Category: Pickleball (Page 289 of 327)

New Year’s Day, January 1, 2018 (Court Day #110)

I woke up fatigued. My back was tired. To be honest, I didn’t have the strong drive to play. The aches and pains tempered that. But I take every opportunity these days to play pickleball. Especially since rain is in the forecast. (Thank God. It’s been a very dry season.) I pulled into the Brommer parking lot a few minutes after 9 a.m. Dan Bliss was blowing off the court, Wayne and Richard were helping set up.

My play over the course of the day was inconsistent. Excellent games and implosion games.

An Upset!

Leslie and Susie were signed up in red on the schedule board. John P. asked Leslie if he could play up and join them. Leslie said yes. So we took them on. John said something Leslie about it being a learning game, expecting to us lose. Leslie played it off though. Surprisingly, we won the game 11-1. Leslie and Susie were both sub-par. John and I both played exceptional games. And I had an around-the-post shot off the right side of the net. Leslie turned around to see my shot drop comfortably well within the court behind her. “Yep. It’s in.” That’s the way the game went.

When Karen heard about the game, she said she wanted to play with us with Susie as her partner. We lost that one 11-8. Susie played far better in the second game . . . and, of course, Karen is a great 4.5 player. A very respectable game outcome, however. Oh, in the midst, after a point, Karen told me, “Nice hand switch!” I’d moved my paddle to my left hand on a very angled shot at the net from Susie. It was maybe a touch higher hit than I wanted, but it wasn’t a pop up and it did get back over the net.

Heading to the waiting area, John said that I’ve “bumped” in terms of skill. “You’re getting balls that you never would have gotten in the past.” That’s a nice verification of what I’m feeling. I do believe that I’m gradually improving.

Mixed Doubles

Melody asked about Paso Robles. She asked if I’d be interested in playing with her. I hesitated. I told her that men’s and women’s doubles are on Saturday and mixed was on Sunday. I’m not sure if I want to make it a two day event. I told her registration doesn’t open until February 1st. She acknowledged that I have time to decide.

Shortly after, she and I played a game together as partners. It was a disaster. I played quite poorly. It was embarrassing. But at least Mel knew I was playing worse than normal.

Last Games

The last game was Oleg and John P. against Olga and me. Oleg is the strongest player, and Olga the weakest, so the outcome (we lost) wasn’t a huge surprise.

I was in the car and on the road home to family at 1:10 p.m.

Tuesday, January 2, 2017

Epilogue. Sore left hip. Sore right hip. Right ribcage pain. Overall aches and pains. Oy. I’ll need a few days to recover!

Number of days on a court: 110
Number of total hours: 310.5

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

December 31, 2017 (Court Day #109)

It was overcast and in the mid-50s when I arrived at Derby Park to set up at 8:45 a.m. Things were slow to get started. People generally arrived later today. I woke up with a sore back—not a huge surprise, I guess, after playing 5 times in the last 7 days. Today would make it 6 in 8. (Hmmm. I think that might be a new record!) Attendance topped out at about 30 people. The sun broke through by 10 a.m. and the weather got pretty darn nice.

Today wasn’t as good as Friday for me. But that’s expected, Friday was a stellar day in terms of my play. Today was ok. Highs and lows.

Things of Note…

Game with Dean

Dean stopped by and played some games with whomever was around. Mostly intermediate players. I was very fortunate to get a game against him. Oleg and me against Dean and Olga. Dean was taking it easy on his serves. I know because at one point, he ripped a real one off against Oleg. The rest were gentle. And Dean has the most incredible return of serve that’s deep, low, with severe backspin and, best of all, consistent. Formidable.

There was one point in the game where he got really sneaky when he was right across from me at the net. If I recall correctly, it was a backhand shot where everything had the appearance of him going crosscourt. But at the last second, it was a passing shot off to my right. (Reminder for me? Stay ready. You never know when it’s coming to you.) My paddle zipped out there and returned it as a winning passing shot to Dean’s left. He said he’d already relaxed since he didn’t expect me to get that ball and thought the point was over. Well, I know that I exceeded his expectations at least on that shot!

