Category: Pickleball (Page 149 of 325)

Saturday, July 16, 2022 (Court Day #518)

As I was driving to Apodaca Park, the back of my right hand was mildly hurting. It’s the same injury that forced me to play lefty a month or two ago. But once on the courts, it did not hamper anything today.

I was once again the first person at the courts. The second one was Alicia and we weren’t even at the gate yet when Mike was walking over from another direction. Our fourth would be Mack, who I hadn’t met previously. Mack is not a strong player—a 3.0 probably—but is very friendly.

In a game against Larry and Buddy, after I missed a shot, I turned to Kathleen and said, “I need to bend my knees more”, then I demonstrated with a deep knee bend. Unfortunately, when I did that, my right knee was a bit painful on the outside. Maybe that’s why I subconsciously don’t crouch and get low sometimes, I’ll have to monitor that.

Tough Competition

The level of play got better and better over the three days that I played. Today, a weekend day, I was no longer in the running for the best player on the courts. There was Ramon from El Paso (about 45 minutes away) and his friend Manny. I’d say both are solid 4.0 players. There was also Ron and another good player whom I didn’t get to play against.

Daryl and I played against Manny and Ramon. Daryl and I both played well, but were no match for our opponents. I believe the final score was 11-5. I didn’t feel bad about my play at all, like I said, I played well. Sure, I might want a couple of shots back, but we were simply outclassed.

I had another game against Manny and Ramon, paired with Walt, but Daryl was a stronger player. After the first game, the wind was out of my sails and I made a number of uncharacteristic errors in this game and the result was more lopsided than the previous game. That game I did not feel good about!

Manny and Ramon were looking for different opponents after that game and I don’t blame them. (I wanted another crack, but that wasn’t happening.)

Last Game

My last game was with Jeff against Kathleen and a young Asian fellow named Paul. I’d put Paul as a high 3.5 or a low 4.0. Paul is very quick getting around the court and also accurate. Hats off to him. Frustrating for me, there were three crosscourt dinks from Kathleen to my backhand. In this game, I popped up three of them and Paul put them away each time. Inexcusable. Also, I hit a great low angled shot fully expecting it to be a winner, but Paul was able to race to it and hit an absolutely fantastic ATP.  Kudos.

Invitation

Mid-session, Mike asked for my contact information so we could play a tournament together someday. (It’s more likely that he’d come out to California than me traveling elsewhere for a tournament.) I agreed to give it to him but forgot later.

Time Expired

At 9:30, it was time to head back to the hotel. My daughter Charlotte was picking us up at 10 a.m. to take us to a local street fair before we fly back home late this afternoon. I said my goodbyes.

Today, I left the courts a bit frustrated and doing some reflection. I should be able to hang with 4.0 players, that’s a reasonable goal.

Flight

I got the book, History of Pickleball, a couple of years ago but never bothered to read it. During the flights home—there were two legs, kind of like in this photo!—I got a good jump on it. I would have written it differently, but the meat is all there and provides a good overview of the ”growing up” that pickleball has done over the decades.

New Mexico was fun, but it’ll be nice to be home to cooler weather.

Number of days on a court: 518
Number of total hours: 2,391

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

Friday, July 15, 2022 (Court Day #517)

Last night, my wife, daughter, and I took a trek to a local landmark, a huge roadrunner made from recycled materials—old shoes, computer keyboards, tires, random junk. It’s pretty neat, I’m glad that we took the time.

Today, I woke up 5:54, before my alarm set for 6 a.m. local time. I got ready and was out of the 3rd floor hotel room by 6:15. I wanted ice for my water bottle today, and since the ice machine on my floor wasn’t dispensing any ice, I headed to the 2nd floor—which was working yesterday. But today, it was empty. Begrudgingly, I headed back up to the 3rd floor but that machine was still empty. So, I headed to the 1st floor and walked to the end of the hallway to find that floor’s ice machine and—finally—I was able to top off my water bottle. Sheesh.

The Park

I arrived at Apodaca Park at 6:30 a.m. sharp, but this time, there were half a dozen cars in the parking lot, unlike yesterday.

There were a number of people warming up. Alicia was the only one I recognized from yesterday. Later, Virginia, Pat, Jeff, Laura, and Richard came too.

Games

My first game was with Ernesto (a fellow Raiders fan) against a tall woman named Kathleen and a man named Robert…pronounced ”row-bear”, French for Robert, he said. We won.

