A couple of days ago, the Airfeet insoles that I’d ordered on eBay showed up. The first thing that struck me is how heavy they were. But it shouldn’t have surprised me. They are gel, not just mostly-air foam like most others. I’m going to hold off trying them out until after I get back from North Carolina and visiting my son Nicholas.
Yep. Insoles.
I’m hoping to arrange some games on my trip and so I don’t want to be out of state and have to be messing with my shoes! I am hoping the insoles may help with my knee(s), I want to avoid any surgery as long as possible. Today, my right knee was doing pretty well. Not great, but only very slight pain with certain unique movements.
My Protégés
Yesterday, I asked Brett at work if he wanted to play pickleball again today, but he said he wanted to go hiking instead. No accounting for taste! Ok, seriously though, how can you blame someone for wanting to get into nature and tromp around in the woods? Charlotte is out of town and Alain didn’t make an appearance, so I was 0 for 3 today.
Brommer
I arrived at Brommer Street Park at 9:10 a.m. I was doing some last minute computer testing stuff at home so I wasn’t there at right at 9. It was clear skies, if a bit cold—it was 44°F in the shade at my house when I left. I wore a sweatshirt, though it came off before the first game.
Binh and Shawnte were standing near the wall when I walked in the gate. The three of us warmed up. Dave Cox appeared not long after and we had a foursome. It was a good game. Dave and I won 13-11.
Jason showed up and he teamed up with Shawnte against Binh and me. It was a close game, but they won 12-10.
Next, it was Jason and me against Dave and Binh. Another close game, but we lost 11-8.
”The girls” playing their game. Later on, I’d only recognize one person—Carrie—on the other side of the partition; a lot of new faces!
There was a woman I’d never seen before, Kirsten (or “Kirstin” or variant, not sure the spelling). Watching her play, I thought her a weak player. But I was paired with Richard in a game against her and Allan K. Kirsten is a banger, she just hammers shots. It showed a weakness in my game. I could handle 2-3 hard hits in a row while I was at the net, but sooner or later, the ball would come in an awkward location and I’d hit it into the net or out. Richard is a weak player, but I made a lot of mistakes in this game too and we lost 11-2. Clob-berred! I really, really want to get a rematch against Kirsten, but alas, it was not to be today. Had I been playing righty, I could have taken advantage of her banging.
Binh, Patty, and Shawnte waiting between games. Social distancing.
I played a game with David P., it’s always weird playing with a lefty. We didn’t have to stack, of course!
Wai and I were paired against Rick and Renee. Wai did make some mistakes but they were less common than mine. He can hit some wicked spin shots.
The last game of the day. David and Beth Black offer a game to Binh and Binh called me over. I was delight to play against the Blacks. They are solid players with tournament experience. Binh and I stacked during this game, and the game was back and forth. Late in the game, we were winning 9-8, but they came back and tied 10-10. We went on to lose 12-10.
I left at 1:44 p.m. 4 1/2 hours! No wonder my legs were starting to fatigue!
I felt really good about my play today. There’s that voice that says maybe I played better because I had good partners to cover my mistakes . . . maybe it’s right, maybe it’s not.
Facebook
I posted in the Pickleball Forum group asking about playing in Durham. Normally, I’d just use the USAPA’s Places 2 Play, but with the pandemic still hanging on, I figured I seek a human’s current advice versus a possibly outdated online resource.
Mon, March 22, 2021 (No Play)
I didn’t have any responses to my post about playing in Durham. I’m surprised, but it’s a busy group, so posts get buried on the feed quickly. I did find a link to a Google group which I requested to be added to and I was. It turned out to be just for announcements so I reached out to the posting email address and then heard back from “Mesa Somer, durham pickleball ambassador.” Mesa recommended that I check out the Ephesus courts in Chapel Hill, about 20 minutes from Durham. It’s a bit further than I was hoping, but still a reasonable distance. I found this link chapelhillpickleball.org, which has useful information.
Ephesus Park Courts via Google Maps . . . I spot pickleball courts!
Flying out tomorrow!
Number of days on a court: 363 Number of total hours: 1,029
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
This afternoon, I got a text from Leslie. She said the board (of the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club) had met and she was asking if, when official club play restarts, I’d be willing to resume my role as a site coordinator . . . meaning setting up and taking down nets weekly, managing a crowd of players, all that. She added that they didn’t know when the county would lift the pandemic restrictions, maybe summer. After a brief pause to consider, I responded that I would provided there were no major changes—who knows what life unexpectedly grows at us?
There’s a strong chance of rain on Sunday, but it’s looking like afternoon, so morning play may be ok. Fingers crossed.
I told Brett at work that I’d give him a ride to pickleball Sunday morning. If things go according to plan, there will be four of us from work there!
