Category: Pickleball (Page 252 of 326)

Thursday, October 8, 2018 (Court Day #221)

Tonight, I had a coat and tie event at 6:30 in Scotts Valley. It would end at 8. I secretly wore shorts and a T-shirt underneath. Afterward, in my car, off came the jacket, off came the tie, off came the button-down shirt, off came the pants, off came the shoes and on came the court shoes and cap. Ready!

I got to Skypark about 8:15 p.m. Only two courts were still active. Eight players braving the chill—though you still couldn’t see your breath.

Oleg, Richella, Olga and a woman shortly after 8 p.m. A touch chilly this evening.

My first game was Mark Dettle and me against Janet and Olga. I made some mistakes, but didn’t play badly. One particularly memorable moment was me executing a great cross-court drop shot into the kitchen but Janet still managing to get the ball back over the net. I was mostly expecting it not to come back, so kudos to Janet. Nonetheless, my shot had Mark advancing 2/3 of the way to the kitchen and an easy shot for him to return.

Olga and I took on her husband Oleg and Mark Dettle. We lost the first game 11-7. The second game was much more of a battle, though we lost again 14-12. We decided to sneak in one more game before the lights click off at 9:30. Olga and I were leading 10-7—or maybe it was 10-8—when it went dark. Well, at least we were ahead!

One fun thing in the second game was a shot that Mark popped up from the backcourt. He was crosscourt to my right. The ball bounced high in the kitchen near the sideline and spun back over the net. I stepped to the side of the net post and hit a backhand shot, sending the ball almost parallel to the net! Point over!

I think Oleg is my next “way marker”. With Grita, a player would be hard pressed to pick her over me as a partner these days. Oleg would typically get selected before me. With more practice and, hopefully, drilling, that will be different a year from now.

Nationals

There is a controversy going on down at Indian Wells at the national championships. In Game 1 of a match of Kyle Yates—whose autograph is on my old paddle—and Simone Jardim against Sarah Ansboury & Tyson McGuffin, during a dink battle Simone changed it up and powered the ball at Tyson who wasn’t expecting it and popped it nearly straight up, losing the game. Point over. Except, as the ball came down, out of frustration, Sarah hit the ball with a two-handed backhand . . . right into Simone’s eye.

Apologies were said immediately, of course. But there were consequences, though none that negatively affected Sarah’s games. According to Kyle, Simone was “not ok” after the incident. Sarah was not disqualified though many online wanted her to be. Or to forfeit her next game or the match. Or be ejected by the TD. Many came to Sarah’s defense—she’s popular due to her instructional videos and camps/workshops, plus she’s easily in the top handful of female players in the world.

Regardless, we all need to be careful of such things. I can’t say I’ve never done anything like Sarah did. I think I had a close calll once when I hit a ball after a point was over. No contact with anyone, but it got closer than it should have. Nonetheless, if a referee ejected me or I forfeited  game because of it, it would be my own fault.

Fortunately, as far as we know, Simone has no detached retina—it happens in pickleball—nor any other permanent physical damage. And I bet a lot of pickleball players learned from the experience. I know that I did.

Friday, October 9, 2018 (No Play)

Jennifer got back to me about the mixed doubles tournament next weekend in San Juan Bautista. Good news. She has Colleen and me signed up. We just need to bring money on the day.

In the meantime, I’m meeting Dave Cox at his house tomorrow at 8:45 a.m. for our trek to Templeton. It’ll be an interesting day. Big event, but I think we have a chance to medal. The trick is, we haven’t played together for months and have never played together in a tournament before. Fingers crossed.

Number of days on a court: 221
Number of total hours: 604.5

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Wednesday, November 7, 2018 (Court Day #220)

I arrived at Derby Park a few minutes to 9. It was sunny and a little chilly, but it’s been warm during the day and it would get warm today also.

The day begins. Dave (red) and Mike take on Barb and a woman I don’t know. Diane and her husband John P. set up another net. 

After one game mid-morning, walking off the court, Grita said, “You are Eric are tough. You are both getting better and better.” Nice to hear.