Today, there were some stronger players. Mike in particular.

Next, it was Mike and Ernesto against Virginia and me. We lost. Both of them played well. Then Richard wanted in. We played against Mike and Ernesto and lost in a lopsided fashion. Richard wanted a rematch and the results were worse.

The Ladies

I played a game with Laura against Julia and Alicia. Then we switched and I played with Julia against the others. I overheard the two talking at their baseline. “Andrew is a good player.” Laura replied, “He’s a VERY good player.” Though I felt I was playing subpar and was dragging today. Less sleep, playing two days in a row, and heat I wasn’t used to was making me fatigued. After about 90 minutes, a voice inside my head was suggesting I go rest…but that was not going to happen!

When Laura was leaving, she said if I ever wanted to play in a tournament together, regardless of where it is, she’d be willing to join me.

The Boys

The last couple games of the day were Jeff and myself against Mike and a man named Buddy. Those were more challenging games. Mike likes to rocket drives but has a decent soft game too.

I felt much better about my showing against Mike at the end of the session than the early games.

It was 10:22 a.m. when I got into my car and headed back to the hotel. It was about the same hot temperature as the day before.

Of note today, there were four passing shots made in different games between me and the sideline. Virginia, Jeff, Mike, Buddy. I need to do a better job covering the edge and trusting my partner to handle the middle. Something to work on.

As I was leaving, Jeff pulled his car around. “If you daughter ever needs anything, have her give me a call.” And he gave me his full name and cell number. Such a nice guy.

Number of days on a court: 517
Number of total hours: 2,382

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

Thursday, July 14, 2022 (Court Day #516)

My alarm went off at 5 a.m. California time, that is, 6 a.m. local New Mexico time. I quietly got up in the very dim hotel room and got ready trying not to wake up my sleeping wife. I was out the door and arrived at Apodaca Park a few minutes before the start time of 6:30 a.m. given to me by USA Pickleball ambassador Laura Smart. The courts were deserted. I got out and walked around. There were eight permanent courts that appeared to be in very good condition.

When I returned to my rental car, I started composing an email to Laura asking for clarification since I was alone. But then a car pulled up. This turned out to be another player, Mona, a recent transplant to Las Cruces from New York via Southern Florida. (Coincidentally, our rental car license plates are from Florida!)

Mona and I warmed up for about 10-15 minutes then Alicia arrived and added her in our continued warm ups. When a man named Pat arrived, we had ourselves a game.

One of the local players said that they play during winter too and they break a lot of balls in the cold. Las Cruces gets some weather extremes, apparently.

The local convention is the two losers leave the court, the winners split, and two new players join one each of the winners.

As time went on, additional players arrived peaking at about 15 players. An early arrival was retired university history and wildlife professor Paul—I learned later that Paul is 80-years-old. Big credit to Paul! Jeff arrived and Pat warned that he’s a good player.

I won my first three games, then with Paul as my partner against Virginia and Jeff, we lost 12-10, my only loss of the day.

Ambassador

Laura Smart arrived mid-morning and introduced herself from across the divider. She later said she was also a referee. I asked her if she knew Maree Creed—a Santa Cruz-based ref who travels nationally to officiate tournaments—and she said that she did. I told her that Maree was one of the first people to teach me pickleball five and a half years ago. Laura broke into a big smile no doubt about how small the world is.

I went on to play more games, rotating players in and out and with only one loss, my time sitting and waiting was minimal.

Compliments

I received a couple of nice compliments. Jeff said, “You are always were you need to be.” And after one game, Marty observed, “You played what was the most mistake free game I think I’ve ever seen.”

Laura asked if I’d consider playing up in a tournament with a local female player. (I’d told Laura in my original message to her that I’m a 3.5 tournament player.) That local player is 4.0 60-year-old. Maybe it’d work out, though a bit of a long-shot. That’d be a first, partnering with a non-local player that I don’t know. Regardless, it was a nice compliment.

My last game was with a man named Marty against Laura and Virginia. Marty and I gave them a bunch of points—I probably gave them three myself, nothing like a compliment to make you lazy and over-confident!—and we fell behind significantly. But I got a bit more focused and we came back and won.

It was 85°F when I left the courts with Laura and Virginia at 10:15 a.m. It was indeed warm today, but not as bad as I was expecting—granted, it was still early morning.

Number of days on a court: 516
Number of total hours: 2,378

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