World Pickleball Rankings
A few days back, March 7 to be exact, PickleballTournaments.com sent out an email saying World Pickleball Rankings are live: “The World Pickleball Rankings will encompass 29 tournaments over the course of year. Open and Senior Open players will be able to earn points based on tournament placement and number of wins. Major tournaments will provide bonus points. The top 10 tournament results will be factored for each player. The first tournament results are now posted.” It included a link to the informational page: https://www.pickleballtournaments.com/ranking.pl
I went to physical therapy for my shoulder surgery yesterday morning. I met with James, one of the owners of the clinic. He had me do some things, then told me to forget all the exercises that I’ve been doing. I’m not progressing as much as I should be.
Sunday, March 14, 2021 (Court Day #362)
I texted Brett a few times to see if we were still on, but to no avail. Today was the day of the time change, so if there were any day to give him some slack, it’s a Sunday morning with an hour’s loss of sleep! I stalled a bit. He texted that he was running late. I arrived at work and waited for about five minutes then texted him saying that I could meet him along the way of his walk there. I texted Charlotte that I was going to be a few minutes late, to which she replied that she was already there. I didn’t hear back from Brett, but figured I’d head along his route and see if I could spot him. I did, picked him up, and we are at Brommer Street Park at about 9:10. Alain would be joining us after his morning obligations.
Just Three
Brett, Charlotte, and I warmed up then played a fumbling game of 2 on 1. Fumbling as I wasn’t paying too much attention and I was more or less running the game. Brett, when he was learning with others, wasn’t really following the rules. They served overhead, didn’t have a NVZ, used a larger court, and used rally scoring . . . and God knows what else. After playing with Charlotte more, I think she’s more of maybe even a 2.0 player. We’re still working on keeping score, dinking without popping up the ball, lining up in the right place on the court, not volleying the return of serve, and other things. Brett too. It was me and two beginners. I asked Jason if he wanted to play, but he wanted to wait for a better game.
It was a light turnout. Maybe the chill and time change scared off players. No Mark. No Wayne. No Binh. No Shawnte. No Dave Cox.
First Real Game of the Day
After about an hour or so, Karen—spaghetti strap Karen, not Karen Long—arrived and I asked if she’d be willing to join us. She was and we had a fourth. We played a couple of games and she did her best to get Brett up to speed.
Knee
On a rally where I went for an ATP on a angled shot from Alain, I tweaked my right knee. The one that had been bothering me last summer. I missed the ATP too, it sailed about 5-6 inches too wide.
More Games
I asked Olga if she’d be willing to be our fourth. She agreed. She was taking it really easy on Charlotte. When I hit a winner, Olga smiled and questioned, “This is a learning game…” Oops. Rightfully admonished. If you could call it that. A gentle and kind reminder of what we were there for. After that, I kept the ball in play, hitting patty cake shots to Brett. Charlotte and Brett got to partake—if artificially—in some longer rallies.
Alain wanted to play a game with Brett against Alan K. and me. I asked if he wanted a real game. Alain said, “That’s how we get better!” Alan and I won the first game 11-3, then the second 11-2. No goose eggs. Alan and I made our own errors to give away points. Well, and Alain did win a few when given the opportunity. He’s unquestionably the strongest player of my three staff members.
A Couple Typical Games
Later, I got in a couple of games with Alan K. against Art and Karen. (Alain and Brett drilled on an adjacent court.) We lost the first game by 2-3 points and were losing the second game 7-0. But in a lesson I pointed out to Alain and Brett, we came back to 8-8, then went on to win 11-8—yep, an 11-1 run of points. Never give up on a game.
During one of the games Karen made a faux complaint about a slam I did. “I’m playing left-handed, what more do you want?”, I retorted. She shrugged that off and said I had lefty dialed in. I still beg to differ—and know better—but still it’s nice to hear.
One interesting thing for me to note is that I won a few points today with shots with too much spin for my opponents to handle. Yes, with me playing left-handed. Taking a step back, that’s pretty amazing.
I checked the time. 12:57. I exclaimed to Brett, “That went fast! Four hours!”
That evening, I was icing my right knee—the inside was aching. So annoying. Is another surgery in my future?
Monday, March 15, 2021 (No Play)
Last night, my knee was aching pretty good. Today, it’s the outside of my knee that is hurting more. Go figure.
An ad came up for a free training video from Scott’s Moore which required you to put in your email address. I figured that I could always unsubscribe from whatever email solicitations they’d be sending me. I watched about 5-7 minutes of the video and gave up after it was giving really basic information. I’ve been playing for 4 years now and studying the game. I don’t need basic strategies. But in an email I received last night, he was promoting an insole called AirFeet and how it helped his knees. I did my due diligence of reading reviews then bought a display pair off of eBay for half the retail price.
