Category: Pickleball (Page 184 of 325)

Tuesday, October 5, 2021 (Court Day #417)

I arrived at Skypark at 6:35 p.m. and the sun was setting. There was a tennis couple on tennis court that we used as overflow for our portable nets, but fortunately it wasn’t as busy as some nights and the four permanent courts was just about right.

I had a number of games with Mike Ballard, Sharyl, Kristin L., Mark Dettle, and John A. It was a very fun and challenging evening. I’ll admit that in the games later that I played right handed, I was frustrated with some of my shots . . . mostly the failure of my drop shots. I missed far too many of those. That and I hit several would-be winners too far out past my opponents baseline—you get excited, right?

I looked at John A. as Mike and Mark left . . . “Singles?” But he was too tired. We were done and out at 8:48.

Death Threat

John shared that more happened with that park neighbor who confronted us in the parking lot on Thursday last week. After I got into my car that night, the guy followed John to his car and asked, “Are you planning to do this again?”
John avoiding furthering the unwanted conversation, didn’t respond.
“If you do, I’ll break your f–king neck.”
At this John replied, “Then you really will be breaking the law.”*
“I don’t care about the f–king law.”
*This was alluding to the guy’s ridiculous suggestion that we had tried to break into his house because his automatic yard light went on earlier.
Sounds like a real jerk. Too bad he lives right by the parking lot entrance. And there is no small irony that he called law enforcement to report people staying 10 minutes past the park closure time (when the lights didn’t go off when they were supposed to).

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Wednesday, October 6, 2021 (No Play)

This morning at 10 a.m. was my last PT appointment. I met with Casey, whom I’d met for my first PT appointment those so many months ago. My timing was good, Casey is leaving Precision Physical Therapy for a new job working for Kaiser and his last day is in about two weeks. Going forward, I’ll be on my own with my exercises.

After what John told me last night and since I was in Scotts Valley anyway for PT, I stopped by the SVPD and explained what had transpired to the uniformed woman behind the glass. She suggested it would be good to have the threatened individual report it—I was there for advice, not to make a report, since I knew I’d just be hearsay. I’ll leave it to John’s comfort level if he wants to do anything about the incident. But that threat does make me uncomfortable.

My right arm is bugging me. Both the inside of my elbow and the outside. I keep a bagpipe practice chanter—a wind instrument much like a recorder—on my desk at work. After closing, I played a quick tune and could feel the sore muscle in my forearm.

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Thursday, October 7, 2021 (No Play)

My right elbow is a bit sore. It’ll be a little bit of pain with random things, like certain positions on the steering wheel, or moving my arm while doing things at my desk at work. Regardless, I’ll be playing tomorrow morning at Brommer Park. It’s the day of the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club Annual General Meeting which will start at about noon. I’ll go play, hopefully more lefty than righty, if I can control myself!

Number of days on a court: 417
Number of total hours: 2,087

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Sunday, October 3, 2021 (Court Day #416)

I walked out my front door into already warm temperatures. When I got to Brommer Park at 9:30 a.m., the four permanent courts were full and three players were sitting on the wall, Allan K., Jean, and a visiting woman, Elizabeth from Portola Valley. I walked up and said, “I have a portable net in my car, if you want to play.” Jean was quick with an answer, “We can’t. Tennis players.” I looked over and, sure enough, rare as they are, there was a woman and a man over on the tennis court playing. That wipes out the four dual striped pickleball courts. But it would be a lightly attended day—there was a tournament going on this weekend.

Renee made a nice comment, “You are playing well today.” She was in some games where I was playing right-handed. That’s a whole different animal than me playing lefty.

Harry and I played a game against Beth and David Black. That was a fun one. Harry played badly, which I’m sure he’d readily admit. We had a rematch and before the game I told Harry, “You owe me a dollar for every missed serve!” He did much better in this game and we won.

I can’t remember who the last game was with but I was dragging badly. I was very tired and dehydrated even after drinking a big water bottle full of ice and water—well, just lukewarm water after the ice melted away.

I finished up at 1:30 p.m. after four hours and called it a day. I went home and iced my right arm. Strangely enough, I was feeling it more on the inside of my elbow than my outside.

I felt I did ok today. Not great, but not horrible. Serviceable.

