Category: Pickleball (Page 152 of 325)

Sunday, July 3, 2022 (Court Day #509)

When I arrived at Derby Park, a number of women were already there. In a first, I was soon out numbered 9 women to 1 man—me!

Of particular note, a new storage bin was installed by Dan Bliss. I have to say, I hate the new bin. The lock system is nasty. You have to fish around underneath to get to each padlock—that you can’t see—and you have to completely remove both locks to open the lid. It’s tedious and very inconvenient. But I guess the point is that it’s tedious and inconvenient to thieves as well.

It was a big crowd today. Easily 50 people. Brandon—visiting from Georgia—who was at Brommer Park two days ago, was playing and brought his wife this time. (She’s in town for her job and was working Friday, today she was off.)

Newbie

There was a new player, Hilary. I trained her and played a couple of games with her. She comes from a strong tennis background, She did fabulously. She was immediately an intermediate player. She and I played against Brandon and a woman I don’t know—but decent—and Hilary and I won. After Hilary’s first game she quietly asked the etiquette when playing against weaker players—like dial it back? Pretty amazing for a first-timer to already be asking that question!

Rick (of Rick and René) brought his son Ricky. Ricky has improved and is now a 3.5 level player with impressively quick hands.

It started to get breezy around noon and got to be quite windy…enough to significantly alter the flight of a ball at times.

And?

I had my moments, but I wasn’t playing “locked in”. Too many dumb errors. Drops shots that were too high, attacks against strong players with quick hands.

It was a very long session. It was 5 1/2 hours between the time I arrived and the time that I was leaving the courts.

Number of days on a court: 509
Number of total hours: 2,355

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Friday, July 1, 2022 (Court Day #508)

I took the morning off from work, and headed to Brommer park, arriving a few minutes after 9 a.m. When I arrived the lot was nearly full, and every single court had players on it. I was quite surprised. But it is a holiday weekend, with Independence Day coming on Monday.

It was overcast, but later became a beautiful sunny day.

As always, it was nice to see the players that I only see when I go to Brommer Park.

When I walked onto the courts for my first game, I passed Dean and Dan Bliss who were drilling on a court by themselves. Dean asked me if I had recovered. I asked him if he meant my trip to Europe. He said no, he meant the name-calling that I received when I told a player that she wasn’t advanced level. Dean said that I was absolutely right in my evaluation and my action on that evaluation. (Apparently, Dean had shared the contents of my email to the SCPC board explaining the situation.)

Overall today, it was a mixed bag. I started out kind of rusty—as I have my last few outings after my trip to Europe and lack of pickleball play—but as the morning went on I gradually played better.

I played a game with Ms. J. and myself against Nolan and Rick (Rene’s boyfriend). Nolan played very well—very well. I would say he’s playing at a 4.0 level.

We had a visitor today, Brandon from Georgia. Brandon is a 3.5 player.

Aside from the first hour when I was mixed skill level, I played all my games by signing up in advanced.

Well, I wasn’t super thrilled with my play today, like me hitting shots into the white tape. But I felt it was a step in the right direction—knocking the rust off from my trip.

I left a few minutes after noon to go home and then go to work. Pickleball is always a great day to start a workday!

Number of days on a court: 508
Number of total hours: 2,350

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

Tuesday, June 28, 2022 (Court Day #507)

Yesterday someone shared a pickleball/celebrity connection on social media:

Evening Play

My niece from Texas is visiting this week and we had an extended family party at my brother’s house in Scotts Valley. I left after dinner and popped down the road to nearby Skypark, arriving at 8 p.m.

Things were busy. I got into a game with barefoot Terry against Adrian and Larry’s wife Jacquie. Considering how funky my play has been since I got back from my trip, playing with middle-of-the-road players was good.

Over the course of the 75 minutes that I played, my dropshots were rather unreliable. While many were workable, too many were either into the net or too high. Frustrating. My lack of play while on vacation has taken its toll and it looks like I’ll have to work my way back into “proper form”.

Number of days on a court: 507
Number of total hours: 2,347

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