Category: Pickleball (Page 187 of 325)

Saturday, September 4, 2021 (No Play)

I woke up at 3:30 a.m. God knows why, but me on the other hand, I have no idea! But what do you do when you wake up in the middle of the night? Check email! There was an email from Robin Haney, West Assistant Director of Ambassadors for the USA Pickleball Association. The subject line announced, “Welcome, new USA Pickleball Ambassador!” Well, that’s exciting. I didn’t read the email in the wee hours of the morning though, that had to wait until later!

“We are pleased to announce that you have been officially approved as a USA Pickleball Ambassador serving Santa Cruz, CA, in the Bay Area district of our West region.”

I received congratulation emails from Karen Long, the existing local ambassador, and also Steve Sutton, the West Region Director, California & Hawaii.

The welcome email included a bunch of links and attachments. I have a lot of reading to do!

There’s a private Ambassadors Facebook group that was suggested that I join, so I did that. (My membership is manually approved after they review my answers to their screening questions.)

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Monday, September 6, 2021 (Court Day #408) Labor Day

Yesterday, I got up at 6 a.m. and carpooled with one my staff and my bagpiping instructor/mentor to the annual Scottish Highland games held in Pleasanton. It was canceled last year with the pandemic and all. This year, attendance was capped at about 25% of normal. I didn’t know that when I tried to get tickets the afternoon before and found it sold out. But—as they say—”it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. The chairman in charge of piping and drumming at this games was the president of WUSPBA (The Western United States Pipe Band Association) when I was the Executive Secretary with only the VP between us in the administration hierarchy. I was able to get a couple of tickets from their reserve stash. It was great to spend the day catching up with old friends and enjoying music. I got home from the event after 6 p.m. so I missed my typical Sunday morning pickleball.

Brommer

Today, Monday, I arrived at Brommer Park at 9:10. (Based on my car clock—I didn’t realize until hours later that I’d left my phone at home! Duh.) The lot was more full than I’d typically find it and—based on experience—I was expecting a big crowd. And, yes, we had about 50 people turn up. One of those 50 was Charles—a regular at Derby two years ago—whom I hadn’t seen in at least a year and maybe two years.

Joe from the Bay Area

I wasn’t expecting to be able to meet Joe Macdonald—who reached out to me for a place to play in Santa Cruz—but he stayed in town an extra day and came to Brommer. We played a game together and I think our auras canceled out or something. I’m joking, but neither of us played well in that game. Pleasant guy, Joe. I was hoping for us to redeem ourselves as a team, but that’ll have to be some other time!

Paul

A man named Paul played with me against Chris and Jason. I’d seen Paul before, but he doesn’t play on Sundays, so I almost never see him. Jason had already signed up in red (advanced) and I’m easily on par with Jason’s play plus I was ready for a stronger game after a few games of weaker players. That’s not to say that I was playing great, I wasn’t. As I told Paul, “We’ll see if you get the ‘3.0 Andrew’ or the ‘4.0 Andrew’ for this game!” Paul is a good player, I’d say a 4.0. I made a few errors, but played ok. Paul was the strongest, Chris played very well, me, followed by Jason who didn’t play his best game. Paul and I won. It was fairly close . . . 11-8 or something about that.

Visitor Mike

A nice guy named Mike was visiting from Morro Bay. It’s nearly a three hour drive. Mike was an amazing player. It was hard to tell just how good since he was taking it easy on Dewey in the game where he was partnered with Patty and me with Dewey. It was very obvious to me that Mike was not ending points on attackable shots. Mike is easily a 4.0 and likely better. Dewey and I lost the first game 2-11. We did better in the second game, but we still got slaughtered—maybe 4 points for us. Dewey kept apologizing. I kept telling him not to worry about it. Even if he was stronger than a “2.5 player” as he said, Mike would still have been able to take us apart. After the game, Mike did say I played well, and I think I played my average, but I was outclassed. Mike is really, really good.

The Blacks

Last game, Dave Black and me against his wife Beth and Rob A. Dave and I won 11-8. That was a great game . . . even if Rob did slam an overhead into my paddle finger! He apologized, but it wasn’t his fault! I would have made the same shot had I been in his shoes!

I asked Beth the time. 1:53 p.m. I told my wife I’d be home between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., so I was pretty much on schedule. Home, then lunch and icing!

Insoles

Today, I noticed that the right foot of my two AirFeet brand (“waterbed”-ish) insoles was no longer squishy. It must have popped. Time to revert back to the older traditional foam insoles!

Number of days on a court: 408
Number of total hours: 2,061.5

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Thursday, September 2, 2021 (Court Day #407)

Dan, the PT assistant, contacted me and we arranged to meet after my work time. I got one of my staff to close the store and left work a few minutes after 6 p.m. I realized when I grabbed my T-shirt and shorts out of my car that I’d forgotten my court shoes at home. For second time. *sigh* I was racing this morning to get to work and the shoes were a consequence! A quick trip home, change, put on my shoes then off to Skypark. As I pulled into the lot just before 6:40, I saw Dan outside the fence on his phone. I waved and parked.