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Monday, October 4, 2021 (No Play)

I can feel my right forearm. It reminds me of a quote from a Batman movie, “Have you ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?” Recovering from tennis elbow, every game playing righthanded is like a dance with the devil. Will you be fine this time around? Will the game push it over the edge? How often before a major relapse?

USA Pickleball Cards

My ambassador business cards haven’t arrived yet. It’s only been a couple of weeks, so I’m not worried. Plus I got a confirmation that my order had gone in, so I’m sure they’ll eventually show up.

Number of days on a court: 416
Number of total hours: 2,085

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Thursday, September 30, 2021 (Court Day #415)

This was my first day playing in a week. I’d flown out Saturday night to Portland, Oregon, taking my mother to a birthday celebration for her dad’s brother (my great-uncle) who was turning 100. He is still sharp and funny, but has slowed down a lot—requiring a lot of help walking, especially up and down stairs, and also requiring oxygen after minor exertion. My mom and I flew back out early Monday afternoon, less than 48 hours after we had landed. There wasn’t time to pack in a pickleball outing with all the family there and the short nature of the trip.

Night Ball

I had one of my staff close so I was at Skypark at 6:30. It was another busy night. I helped Sharyl set up a portable net. We ended up with three temporary nets in addition to the four permanent courts.

I played the first half of the evening lefty to give my right arm a break.

Rob A. and I played a game against Mark D. and Judy. Rob and I took the lead and won handily.

The next game was Juls and me against Rob and Janet. Rob was playing very well. He served one that jumped away when it landed at my backhand. I have a much better appreciation for the challenge of those chainsaw/spin serves! Rob had another that bounced oddly but straight on. I wish I saw these more often. Without practice, they are hard to handle.

Newbies

Janet and I, then Rob and I, ended up playing a game Sabina and Vanessa—each time with Sabina and Vanessa on opposite sides since they had been only playing about three months. I played both games lefty with Sabina. Rob and I were taking it very easy in the game . . . well, until Rob cranked it up and started poaching and serving a bit harder. I do have to say that Sabina did an admirable job handling the servers better than I was expecting! I was doing my best to get it over the net in a fashion that was easily returnable for Vanessa.

Singles

I played a game of singles against Rob and lost 11-2. I got my clock cleaned. Rob has gotten so much better over the last few years. I’d say he’s a 4.0 these days. He’s also been able to “get in” with stronger players—that and he’s a firefighter so he has a lot of free time/days to play.

Once most regulars left, John A. and I played game of singles. He won 11-3. He was on his high school’s tennis team and it showed. That said, we played a second game and I was leading 9-3, then 10-4 . . . then he scored 5 points to make it 10-9. I was dragging, but I won the next next point and the game.

Trespassing!

John and I strolled out at 9:45, leaving the younger group of men playing. We were talking for about 5 minutes when a police cruiser pulled into the parking lot near us. Two very nice officers in their 20s walked over and said they got a complaint about the noise after the 9:30 court closing time. We got into a brief conversation about pickleball then they went to talk to the clan of guys still playing.

The officers left about five minutes later and John and I continued to chat for another 10 minutes or so in the dark parking lot. And grumpy man rode up on a bike. He said—in an eastern block accent—that the park was closed and we were trespassing. He asked what we were doing there and that the motion lights had gone off behind his house. (Nevermind that his house is right next to a walking path or that there is a lot of wildlife around from the woods!) He ranted for a bit then said if we didn’t leave he was going to call the police and report us as having tried to break into his house. That made me really annoyed. We weren’t bothering anyone, we were having a quiet conversation probably 50 yards from the nearest house. The guys on the court had stopped playing and were quiet as well. The man even followed us as we walked out and continued to give us a hard time as I got into my car.

Frustration, Singles, and the Future

Playing with Rob made obvious the deficiencies in my game. Singles was great for making plain the lack of accuracy in many of my shots, that and lack of decision-making of where to send the ball. Singles is different. As I told John, in doubles, you can be a bit sloppy and know that your partner is there to cover the other half of the court. In singles, if you get sloppy, the point will be over in very short order. I think playing singles more regularly could really improve my doubles game.

Number of days on a court: 415
Number of total hours: 2,081

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