Category: Pickleball (Page 128 of 325)

Monday, February 20, 2023. (Court Day #580)

Yesterday, while we were wrapping up play at Derby Park, Binh suggested that we have a private game the next day with Charles and a fourth player. I suggested Jason and Binh agreed. When I reached out to Jason, Jason said he could play at 10 a.m. and that’s the time we set.

This morning, Binh texted the group that he was going to be 15 minutes late because he had to run an errand. I was a bit behind in completing some of my blog posts, and I had an extra partial post in there somehow with the wrong so things got a little confusing. I was sorting that out, as well as making sure my GoPro knock-off camera was charged and had storage space. Then I couldn’t find where I moved my shoes during that process. On my way to Derby Park, Charles told me that I would not need my net, but I was already on my way, and had in the car. But I didn’t have to carry it in, which is a nice thing! As it was, Binh was sitting on the bench getting ready when I walked in. There is one other unrelated game with strangers going on with the second city net.

Games

Charles and Jason won the first game…

https://youtu.be/u0vSlE28rDA

… and the second game…

… but Binh and I won the next one …

… and the next.

Apparently, it took us a while to warm up!

Midway through the games with our foursome, Nolan and Avery appeared and were doing drilling at the far end of the courts by themselves. I have to admire their discipline to improve.

Binh and I lost the fifth game against Jason and Charles 15-7. At that point, I was getting hungry.

Against Nolan and Avery

Jason had to leave. The rest of us asked if Avery and Nolan if they wanted to play a game. We got an enthusiastic “yes” from Avery. Charles and I teamed up for the first game during which we got clobbered 11-0. We played a second game and fared far better but still lost by a few points.

Then Binh and I played against Avery and Nolan. We won that game 11-9.

We went on to play one additional last game, and that was a lopsided win for Nolan and Avery. Afterward, Binh says that Nolan was taking it easy on us in those games. Perhaps he was but it wasn’t particularly obvious to me. I’m a bit incredulous, but maybe so. Is 1:40 p.m. by the time we left. It was a great 3 1/2 hours of play.

A man from a group of players came over after we finished and told us that our game was “fun to watch”. I’d say that’s a compliment!

Injuries & Weak Spots

The back of my right hand hurt on a few backhand shots, this has been a chronic thing lately.

My low backhand still needs work. Ever since rotator cuff shoulder surgery, it hasn’t been the same. I need to stretch and strengthen it and drill it.

Nolan

I later asked Nolan if he was “taking it easy on us”. He said he may have been working on a particular shot so not always making the most optimal shot selection, but other than that, he wasn’t taking it easy. Binh says Nolan is just being nice.

Coaching

I was out and about and picked up a bag of Hershey’s Kisses for prizes for my two young pickleball pupils. We have our second lesson coming up on Saturday.

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Tuesday, February 21, 2023 (No Play)

The NFL/pickleball connection continues with retired players Eli Manning and Rob Gronkowski goofing around on a court:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Co79heoJfkz/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY%3D

Play or No Play?

I had all my gear and was in Scotts Valley for a PT class. When it wrapped up at 6 p.m., I had a decision to make. But since it was blowing like crazy and cold to boot, I opted to just head home. As I approached my house about 6:20 p.m., there were fire trucks and police cars all over the place. I had to park four blocks from my house and hoof it. The power was out in our neighborhood. Three large trees had fallen and taken out the power lines along with damaging the corner of the house on the property. One tree, lying on the ground, the diameter came up to my waist.

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Wednesday, February 22, 2023 (No Play)

My right wrist is really bugging me. It’s good that I didn’t play last night. Typing is uncomfortable. I was going to ice my knee and wrist last night but with the power out, we wanted to keep the refrigerator closed and as cold as possible.

SCALPEL

I got a text from René saying I was on her team—she’s a “captain”. The SCALPEL league final teams went out via email today. Conner shared “After inputting our captain’s lists of player preferences into the draft program I wrote (which executes a snake draft over each of the nearly ½ million different possible selection orders, and identifies the optimal result amongst them), we finally have our team lineups”:

I’m happy with our group. I believe we have a strong team. Evan is Nolan Smyth’s tournament partner in the 4.0 category. Matt is really coming along. René and I are of similar skill level, both 3.5+.