We walked in, I picked out the Prince paddle I had in my backpack—I was going to loan him my Tempest Wave paddle, but still had that in my office at work for . . . an unexpected pickleball emergency, I guess! All the permanent courts were in use, so we chatted for about a minute. Dan said, “They’re calling us over.” There were two guys on the far court whom I didn’t know. One was senior and the other was quite tall and younger.

Clayton and Richard

The tall one (maybe 6’4″) was Clayton. [Later note: 6’5″.] The other, probably between 65 and 70, was Richard. It was Richard’s second time out, same as Dan. Dan played with Clayton and I partnered with Richard. Dan was obviously the better player compared to Richard. I was trying to gauge Clayton. I was talking outloud to Dan so Clayton could hear: “I don’t know Clayton’s skill level. He looks athletic. He could be a 5.0.” Clayton just smiled. He didn’t take the bait!

Clayton is a good player. I adds underspin to he service returns and takes full advantage of attackable shots. He does make some mistakes that he shouldn’t. 4.0? Lazily played 4.5? 3.5 on a good night? A mystery.

We played two games in that configuration and Richard and I lost both. Richard has more of a learning curve than Dan does.

Dan and I played a game against Tim and Jeanne. We lost that one too.

Christina and I played a game against Dan and Tim. Clayton was leaving in the midst of it and I called to him, “You are coming back, right?” I wanted to find out if he’s local. He’ll be good to play against. I’d like to be on a court against him when we both have strong partners.

Light Problems

Kristen L. pulled out a couple net bags and asked for help setting up the nets. “The lights on those [permanent] courts don’t work.” Logical. You want light on your game! Hopefully, the City of Scotts Valley will fix the lights soon since no lights on the permanent courts is miserable!

Wipeout

Dan suggested that Tim and I go ahead and play in a game against Mike B. and Kristin L. Dan took a seat next to the court. If an ATP was needed, the chairs and bags lined up between the two courts would be in the way. I was hoping I wouldn’t’ need one. Tim isn’t flashy but, boy, is he consistent. Con-sis-tent. He doesn’t make a lot of errors. We both played well and won the game 11-2.

Suzanne

I try not to give too much advice to new players. As I told my partner for this game, Adrian’s friend Suzanne, “I don’t want to give you too much to think about.” She and I played against Tim and Richard. We got clobbered. Suzanne has a ways to go, but none of us start playing great! I felt a bit bad, I gave her 3-4 things to think about, but based on her reaction (visibly discouraged), it was too much. Josh, on the other hand, wanted as much advice as I could give him—everyone is different.

Game with Tony

I convinced Tony to play one more game. I wanted a challenge, so I picked Jeanne as my partner against Tony and Mark D. Maybe too much of a challenge. It was pretty lopsided and the game went pretty quick. I needed a stronger partner, though there were a couple of shots that I should have made that I didn’t. Still fun.

Chat

Play wrapped up about 8:50 and Dan and I ended up chatting in the parking lot until 9:30. I learned that Dan used to work literally two doors down from me for a few years, but we never got to know each other. We’re also both a quarter Italian. I like Dan. A mellow, upbeat guy.

Ice?

I forgot to ice my right forearm when I got home. Oops. Hopefully, it’ll still hang in there.

Number of days on a court: 407
Number of total hours: 2,057

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

Sunday, August 29, 2021 (Court Day #406)

Given that last week I had to wait a while for more players to arrive, I took it a bit slower and got to Brommer Park at 9:15. As I was parking, I saw Shawnte walking in. A few minutes later, I found him sitting on the top step outside the courts. All four permanent courts were full of people I didn’t know. (Amazing. Yes, pickleball is growing!) Nearly all were older folks. A temporary net was set up away from the other games and had the normal foursome of early ladies, Kristin L., Barb R., etc.

Shawnte said he was waiting for Hemi to show up so they could drill as they had planned, but that wasn’t going to happen. Hemi arrived a few minutes later. We chatted for a few minutes, then Shawnte noticed that a woman had waved us over to their court. We go to the far side and the woman said that they were done. We started with some dinking drills then Steve arrived and we had ourselves a game.

Steve and I ‘walked away’ with the first game against Shawnte and Hemi. We switched sides and I made a lot more mistakes in this one. I turned to Steve and said, “If this was a tournament, I’d call timeout right now!” We lost that second game barely, then played a third which we won.

Lina

One of Shawnte’s 11 o’clock foursome arrived. Her name is Lina, probably mid-50s. She has a slight accent that I can’t place. Since the others hadn’t arrived yet, Shawnte and Lina started a game against Steve and me. Lina is a strong player and this was a fun game where I had to play well. Steve and I were leading 9-4 when Lina called it after an anxious Jane reminded Lina for the 3rd or 4th time they were supposed to start their own game at 11 a.m.

