Category: Pickleball (Page 194 of 325)

Sunday, June 27, 2021 (Court Day #387)

I arrived at Brommer at 9:15 after dropping my daughter off at work. Three of the four permanent courts were full and no one waiting—well, except for now me! It was overcast and a cool summer morning with a slight breeze.

Juls showed up and we started warming up. I figured I’d give my natural right hand a chance again today. Though I’m still a little leery as it was nagging this past week.

A Comeback!

Patty and I took on Jason and Juls. It was Patty’s first game. We were down 2-10 to Jason and Juls. Patty warmed up and we gelled better. We came back and I won 12-10. Never give up! In a first, Patty was encouraging me to poach when I was up for receiving. I’ve never had a partner suggest that. Patty is a good player and has won an assortment of medals. Hue was back. Tall, Hue sports a scraggly red beard. During our game, Patty requested that Hue not vape near her . . . that she’s a retired firefighter and is very sensitive to smoke/vapors. Jason chimed in that he preferred to not have to nearby either. Hue stopped while nearby.

Hue likes to vape between rallies. There was another young fellow, Cameron. Cameron is a quite a good player. There was a visiting guy, Greg. Stocky, maybe Latino or Filipino. Greg and I played against Hue and Cameron. Hue was definitely the weaker of the two. It was back and forth, but Greg and I won. We played again and lost the second game. I played pretty well in that game. It’s funny to think I was on a local court with three guys whom I’d either never met before or only met in the last week (Hue).

I played a game with Chris against Rick and his girlfriend Rene. Chris and I won. We took a strong lead, Chris and I both made mistakes, they got closer but then we wrapped up the game. I had an ace in that game. Rene was lined up at the corner; I served hard, fast, and low about a foot inside service court. She never got close. “Nice serve, Andrew!” That was Rick. That was a serve I could never had made left-handed.

Brian (from Marin county) reminds me greatly of my cousin Nate. Tall, tan, unruly hair that sticks out under his cap. He was playing with tall, redheaded Brad who has a “down under” accent. Stuart and I took them on. Oleg had come just to watch today (his wife Olga was nowhere to be seen) and advised Stuart to not get into a firefight with them, so we played a soft game against Brian and Brad. It was close, but we did win. Afterward, when I asked, Brian said he’d been playing a couple of years.

Juls and I played a game against Brian and Brad. That would be a tough row to hoe and I was right. Juls was no match. Brad did get an ace on me, he applies a ton of spin to some shots. His serve hit the outside upper corner of the service box and spun out. High risk, but a winner. (2-3 other serves by him never made it over his side of the net.)

Sitting on the wall, Brian commented on how I don’t just hit balls with topspin but curve my paddle over the ball. And that I do it with serves too, “which is good.” I do have to wonder if that arc on forehands is part of my tennis elbow issue. I think on serves it would not be a factor.

When I left at 1:37, Rick called over and told me I’d played well right-handed. Nice to hear. I have far more power in my shots and more reliable hard serves using my right arm.

Grrrrr.

I will share an experience today. A lesson on what not to do. Art arrived, barely warmed up, and jumped into a game. Art on one side, me on another. He was not playing up to his standard, kind of expected for a first game. I was not playing great either, but not horrible. (Heck, it was—what?—my eighth game right-handed in nearly two years?) This local player—no, not Stuart—playing with Art put in a dig at Art and me. “You’re both playing like 2.5 players . . . right?” It was said with a grin, but Art and I didn’t laugh. This was an outright insult and was not meant in jest. Even playing badly, we weren’t below a 3.0. Not cool. No wonder some players refuse to play with y this guy. This is the same player who I played with later who would comment when I’d make an error but be silent when he made one. I’d never tell a partner “let’s not do that anymore” when a pop-up happens. I might ask permission to give advice then suggest a few specific key corrective measures. But I’d never just tell a player not to make an error—such as popping the ball up when you are digging a ball off a slam.

All that said, I did have too many pop-ups today. I’d say that was my #1 problem. Followed by hitting my dropshots into the net. Those were the two biggies.

Home

When I got home, I iced my shoulder. More than anything, my shoulder is sore. Knock on wood, my forearm seems to be experiencing only mild discomfort. I did decide to ice it in the evening, mostly as a precaution.

