I was going to have one of my staff close at work so I could go to pickleball early, but both my closers left due to not feeling well, so I arrived at Skypark at about 6:30. It had been cloudy until later in the day, so it was cooler. There were two tennis players on their courts and fourteen pickleball players at the other end of the facility.
Judy, Tim, Debbie, and Sharyl.
Even with my forearm strap tight, my tennis elbow was bothering me some tonight. Not super painful, but still a slight annoyance. I played games lefty for the most part tonight.
After I hit the white net tape with the ball, I started counted. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. I drove the ball into the white tape nine times between warming up with Kristin L. and half a dozen games that followed. Ugh. Dave Weinbach is known for the mantra “Respect the Net”. I need to more of that. Yes, you want to keep the ball low, but—rule #1 in pickleball—get the ball over the net!
I played a game with a group of Matt, Paul, Dave. I asked the time and Matt said 9:33. The lights were still on but were expected to click off any second, yet they were still on after we’d gotten into our cars and left. Dunno.
Wednesday, September 15, 2021 (No Play)
I opted to order my USA Pickleball ambassador business cards today. I have no idea how long they will take to arrive, but at least they are coming. They’ll be handy to have to pass out to people interested in learning pickleball.
Number of days on a court: 411 Number of total hours: 2,070
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Right before I was heading to play, I remembered that I needed to fix the modification to my Bandit forearm strap. I had added some foam padding to it with some cloth tape, but after a couple of years of abuse, the tape failed. I reattached the padding with new gaffers tape and I was good to go. The point of the padding is to apply more targeted pressure the forearm muscle and further reduce strain on the tendon at the elbow.
Repair complete!
It started out overcast but it burnt off later and we had a wonderful, sunny day. I arrived at Brommer Park at about 9:15 and the parking lot was thinner than typical. It’s a tournament weekend, so some players were off competing.
Sacramento Contingent
Even with many stronger players off at a tournament, I got in some good games regardless. There was a group from Sacramento staying at a local beach house: Jim, Lexi and her fiancée whose name I forget . . . Kevin? We’ll call him Kevin for sake of having a name for him.
Jim and “Kevin” were 4.0 players. Kevin said they took up pickleball during the pandemic. I told him he was really good for having only played a little over a year. He said he played a lot of tennis and another paddle sport and that helped.
The visitors put me in my place. Any small error, they took advantage of. I wasn’t playing badly, I just wasn’t as consistently good.
SwiftNet
Today, I had my first chance to try and set of one of those new “SwiftNet” portable nets. As we gave up winging it and reverted to the instruction sheet, the woman who owned it and was letting us use it trotted over and helped us finish. It is pretty quick to set up, no doubt. There’s a red stripe on the center Velcro strap that probably determines the correct center height, but I think the owner overdid it as it seemed too low until we adjusted it. They are pricey at $350 new. Later when the woman was leaving and took her net, it turned out that Art B. had another of the exact same model net! It was easy to set it up the second time!
Another Andrew
There was a tall younger fellow named Andrew. It was the first time in my pickleball experience that there is another player with my name. Andrew and I played a few games against Jon B. and a young fellow named Nate who lives a block away from Willowbrook. Nate said the play at Brommer is much stronger. Yep. We played a couple of fantastic games with long rallies.
Cathy and Rich
There was a couple there whom I’d never seen, Rich and Cathy. Around fifty and heavier-set. I was paired with a woman named Ellen against this new couple. I think I’d seen Ellen before, but I’d never played with her. Our first game was won 11-0. I played lefty in second game and we won 11-3 or something. I later played with Rich against two stronger players and he is much better than teaming with Cathy seemed to make him.
I got in some really great strong games to finish off the day. I played a few games against Jon B. I can see why John P. and he won that 3.5 gold medal about a month ago. Jon is a very solid player. He’s awesome to play against.
Tournament with Dave?
As I was driving away from the courts, I got a call from Dave Cox. He asked about my arm then asked if I was interested in playing in a tournament in two weeks. I told him I’d been talking to a guy Clayton about doing tournaments, but nothing was firm yet. I also told him Saturdays were a long shot with working being so demanding right now.
Review
I have to start recording my games. I need to drill and I need to figure out where I need the most work. Drop shots are a weakness, but I could be missing other opportunities for improvement.
Number of days on a court: 410 Number of total hours: 2,067
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
My evenings filled up this week, so even though I played yesterday, I figured I’d get out and play at least one evening this week, which meant tonight. I arrived at Skypark at 6:40.
As I walked in, someone was walking in with me. Charles! “How tall are you? 6-8?” “6 foot 7.” Yep, very tall! We warmed up for about 10 minutes when one of the two games across the divider net ended and Janet invited us over.
I played a number of fun but unmemorable games. We were playing to 7 since players were waiting to rotate in. About 7 p.m. the clan of eight young guys appeared across the divider and were playing games among themselves.
