.

Playing Thursday night seemed to push my knee a little bit. Yesterday, I was up in Pleasanton for the annual Scottish highland games, followed immediately by a San Jose Earthquakes soccer game in, well, San Jose. I’d never been to a professional soccer game before, so that was fun. However, going down bleachers stairs was uncomfortable on my right knee. Not crippling in any sense, just uncomfortable with mild pain.

It wasn’t all as busy today compared to last Sunday. We had about 40 people, so the wait wasn’t too long between games. It gradually got very mildly breezy and that only had an occasional effect on shots.

Skill Creep

As the site coordinator, after playing a game with one friendly regular (I’m leaving out his name), I asked what his DUPR rating was. He said he’s been playing for about a year and he didn’t have one. I casually mentioned that I thought he might be signing up in one level too high. Boom! It was like I had just told him that I thought he played like garbage. He got very indignant and told me he’d stop coming to play at Derby. Boy, right to the nuclear option. I talked him down. I get it, everyone wants good games. I do, that’s why I said something. And as I told him, the alternative is I sign up in a higher/highest level. And maybe I should. Currently, my DUPR rating is holding at exactly 4.0. And as Tony said, “red at Derby isn’t the same as red at Brommer”.

More Sign-up Challenges

I was signing up in red/advanced, but wasn’t getting the best games. (See the above paragraph.) Charles arrived and I convinced him to sign up in blue with me. The concern was whether there would be enough players signing up in that 4.0+ level. We added Tony Sloss as our third. The problem was there was a group of players who had been signing up in blue previously but wanted to continue to play together, so they signed up en masse as red to avoid filling out the remainder of our blue box. I complained politely to Detier and Ying about leaving us hanging, and Charles also later complained, then Dan Dewey (who, when we explained the situation, commented, “ooo, that would be a good game”) took pity on our waiting box and left his “group” to join us. We had a game. And it was a good one.

The best games of the day, by far, were Charles and myself against Tony and Detier. Charles and I did lose both games but they were close and rallies were extended. We’d make a shot that would normally end the rally but, instead, the ball would come back. It was awesome! Afterward, Tony said that I played very well. (Though I didn’t feel that way myself, I thought I made too many errors.)

Dieter had been playing offhanded due to an injury but is back to playing with his natural left hand. He can now really whip the ball. Formidable. Nice.

Rule Check

Misa had hit what was a successful-appearing more or less ATP attempt, but the ball had clipped the top of the net post. Misa was celebrating her winner but Dan Dewey and his partner quizzed me about the shot. I walked over onto the court, had it explained to me and told them that the net post is, by rule, considered a “permanent object” and the ball touching it is an immediate fault. The ball was dead once it hit that post. Sorry, Misa.

Eye Protection

I was hit in the face with a ball by Charles. We were in a firefight at the net and he hit the ball at my right temple simultaneously hitting the brim of my cap and the frame of my sunglasses. (It was an awkward spot to move my paddle to defend.) Mildly uncomfortable, but no injuries to speak of. Another great example of why to wear eye protection!

Forever game

I was in a game with a guy named Phil as my partner. (Or maybe it’s Bill—he’s relatively new.) We were playing against Anne and Rick A. and down significantly. We started to crawl back. John (Robin’s boyfriend) and Dan Dewey were waiting for the imminent end of our game to play again. Only the end wasn’t imminent! I served the ball to Anne right to left and dropped the ball in the front outside corner for an ace. I then served the ball to Rick left to right and dropped the ball in the front outside corner for another ace. (I like it when I can dispel the “Did you do that on purpose?” comments!) We clawed back and tied up the score 10-10. This, just by itself, took probably another 10 minutes. John saw where this game was headed and wandered off for a minute anticipating our win. Only not long after, Anne and Rick scored a couple unanswered points and finished us off. When John found out, he was shocked, “You lost?”
“We lost.”
It’s funny, swings in momentum!

Away

After counting the day’s donations—with John, who agreed to be my counter-signer—I left a Derby Park at 1:45 p.m.

Party

Some long-time friends of my wife and me, Richard and Laurie, had a party at Beer Thirty in Soquel to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. (Funny, I started typing “weeding”! No, there was no work involved!) Also invited was David and his wife along his daughter who is about the same age as my kids. David is a doctor, but he’s also a regular in the evenings at Skypark . We talked about pickleball for almost an hour! It was a great conversation. Funny, when someone asked about us both playing pickleball, David laughed, “He kicks my butt.” I don’t know about that, I can’t get lazy playing against David!

Number of days on a court: 608
Number of total hours: 2,672.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 2

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