Into the Net

So, today I hit an overhead slam into the net in a game with Karen as my partner. I hate that. A shot that goes from a likely winner to a 100% loser. Today—after 4 1/2 years—I realized how/why it happens. You are looking up at the ball. You don’t have the net in your line of sight. Of course, my engineering brain kicks in for a solution . . . “should I be looking at the net?” Duh. No. Just be aware and hit the ball deeper. Think, don’t just get excited and react.

Game with John P.

John P. and I played a game against Art B. and Karen. I hadn’t played with John for months. John was obviously taking it easy on them—there was an easily attackable ball and John merely knocked it back over the net. A few points later there was a high ball at the net and I backhand smashed it at Art’s feet. We got back to the baseline and John said, “I thought we were taking it easy on them.” (We never actually discussed that.) I jokingly replied, “If I wasn’t taking it easy on them, I’d have hit him in the face!” (Looking back, maybe saying that was kind of lame of me!) I told John I was switching to playing lefty and played lefty the remainder of the game. John and I were taking it pretty easy—I was playing lazily—and they caught back up 7-7. John said, “Ok, we can play now.” And we won 11-7, with me still playing lefty.

Oh, and in that game, I wound up and drove a backhand rocket low over the net to Karen. Rally over. I think that’s a remnant of those college PE tennis classes I took as a senior back when dinosaurs rules the earth.

The Ben Johns Story

Shawnte was on the court next to us during my game with John P. and Shawnte mentioned something about Ben Johns to his courtmates. (Currently, Ben is the #1 ranked player in the world.) I called over feigning indignation, “I’ve met Ben Johns and you are not him!” (I briefly talked to Ben at the Golden State Pickleball Championship about three years ago. “Why do you want my autograph? I’m just a scrub.” He was easy-going.) Shawnte explained something about some shot that Ben does. Jane laughingly shared, “Ben Johns was in my hotel room once . . . he was lost!” After both games were done and I was about to leave, I walked over to Shawnte and said, “Ben, I just want to say how much I am a fan . . . can I get an autograph?” Jane laughed and Shawnte looked confused. (He thought I had said “Bihn”—whom I haven’t seen for at least a month, by the way.) Jane went on to tell her story about being in Hawaii for a tournament and staying in a condo. She was talking to a friend when they turned around and—surprise—Ben Johns was suddenly in their living room. “Is so-and-so here?” (Jane explained that all the condos looked the same.) She told him “no” but they got into a conversation about how he started with pickleball and how Ben was his brother’s tennis training partner. “…who is now Ben’s doubles partner,” Jane said. I concurred and went on to say how down-to-earth Ben is. Not egotistical at all.

I checked the time: 12:20. I was supposed to be home, shower, then to a birthday party for a friend at 1 p.m. Time to go!

Lesson for Today

Trust your partner. There’s a saying, “Don’t poach unless it’s a winner.” In a game today with Karen as my partner, I got far too aggressive, reached way over to my right and clipped the ball with the far edge of my paddle, sending the ball flying out the side of the court. Rally lost. I apologized to Karen. Bad decision—obviously. There was a shot in a game with Steve that, had I let it go, he would have been in position to make a good shot instead of me making a bad shot. Trust your partner.

That said, lesser players will be out of position and leave easy shots down the middle. One needs to cover the sideline and the partner needs to scoot over and close the middle. Leave open the hard angled shot, not the middle open.

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Monday, August 30, 2021 (No Play)

Today, I received an email from Dan M., the PT assistant. He said he had lost my business card but found it again and was interested in playing. I explained the skill levels often associated with the various local courts and offered some times. Hopefully, we’ll connect and work out a time to play.

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Tuesday, August 31, 2021 (No Play)

I forgot to mention previously. At dinner a week ago, when I told my wife Kristen that Casey’s wife had purchased a pickleball paddle for him for Fathers Day, stunned, Kristen stared at me then blurted out, “She’s delusional!” Then she added, “Just wait until that new baby is mobile!” I shared that story with Tim (Casey’s dad) and Tim laughed.

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Wednesday, September 1, 2021 (No Play)

I received an email from an out-of-town player named Joe Mcdonald. He is going to be in my area this weekend and was referred to me for advice on where to play. Joe is also a regular reader of this blog. (Hi, Joe!) Joe is the athletic director and coach at a school about an hour north of me. He shared that he wrote an article about his experiences so far:
https://www.pickleballuniversity.com/home/why-pickleball-is-a-sport-for-all-according-to-a-coach
I believe that his experiences mirror thousands, if not millions, of others. No wonder pickleball is growing so fast! What’s not in his article is that he’s already played a couple of tournaments is playing at a 3.5-4.0 level already—no doubt his past training for squash, racquetball, and tennis. Nice work, Joe!

Ben Johns Streak Broken

I just saw that Ben Johns’ winning streak of 170 matches ended recently when he lost to JW Johnson. He dropped into the consolation bracket for a second chance at a gold medal but lost to Spencer Smith. From no losses for a very long time to two losses in one day. Ouch.

Number of days on a court: 406
Number of total hours: 2,055

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