Category: Pickleball (Page 182 of 325)

Sunday, October 17, 2021 (Court Day #423)

Today was a mix of easy games with newbies and solid challenging games.

This was my first day resuming my duties as Sunday site coordinator for Derby Park. Dave Witte, Tim, John P., Rick A. were all there to assist—in fact, though I was 15 minutes early (8:45 a.m.), Tim and Rick beat me there. I had solid support to get players to sign the waiver form and also understand how things work under the auspices of the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club.

Friend Sighting!

Over the years, you get to know people though your work. Since our family business is artist materials and picture framing, I get to know people at the University of California, Santa Cruz who are related to art . . . professors, lecturers, administrators, some students, and in the case today, a director of one of the galleries on campus, Shelby. Shelby took an early retirement in June this year, four months ago. I was happily surprised to see her on the courts. Just as an example, 11 years ago to the week, I was on-site at her gallery helping repair/correct some framing on a very large loaned piece of artwork and I already was well acquainted with her at that time. I asked her when she started playing and she said when she retired. I didn’t get to play with her, but watching, she looked solid.

Notable games today

Late in the morning, Ted B. and I took on Eric S. and Adrian. That was a fun and challenging game. I played very well in that game and Ted said as much afterward. He and I won.

My last two games featured me and Adrian against Rick and his girlfriend Renee who had made a surprise appearance from Brommer Park where they normally play on Sundays. When I asked, they said that they’d gone to Brommer first and it had only 8 players and the two courts were arranged games—that is, very difficult to rotate into . . . so they left and came to the westside of Santa Cruz instead. I was very happy to see them. Both are strong intermediate players.

Adrian and I got killed in the first game against Rick and Renee. It was something like 11-2 or something horrible like that. Both of us didn’t exactly play great. Adrian missed a few of his serves and I lost a lob in the sun and that was only the beginning. Adrian apologized and said he wasn’t playing well.

We played a rematch, switching sides. This time, it was Adrian and me who walked away with the game.

We were going to play a tiebreaker, but when I asked the time, it was already 1:15. I was supposed to FaceTime with my son at 1:25 to share the Raiders NFL football game! Time to go! I scrambled to stow the last net, take down the signup board, grab the “welcome mat” and the ball caddie, put the donation monies into an appropriate envelope and a few other duties. Did I forget anything? Nope, looks good. Say goodbyes and out!

Health?

My right elbow as well as my forearm were sore . . . a mild precursor to worse tennis elbow. I used ice on them and later used the massage gun. Hopefully, it holds up.

Number of days on a court: 423
Number of total hours: 2,104

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Thursday, October 14, 2021 (Court Day #422)

I texted Dan, the PT assistant, and told him that I’d be playing about 6:45, which was the time I arrived and found him waiting in the parking lot.

I spent the evening mostly playing with or against Dan. Dan is coming along, he still needs to work on pop ups, court positioning, some strategy, more ball control. But he’s doing all right.

The last four games were Dan and me against a rotation of Matt, Paul, and Eric of the clan of young men. I’m still learning to remember Eric’s name. Dan and I got clobbered in that first game which was against Matt and Paul who are the most formidable of that group. We did better when we rotated through and played them a second time.

Games were done by 9:30. I was not thrilled with my play. I’m realizing that I have a much harder time judging ball distance under lights. As my third day in a row playing, my right shoulder was noticeably sore. Could that have affected my play? Possibly.

Scary Guy

Eric, Paul and Matt shared a story. So, a couple of weeks ago—after issuing a death threat to John—the mysterious guy who lives near the courts went immediately back to the pickleball courts and called the players still hanging out there “rapists”. Then when they tried to leave the parking lot, the guy stood in the exit and blocked a car from leaving. When that happened, all the players got out of their cars and got the guy to back down.

I encouraged Eric to report the incident so there is some recorded history if the guy acts out again. Eric seemed inclined to go to the SVPD.

Saturday, October 16, 2021 (No Play)

My right elbow where the two bones meet was quite sore. It would sometimes ache when I wasn’t even moving. Three pickleball outings in 48 hours was definitely pushing it. It’s feeling a little better today.

Number of days on a court: 422
Number of total hours: 2,100

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Wednesday, October 13, 2021 (Court Day #421)

Since I needed to deliver the refurbished court signup board, I wanted to be Derby early. I took the morning off from work for something else that didn’t work out so … pickleball instead! I arrived at 8:45 a.m. and a number of key pickleball people were already there: Rick (the brand new Wednesday site coordinator), Leslie, Dave Witte, Dave Allenbaugh, John P., and Leslie’s husband Tim who walked in about the same time as me.

Play

I felt very positive about my play today. Leslie runs with the advanced group at Brommer, so when I finish a session feeling I made a good impression of myself, that’s a good day.

I had a great game with Eric S. against Leslie and John P. Eric and I won 11-6 or something thereabouts, we still play well as a team. (I miss the days when Eric and I were tournament partners before he turned 60 and he wanted to play in age brackets!)

There was only one game in the two hours that I felt I might have easily gotten away with playing left-handed—so, strong games today. I had two people ask me or comment to me “You are playing right-handed again? Great!” I hadn’t seen Jerry in two years and Tom B. I hadn’t seen for five months since he, John P., Eric S. and I had gotten together for some Friday night play at Skypark . . . Skypark has gotten busier since then.

Out at 10:51 a.m. for home then off to work!

Business Cards

When I got home tonight, I found a mysterious box on the dining room table. I opened it and learned that my USA Pickleball business cards arrived. That’s good news, now I can pass them to potential players!

Number of days on a court: 421
Number of total hours: 2,097.5

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