Category: Pickleball (Page 134 of 325)

Sunday, November 27, 2022 (Court Day #563)

I arrived early at Derby Park to set up. The weather was nice for a late November day. I was in my normal attire of a T-shirt and shorts and was quite comfortable.

When I got to Derby, I realized that I had forgotten my knee brace. I happened to mention it to Ted and he dug one out of his backpack. “I haven’t used it for three years.” He kindly offered it to me and it provides far more support and compression than the one that I was given from my dad. It also does a better job staying in place and sliding down far more gradually.

Advanced players were slim to none, though Eric S. arrived around 10 a.m. Later, Rob A. arrived, but I didn’t get the opportunity to play with him. Rob mentioned that knee braces help him avoid aches and pains.

I left about a quarter to noon to meet up with my son. I asked Ted if I could borrow his knee support for a few weeks and he agreed. A good guy, Ted.

Holiday Parade

Tonight, I sent out a notice to the entire club providing details about our participation in the annual downtown holiday parade on this coming Saturday, December 3. (I had sent out a “save the date” email a week and a half ago on November 16.) I’m hoping that good number of people will respond that they are coming . . . it’d look bad if we only have a few people in the parade!

Number of days on a court: 563
Number of total hours: 2,527.5

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Thursday, November 24, 2022 (Court Day #562)

I was worried about my wrist yesterday. I tweaked it playing Thursday night, and it was mildly bothering me this morning, but not too bad. I texted Eric S., my former tournament partner, to see if he wanted to drill a Derby Park this morning. He was on a long phone call so we met at 11:10 a.m.

Derby Neighbor

As I was on the path walking in to the park, stopped and asked a neighbor if she was the one who posted on Facebook and emailed the club board about a player running a stop sign and speeding and nearly hitting her while she was walking her dog. She said she was. Christy. We chatted for about five minutes. I told her I know the player and that we’d sent out a email notice to the entire club about driving carefully. Christy said she’d come out and played pickleball a couple of times. I explained how it works for new players, the signup board, etc.

Drilling

Eric and I drilled for about half an hour or so and then started at game of skinny singles with us alternating sides of the court so that we’d be playing diagonal as well as straight on against each other, depending on the score and who was serving. Eric beat me 11-7 in the first game and then we switched sides and he beat me 11-3 in the second game. Obviously, I was not playing that great.\

Visitors

As we were working through that second game, a young woman, who I guess is about 30, named Mickie arrived with her mom Janet and her dad. Her dad just watched from the bench with an occasional comment. After Eric and finished our second game, we accepted Mickie’s request and then played a doubles game.

Mickie said she grew up in Newport Beach but lives in New York now. She also said her friend, a woman, was CEO of DUPR when the very recent merger happened. That’s quite a connection. [Later, I looked up the CEO and her name is Jillian Braverman, that must be Mickie’s friend.]

Eric played with Mickie and I played with Janet. Mickie was sporting a bandaged right thumb since she said that she’d cut it recently and the doctor told her to not play pickleball but the addiction is strong and so she was playing anyway. Janet told me that she’s been only been playing for two months. Yes, a couple of times I had to remind Janet where to be on the court for service. Midway through this game, my wrist started to flare up again. Mickie and Eric went to a quick lead but Janet and I climbed back and took the lead 9-8. Janet was really hoping to beat her daughter but that would not be the case as Eric and Mickey scored the next three points and won the game.

In that game I had three drop shots crosscourt to Mickie’s forehand that were too high. She angled all three off the court for winners, out of my reach. I need to get these drops back up to snuff.

Eric left to go cook—it is Thanksgiving after all—but Mickie and her parents stayed. Mickie was drilling with Janet. I stuck around another 10 minutes or so and gave some pointers and explained to them Terry Long‘s “work up to the net” drill. I explained to Janet that she was moving through her drop shots and also not moving up after the shot.
Mickie complimented, “You are a really good coach.” Nice to hear!

Play ended 12:25 and I left at 12:40.

When I got home, showered, got ready to head to a big thanksgiving family gathering at my cousin’s restaurant in Monterey. I’d be wearing a Black Ice pack on my wrist while driving. An annoying injury!

Number of days on a court: 562
Number of total hours: 2,524.5

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Tuesday, November 22, 2022 (Court Day #561)

My staff was very quick closing out at work this evening, so I arrived at Skypark at 6:31 p.m. That’s pretty early for me. There was a much lighter crowd tonight which I was kind of expecting given it was 54°F according to my car thermometer, a fairly chilly night.

The first few games were not very challenging but that’s pretty good considering I’m so out of practice with only Sunday under my belt after a month and a half away after tweaking my right knee.

There was a couple games where Tim, the tennis coach, and I played against Tim (Casey‘s dad) and Avery. Avery continues to get better and better. That was a challenging pairing and Tim and I lost both games. Neither of them was in doubt. I wasn’t very happy with my play in those games.

The most fun thing of the evening was Rachel, my former classmate from Harbor High School, was there and Tim (the tennis coach) and I convinced Rachel that we had known each other for years and years. Truth be told, Tim and I only ever really met in the last few months and I’ve only played a handful of games together.

It was close to 9:30 when the game of Kourosh (Tim’s former star tennis protege) and I against David and Minori came to an end. When I was driving away after 9:30, the court lights were still on. I think that they have not been changed for daylight savings time. If that’s the case, then they’ll continue to be on until 10:30 p.m. I suspect sooner or later the neighbors will complain and they’ll change the lights setting.

Knee

My knee continues to hold up pretty well, with only mild pain there and there. There was one point where I moved a certain way—lunging to my left usually does it—and my left hip was very painful. It’s a chronic thing. Across the net, Tim (tennis) though I was smiling at the outcome of the game (my side lost) but I was grimacing in physical pain! What’s ironic was it was my left hip and not might right knee!

Number of days on a court: 561
Number of total hours: 2,523

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