Category: Pickleball (Page 281 of 327)

Sunday, March 11, 2018 (Court Day #134)

Today was time change day, meaning I was up an hour earlier to be up at the same time. After a few blocks of driving, I realized that I had forgotten the blower battery and had to go back home. I arrived at Derby Park at about 10 minutes to the 9 a.m. start time. John P. had beaten me to the courts and was just starting to set up. I got the blower out and went about blowing the dozens of worms that had crawled on to the courts during the recent rain. There were a couple of small puddles, we removed the standing water and they had evaporated by mid-morning.

My warm up was sloppy. Dinks in to the net, dinks too high, bad drop shots. Overall noticeably subpar.

Challenging Game

John P. and I had an opportunity to play against Leslie and Oleg. One would expect it to be a lopsided game and it was. Not an easy lopsided game, they had to work their way up but the score was lopsided, basically a 2:1 ratio. John was having even more of an off day than me, I played halfway decently in that game. I tend to play better when it’s a harder game—not always, but more often than not, I do. Heightened focus. There was a shot in that game where Leslie powered one low at my left leg, but I was able to scoop it and return it for a passing shot down her right side along the sideline for a winner. I got a whoop and a congratulatory comment from Kim sitting on the sidelines!

Fatigued

Almost right out of the gate, I was feeling tired. I don’t know if it’s because this was my third time playing in four days, or it was a result of the time change, or maybe I’m fighting a bug. It was enough that after about an hour of play, I had the thought of just calling it a day. But, no. I want to get in as much pickleball as possible!

John from Pleasanton was down in Santa Cruz again. While still relatively new, he has solid ball skills with all this squash experience. Once he gets more strategy down and develops more reliable drops, he’ll be on his way to being a great player. My shot selection is generally pretty good these days, but reliable execution is my challenge.

Wrap-up Games

There was a tall man built like a linebacker with gray hair named Rich—probably late 50s—who played with Jeff against me and Rick (Eric’s friend). Rich hasn’t been around for a while, but I remember him from months back. Rick and I won the game 11-9.

We all decided to have a rematch since it had been pretty balanced—plus we were the last interested players around. This time, however, it was not. Rick and I won 11-1. I was playing well.

We wrapped things up a few minutes after 1 p.m.

My play improved over the course of the day, going from “eh” to decently good. Consistency is “where it’s at”. Something for me to work on.

The Forecast

It’s supposed to rain a lot this week. The next pickleball day may be a full week from now, again on Sunday.

Number of days on a court: 134
Number of total hours: 382.5

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Friday, March 9, 2018 (Court Day #133)

I changed and headed out the door stopping only to read the temperature gauge. 62 degrees. I didn’t bother with a sweatshirt. As I drove across town, the sky grew darker under solid gray clouds. I arrived at Brommer Park a couple minutes after 9 and one game was already underway. Later in the morning, it would lightly drizzle for a very short time, almost heavy mist, but it didn’t interfere with play. Overall, though, it was a pleasant morning with the sun peeking out by around noon.

New Faces

There were a number of new players today. George, the 70-ish tennis player, on his first day out. There was an older woman who arrived who had also never played before, but she played with others. Rob—not the firefighter Rob I., but he was there too—plus Wheeler, Josh, and another younger fellow. Rob I. had never met Josh, but both are firefighters and, astonishingly, share the same unusual last name, “Iranda”.

Eric and I played only one game together today and it was against Karen Long and a short woman with short grayish hair that I recognized but don’t know. It was a back and forth game. We lost by a 2-3 points. That was a good one.

I played a game against Tom from Palo Alto. Dan Bliss was his partner and I had James as my partner. Aside from me, a fairly high powered game of advanced players. I was happy to be part of it! James and I won fairly handily. It was about a 2:1 score ratio at the end. Afterward, Tom said, “I can see why you won that gold medal, you are easily a 3.5. You’ve improved a lot. I’m a high 4.0 player.” Then again, James can make many a partner look good!

Uli and I played a game against Jane and brand new Rob. So, strong/weak against strong/weak. Jane was serving very well and I was just not dialing in and I failed to successfully return several of her serves. Embarrassing. It was a problem I had more today for some reason, it wasn’t just that game. Uli was a weaker player than Rob. Rob, while a rank beginner at pickleball, has tennis background and has youth on his side. He’s learning quickly.

I was a bit tired today. I wasn’t recovered from pickleball last night. Still, it’s always great to play.

The Last Games

There was a man named Lou who was visiting from Phoenix. It seems that the Longs knew him. (Terry and Karen had just gotten back from a big tournament in Arizona.) Chris and Jen—the husband/wife tennis pro couple—played against Lou and me. We got toasted. It wasn’t even close. My play was miserable and so was Lou’s. I gave Chris a few pop ups which he easily put away. Humbling. Thankfully, Chris is a fun guy. It’s a game that I desperately wish I had recorded to analyze later—it would have yielded a lot of areas to improve.

The last game of the day was Rob I. and me against Steve (the strong lefty player) and Josh. So, Steve and I both had relative newbies at our sides. It was back and forth, no team leading by more than 2 points. Steve has really cranked up his serve in recent months. I think I got them all back, but boy, it keeps you on your toes, they are very quick. Rob and I won that one, but it could have gone either way.

Someone asked, “What time is it?” “1:00” Holy cow, 1 p.m.? 4 hours? That went fast!

Today was a day of ups and downs. A little rust, a little soreness. Still far better than I was a year ago!

Number of days on a court: 133
Number of total hours: 378.5

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Thursday, March 8, 2018 (Court Day #132)

I flew to Dallas for a trade show for work on Friday morning and flew back on Tuesday, arriving home late at night. Being that it rained Thursday night last week—probably good so that I had more time to pack and wrap up things before the trip—and I had to work yesterday morning (no Derby Park for me), it’d been a full week of no pickleball.

Scott Valley

i arrived at Skypark in Scotts Valley a few minutes after the start time of 6:30 to find only Mark Dettle and Kris warming up. The rest of the courts Mark had set up were all empty. At the height of the evening, we’d only have three courts going with a couple people waiting to play. Play started in the low 60s, and dropped

I played an assortment of games over the next 2 3/4 hours.

Bruce and I played a game against his wife Janet and Olga. Janet said, “If we get to 5, we win!” She was expecting to lose handily, but if they could score 5 points against us on the way to our win, it’d be a moral victory for them. They lost 11-3. Oh, well.

The last game was Rob—the firefighter and relatively new face—and me against Mark and Larry. Mark and Larry put up a good fight but surprisingly, Rob and I pulled off a win. Rob has made a strong start but has a little ways to go yet in developing his soft game.

I had some good point tonight, but some bad points too. After an 8 day layoff, there was a little rust to knock off.

We left the courts at 9:15 p.m.

Number of days on a court: 132
Number of total hours: 374.5

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