Weather

The radio said they are predicting snow at sea level in some places in Northern California. Snow is rare and doesn’t last here in Santa Cruz, but it goes to show just how cold it is! Rain is predicted off and on the next week.

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Wednesday, February 22, 2023 (No Play)

The power came back on last night right before I got home after work, but still no internet other than what I can get on my limited phone plan through work.

My wrist is still bugging me. I’m going to give it some time to heal up.

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Friday, February 24, 2023 (No Play)

I received a text from Comcast yesterday midday saying our Internet service was restored. It’s amazing how reliant you get day-to-day on the Internet. It’ll be nice to have WiFi again!

It has been very cold the last couple of days. My brother shared a photo of snow dusted over his front yard in Scotts Valley. Someone said today that it snowed on the beach here in Santa Cruz. You can only actually see snow on the beach every 10-30 years.

Kids Coaching

Maria and I originally planned to meet tomorrow morning for lesson #2 for her kids, but we hammered out 7 p.m. tonight as the time instead. We met at Skypark again. I was expecting not many people since it was so cold and, sure enough, there were a couple of tennis players and just one doubles pickleball game going with one person waiting to get in. We had our pick of three empty permanent courts. Maria asked if I needed her but I told her to go play and have fun. She’d be around if I needed her.

I worked mostly on ball control, but I also taught them (“this will be a bit advanced”) about shifting on the kitchen line left or right depending on where the ball is—and keeping proper distance between them. I had glue a ball in the end of a dowel and used it for instruction. At the end, Kevin wanted to do overheads since he saw one on the court nearby, so I indulged him and we worked on that for about 5-6 minutes. That’s more of a down-the-road skill!

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Saturday, February 25, 2023 (No Play)

I’ll admit that I’m getting excited about this new SCALPEL league. There are nearly all strong players in this group. When I’m in the middle 50% of players, that’s really good. Tristan, Nolan, Shawnté are all better than me, Kiko is rumored to be really good, probably Evan now (Nolan’s grad school buddy) . . . those are all players who are better than me. Casey has come along really fast and is getting to be local elite. (Former professional athletes—watcha gonna do?) Then you have players who are in my general vicinity of skill—René, her friend Rick, Nate, Tim F., Oscar, Colleen, and others. Then there are a pack that a little less skilled than the median. Then there are the unknowns whom I have not played with or don’t remember.

We’ve been assigned as Team #1.

I found a video tonight about this particular shot that Kyle Yates seems to have originated . . . or at least, popularized. Maybe 4-6 months ago, I remember seeing a short clip on social media of Kyle doing this and took some screenshots, but I don’t think I ever included them in my blog. This is better.

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Sunday, February 26, 2023 (No Play)

It rained today, so I had to cancel club play at Derby Park.

I found a great video on defending ATPs.

Pickleball Machine

Ooooo. I want one of these. Too bad that at $2,000, it’s about 10 times my budget!

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Thursday, March 2, 2023. (No play.)

With the new SCALPEL league starting up, the four players involved in our first game—Matt B. and me, Anne and Peter—arranged to play tonight after work at Skypark. With four different schedules, it’s not always easiest thing to hammer out a time. However, we managed that. Unfortunately, Peter emailed the rest of us this morning saying that he had a conflict with the school function this evening and had to cancel out. Anne suggested the possibility of one of her remaining two teammates to fill-in for Peter, but then was unsuccessful making that happen. We have to reschedule for play next week. Anne suggested there might be a break in the rain and we could play maybe Tuesday night next week.

Number of days on a court: 580
Number of total hours: 2,577
Number of paid coaching hours: 2

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

Sunday, February 19, 2023. (Court Day #579)

Last night, René called and asked if I wanted a white board that she and her friend Rick were seeing at CVS a few miles away. Not that club has immediate need for it, but I figured we’d need it sooner or later, so I told them to grab it. They stopped by my house shortly thereafter and dropped it off with me.