While I didn’t play great, I played ok and there were some great rallies in that game. I displayed inconsistency. Hitting balls into the net, followed by good shots. Balls sailing too high and turning into “Christmas presents”, followed by a solid net play. Eh.

More

“You rescued me! You switched your paddle to your left hand and when I missed the ball, you hit it from behind me back over the net!” Rolando, my partner, was heaping praise on me. It’s funny. He’s getting so much better. He’d go on later in the day to serve two balls that I could not return—and that’s saying something. He’s figured out that soft lob serves aren’t always the best. Serves can be an offensive weapon. (They can also be a defensive weapon. Like when I used them on Bruce months ago to keep his hard and low returns in check.)

Sycha was there today—she’d stopped playing and was nursing a sore knee—and asked me how it was going. “Just ok. Not like Friday, I was playing fantastic on Friday.” She commiserated, “Isn’t that the way pickleball is? For no reason, you just have bad games.” Yep. Ups and downs. As long as the general trend is improvement. I believe I’m doing that.

Back in Black

By noon, the two ibuprofen that’d I’d taken were wearing off and my back was sore. While I didn’t mention it before, I tweaked it earlier this week twisting and reaching for a short ball. It was nothing like the back strain I’d had in mid-October that sidelined me the week leading up to the “arena pickleball” tournament fiasco. It’s just a slight nagging thing. Nothing major.

Last Game

Olga asked about another game and I said, “My back isn’t too happy, but I want to play!” The last game was Oleg and me against Wayne and Olga, at about 12:45. Oleg and I cruised to a quick 4-0 lead. I thought we might go 11-0. But there was a series mid-game where I single-handedly gave up probably five points. I think I was just fried. I’d played far better the game before against Oleg. But even then I had to will myself to stay focused. About an hour earlier, I remember thinking about sitting out a game or two. But I didn’t! Wayne and Olga crept back into the game. While I was mostly my fault overall, we lost the game on an error where Oleg hit the ball into the net. He was not happy with himself! He’s very competitive and takes the games very seriously. While the rest of us were smiling and laughing over the game, Oleg was brooding. You have to to give him credit for his intensity when playing. Olga was quite happy. “I realized my dream! I beat Oleg!” I laughed, “I think you beat me more than you beat Oleg!”

When I sat down in my car, the clock read 1:10. I’d been at the courts nearly 4 1/2 hours, with 4 hours of playing time.

Driving back to my house, I looked down at my right thumb. The callus on the side of my right thumb knuckle was blackened from the black grip tape on my paddle. I guess that happens when you play 4 hours straight!

Man, I’m beat. That and I got about 5 hours of sleep. Hopefully, I don’t pass out before midnight to ring in the new year!

Number of days on a court: 109
Number of total hours: 306.5

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

Friday, December 29, 2017 (Court Day #108)

I got up and my left hip was aching a bit. I took a couple of ibuprofen—standard operation for me before pickleball—and headed to Brommer Park. It had been weeks since I could manage to go with the demands of work and show staffing. I pulled up at 9:02 with the car read a temperature of 59°. It would warm up to be a beautiful and sunny day. I was looking forward to some stiffer competition.

