Category: Pickleball (Page 240 of 326)

Monday, April 15, 2019 (Court Day #255)

Being that I worked Monday through Saturday and part of yesterday (Sunday), I took this morning off. I arrived at Brommer Park at 9:10. Things were already hopping.

The view of Brommer at 10 minutes after start time. Gearing up.

There was a man I’d never seen before, James. I introduced myself. James was visiting from San Jose. I asked if he knew Bryan and he said that he did. James is quite skinny and reminds me of a road bicyclist. I didn’t get to play with him, but of the few glimpses that I saw, he looked like a good player.

While we were sitting next to each other on the bench waiting for another game, Cal said, “You play well left handed.” Cathy—Kim’s friend—and I had just wiped out Cal and Chuck. We were leading 10-0 before I made an error and gave them a point. I think it ended 11-2.

Cal asked how my backhands are. I told him that I tend to hit low balls that come to my lefty backhand off to the right—I need to point the end of my paddle a bit more towards the middle of my opponent’s court. Cal recommended choking up on my paddle for backhands and maybe putting my thumb on the face for more control. He may be right. I don’t think I’d be able to change my paddle that fast on a backhand, so that might mean holding my paddle all the time that way. Not sure if I’m ready for that…

Jerry—not Jerry Louis, he moved to Arizona last year—was surprised when I told him that I’m only playing left-handed. He didn’t notice in the game we’d played against each other. I don’t know whether to be complimented on my left-handed play or insulted on behalf of my right-handed play!

My mom texted a couple hours into the morning. The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is on fire and the main spire has fallen. This was horrible news. My wife and daughter both got to visit it. (I’ve never been to France.) I was distraught. I’d heard such amazing things about that church. Now, I—or anyone else—might never be able to see it . . . ever.

My day was inconsistent. Par for the course lately. Some games, I played almost on par with my right handed play. Others, shots were laughable—in fact, those that were completely wild, I’d bust up laughing.

I did some more backhand slices. They were more successful than yesterday. A couple went into the net on my side, but more went into the net—or simply bounced twice—on the other side. Some progress there.

By 12:20 on the road for home, then to work.

Ratings

One thing that I don’t consider “fair” in the USAPA rating system is the age factor. And I know I’ve complained about this before. There are others I could pick, but I’m going to choose Melody since it’s a prime example. (Plus Mel is a nice person and a good sport.) My current UTPR rating is 3.0 (3.469 to be exact, it rounds down), but Melody—whom I consistently outplay when I’m healthy and I’m approaching her skill level with me playing left handed—has a 4.0 UTPR because she only plays in older age brackets. I play tournaments in 3.5 since I don’t think it’d be fair for me to play in 3.0. Even in 50+ mens—not even “18+”— Mel would unquestionably be a 3.0 tournament player. (Or maybe even 2.5 equivalent in a big men’s sanctioned tournament? Could be. Men’s sanctioned tournaments are tough.) This USAPA discrepancy in UTPR “offends” my inner logician. If ratings aren’t going to be universal, then they should be clarified with an age bracket. “4.0 60+” or “3.5 70+”. At least, that’s my opinion. I’ll continue to hold that opinion even if I’m playing 20 years from now.

Speaking of long time playing, I’m almost to 700 hours on a pickleball court!

Tuesdsday, April 16, 2019 (No Play)

I got a message from Ruby, the physical therapist that my wife swears by, saying she had an appointment opening at 9:45 a.m. tomorrow. (Apparently, someone canceled.)  So, rather that having to wait several weeks, it turned into several days! Excellent. Ironically, my arm is feeling a little better. Though, still, if I fully straighten my right arm and flex my hand back at the wrist, it’s significantly painful near the elbow. There’s no doubt that it’s still nowhere near healed, unfortunately. Hopefully, Ruby can live up to my wife’s praises!

Number of days on a court: 255
Number of total hours: 699

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

Sunday, April 14, 2019 (Court Day #254)

Yesterday morning, I called the physical therapy office to get an appointment with a PT named Ruby whom my wife swears by. They set me up with two appointments, 8 days apart, the first one in about three weeks. It’s been a long haul with this tennis elbow. The onset of which took place right after the tournament on November 17. It’s been nearly five months since then, though I made it worse by continuing to play right-handed until January 1 when it just got so bad that I had to stop using that arm . . . and it’s been three and a half months since that point.

Today/Work

We had carpet cleaners at work today on a Sunday when we’re closed. Seven days at work this week for me. If anyone tells that “you can work whenever you want” when you run a family business, you have my permission to laugh in their face! I was at work to open for the cleaners at 8:30 a.m. Dave Allenbaugh kindly accepted my request to open and close Derby Park today and otherwise assume my site coordinator duties for the day. He said he would be taking a lesson with instructor Cal at noon, so it was no problem for him.