Clayton
This was my second outing with Clayton there. He and I played against Mark D. and Richard. I played lefty to even things up a bit more. Clayton didn’t know I was playing lefty until I told him. Mid-game I made some crack about being old and having to run and get the ball. Clayton laughed, “I’m older than you are!” I wasn’t so convinced. “How old are you?” “49.” “Ha! I’m 54!” When Mark and Richard tied up the score, Clayton was encouraging me to switch to right-handed. (That’s not to say that I was making all the mistakes, Clayton had his share too.) I told him, “Don’t worry, have faith.” We finished up the game to 7 and won. I would have been embarrassed to lose—even lefty—to Mark and a player on his third time out. I was kind of embarrassed that we didn’t win by more!
Singles
It was starting to get darker. The lights went from partially working last week to not working at all! Larry and Kristin left as did Mark and Richard. Clayton and I were looking at each other. I said, “Maybe it’s time…” I paused. “Time for… singles?” He had a big grin on his face! Ok. I’m always game. So, we played singles. It stayed 0-0 for a number of changes of serve but then I took a 4-0 lead. Then 4-1. Then back and forth. What was funny was us missing three serves in a row between us. With me leading 9-4 at about 8 p.m., Clayton finally stopped and said, “I can’t see the ball!” We stopped for the night.
Tournaments?
As we walked over to get our gear to leave, Clayton asked, “Do you play tournaments?” I told him yes then mentioned there was a tournament coming up soon and he needed a partner. Anything soon would be out of the question with work as demanding as it has been. He also mentioned that he owns a ball feeder and he’d be interested in drilling. I got his mobile number and his email address.
It’s dark with no lights!
Saturday, September 11, 2021 (No Play)
John P. called me a couple of days ago and said a meeting had been arranged for 3 p.m. at Derby Park to show Rick Abend—who had accepted the role of Site Coordinator for Wednesdays—the ropes . . . that is, the storage bins, release forms for newbies/visitors to sign, how to handle the cash donations, etc. The Santa Cruz Pickleball Club had met and was planning to restart organized club play at Derby Park next month. Dave Witte (the club treasurer) and Dave Allenbaugh were also briefly there. I had been tied up at work—not a surprise, it happens frequently—so I didn’t arrive until about 3:15. As I walked up, I was happily shocked to see four courts in use at Derby and I knew not a single one of the players. And they were all under 40, in fact, they might have all been under 30!
Young players in a game. And this newbie group was playing at at least a solid 3.0 level!
Going Down!
Less than 60 seconds after met with the guys outside the courts at the locking bins, there was a cry of anguish and despair of “It’s broken, it’s broken.” A very large man—probably 6’2” and north of 300lbs—was on his back on the court just inside the fence. Dave Allenbaugh grabbed a instant cooling pack and we went in. After some discussion, we helped the injured man up and with Dave A. and the man’s friend under each sweaty arm, they helped him to his car where his girlfriend drove him to the ER. Nothing like trial by fire for a new (off duty) site coordinator!
Net Repair
John and I explained some of the nuances of required duties to Rick, then we all went in to inspect the four nets that the city had bought for the courts. I’d never seen these nets before. John said the two nets that the city had there previously were in rough shape and had rusted, so they were replaced.
John P. starting work on net repairs as Rick looks on.
These newer replacement nets were pretty cheap. I’d never seen the brand before and the Velcro had mostly given up the ghost so someone had tied the straps to the posts instead. Not the best situation! The nets were sagging so John and I bent the horizontal tubes to splay the uprights back to vertical or even slightly out. I have to remember to get a measuring tape and put it in my backpack!
I hope people follow this advice, but I’m skeptical.
Rick walked over as we finished up repairs and asked about the rules for waiting tennis players. We told him we believed it was a 40 minute wait once the request was put in, but the city had posted the guidelines outside the gate. Rick had to be somewhere so left.
Future Pickleball Player?
Around 4:10, John and I headed out. There was a tall young woman sporting a blonde ponytail that some older players were talking to about tennis courts. I told her there are two good ones at Meder Street Park and they’d already told her about the court at the UCSC building on Shaffer Road. “Why are there so many pickleball players here?” (It wasn’t that many, 11 playing plus John and me.) “It’s getting really popular. I’ve been playing nearly five years and I don’t know any of these people.” We chatted another minute and she said, “I’m new to tennis . . . maybe I should take up pickleball.” “Well, you nearly always get a game!” Afterward, I realized this would have been a good instance to have the USA Pickleball ambassador business cards that I haven’t ordered yet. The association gives you practically nothing for being an ambassador, but apparently they do provide you with business cards. You have to pay for your own shirt, cap, name tag, and banner(s) . . . if you want them.
Oh, and I did a ambassador search on the association website, and yes, I’m there now.
Number of days on a court: 409 Number of total hours: 2,063
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