Category: Pickleball (Page 283 of 327)

Thursday, February 22, 2018 (Court Day #128)

John P. texted me yesterday asking if I could be a fourth in a private game today from 9-11 a.m. I mulled it over, considering work obligations, then said, “Count me in.”

I arrived at Brommer Street Park at 9 a.m. John and Barb S. were there—little Barb with short gray hair. (Not tall Barb nor former tennis pro Barb.) Tom S. showed up about 5 minutes after I did. It was cold, low 40s. John was wearing gloves and Tom put his on not long after we started playing. I had none to wear, or I might have put on some myself!

After one early game, Tom S. said, “Your placement is very good.”

It got quite blustery as the morning progressed. It was one of the most windy days I’ve played on. The ball would periodically drop short or blow sideways. It was an interesting dynamic. And the wind was shifty to boot, sometimes changing directions between serves.

We rotated partners around. It didn’t matter what team I played on, I didn’t lose a game all morning. Some were more lopsided than others, but there was a clear pattern.

Afterward, John said, “You’ve made the jump, my friend.”

For all the kind words, I made mistakes. I missed three serves in one game—and that only halfway through the game! (As John, my partner in that game pointed it out after the third miss.) I cleaned that up simply by being more careful. I returned a couple of high balls that would have otherwise landed out. I hit two slams that would likely have been winners into the net instead. Some of my drop shots were too high. But on the bright side, if I hit any drop shots into the net, it was only one or two all morning and it was into the white tape.

I didn’t feel like I played great, but I did play well. I’m getting more consistent.

Ankle

Tom, the retired ER doctor, asked about the ankle. After I told him, he said, “That’s taking too long.” He asked if I’d been icing it before and after play. Uh, no, but he suggested it a few weeks ago. He said it’s possible that little bits of bone might have been pulled off at the time of the injury, but he didn’t express much concern about that. Regardless, I did ice my ankle when I got home.

Tournament

I’d emailed Eric this morning to see how he was doing. He said he was actually getting worse, not better. That just goes to show why this year’s flu is so nasty. I told John that he was officially on as my partner for Saturday. I stuck out my hand, “Partner” and he shook it. Then he gave me $30 to cover the entry fee—Eric hadn’t reimbursed me yet—and $5 toward gas. John and I made arrangements and I’ll be picking him up at 7 a.m. at his house. I emailed Brian of Livermore to let him know that John would be my partner instead of Eric and Brian confirmed. Time is getting close!

Ha! Fool me once…

I got an email this afternoon from The Club in Los Gatos. They are the ones that held the oddball “arena pickleball” tournament last year that Eric and I played in. They are offering another such “play the ball off the walls” tournament. Super nice people, but I’m going to give that offer a solid “miss”!

Times Two?

I was debating playing at Scotts Valley again tonight, but Sharyl sent out a message saying it was canceled due to rain. It was raining earlier, so that makes complete sense. Dilemma solved!

Number of days on a court: 128
Number of total hours: 363.5

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Wednesday, February 21, 2018 (Court Day #127)

Yesterday, Eric told me that his flu isn’t getting much better and that his wife also caught it. Even if he gets better by Saturday’s tournament, he figures he’ll be taking care of his sick wife. I contacted John P. as a possible replacement and he said that he’s available and willing to substituted. When I contacted Brian, the coordinator for Livermore, he said it was fine substituting as long as the replacement was also 3.0 and I let him know by Thursday. I’m still holding out slight hope for Eric to play, but I’m realistic that it’s a long shot.

Derby

Arrived just before 9 a.m. at Derby Park. It was flippin’ cold! In the mid-40s! They had predicted snow in the Santa Cruz Mountains two days ago. I put my sweatshirt on and kept it on for a few games. Usually, after one game, it comes off. Not today. My hands were very cold—the coldest ever for Derby in my experience. But it did warm up a bit and get nicer later in the morning and the fair-weather players showed up after 10 a.m., but we never topped more than about 26 people.

Jane was there and I got to play against her once or twice. She’s always a very good opponent, you can’t slouch with her on the court.

Funny, today in a game, I made a return at the kitchen line that hit squarely on the back of my right hand and went over the net. I’ve had balls graze my hand before, but this may have been the first where my hand acted cleanly as a paddle!

The Newbie

I’d received a call at work yesterday from a customer, Carrie. But she wanted to talk about pickleball. I answered her questions and she sounded excited. She’d seen a recent article about pickleball in the local free weekly, The Good Times. She said she has a strong tennis background and also played ping pong. I told her that she’d do fine.

I noticed a woman I didn’t recognize showed up. Dave Witte—the club treasurer—had taken her under his wing and taught her the basics.

My last game was with Carrie as my partner against Tom S. and Susan (whom I’ve seen only a handful of times in the last year). Carrie, if she sticks with it, will be really good.  She already has an excellent slice forehand that clears the net by a few inches and lands deep. She also has really good hand/eye coordination. Tom said that since she was new that he’d hit all the balls to her so she’d get a lot of practice. And he did! I think he hit maybe only one ball to me! Even with Susan, I’d be lucky if 25% of the balls came to me. But Carrie did well. The game was tied 10-10 before they won.

