Category: Pickleball (Page 274 of 326)

Monday, June 4: 2018 (Court Day #154)

I arrived at Brommer Park shortly afterr 6:30 p.m. Yesterday, John P. had arranged this game with Eric and Dean. We played a game for about an hour interspersed with drills and short lessons from Dean. They were all things we knew, but needed to hear again since we were not t executing those things: serving deep, returning deep, keeping the ball low. Basics.

My big takeaway was, when dinking, always move back and close up any gap between me and my partner.

Dean left about 7:30. Eric and I drilled for another 30 minutes or so, then the three of us went to Casa Rosita’s for dinner.

The Sonoma Wine Country Games have their men’s doubles on Sunday. I’ve played so little. It’s not good. We have a tentative game planned for tomorrow evening, but John and my opponents are not set. We’ll see who we can arrange.

Number of days on a court: 154
Number of total hours: 425.5

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Thursday, May 31, 2018 (Court Day #153)

It’s a far cry from my schedule a year ago. I had to work a bit late and even skipping dinner and heading right out to Scotts Valley to squeeze in at least some play, I got there just before 8 p.m. It was still light out. There were only two games going and two players—Robin and a woman named Pat—sitting awaiting an opportunity to play. Only 10 people plus me. Slim. “Here. Let’s at least get you warmed up.” Robin and I did some dinking. Soon, one of the games ended—Alan opted to depart right then—and Pat and I were playing a game against Robin and Lauren. Man, it was great to be playing. I played pretty well considering how will I have been able to play in the last month. “Did you hit that with your left hand?” Pat was asking smiling. Lauren had lobbed the ball between us while we were both at the kitchen. I’d switched my paddle to my left hand and jumped up and backward to my left to hit the ball back across the net. It wasn’t winner but kept it from being a winner for them. Pat paid me a compliment, “You are so athletic! You are all over the place!”

The last game was Mark Dettle and me against Oleg and Olga. Oleg played the whole game left-handed. Oleg puts my meager left handed escapades to shame. Mark and I took a massive lead. 9-1, I think. But I made a couple of errors, followed by some Mark errors and we let them tie up the game, then go ahead 10-9. We got a couple of points, 11-10, but ended up losing 13-11. Closely matched.

Play closed out a little after 9 p.m. One measly hour, but it was like a drop of water on the tongue of a man in the desert. Staffing will eventually get better, but it’s pretty miserable. I put in 67.5 hours last week. Only 10 hours at work today, but 11.5 yesterday. Sooner or later, I’ll get to play more. No Sunday pickleball for me this week again. Dave Allenbaugh will take care of Derby for me. Hopefully, I can play next Sunday.

Number of days on a court: 153
Number of total hours: 424

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Thursday, May 24, 2018 (Court Day #152)

I haven’t been playing much pickleball lately. And it’s not for lack of desire. Staffing at our family’s business took a dramatic turn for the worst some weeks ago. This week, Monday started it off with a 13-hour day. Tuesday, 12. Wednesday, 13. 38 hours in three days. This kind of schedule leaves no time for pickleball. Today was only a 9 hour day. I left to get some exercise.

I got to Skypark a few minutes after 7 p.m. I spent a few minutes on the bench with Kris until a game opened up. She was playing left-handed. She shared that she’s has severe tendinitis in her right wrist. Obviously, she loves playing pickleball to be out there left-handed.

I played decently tonight. I pushed the envelope on my serves—missing some—and failed a number of times on my forehand slice service returns, but overall, I was satisfied with play. I had some really excellent shots that happened very quickly. Had someone asked in advance if I’d be able to make those shots, I would have said “no way”. Then again, I had some easy shots sail long or wide. Just lame. But still, overall, pretty well.

I asked Rob the time. “8:46.” We stowed the net and hit the road.

Number of days on a court: 152
Number of total hours: 423

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