Number of days on a court: 362 Number of total hours: 1,024.5
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
Yesterday, Mark Renneson (Third Shot Sports) dropped me a quick email asking me to identify who was who of two players on the far side of the court in the game video that I sent to him. I let him know. Maybe he’ll end up using it.
My wife and I would be driving up to my sister-in-law’s house at noon, so I wanted to get an earlier start today. I was at Brommer Park at 8:30 a.m. sharp. I was the first player there . . . I don’t know if that has ever happened before. It was a sunny and calm day.
Woah. Quiet!
I was meeting Alain and Charlotte this morning, both from work.
Oleg, Olga, and Patty arrived and took a court to start warming up. I asked if I could join them until their fourth showed up. I got in about 10 minutes before I stepped out to make space as agreed. Another court was occupied by Kristin, Cece, Bev, and another regular woman player whom I forget her name.
I overheard Kristen mentioning something about “lights”. I asked her if people were back playing at Scotts Valley now. She said there is nothing official, but some people are arranging evening games there. Apparently, the city there has not locked access to court light switches.
Charlotte arrived at about 8:45 but Alain was a no-show. Something probably came up at home. I loaned Charlotte my “retired” Prince paddle then she and I warmed up and drilled on a court by ourselves. Today was her second-ever pickleball outing, the first being recently in Sausalito.
Charlotte’s view of our warm up session.
We warmed up for a while before I stopped for water and she drank some of her coffee. I checked my phone. 9:15. So odd. Where was everyone? The courts were typically all full with additional people waiting in the wings by now. Wayne arrived another 10 minutes later or so, and we added him to our court.
Wayne and me warming up from Charlotte’s point of view.
Mark appeared shortly after. When I mentioned the lack of players to him, Mark said Binh had texted him that he wouldn’t be coming and that maybe others decided to not come too.
First Game
We got into a game with Mark and Charlotte against Wayne and me. Mark is a good and patient instructor. Wayne and I won 11-2—I know it wasn’t particularly fun for Mark. Charlotte wasn’t quite the strong player she had seemed to imply at work . . . I suspect that the skill level up in Sausalito is very low or maybe Charlotte exaggerated a bit. Or they were talking her up to encourage her to stick with it. She’s unquestionably a 2.5 novice player. But her rusty tennis skills should develop. Occasionally, those skills did manifest themselves—like she sometimes hit low strong drives low over the net. Her soft game will need a ton of work. But she’s a good rough blank and seemed to enjoy the experience.
Mark suggested our second game be a kitchen-only/dinking game. It was good practice for all of us. Wayne and I won again by a similar margin. Impressive for Wayne . . . he’s a banger but he’s gotten a lot better at dinking over the last couple of years.
Rick & Renee
I played three games with Wayne against a man named Rick and his lady friend Renee. (I played against Rick and his son over a year ago at Derby Park.) Rick is a righty with shoulder problems so is playing lefty just like me. Rick is making an even better go of his lefty play. I can’t be too hard on myself, today was my third outing in about half a year. Wayne and I lost all our games and they were never very close though they weren’t fast games—their score would just slowly creep up.
Oh, I guess one rally worth pointing out was during one of those aforementioned games. Wayne hit a crosscourt shot that was bouncing near the sideline to Rick’s right and my left; we were across from each other. I saw what Rick was thinking. ATP. I think his mistake was not being patient enough. He did hit the ball around the post but it wasn’t low. I moved over with my left foot outside of the court and was able to hit the ball back, the ball passing outside of Rick’s lefty forehead reach for a winner. Afterward, Rick told Renee to make sure to come over to cover the space when he’s outside of the court—good advice—but I doubt she could have returned my shot. It was low, fast, and tight. Some accolades came my way for that one from the sitting players watching.
In the midst of my games I just mentioned, I got Charlotte into a game with Tim, Karen, and Rob—the firefighter who was my partner for one tournament. She and Rob played as a team. They all gave her pointers. When they were done, Charlotte said she would leave my paddle next to my backpack, which she did. I’m curious to talk to her when she’s back at work on Tuesday and see what she thought.
Last Game
My last game was with David P. (the lefty Asian fellow). When I asked, he said lives in Scotts Valley. We played against Wayne and Rob. It was a close game, but we won 12-10. David played well and made up for my inferior play.
It was 11:20. I needed to get back home and shower and be ready to leave town at noon. It would be tight. They asked me to stay and play another game, but I really had to go.
I played “ok” today. At least I didn’t leave the courts depressed. Playing lefty is still frustrating, of course.
It’s now evening and I can “feel” my face. I bet I didn’t put on enough sunscreen on my face . . . hmmm. Or did I forget and only get my neck, ears, and arms?