I emailed Leslie (SCPC Venue Coordinator) and Karen (board president) about reopening. Leslie said the board decided to start official play only with Brommer. It was going to be July 5, but she said that the county was having a basketball camp that week, so official play is now bumped to July 12.

---

Tuesday, June 29, 2021 (No Play)

I’m experiencing very mild forearm pain, if you can call it pain. Maybe a super mild periodic ache. I had a fleeting thought about . . . could it be? Can I dare? Tournaments. If this holds out, I could return to tournament play. But it’s very early. And I’m still only playing once a week. I don’t want to disappoint myself with hopes.

Dan Bliss posted some photos on Facebook today of crack repairs done at Skypark in Scotts Valley. Excellent. Thanks go to these volunteers!

---

Friday, July 2, 2021 (No Play)

I went to PT again this week. In recovery, there are plateaus and climbs. I’ve been making some climbs lately. My range of motion is increasing. I am experiencing very mild forearm discomfort . . . like a faint charlie horse. It’s like walking on ice. Am I going to be fine? Is my tennis elbow going to stay in check? Or is the ice going to break and my arm is going to start getting really bad again?

Mark Renneson sent this out in his Third Shot Sports newsletter:

Rather amusing!

---

Saturday, July 3, 2021 (No Play)

My right forearm has been bothering me a little bit. A couple of days ago, I got out that pressure roller device and used it to massage my arm a bit. Hopefully, it helped. All I have is anecdotal evidence and I can’t tell if it made it worse, or it was my computer or iPad use that made it seem worse. Dunno.

Number of days on a court: 387
Number of total hours: 1,099

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

Sunday, June 20, 2021 (Court Day #386)

Yesterday evening, I trimmed the pair of AirFeet insoles (finally) and installed them into my shoes, removing my older/other insoles. It’s curious. They are like walking with a waterbed in your shoes. Squishy.

Where to go?

I had a busy morning. At about 10:05, I had a decision to make. Head to Derby Park or Brommer? Soon, once official club play begins again—probably very soon with the state opening up from COVID on Tuesday last week—my Site Coordinator duties for the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club will resume and I’ll be responsible for Derby opening and supervising and closing. There will be no choice where I play. Generally, play is stronger at Brommer. Today, I chose Brommer.

Later in the day, Shawnte shared that Leslie—who holds Santa Cruz Pickleball Club’s Venue Coordinator board position—had said that Brommer will return to official club play on July 5. That’s a Monday this year. Derby can’t be too far behind.

Chin Chopper

Binh and me against Stuart and David Black. I got hit hard in the chin with a ball. Ouch! Binh and I lost. Binh was patient with all of my mistakes. Even though we lost, I love playing against players who play a strong game. Stuart may make a fair number of errors, but he’s great at dinking and half-volleying low balls and dropping them low back over the net. David generally plays a strong game.

OMG. Righty!

I had a game with some easier players. Juls and I played as a team. I opted to play the game right-handed. Crazy, right? My shoulder has been feeling better. I’m now at almost eight months past rotator cuff surgery. I figured that I’d give it a few hits and see. It went pretty well. Even backhands were surprisingly manageable, unlike the significant pain I was feeling with my last attempt. Quite a difference.

Jeannie is Back!

Jeannie appeared. I hadn’t seen her in well over a year! Yep, pandemic.

A man I’d seen before but rarely, Alex, and a younger guy named Hue played against Jeannie and me. We played three games, swapping sides after each. Jeanine got a number of shots that I was impressed by. Nice work, Jeannie! After a game or two and we went on a water break, I put on my Bandit tennis elbow brace. I was starting to feel my forearm, I felt it was a good move to brace it.

The last game was Shawnte and me against Binh and David DDS. We got clobbered. Me, literally. I got hit on the right cheek. The second hit to the face in one day. When it rains, it pours! I was playing right-handed, but it was obvious that I was still a little rusty.

2:40 p.m., time to call it an afternoon. I needed to drive my wife up to her sister’s house up in the Bay Area.

So . . . these AirFeet insoles. The jury is still out. Maybe it’s a gimmick. I’ll give it more time.

---

Tuesday, June 22, 2021 (No Play)

My shoulder is getting better. I can reach behind my back to tuck in my shirt with less pain. Still pain, but less pain.