Stuart was kind of funny. In a game where we were winning as partners, he was slathering praise: “I don’t know why you aren’t a 5.0. Your shot selection is excellent and your court positioning is excellent.” But we played in another game not long after when we were behind. Granted, I tried a tricky and ill-advised backhand slice drive that failed—six inches too low and into the net—but he was giving me a hard time for not being at the net. I told him, “They were about to hit the ball, I was split-stepping.” It’s in Stuart’s nature to be loud and corrective if the game isn’t going the right way. He’s very competitive and has an extremely consisistent drop shot. I can’t remember if I mentioned it before, but recently he gave me a hard time for being near the centerline close to his side. I’ll accept it when I’m wrong, but in that particular instance, I was not. I tersely pointed out with a smile, “I was tracking. The ball was over there!” pointing to his side of the court—he then acknowledged that I was right. Without tracking, it leaves a big hole between partners. Holes that I’ve taken advantage of myself against opponents. There’s no question that I have aspects of my game that need lots of improvement and I do appreciate suggestions that I can apply.

There were 2-3 shots today where I was hitting on the move and messed up. Either sailing past the baseline or a short shot that I ran up and hit it into the net. Move, set, hit. Move, set, hit. Hitting while moving is asking for trouble. Sometimes, it’s absolutely unavoidable, but other times, it’s just a bad choice.

The sun was a big issue today. Chris and I were playing against Grita and Stuart and they were lobbing over and over again since Chris and I were facing the sun. It was annoying but effective, taking the lead and winning the game.

When I play games against better players, typically at Brommer or in tournaments, the margin for error gets smaller. A tiny bit too high, they take advantage. A little out of position, they take advantage. A little too shallow, they take advantage. The key is reducing the “little toos”!

I am getting better at applying topspin on lower shots while I’m at the net. That’s a skill that is coming along. It makes the ball go down and stay down.

By noon, I was dragging. Chris and I were playing a last game against Grita and Olga. After a couple errant points, I turned to Chris and told him, “I think I’m past my expiration date.” He and I did win, but we both made it harder than it should have been.

I checked the time as I walked off the court. 12:22, past time to go.

Later in the day, I noticed that my back is sore. Yep, no question that that is caused by pickleball!

Number of days on a court: 220
Number of total hours: 603.5

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

Monday, November 5, 2018 (Court Day #219)

I went to work. Smoke was hanging low in the morning sky. As I stepped out of my car, small bits of ash were falling. I was a bit concerned, but I figured I’d hope it was not an issue a few more miles to the south at the courts. I put in about 50 minutes preparing an order. I left for Brommer Park around 8:45 and arrived before 9. No ash or noticeable smoke. Five people were already there: Leslie, Tom S., John P., visor Tom and Wayne.

Warming up for the first game of the day. Tom Sherwood (left) and Leslie taking on visor Tom and John P. (crouching).

Midmorning, starting a game, Visor Tom said, “I get Andrew? I won the partner lottery!” High praise indeed! We did win, though I played a notch down from other games on the day.

Stuart and I played a game against Allan and Rich. After I hit a winner, Stuart said, “Too bad no one is watching, they’d be cheering that shot!” Jane had been watching earlier and commented, “Andrew. You get a lot of curve on your serves!” There are days where all you can do is get your serves in. And others where the opponent’s service court is like a football field that you can’t miss—that’s what it was feeling like today. On those good days, I take more risks to “make trouble” for my opponents as Mark Renneson would say. Stuart and I won.

I left the court around 11:15. Today, I’ve hit the 600 court hours milestone.

Another Tournament?

Tonight, I messaged Colleen Gilmartin—who plays regularly in Scotts Valley—asking if she’d be willing to play in mixed doubles on November 17. She got back to me and said it “sounds fun”.

I went to email Jennifer about getting Colleen and me registered and it occurred to me to check Colleen’s USAPA rating online. Oh. 4.0 doubles. 4.0 mixed doubles. Hmmm. This could be a problem since I’m a 3.5. I could play up, but by the book, even with an unsanctioned tournament, she shouldn’t play down. I messaged Colleen again about it. She was quite surprised that she was listed as a 4.0. She said she’d played her first senior tournament last week as a 3.5 and her 3.5 opponents were all better than her. And, she’d played a few tournaments 3 years ago, but they were all as 3.5. Quite a puzzle. Anyway, 3.5 it is. I emailed Jennifer—C.C.-ing Colleen—asking how we get registered. We’ll see how long it takes for Jennifer to get back to us.

Number of days on a court: 219
Number of total hours: 600

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