The Power Game

For the first hour, all skills play together. A few games into the day, as luck would have it, Terry (Long), John (Connor), and a man named Dave (older, tall, mustache) were signed up in a square waiting for a fourth—they got me! Terry and I teamed up. Any time you are teamed up with a 5.0 player, things tend to go well. But John is a regularly-medaling tournament player, he’s no slouch. Dave, I don’t really know, but he was good. I held my own in this game. On one rally at the net, I managed to get the best of John and the ball ended up in his chest. I’ll savor that rarity for a while! Terry and I went up 8-1. And the ball wasn’t just going to Terry either, I got my share. Unfortunately, Dave had gotten severely nauseous and had to leave the game. Dave got replaced by Brian (stocky lefty Brian, not the short wizardly Bryan from Palo Alto). John and Brian scored a few points but Terry and I wrapped up the game. Afterward, back near the schedule board, I thanked John for the game and the challenge. “You played well.” Nice to hear! I did play solidly. I wasn’t a major liability as I had been in the past. I will mention that Terry did correct me a couple of times. “Where ya goin’?” I had advanced toward the net, but Terry was either doing a drive or had an unsuccessful drop shot. “Stay back until we’re sure the ball is in the kitchen.” Good advice, so as not to get caught moving—yep. I did! Someone complimented my play in the waiting area after that one. Tom Sherwood, I think. After I shrugged it off as playing ok—who can claim to play well after having Terry as a partner for comparison?—”I made mistakes.” He said, “They made mistakes too. I watched you, you played really well.”

Baby Deer

Later mid-morning, I was playing in a game where the players were so unskilled, I felt bad serving and/or hitting winners. It was like a tiger eating baby deer. I debated switching to playing left-handed, but opted to just serve easy lob serves. Even with me playing with a weak partner, it was a lopsided game. It ended 11-1 or 11-2. One of the two women opponents sought me/us out after the game and apologized for grouping with us. My partner said, “Any game is a fun game.” I concurred, but I felt like I had to throttle way back.

The poor match in that game does bring up a problem with the sign up board. Everyone was signing up as either Advanced or Adv/Int. No one was signing up as Intermediate. That compressed weak players into the Adv/Int group. It makes for lopsided mismatched games. I don’t know if there is a workable solution though. We’ll see if the club comes up with something.

Boys against Girls

I saw that Sycha and Angie were signed up. I added my name and Eric said, “I want part of that game!” It was a blast. Both are talented players. We started out behind but then got dialed in and started pulling ahead. We won 11-7 or 11-8.

My right knee was experiencing a little sharp pain on the outside, but not significant and not chronic.

Eric and I played Chuck and Karl. Eric and I won 11-0. Oh, in that game, Karl performed a first against me. I had an ATP (around-the-post) shot blocked and returned! They still lost the point, but nonetheless, impressive!

“We need to break you two up! You play too good together!”, came Chuck’s observation. So, for the next game, since there weren’t people waiting, we swapped partners, Chuck and me against Eric and Karl. On one point, Karl lobbed . . . while I try to run down most lobs, I knew I wasn’t going to reach this one in time . . . and Ted yelled, “Paso Robles! Run those down!” I laughed. (Paso Robles, the location of the April tournament.) Chuck and I won 11-3.

Rematch

Mark (Maria’s husband) was watching. When Chuck and I won ended he called out, “Eric, do you and Andrew want to play another game? Against Ted and me?” We said yes. It would be a good match. They beat us 11-7 the last time we played on Wednesday. We grabbed some water then walked back to the court. Ted (Asian Ted) asked about the Paso Robles tournament coming up. I told him we’d be playing one in Livermore in February first.

This time, the tables were turned. We slowly crawled out ahead to something like 8-4. Service was back and forth. In the end, Eric and I won 11-7, the exact score as last time, but in reverse. Ted said, “You guys are ready.”

300 Hours

On my way out, I stopped to tell Karen with a big smile on my face, “I passed 300 hours of playing pickleball today!” “Are you obsessed?” “Yes!” “You need to go to PA!” I looked quizzically at her. “Pickleball Anonymous!” I chuckled and jogged to my car. It was about 12:35 and I’d told work I’d be there by 1 p.m. I was a little late. Good thing I’m the boss!

I didn’t play perfectly today, but I played about the best I’ve ever played. I can’t complain about that!

Number of days on a court: 108
Number of total hours: 302.5

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