I seem to be having some discomfort in my right forearm. Yep. The tennis elbow spot. Just four games and I may be redeveloping tennis elbow. Arg.

---

Friday, June 25, 20201 (No Play)

Boy. My forearm is not happy. So disappointing. It’s depressing. If tennis elbow returns in full force, do I want to play pickleball the rest of my life left-handed, knowing that I’ll never get as good as I have been right-handed? So depressing.

Number of days on a court: 386
Number of total hours: 1,095

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

Tuesday, June 15, 2021 (Court Day #385)

On Sunday afternoon, my wife and I drove to San Diego to visit her mom for a few days. We’ll be driving back tomorrow. Last night, I posted on the Pickleball Forum on Facebook that I was looking for a Tuesday morning game around San Diego. The internet can sometimes move at lightening speed and this was one of those times. I had two responses in short order. One was from a man named Al Lim. He mentioned that there is play everyday at MacKenzie Creek Park though folks tend to clear out some by 11 a.m. due to the heat. He said if I arrived at 8 a.m., I’d get into a game. Though he said he’d played a lot the last few days and so he wouldn’t be there.

I arrived at MacKenzie Creek Park at 8 a.m. It was already warm. The sun was peeking out, then hidden by a welcome high cloud, then back out again. 

I walked in and a few of the courts were still empty. I introduced myself to a tall woman—the only player not in a game right then—who said her name was Lynn. I mentioned that Al had directed me to the venue here. She pointed to a court and said they’d be finishing soon and we could get a game there. She asked what level I play. I told her, “I had shoulder surgery in October and I’m playing left-handed, but I’m decent. I won a gold medal lefty, but it was in 3.0”, me shrugging off the medal. She said, “3.0, ok”.

Lynn, Tess, Bong

Lynn and I played against a woman named Tess and a very fit Filipino man, Bong. Lynn and I lost, maybe 11-5 or thereabouts. It would take me a couple of games to get rolling.

We rotated players with Tess and me playing against Lynn and Bong. We won that one.

A shorter man in a bright blue shirt strolled in between points. Lynn called over to him, “Al! This is your charge!” I waved. So Al was coming anyway, great! Al waved and said hello.

Our next game Bong and me versus Tess and Lynn. Bong and I won pretty handily.

A stocky man named Tony joined our game, Tess had to leave. I overheard Lynn explaining that I was playing left handed due to surgery but I was “pretty good”. Tony plays in a misleading lazy, carefree style but has power and spin. Bong and I won again but it was bit tougher of a game.

Al, Jose, Mark

I was next in a game with Al against Mark and Jose. Al may be 74 (as he said on Facebook) or 75 (as he told me today), but he’s in good shape and can smack the ball. I was surprised and impressed given his years. Mark and Jose were both strong intermediate players. We had a few long—maybe 15-20 hits—rallies with dinking battles.

Al and I lost three times. 11-6 for the last one. But those were very fun and back-and-forth great games.

Al needed to take off but told me, “Let me know when you are back. I’ll play with you.” Sounds like I didn’t make a bad impression.

Jose said a handful of the people there are racquetball players like himself who weren’t allowed to play indoors during COVID restrictions so they have been playing pickleball instead. He pointed out Mark and some others.

The Other Jose

Later, I played with a tall older man named Jose against Jose and a Latina woman with an “L” name. Jose and pulled out to a strong lead but I was playing thinking, “it’s fun sometimes to play a leisurely game against less strong players” but then we let them catch up then win. Oops. That happens sometimes when you don’t take a game as seriously. Right?

Tall Jose explained that the beautiful courts were done in the last year. They had been tennis courts but they weren’t getting used much, so the pickleball players got together and came up with money with the city to redo them as pickleball courts. Judging from today, a very warm day that even the locals complained about the heat, it was a successful and meaningful change.

Xato and Tony

The last game was a shorter older man with a thick Mexican accent named Xato (“chay-toe”) and me against Tony and a man whose name I forget. We were very much outclassed. We lost something like 11-4.

My wife had texted about lunch plans with her mom and her mom’s best friend. It was time to go. There were a few empty courts.

And?

This was a great venue. Good players, new courts. I hope to be back!

Number of days on a court: 385
Number of total hours: 1,090.5

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