Category: Pickleball (Page 311 of 327)

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

I’ve decided to bite the bullet and pay my $20 to join the national pickleball association.

Now, I’m a card-carrying member. I guess I’m serious about pickleball! (And, yes, I subtly defaced the QR code too.)

Wednesday, July 19, 2017 (Court Day #46)

I arrived at Derby Park at about 9:10 a.m. Alan was setting up nets and six people were warming up as I arrived. It was overcast and 57 degrees, but it’d burn off and get nice as the morning went on.

I overheard someone asking, “Where is Linda?” “She’s at Brommer.” Ah. Segregation has begun, it appears. And I get it. Stronger players want to play with stronger players. Jerry is still coming to Derby—he’s sticking it out with us lowly players. Being selfish, I’d love to rotate into games with better players now and then when they need a fourth (4th player to be able to play a game). It’s helpful to get a gauge on how I’m doing.

In the very first game, I pulled a muscle in my back at the lower right. Ouch. (Making a left turn in my car on my way home later hurt!) It’s hard to say how much it affected my game today, but I didn’t play my best. My play was much improved in my last two games over my first two games.

I need to continue to work on focus. Clearly picking my serve spots, for instance. I am doing that to a degree, but not 100% of the time. I had a few unreturnable serves today. Hitting to backhands, watching if the receiver is lined up too far to the right or left, cutting the corner of the service court. On the other hand, I had a few out. A couple long, one over the center line . . . and one that only God knows where it was going. Those wild ones are evidence that I’m not mentally focused and picking a precise target.

Another thing to work on is tightening up my drop shots. Yes, not all are getting over. But of the ones that get over, not all cannot be volleyed—some are getting returned out of the air which is what we are seeking to avoid. That said, just because a ball is volleyed doesn’t mean that it’s a good volley. Still, one wants the ball to land in the first half of the kitchen with a low bounce. Work to do.

With less people at the courts today, there was less waiting for games. Not that the wait is all that long typically anyway.

Oh, I had a first today. I served once in a game with my eyes closed! Yes, I got it in. Easily.

I finished play right about noon. Given that I short-changed myself time-wise recently, I’m fudging 10 minutes and giving myself 3 full hours on my court time accumulation.

Number of days on a court: 46
Number of total hours: 133.5

Sunday, July 16, 2017 (Court Day #45)

I knew it was going to be a hot day when I walked out the door to no cloud cover. I arrived at Derby Park a few minutes before 9 a.m. Four of the six courts had nets already up and Dave, Janet, and Tom S. were already busy with a dinking drill.

Janet asked, “How many hours have you been playing now?” (Janet is one of my few readers for the time being. ‘Hi, Janet!’) I answered, “120-something, I’d have to check.” Tom asked, “You keep track?” “Yes.” “Playing time? Do you account for time waiting?” “No, it’s court time. I don’t deduct for between games.” (Which is generally not very long. “Ah, I was wondering how accurate you were being.” Well, I don’t know about anyone else, but I’d go nuts keeping track like Tom was suggesting! I figure I’m often learning something even while waiting and I round down, depending. It’s fairly accurate for accumulated court time. Playing time would be about 10% less, give or take.

In an early game, I played with a woman named Bonnie (who I didn’t know) against Bruce and Tom S. I heard Bruce say to Tom, “Andrew is moving up.” A nice compliment. Getting better.

My play was fairly consistently good though punctuated with occasional hits wide or into the net or drop shots that were too long. I’m still not where I want to be, I’m missing easy shots. Rule #1: Get the ball over the net and onto their court. You can have the greatest strategic idea but if it’s not executed correctly, it might as well be a bad idea.

Late in the morning, Me, Eric, Mark and Dave face off at the net for the soft game.

This was a nice shot I made. A ball hit high and behind me which I leaped up and slammed it at Dave’s feet (who was halfway back) for a winner.

Getting ready…

…and leaping up backward for the slam.

A First

I had a first today. And not a good first. Eric was serving as my partner to Dave A. (who was partnered with Jerry). Dave returned it and I hit it down the middle for a winner. One small problem. I volleyed it—from the kitchen line! I had lined up as if Eric was receiving but Eric was serving! I didn’t notice and it apparently didn’t occur to Eric that I was in the wrong place. Fault! Oops.

Where’d they all go?

I spent most of the day playing against players of lesser skill than me. Mark is fairly close in skill level as is Eric and Maree, but there were others that were not as challenging.

Maree mentioned the concern that stronger players will just go to the permanent courts at Brommer rather than play with weaker players at Derby on scheduled gathering days. It occurred to me that Jerry was the only really strong/tournament player present. No Stuart, no Dean, no Kirk, no neighbor Dave, etc. That would be unfortunate if they segregated themselves.

But maybe it was just the heat.

Newbie

I played two games of Maree and me against Mark and a new player, Lisa. It was Lisa’s second time playing. She did ok, but has a long way to go. Playing against a weaker player is a chance to attempt new serves or techniques. While I didn’t try it, I might try some left-handed shots in lopsided games with a beginner next time. (I’ve only done that live in a game once. The first three shots. After them all going where I didn’t want them, I switched back so my partner wouldn’t get mad at me!)

Everyone else had long since left when our play wrapped up at 12:40 p.m.

I was it in the high 80s in the shade when I got home. Toasty—at least for us around here in Santa Cruz.

Number of days on a court: 45
Number of total hours: 130.5

Friday, July 14, 2017 (Court Day #44)

I arrived at Brommer Park at about 9:15 to a busy scene. There were six courts in use—4 permanent, 2 temporary—and the last two nets were mere minutes away from being set up.

The scene at my arrival.

I played a game with a woman named Linda against her husband Paul and Mike. She was a good player and her husband wasn’t too far behind. Later in the morning, I saw her signing up on the waiting board as an advanced player (red pen)—not a shock.

Players waiting toward the end of the morning as the crowd thinned out. Peter is in green at the left, Maree in the white hat on the right next to former neighbor Dave with the puppy!

Up until 10 a.m. there was one pen color. The idea being a single hour that all players mix it up, strong with weak, etc. I’ll have to take advantage of that to play with strong players. After 10, there were red (“advanced”), brown (“intermediate advanced”), and orange (“intermediate”). There is some question what I am, but brown seems probably most correct. I feel I’m probably as good as Maree and her husband Mark now and they were using brown.

The last game was Jukka and me versus Grita and Maree. Jukka was a bit rusty and his frequent tennis playing and less frequent pickleball playing showed in him hitting about half a dozen shots long. Jukka is a good player. It was an off day. I apparently forget how strong Grita’s forehand is. Jukka and I lost pretty handily.

We were the last ones to leave at a quarter to 1.

The Takeaways

For today:

– Boy. It’s crazy how effective the third shot drop is. I need to continue to develop that and use it more often.

– Never judge a book by its cover. There was a short fellow named Tom, he’s probably about 5’3″, give or take. He surprised me. He had a killer serve—grunting with each one—and a few of these could only be returned into the net. He also had reliable strokes—with some of his strong forehands clearing the net by only a few inches. When I hit one into the net, I kidded, “And that’s why I’m not a 5.0.” He shared something that included that he’s a 4.0 player—yeah, I believe it. Very solid player.

– Patience is a key virtue in dinking. I have to wait for the clear winner, not the possible winner. For every great sequence of dinking, I have a time when I drive the ball into my side of the net while attempting a low kill shot.

Making progress. But still not really ready for a tournament yet.

Number of days on a court: 44
Number of total hours: 127