My brother Matt arrived at work around 9 a.m. to help move displays and act as caretaker so I didn’t have to stay the whole time on my only day off. Shortly before 10:30, I was free to head to the courts.

Derby Park

I got to Derby about 10 minutes later and things were in full swing as expected.

A panoramic view of Derby today. That one weirdly shaped player on the left there! Ha!

I started off the day pretty rough. Granted, I skipped any warmup and dove right into a game. My first serve (0-0-2) was completely wild—off to the left and nearly landed in the adjacent court! Ugh. But it did get better. I still have a fair amount of work to do lefty. Consistency is an issue.

After about an hour of games, I convinced Stuart to play a game with me against two low-level players. Everyone had been skipping their sign up box and they were being stranded unable to take a court until they got another two. I forget their names, but it was very lopsided. There were a few points where Stuart and I passed on winners just to keep the point going. It ended 11-3, but we gave them a couple of points. Though one point was from me hitting a ball two high with my left hand which got slammed back at Stuart’s feet. Stuart gave me a bit of a hard time at one point on one of my serves. I told him, “You should serve left handed once just to see how hard it is!” He just looked at me, gave a small smile and shook his head “no”. My was point made! LOL!

I will say that I did play much better later. Dave Cox and I teamed up against Grita and Chris. Dave and Chris are both intensely competitive. In a challenging game, you’ll typically experience more swear words than smiles from Chris. So there we were, Dave with me playing left-handed against two competent players. Grita has a stronger game than Chris, but Chris isn’t a slouch by any stretch. In a sanctioned tournament, Chris would be a high 3.0—meaning a mid-3.5 for the rest of the world. Dave and I won 12-10. I’ll say that was quite the accomplishment. Believe it or not, I think Dave made more errors than I did in that game.

I made two shots where I had my back to the net and hit two lobs above my head back over the net. Another lob landed at the baseline and I dropped it low over the net for winner, again with my back to the net—I told Dave, “I wish I could consistently make that shot right handed!” Sometimes, you just get lucky.

We had an immediate rematch and Chris played much better. Dave and I lost that one.

Stuff to work on. My “forehand” drive using my left hand is unreliable when I try to hit it particularly hard. I hit two of those into the net in the first game. While I get most of my serves in, it landing where I want it to be is uncommon. With my right hand, I can add hefty spin and/or sent the ball to the receiver’s forehand or backhand, deep or short. Left handed, it’s a crap shoot where it lands in the service court.

Of note, I’ve started to try a little slicing on my lefty backhand. Some successful, some not. But you gotta try to get something working!

Tournament?

Dave Allenbaugh sent out an email message to the entire club last night. Aside from sharing the photo of my group in Madrid, he shared that Cabrillo will be holding a tournament the second weekend in August: 2019 Cabrillo Classic Pickleball Tournament. Dang. Super convenient since it’s so close!! No doubt, Kim, the pickleball instructor out there, is making that happen. As I told Eric S. at Derby today, the question is: “Will I be able to play right handed in that tournament? If not, should I try to play left handed?” If I decide to play left handed, can I get anyone to play with me? And if so, it would likely have a negative impact on my USAPA rating, which is already artificially lower than the reality of my right handed play.

Number of days on a court: 254
Number of total hours: 696

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

Thursday, April 11, 2019 (Court Day #253)

Earlier this week, I emailed my GP doctor and he provided me with a referral to a physical therapist for my tennis elbow. It seems that it should be improving faster than it is. I need to follow up and set up an appointment, but work has been demanding and I’m concerned about committing to a particular appointment day/time.

I left work five minutes early today and—after a very brief stop home—got to Skypark right on time at 6:30. My car read 54°F degrees and it was blustery. A net would blow over later from a particularly strong gust. The chill and wind kept the crowd lighter, we maxed out with four nets set up and 18-19 players.

After we partnered for a game, Olga said, “You are almost professional with your left hand.” I’m far from that, but I am improving. I can easily beat 2.5 players, playing lefty, for instance. I think she meant “competent” versus “professional”!

There was an older woman named Nancy there—a retired teacher who knows Janet—and it turns out that she’s the widow of “Visor Jeff”. I hadn’t seen Jeff (maybe it’s Geoff) for many months now, maybe a year. She said he passed away two months ago. Such a shame. Allan remembered him immediately and expressed his condolences.

My back was pretty sore. Crouching was uncomfortable, but that didn’t keep me from playing on. It seems to be still regaining strength after the long lapse of play due to a very rainy winter.

A woman, Olga, Janet and—one her fourth time out—Ying. The last game of the night.

Olga’s husband Oleg and I played a last game against Mark G. (Maree’s husband) and Mark Dettle. We won 11-7. Not bad for a lefty. Of course, Oleg was the strongest player on the court so he made a good partner for me!

So? I am getting better. I still make wild shots. And I miss serves more than typical for me. But I am getting better playing lefty.

Number of days on a court: 253
Number of total hours: 694

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