Category: Pickleball (Page 19 of 323)

Sunday, February 1, 2026 (Court Day #897)

It was a sunny 54° morning with only traces of clouds in the sky. For a January day, yesterday was an amazingly balmy 73° midday. I was thinking that maybe it would be that nice again today and it mostly was.

Brommer

I pulled in at Brommer Park at 8:50 a.m.

I got into an assortment of games over the next three hours.

In one game, Stoehr—whom I hadn’t played with in quite some time—and I lost 9-11 to Mo and Stu.

Caesar and I lost 7-11 to JP and Brendan. This one was more on me than Caesar. I was feeling low on energy by this point.

Cesar and I played against Evan and Paulie. We lost 9-11. It was a close fun game. There were more mistakes by Caesar this time.

Sean Lynch and I lost 7-11 versus and Austin and Isaiah, but we won the rematch 12-10. Those were fun games.

“Home, James.”

It was 68° when I left at 11:53 a.m. I had to get home then to teaching.

The last game helped me feel better about myself. My biggest issue in the last game was popping up volleys. (Or as my phone thought that I was saying, “follies“!)

Today was a mix of good play but also hitting the ball long, into the net, or hitting bad drops.

Skypark Tennis Player

I took a photo today when I was out at Skypark teaching this afternoon. One of the tennis players wasn’t happy that we hung our paddle rack two feet into their tennis area. (The tennis courts are more often empty than not whenever I’m there in the evenings.) Hanging the rack inside saves the trouble of having to go in and out of the gate. A few weeks ago, one of their players moved the rack outside of the courts and permanently secured it to the fence so it can’t be moved, and left a note.

Honestly, I don’t blame them. The tennis players already lost two of their four courts to pickleball and pickleball is so popular that the tennis players know to avoid the courts at certain times due to the lack of parking. Still, the note seems a bit aggressive . . . how about the word “please”?

Number of days on a court: 897
Number of total hours: 3,378.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 197.5

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

Thursday, January 29, 2026 (Court Day #896)

I was tired and tempted to go home after a long day at work, but I need the exercise and I knew that once I started playing I’d be happy to be there. This seems a common theme lately. I’m tired at the end of the day, want to head home, but go play instead.

I drove to Skypark shortly after 6:30 p.m. and it was a little warmer tonight, 59°F—at least for January.

It was 50°F when I left shortly after 8:30 p.m. I wore my sweatshirt the entire session—that’s unusual.

Going back to finish typing up this entry, I made no notes about the games or my performance. I can only guess that it was far from memorable either way.

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Saturday, January 31, 2026 (No Play)

In my opinion, this might work in singles if you could get into this circumstance, but not so much in doubles, especially not popped up this much:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DTwLCkkjV4N

Dean tried something like this on me 7-8 years ago when I was still a 3.0 player. A “no look” deception just like this. Even then, I was ready and able to attack the ball and I put it away for a winner.

I think this shot is too much risk for not enough reward. Unless the opponent is really out of position, it’s not a “winner” shot, it’s a “keep the rally going” shot.

They are in doubles position in the video—not singles position nearer the centerline—but this shot would be almost always ineffective in doubles… except for maybe very specific circumstances, like the player across from the shot is hugging the middle or the shot is made when the opponent is in motion toward the middle.

Maybe his other videos are great—he is a pro player—but I’m not convinced on this one. Maybe Travis could show him using this in one of his pro games successfully and then I’d believe in this shot.

Number of days on a court: 896
Number of total hours: 3,375.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 194.5

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

Tuesday, January 27, 2026 (Court Day #895)

I was hoping to leave work earlier, maybe at 5:30 p.m., but we had two people out sick today. When you run a family business, your life is not your own!

I pulled into the Skypark lot in Scotts Valley at 6:58 p.m. It was dark and seemed colder than the 54° that it was.

When I arrived, it was—by far—the busiest I’d ever seen! There were a whole lot of young fresh faces.

Ball to the Head

Matt Babb did a speedup and if I hadn’t turned my head, it would’ve hit me squarely in the mouth. Instead, he hit me in the jaw near my right ear. That stung! Matt apologized, but I know that he was not aiming for my head. It’s part of the game.

And?

The games were of no significance tonight, other than subpar performances.

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Wednesday, January 28, 2026 (No Play)

There are days when you wonder to yourself, “Why do I subject myself to playing this game?” This morning I woke up with that feeling. I was very unhappy with my play last night.

Actors & Pickleball

Another famous person spotted playing pickleball, this time Zac Efron:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DTRdUoljmw2

New #1 Mens

This week, Gabe Tardio is now ranked #1 in the world for men. The era of Ben Johns holding the #1 spot for months (or years) on end appear to be over.

Power Play

The Kitchen offered up their top five pickleball power players. Some are actual players, others are business people:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DT-wRhekUJU

Here’s their list:
1. Tom Dundon (Owner/investor of pickleball.com) [Wikipedia]
2. Connor Pardoe (CEO of the PPA and MLP)
3. Anna Leigh Waters (#1 Women’s player)
4. Ben Johns (#1 Mixed Doubles male player)
5. Richard Lee (CEO of Joola) [Linkedin]

Number of days on a court: 895
Number of total hours: 3,373.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 194.5

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