Category: Pickleball (Page 321 of 327)

Sunday, April 23, 2017 (Court Day #19)

I arrived at Derby Park shortly before 9 a.m. to find Dave Allenbaugh and a woman who introduced herself as Vencia setting up the first nets. Maree knew Vencia though I don’t remember seeing her before. I helped set up a few nets myself and got invited into the first game by Dave.

The Signup Board

In a previous post, I’d mentioned the signup board used for rotating onto courts. Here’s a photo of it:

Busy!

Today was a busy day with people wanting to get on a court and play. Around 10 o’clock, Dave announced games would be “played to 9, win by 1”. This lasted for about an hour before the dozen or so people waiting thinned down to something more manageable. This was a far cry from yesterday morning in Scotts Valley when courts sat idle while people stood by and chatted.

Eric and I played a game against Maree and Jerry. There was a sequence where Jerry lobbed it while Maree was still back. From the left side of the court, I hit reached up and got the lob, but instead of hitting it back to Maree where Jerry couldn’t get it, I hit it to the middle within reach of Jerry who hit a passing shot right between Eric and me. I did manage to get a paddle on it but the ball went right back into the net.

On the next point, I returned a ball to Maree who was at the net instead of correctly hitting it Jerry who was still at the baseline. I know better! I made a nice unreturnable crosscourt drop (glory), followed by a slam right into my own side of the net (junk).

Now, what’s interesting, is there was a later lob while I was on the right side of the court. Again, instead of hitting it to Maree who was back, I hit it crosscourt to Jerry who was at the kitchen line. Same mistake. Eric and I still won the point, but it I made it hard on ourselves.

Me (near right) hitting high crosscourt on a lob return instead of to the baseline. Oops.

As the morning progressed, the wind picked up. It’s the windiest it’s been in my nearly three months of playing. Lobs went out of control, serves veered wildly, drop shots fell short, a net blew over! And the wind kept changing direction. It was blowing at my back then later in the game, into my face. As Rick said, it was like playing against an unseen third opponent.

John, Dave (Dave C., former neighbor), Bruce and some others were there, but I didn’t get to play with them. That’s just the way the ball bounces. (I know, bad cliche pun!)

What did I learn today?

• Slamming the ball at people’s feet is actually quite effective.
• Repeatedly lobbing in gusty conditions hoping for a better result each time is a bad strategy.
• Too often, I’m still underpowering soft shots into the net when on the move.
• If you are going to slam down the middle aim to a spot safely inside the court instead of right near the baseline where if you miss slightly long it’ll be out.
• It’s more important to keep the ball in play than to hit a ball hard or soft.

I finally remembered to give John P. his borrowed paddle back—one less thing to carry in my backpack!

I played two last games with Dave, Jerry, and Rick. We were all pretty tired by that point. Dave may not be fast, but he makes up with it in consistent serves and strategic shot placement.

After things broke up about 12:15, Eric, Ted, Rick and I headed a nearby Mexican food place for lunch. I went for a burrito this time instead of their burger—I stuck with tradition!

Ready for a Break?

I’ll admit, after playing four times in five days and five times in eight days has made me fatigued. I can recuperate a few days. Though, I have to admit, this afternoon I spent about 10 minutes in my garage working on my dink and to also see if I could pull off what Mark Renneson does in this video that I watched last night:

Nope. As you’d expect, it’s much harder than Mark makes it look. Even with me using opponents tossing/hitting the ball to me for me to serve as practice for this drill today, I still can’t do it. Talk to me in a year!

Number of days on a court: 19
Number of total hours: 55

Saturday, April 22, 2017 (Court Day #18)

I arrived at Scotts Valley at about 9:10 for my first ever Saturday morning pickleball. (One of the nice things about being the boss is you have some flexibility as to when put in your 50 hours a week.) Cheryl was collecting the requisite $4 and having people sign the liability release required by the City of Scotts Valley. Mark (Maree’s husband) was there helping set up nets. Four were already set up. Signing up were a couple in their late 50s from Washington along with who I believe was their son and his slightly (showing) pregnant wife who live in the region but were still visiting. I realized that I’d never added my name and signature to the release sheet so I did so. Thursday nights aren’t official (not connected with the city, per se), so I think that’s why there is no fee and no release is set out then.

Saturdays are a bit of a different crowd. I recognized about half the people. There was also a man there three children maybe about 5-years-old showing them pickleball . . . though at one point, he was hitting a tennis ball with his very young daughter with the rest in the adjacent pickleball court.

I played a couple games, not doing too badly.

And I gotta learn to not feel sorry for older opponents on the court before I see them play. There was a little granny who could really smack ’em this morning!