Also, last night, Binh texted me asking if I’d be at Derby Park today. I told him yes. We have that tournament coming up next month.

Derby

I got to Derby early—before 9 a.m.—and there were three people there dinking at one of the two city nets and Mark G. was out blowing off the courts again with his personal blower. I told Mark that I’d have to give him my pay for the day . . . we both know that the pay is zero!

Of immediate note was the brand new storage bin! The rusting one was replaced. No doubt, this was Dan Bliss at work!

With a tournament going on in Monterey today, there were a handful of players not around. Rick and René were not in attendance, for example.

I played my first two games of the day left-handed against weaker players.

Binh and I joined up at 10 a.m. when skill time started. We won all of our games except one . . . KA—a friend of Ms. J—played really well. A solid 4.0+. She and Dan R. took on Binh and me. Before the game, Dan told KA that we’d kick their butts. That didn’t happen. Binh and I lost 11-6 or something like that. KA doesn’t live around here but I told her she’s welcome any time!

Wrapping Up

Rick Abend and I counted the donations from the session. We also changed the chain linking the two bins together. It was passed through one link in the fence. In other words, one quick cut of the relatively thin wire and the chain was free from the fence. I talked Rick into helping me and we were barely able to secure the chain around the big pipe at bottom of the fence. Another inch and we probably couldn’t have done it.

Not Wrapping Up!

As I was about to leave, Nicole asked if we were leaving and she though we (Rick and I) were going to take on the winners. Ha, ha! So it is with pickleball: “One more game!”

Rick and I played Max and Mike (both of whom often play at Skypark in the evenings). Max has really come along. He got off shots I was not expecting. Rick and I won 11-6, but they were not cannon fodder by any stretch.

Nicole and her twin sister Tiffany still wanted to play and so I played with Tiffany and Rick played with Nicole. Tiffany and I won.

It was 10 minutes to 2 p.m. by the time I actually left the courts.

Number of days on a court: 579
Number of total hours: 2,573.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 1

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

Thursday, February 16, 2023. (Court Day #578)

This afternoon, my wife asked me if I was going to play pickleball tonight or not. Initially, I was thinking I was not but when she mentioned it, I started to think about it. By the end of the day, I decided I was going to go ahead and play. My wrist wasn’t bothering me too much and rain is predicted for next week according to my wife. I left work, raced home, changed, and drove out to Scotts Valley.

I arrived at Skypark in about 7 p.m. and the parking lots and side streets were full as well as the dirt parking alongside the courts. I pulled around and parked in the sketchy area in the back. I said sketchy because it’s more likely to get your car stuck in the uncompacted dirt.

As I walked in, all courts were in use and a few players were sitting or standing waiting to get onto court.

First Game

My first game was against Roman and Danny who were both at Derby Park on Sunday, and I was partnered with Max. It is a good thing that they were not among the strong players there tonight, because I started out slow. I was missing shots and feeding high easy balls for my opponents. Max and I found ourselves down a little bit, but my game still be improved and we came back and won.

My last game was with Rachel Kuo—my former high school classmate—against David and Minori. We played on borrowed time as it became 9:30 and we still hadn’t finished our game. Minori was mid-serve to Rachel, up 10-6, when the lights clicked off . . . ending our play before the end of the game. That was a funny one, we were scrambling to finish that game, getting into position and serving quickly.

And?

I made a handful of shots tonight where I kind of amazed myself about how good they were. On the flipside, I also had some shots, too many, where I was disgusted with myself. The disgusting shots definitely outnumbered the amazing shots.

Injuries

After Sunday’s play, I had a slight pull in my left quadricep. I barely noticed it tonight. But on a few backhand shots, I did notice the back of my hand hurting. When I got home, I had one cooling pack on my hand and the other on my right knee. Sigh.

Number of days on a court: 578
Number of total hours: 2,569
Number of paid coaching hours: 1

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