I left shortly before noon with two courts still going. I had an appointment with a rep at work to get to.

And?

So how was today? Ok. Far better than were I was six months ago. Even so-so days are good enough to beat most of the average players. But I still hit balls too high, a few of my serves were too tricky and landed just outside of the service court.

Physical Status

My back was tired today. My ankle is still not better. It’s slow going. Later today, it caught my right foot on a box in my office that I was stepping over and: PAIN! Ouch. But it wore off after about five minutes. I am continuing to wear my ankle brace every single time that I play pickleball, but outside of that, no. Very minor aches and pains appear occasionally: right wrist, right shoulder, hips, knees, ankles. Thankfully, not usually all at the same time!

Number of days on a court: 127
Number of total hours: 361.5

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

Thursday, February 15, 2018 (Court Day #126)

I debated going to pickleball tonight, I was a little tired and sore. But the distraction is good. And with everything going on my father-in-law’s dire condition and a pending trip to Southern California, it might be my last chance for a while.

Scotts Valley

At a little after 7 p.m., I pulled into the Skypark parking lot. Fortuitously, there were a couple of spots right outside the courts. It was my first visit there in over a month. It was chilly, low 50s, but I wore a T-shirt and shorts knowing I’d warm up—which I did, but it took a couple of games. The most uncomfortable part was my hands were really cold!

Left to right: Bruce, Janet, Leah, Kris (far), Mark Dettle, Jeanne. Not seen: Bruce’s partner Larry, Leah’s partner/husband Craig. I had plenty of time to take this photo sitting and waiting after putting on my ankle brace.

Like clockwork, I was the odd man out. Three full courts and me on the bench! This must be at least the 4th or 5th time I’ve come and been the only one on the bench waiting! But it was only a few minutes and Bruce kindly offered to step out and let me play. I played with Kris against Larry and Janet. Larry is a challenge to play against. He’s not an advanced player, but he does a good job getting the ball back over to net.

I was hoping to get to play against Bruce and a woman named Jane (I’d seen her once or twice before, but don’t really know her). Bruce is always keeps me on my toes and, from what little I saw, Jane looked like she had very good ball skills.

I’m glad I wasn’t the only one suffering with bad depth perception under the lights. I swung on backhand and completely whiffed on the ball. I was embarrassing, but the others knew what was going on and experienced it themselves later.

After one shot where I hit a handhand slice straight ahead deep to Janet’s backhand and she returned it into the net, Jeanne said, “I need to learn how to do that!” And I need to learn how to do it more reliably! Still, nice to hear.

I didn’t play perfectly, but I played very well. If a group was arguing over beers who was the best player there, I like to think that my name would be brought up and be in the mix. Mark (Maree’s husband) was there, though he wasn’t playing the top of his game tonight.

The last game of the night wrapped up and we left a little after 8:30. It was fun night. Thanks to Mark Dettle for sticking around and closing up as the site coordinator.

Friday Afternoon

Life is full of highs and lows. Today is a low. My father-in-law Ron has been given last rites by a priest my mother-in-law knows and the extraordinary life support is being removed. He’ll pass in next couple of days. All this has yet to sink in. He was always a such a honest, pragmatic, generous man who lived life and loved his family and friends. He’ll be missed beyond measure. The USS Midway will miss him for sure—he volunteered hundreds upon hundreds of hours there as a docent telling firsthand stories to guests of his time serving as a jet pilot on that ship.

I let Eric know we’ll be on for the Livermore tournament. I have no question in my mind that Ron would be happy with that.

Saturday

I got word that my father-in-law Ron passed away in the late morning, just before I was on the road to San Diego from Santa Cruz shortly after 11 a.m.

Ron posing on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. By 1970, he’d performed 500 carrier landings. He spent almost a quarter century in the Navy as an aviator. For a short time, he was assigned to carry the nuclear button briefcase (a.k.a. “The Football”) for President Nixon.

Lt. Commander Ronald W. Foster (ret.) during the summer last year during an outing for burgers with his son-in-law (me) and his grandson Nicholas. He’ll be so missed by his wife of 47 years, Bonnie, his two daughters and family, and many hundreds of friends—from the Navy, his three decades at New York Life, the Oplimist Club, the sheriff senior volunteer patrol, and as a docent at the USS Midway. While not a particularly religious man, and even as a Protestant, he occasionally played chess with the middle-aged pastor of the nearby Catholic parish. The world is worse off without Ron.

Monday

I’m in a car heading north back to Santa Cruz after about a 36-hour stay. Yesterday, we were going through things at the house and also took a trip up to Miramar National Cemetery to decide on Ron’s final resting spot. Bonnie and Kristen thought a marker on the grass will be better than a spot in one of the memorial walls. I agree.

Bonnie is planning to move to NorCal to be closer to her daughters. My sister-in-law mentioned pickleball was available at a retirement community—while she’s not too keen on such a community and wants an apartment/condo somewhere, I might just take her to pickleball sometime anyway. She’s an athletic 73-year-old.

Regardless, rest in peace, Ron. Until we meet again, Big Poppa.

Number of days on a court: 126
Number of total hours: 358.5

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