The Tourists

In an early game, I was partnered with Larry (a regular, trim white goatee) and the visiting dad and son. They quickly ran up a lead—something like 5-0. Larry and I came back and made it something like 8-5 in our favor. But then they came back and won 11-8. It was a game of streaks. They weren’t slouches!

I asked Marianne about her cheek and she couldn’t even remember who had slammed the ball into her face. She thought it was Tom. Nope. Me. She said she was fine and again said that she had only left that game because her eye had started watering. Good news. No permanent damage. Unless memory . . . nah!

It’s amazing to watch the progress of Marianne and Janet (not there today), especially Marianne since she had the the furthest to go. She had some long rallies today. She’s still not stellar and has a weak backhand—which I recommended to her to work on—but definite progress.

I played with a taller fellow named Terry whom I had never seen. His mantra to me was when slamming the ball, hit it at our opponents’ feet. Good advice. Be a good slammer. Unless you can be Batman. Then always be Batman.

The Sidelines

As the morning moved along, more and more players sat on the bench or hung out chatting by the fence leaving courts idle. Aren’t we here to play? Again, a different crowd.

Rick and I played against Lauren (a regular, gray-blonde hair) and Terry, Lauren said the two of them needed practice together. (Maybe a tournament coming up for them? Senior Games in Palo Alto?) Rick and I lost the first game by a few points, but then won the second game handily. Go figure.

The Glorious and The Lame

As we left about 11:45, I told Eric’s friend Rick that once I play tomorrow, it will have been five times in eight days. He said, “No wonder you are getting good.” I make way too many errors to consider myself good. I’m solidly in the mix though with some glory moments and some moments of lameness.

One glory moment was picking a spot for a serve (shallow outside corner) and darned if I didn’t hit the spot perfectly. I mean, it could have been a tea saucer and I would have hit it. But I’m not that consistent. I had two serves go wide of the court today. I do better when I mentally pick an exact spot to hit to. My drop shots are improving though, that’s good. But in one game of the day, I made at least five mistakes in the first five minutes! It was sad.

Woe—thy name is consistency.

Number of days on a court: 18
Number of total hours: 52

Thursday, April 20, 2017 (Court Day #17)

I arrived in Scotts Valley about 6:20. I was surprised and a bit worried when I easily found a parking place. “Is there no pickleball tonight?” But I spied some activity through the netted fence at the far end of the courts.

Mark and Maree were helping move temporary nets from the locker to the courts. Cheryl, the Scotts Valley organizer, was there. I offered, “Do you have another of those that needs to be carried in?” The answer, of course, was yes, though we ended up only setting up four nets instead of the regular six.

I met and played against and with a tall woman named Kris. Very pleasant person. She said that pickleball offers a great escape by offering time away from the worries of the world. It’s easy to forget about everything else and just have fun. Kris brought these neon pickleballs marked “top”—easier to see but an adjustment due to their extra bounce. Janet and I swapped them out for regular balls after a few minutes of use with the newbies.

The Newbies

So, the woman Eric had invited on Sunday came back for a second day of pickleball. Her name is Jeanne and she brought a friend, Marie. (Yep, another Marie to add to the Marie and Maree!) I could relate, being that I just started playing less than three months ago, so I spent some time along with Janet helping the two of them learn the rules and practice some basic skills. Paying it forward. Then we played a game. Jeanne seems a natural, but Marie caught on pretty quickly too. I yelled over to Eric that he’d regret the day he invited her (Jeanne)!

We maxed out the evening with 18 players, including the two newbies. A lighter crowd.

Proof that pickleball is exercise. Not me, I barely sweat!

Half the lights turned off and wouldn’t be revived, unfortunately, so we all moved the four nets to under the working lights, but it was still quirkily dim.

One notable thing was me hitting a drive shot with lots of intentional spin. Worked well too. The return ended up in the net even against a solid player, Sue. And likely I was a bit overconfident on the paper plate serving target. I haven’t tried it yet, but I now suspect it might be a touch too small for me to be reliably hit!

Oh, and Janet mentioned she’d read this blog and recognized the obsession. Takes one to know one. I’d given the URL to Bruce when he stopped in to work to shop for some oil paints, telling him he could read about himself! Janet mentioned a location with backboards that was good for practice, “like your garage.” The sad thing is I’ve only used my garage setup a few times. Though I guess the happy thing is that it’s because I’m either playing games or sore from playing games!

We wrapped things up about 9:10, after my game of Bruce and me taking on his wife Janet and Eric’s longtime friend Ted. Janet has been improving dramatically. Bruce and I had to work hard for our win.

Number of days on a court: 17
Number of total hours: 49.5