Category: Pickleball (Page 268 of 326)

Sunday, July 22, 2018 (Court Day #172)

When I got to Derby Park at 8:50, Brennan and Wayne were already there. “You boys are anxious!”

Today, was pleasant. Another breezy day under partly cloudy days. Though not quite as much wind as the previous Sunday.

My artsy shot of the day!

There were fewer players there today. About 30. We had over 50 last Sunday. There was very little waiting between games. Karen Long came and stayed for about an hour, but I didn’t get a chance to play with her.

It was a day of mixed competition. An early game included David Black. There was one shot when I thought “winner!” only to have the ball come back over the net! That’s one of the reasons that it’s so important to get games with strong players—it keeps you on your toes. When in a game with weak players, one can get sloppy, or at least I do.

I may have shared it in this blog before, but there’s a saying that applies in music, including bagpipes, but it applies in pickleball too:

”Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.”

Focus is important. I sometimes find myself letting my mind wander. Particularly while waiting for a serve. But focus I said key for good performance. That’s one of the things that makes tournaments so draining. Intense concentration for extended periods of time.

I made some dumb shots today. But also some excellent shots. One of my biggest issues is hitting balls that would otherwise fly out. When was playing with George, he called me on it a number of times in one game. George, while he admit that he’s not fast (or super quick hands at the net), has very consistent shots and placement. “If I have time to set up,” he said. But I think that’s with a lot of people. Including myself. I’ve been making a concerted effort to not move through my shots, but set up. Generally, there are better results.

Was I happy with my play today? Eh. Not really. Too many mistakes. Taking too much off a drive and not getting it back over the net. A few dinks that I didn’t get back over. Some returns that sailed long. A drive from Eric from his NVZ line that I wasn’t ready enough to properly return.

Touurnament Coming

Next Sunday will be the Concord tournament with Rob. I need to have someone open and close Derby that day. Dave Allenbaugh, Tom Sherwood, and I will all be gone. I checked pickleballtournaments.com to see if John P. would be there too. No. I emailed him first. While there, I saw that they had the groups figured some. Rob and I will be in 3.5 35+ group of 9 teams.

We’re listed, that’s good news. Interesting. We’ll have three 60+ men and even one 72-year-old in our 35+ group. Katrina Briones emailed on Thursday saying the schedule would be emailed out on Monday. That will determine where I’ll be sleeping Saturday night. Home? Or in a firehouse in the South Bay on Rob’s invitation?

Number of days on a court: 172
Number of total hours: 478

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

Thursday, July 19, 2018 (Court Day #171)

I had a board meeting with the Santa Cruz Art League at 6 p.m. I wrapped things up there about 7:30. The question afterward was: Go back to work and finish up some things so I could squeeze in some play at Brommer tomorrow morning or go home then out to Scotts Valley? Unfortunately, I figured it would be irresponsible to miss work and obligations tomorrow. *sigh* Stinks. Too much to do. Scotts Valley it would be. I haven’t been to club play at Brommer in months.

I got to Skypark a few minute before 8 p.m. Things were hopping, Janet joyfully offered her congratulations on Eric and my tournament medal. I took a spot on the bench with a woman to wait for a game.

My first game was with Rochella against Sharyl and a woman whose name I forget. During the name, I did a body drive off of a dink right at Sharyl. It went a bit higher than I’d intended and I almost got her in the face. Understandably, while polite, she was not happy with me. I apologized. I felt bad. I dialed it back after that. It’s like a youngster with firecrackers. There are appropriate times to use them and inappropriate times. I have some weapons now. I just have to be aware of when not to use them. My goal after that was to not hit anyone with the ball and not play too hard. Just keep the ball in play. Not everyone has quick hands.

Rob and I lost three games to Oleg and Dave Cox. An example of a failure was me attacking a dropshot where it didn’t bounce high enough and it went into the net. Oops. As the games went on, I shifted my goal to not making mistakes. It helped. The third game was very close, but they came back and won. The one consolation was winning the last game 11-5. Those were challenging ones.

One thing Rob and I learned is that I don’t have the natural chemistry with Rob like I have with Eric. We had a shot go down the middle with neither of us going for it. There was a lob where it was Rob’s forehand where I should have done a better job of knowing he was there and getting out of the way. More communication between us is necessary. And more playing time, if possible, before our tournament in a little over a week.

I was in the car to head home at about 9:30. My right knee was a bit sore. There seem to be more aches and pains lately.

Number of days on a court: 171
Number of total hours: 474.5

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

Sunday, July 15, 2018 (Court Day #170)

I got to Derby Park to open up about 10 minutes to 9. I was the first person there. Tom Sherwood was there not too long after, while I was still blowing off the courts.

It would be a nice nice day, if very windy.

When I saw Brennan, I told him, “I need to thank you. You are partially responsible for our win yesterday by providing us with good competition recently.”

Eric and I played David and Beth Black. When I told Beth I was really fatigued, she said it was normal for the day after a tournament. It was a close game, but Eric and I pulled off a win. (Later in the day, we’d get clobbered by them.)

After about an hour, I was dragging. The tournament had taken its toll on my body. I had not recovered. My play gradually got worse over the course of the morning. I was making some inexplicably bad shots. Eric also made far more than normal of very un-Eric-like shots.

Dale (from Santa Rosa) and Eric played Oleg and me. I was playing horribly. If we didn’t lose 11-0, it was close to that. Maybe 11-3 tops. It was embarrassing.

Eric and I played James and Oleg. We were down significantly, but Eric and I better adjusted to the wind and managed to eek out an upset win. Under normal circumstances, we should have likely lost that game.

It was a very busy court day. We had at least 52 people there to play. Someone told me, “Hey, Andrew! There are 18 people waiting to play.” I yelled out to the players, “Play to 9! Win by 1!” I need to get myself a whistle. It was at least an hour before we moved back to 11 point games.

Visor Tom waiting along with a slew of other people for his turn back on the courts. 

David Black in his chair. It was a warm day, but constantly breezy.

I was so beat. I was done. Rare for me. But Eric was willing to play one more with Jeff and Olga and they needed a fourth. Ok, one more. Even without full effort, we took a 5-0 lead and later won 11-7. Jeff laughed after one of my failed service returns. “I looked like you weren’t even attempting to bend your knees!” I was so tired. I used a deep forehand slice on a serve by Olga and it was unreturnable. I told Jeff, “That was a shot by a lazy man.” (A shot made to reduce the amount of effort necessary to win the point!) I made a different “lazy man” shot later in the game. Jeff said, “You were beating us with all your lazy man shots!”

At 1:30, the last game of Oleg and James against the Blacks was done and it was time for me to go home. David thanked me for sticking around.

If I hadn’t won a gold medal yesterday and judged my play just from today, I’d consider giving up pickleball! There were way too many errant shots with no explanation.

In evening, I noticed my right forearm was sore along the top. A sore muscle. I shouldn’t have been surprised!

Monday, August 16, 2018 (No Play)

Dave Allenbaugh sent an email out to the club announcing our win and also providing an update on those locals who traveled to the Oregon Senior Games—Dean Kinston and Susie Dougan both won medals there.

Dave took some amusing liberties with enhancing our photo…

My body is quite sore from all the play over the weekend. I’m a little surprised by the overall physical toll of the tournament. The intensity that is required takes the game to a “whole ‘nother level”. It’s different if you get eliminated after four games (like Paso Robles) than if you work your way to the top and end up playing ten hard-fought games (like Pleasanton).

Number of days on a court: 170
Number of total hours: 473

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