Blog Contact
Tom B. filled out a contact form tonight for this website/blog after reading my post from two weeks ago—my very dejected one—and shared some words of encouragement. It was very kind of him to do so. I miss seeing him and other regular players. There are a bunch of people I haven’t seen in over a year. I have hope that we’ll be all out again before the year is up, maybe by summer. County COVID numbers are way down.
Today was court day #361. Four more and I’ll be at a “year’s worth” of court days. It seems like a million years ago that I was visiting San Diego playing right-handed. I just looked up when I started to make sure. I passed four (calendar) years of play unceremoniously in January. It’s been over two years of having to play lefty—no wonder I stopped keeping track of the number of days having to do that . . . it’s no longer days, it’s years.
Wednesday, March 10, 2021 (No Play)
I saw the ratings guide below on the Facebook Pickleball Forum and thought it was pretty funny, it could be even funnier, but I’ll present it unedited.
REVISED PICKLEBALL SKILL LEVEL DEFINITIONS
1.0 Skill Level: Beginner
Calls the paddle a racket, poops in pants, serves overhand, thinks pickleball is a stupid sport for old people, wears huarache sandals to play, is bored and wants to start drinking early.
2.0 Skill Level: Advanced Beginner
Thinks the sport was named after a dog born 20 years later, walks slowly through your match, does not close gate, drinks the last beer, hits on your spouse who hates you for poaching, played last 6 months ago indoors at a Michigan Y with his cousin from Ypsilanti, smokes between matches, falls often, serves the ball into the next court.
3.0 Skill Level
Forgets score frequently, talks during rallies, explains every freakin’ point (well the ball went this way, but I meant it to go there…uh, I know I was right here watching), hits their partner with ball or racket (still) at least once a game, trips partner regularly, thinks the third shot drop has something to do with an incurable disease, has a fit-bit.
3.5 Skill Level
Frequently misinterprets NVZ rule, hits every single shot with maximin velocity, puts the ball in play roughly 50% of the time, argues line calls, laughs loudly, has new smart matching outfit, lays it up across the middle, only dinks accidentally, frowns at you when you say UP UP UP, calls the score for both teams, leaves phone on during match because daughter is expecting.
4.0 Skill Level
Sighs loudly frequently, wants you to stay for one more game, coaches you up on every single point, swears like a sailor, practices dinking in garage, pretends to be interested in your personal life, talks crap about ATPs and ERNEs, shows you new paddle (it’s not a racket, newbie), acts like a baby after losing, smashes the living hell out of your weak-ass lobs, plays at 3.5 in tourneys, openly argues with spouse during matches when supposed to be just having fun.
4.5 Skill Level
Brings 5 paddles, mysteriously disappears after playing once with mixed group of 2.0 2.5 and 3.0s, encourages you to poach so they can poach with reckless abandon, takes every shot across the middle, knows the rules but tells you to look them up so you can learn them, wears two gloves, hits you very hard with the ball at the NVZ (it’s part of the game) because your paddle was not up, subtly blames partner after loss, recommends videos, has stopped playing tennis, almost went pro, was club ping pong champion in 1987, had 3 ATPs and 2 ERNEs yesterday.
5.0 Skill Level
Knows Ben Johns, has many many medals, post incessantly on PICKLEBALL FORUM about balls, rules, paddles and tournaments, wants pickleball channel on ESPN (cornhole wtf?), strategically hits to your backhand every shot, apologizes for hitting you very hard with ball at the NVZ because your paddle was not up, will gladly give you a lesson for $50, has 7 supercool pickleball outfits, drinks mysterious electrolyte concoction, is way younger than you, patronizes your terrible backhand, would love to play one more with you but has a dentist appointment and will see you at the clinic Saturday.
6.0 Skill Level
Shows up on the FORUM in foreign places playing pickleball, has savage tan and incredibly white teeth, can beat you in doubles as a singles player, sponsored but still broke, has a cool nickname, returns your ATP like it wasn’t nuthin’ bruh, dropped out of high school to go pro, walks on water, heals the pickleball lame, has a weighted paddle, stacks with partner in fast food line, has met you several times but still has zero idea of who you are, posts videos of 73 hit rallies, wears white unitard, dink…dink…dink then backhand rocket drive that hits you in the head and ricochets off your partner’s teeth. You’re in love, fanboy.
7.0 Skill Level
Communicates with partner telepathically, lectures frequently on the unified theory of pickleball, only plays for Bitcoin, went viral before covid, appears in David Mitchell novel as pre-Colombia Incan pickleball god, Shroedinger’s cat is doubles partner, played on the moon, serve vaporizes, backhand contrails, body shot leaves you with a permanent tattoo. Damn.
David lopez (via thE facebook pickleball forum)
Number of days on a court: 361 Number of total hours: 1,020.5
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
Recent Comments