Category: Pickleball (Page 292 of 327)

Sunday, December 10, 2017 (Court Day #101)

Early this morning, I woke up at 4 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I listened to a couple episodes of a podcast, The Pickleball 5.0 Podcast, that I’d previously subscribed to. It’s pretty basic, the 1st episode was about how the host got into pickleball and about his pickleball Instagram account and the 2nd episode was about how the game of pickleball got its name. The guy is nice—he’s only been playing a few months—but I suspect other podcasts would be more worth my time . . . like the one Mark Renneson just started, Pickleball Problems. But his is not on iTunes yet, so it’s not as easy to listen to was some others. Oh, I fell back asleep about 5:45, only to be back up again about 7:30.

My wife walked into our bedroom. “It’s cold out there.” I pulled out my phone. 45°. Chilly. But the surprise was the projected high for the day. 75°! (It would actually reach past 80°!)

I pulled out my new pair of Costco court shoes. I need to secure the insoles on these now too. I’m thinking of ironing on patches to make the insoles more durable. I wore through the heel on both shoes and partially through the front as well.

Of note today, I hit a sharp dink cross court right to left. Alan took that shot and hit an around-the-post for a winner. (He got a hearty congratulations from me!) Sharp cross-court dinks are not always the best!

There were a couple of newbies there. Pam and Candi. Candi said Dave Allenbaugh has been giving them lessons. I played a game with them and Jeff (the tennis spin guy). I guessed that Candi would be the weaker player (Pam is quite tall) so I took her as my partner. I made an effort to hit a lot to Jeff to make a more interesting game, but I hit some to Pam so she wouldn’t get bored. Even in games with all weaker players, there are skills to work on. It may not be quite as fun, but in my book, there is no such thing as a bad game of pickleball!

Today was a good day. A “climb” day. I missed a small number of my drop shots, but I played well overall. Enough that I was craving stronger competition most of the day. After I signed up on the schedule board, Olga asked, “Why aren’t you signed up as advanced?” I told her, “I’ve been told advanced is supposed to be 4.0 players and above. I’m not a 4.0.” “What do you think you are?” “Probably a 3.5.” But then I added, “Maybe I’m getting closer to a 4.0.” But here’s the rub. There’s “by the book” 4.0 then there’s “tournament” 4.0. I’m certainly not a tournament 4.0. No way. As for the players there today, I was likely one of the top 6. We topped out at about 30 players today. Eric, Oleg, Stuart, Kim, Cathy, maybe another, and me would round out the top. Of those, I only got to play against Eric. (I had Grita as a partner in my first/warm up game.) Bruce made for some decent completion though, he always does. If he had a better soft game, he’d be absolutely deadly, but I think pickleball falls second to playing basketball for him.

After I locked up the club storage bins, Laura and her husband Terry, Oleg and Olga and I headed over to La Cabana for lunch. Ha! Eric was there with Ted finishing up their lunches and across the room was Cathy (who often plays with Kim)! Pickleball central! It was an enjoyable lunch—food and conversation!

After that, putting up Christmas lights!

Number of days on a court: 101
Number of total hours: 285

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Thursday, December 7, 2017 (Court Day #100)

After a quick stop home, I arrived in Scotts Valley at 6:30. The tennis courts seems busier these days, but the tennis players typically take off earlier than the pickleball players. It was in the low 50s and you could see your breath under the lights. Some of the players even sported gloves due to the cold. (Us California people are wimps!) The sweatshirt I was wearing came off after the third or fourth game—leaving me in a T-shirt and shorts. This time around, I was able to get into a game upon arrival as a fourth. Coordinator Mark Dettle was still dutifully blowing pine tree needles off of the courts.

Rolando is definitely coming along. His prior handball experience has given him a big jump start to adjusting to pickleball. He’s starting to get his strategies down. If he keeps progressing like he has, he might just make a good tournament partner this coming year!

In one game, my opponent Lauren was hugging the center line to protect her backhand on my serve. Instead, I served it on the opposite side of the service court for an ace. It’s nice when it works. Janet and I won against Lauren and little Maria.

James, Oleg, Janet

Next to last game was James and me against Oleg and Janet, they lost 11-5. I think we had them down 8-2 before they crept the score closer. I think we may have relaxed a bit! Janet was the weakest player on the court and James the strongest, so the outcome wasn’t too unexpected.

The last game was a good battle. Oleg and me against James and Janet. It was back and forth with neither team pulling out much ahead. It was tied 8-8 and they went on a three point run and we lost 11-8. It just goes to show how strong a player James is. I definitely did not hit just to Janet and occasionally made decisions to hit specifically to James. It made for a more challenging game . . . but Janet is not a pushover. She gets the ball back over the net most of the time, it’s just that a slam can intimidate her and/or she may not have the skill to return tough shots. Like most of the players, she’s improved with time. She’s an intermediate category player.

I guess the good thing is that I wasn’t too far off from the play of Oleg and James. I distinctly remember one net battle between James and me that I won on a downward attack. Any points against James are a small victory!

That last game finished up at 8:30. Aside from Mark and Oleg’s wife Olga, we were the last ones there. While packing up the last net, Janet asked James his age. 43. We all put him younger. I figured 30s myself. But as James said, we’re as young as we are inside.

Wrap up

Tonight was a good night. I played well. Not perfect, but very well. My biggest consistent error was hitting back an opponent’s “Christmas present” high ball into the net on a smash. I did that probably 4-5 times over the course of the evening. Turning a clear winner into a loser! I need to pick a target on slams. Simply hitting down certainly isn’t working!

Surprisingly, I completely forgot that today was my 100th day on a pickleball court until I was driving home. A big milestone has been passed.

Number of days on a court: 100
Number of total hours: 282

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Wednesday, December 6, 2017 (Court Day #99)

I arrived at Derby Park at 8:55. I helped Dave Allenbaugh by setting up a net. Wayne set up one as well. It wasn’t warm, but it was sunny. I came with a sweatshirt, but it was after the first game.

There were three people I’d never met who appeared. Jennie, a man named Mike, and a man named Joel. Jennie said she’d played a few times already. While she was my partner in one game, she mentioned that she’d played tennis recently with her husband and the tennis court seemed clownishly big after getting used to a pickleball court. Jennie’s age is hard to determine, but I’d guess about 30. Mike is older, maybe late 50s. He was better than I was expecting—judging a book by it’s cover—but still not a particularly strong player, but not bad. Jennie is the stronger player. She could be really good once she develops a soft game.

Joel was the surprise. Tall, in his 60s. Spin, getting the ball over the net, etc. He’s got hard serves. I’m not used to them and returned one or two into the net. Frustrating. A formidable and worthy opponent.

I almost got an around-the-post from the right side today, but it was 2″-3″ wide of the court. So close.

I almost got an around-the-post from the left side today—with my left hand—but it was 2 feet wide of the court!

Today was a pretty good day. Not one that I want to erase!

Being that I manage a retail store and it’s 19 days to Christmas, I didn’t want to leave our understaffed picture framing department without me for too long, so I left early, 11:15 and I was off.

The general lesson for today is to not assume a point is over. Jennie dropped a ball right over the net while I was back. A relaxed pose for a winning point ensued. But I ran up, managed to just get to the ball and drop it back over for the true winner. Later, with Mike as my partner, he dropped a ball over the net and fell victim to Jennie playing my role who returned the short ball back over for the true winner.

Number of days on a court: 99

Number of total hours: 280

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