Category: Pickleball (Page 325 of 327)

Friday, March 31, 2017

New Paddle Time!

I pulled the trigger at lunch time today. I ordered a new paddle. I decided on the Paddletek Tempest Wave. I also ordered some overgrip to beef up the handle. The SCPC has a deal with Pickleball Central where the purchaser gets a 5% discount and the SCPC gets a 5% cut of the sale. The price on the paddle was $10 more than I could find elsewhere but since the other supplier was here in California, it was more or less of a wash with sales tax, so I opted to get the SCPC their 5% donation and wait an extra day or two for shipping from Washington State. There may be a paddle that’s better for me, but this Paddletek model is popular locally and according to one interview online, it holds up well and doesn’t need replacing as oft as others. I can always sell this one later or save it as a backup. I don’t want to keep using John’s loaner paddle forever!

Videos

I recorded four games on Wednesday morning. I haven’t watched all of them in detail yet, but I very much have a tendency to hit the ball too high that often results in a slam back to my side of the court. There’s a reason that “Keep it low” is a pickleball saying you hear frequently! The last game of the four was lost on a slam down the middle from a hit that I popped up too high. (My teams won the remaining three of the four recorded games, but that can be a function of an opponent’s weak play more than my skill.) If I can eliminate popping a ball up, it’ll make a world of difference in my play. While I’ve won a few points so far on unreturnable serves, serves aren’t a make or break part of the game—oh, you can maybe give yourself an advantage, but you aren’t going to immediately lose the point merely by hitting a serve where you opponent can run up to the kitchen line. But popping up a short lob right in front of your opponent at their kitchen line is asking for big trouble!

Another thing I notice in one video was a point where I favored my forehand in dinking. I moved myself out of position to my left leaving an unreachable gap between my partner and myself (bad), followed by an apparently impatient forehand hit crosscourt too high (bad) that was slammed back down the middle to close out the point. Duh. I was hitting it hard though my contact with the ball was below the top of the net. Notice in this video still (below) where I am (foreground, left, in blue). My forehand followthrough is obvious and my hit is high—you can see the ball right above the centerline across the net. What’s coming is the winner that I was just talking about. Bam. Right down the middle. Rookie move on my part.

Maybe I’ll post the videos to YouTube. They are like watching paint dry, though there are a handful of points that make it to a respectable rally!

Eric (in yellow) did make a perfect crosscourt drop shot from near the baseline to John’s (in white) backhand. It was a thing of beauty! Notice that I (right) am slow getting started to the kitchen line. Proof of yet another thing to work on! (Maybe I was just in stunned awe of Eric’s pro-level execution! Maybe by now I should be used to those appearing from Eric!)

The question is “will I be playing Sunday?” My son Nicholas is flying out Sunday afternoon back to UCLA after spending his spring break in town. Pickleball might be Wednesday next week—though I may have my new paddle by then!

Thursday, March 30, 2017 (Court Day #10)

I left work right at closing time (that means about 45 minutes early for me), raced home, changed, and headed to Scotts Valley. I was about 15-20 minutes late (6 p.m. was starting time) and there were plenty of people already there with a few people on the bench waiting to play or warm up on one of the four courts set up. Tennis was being played where two additional courts were set up the last time I was there.

Maree and her husband Mark were there. (Maree and Mark are both generous with their time and experience with beginners. And diehards. Almost always at the courts when I go!) Eric and a few other familiar faces from Derby Park were also at the courts. Jerry Louis brought a couple of people new to pickleball—his neighbors, from what I overheard.

I played a game partnered with a lefty named Melody against Marie and Mark. We lost 11-4 or something like that. Melody made a point to tell me afterward to make a stronger effort to get to the kitchen line. Maybe so. Sometimes I was hesitant when Mark was about to smash it at me! Melody also mentioned that Marie and Mark were hitting more shots to me than her. I didn’t notice, but being that I’ve been playing only two months, that would make good strategic sense for them, hitting to the less experienced player. It’s not as fun for the more experienced player, but strategically logical.

On a low note, I still have more work to do controlling the height of the ball. Occasional hits into the net. Or hits high enough to be smashed back.

On the bright side, I amazed myself a couple times during some rallies. I managed to return a few smashes in one rally. And I was able to win some intense volley rallies at the net. Instances where the other players on the court give you verbal kudos afterward. And my dinking is going pretty well. Those I can generally control the height and direction well—I won some points in the soft game—it is th hits from the baseline or midcourt that are more problematic.

It’s funny, it seems to regularly take me 2 hours of playing to get warmed up to the point where I play better. Go figure. I hope that time will shorten! Also, I’m starting to notice the effect of opponents’ skill on the game. There are games where my random partner and I get taken to the cleaners and others where my random partner and I take our opponents to the cleaners. Maybe they return a shot that was going out. Or whiff on a high lob. Or dink into the net. Mistakes I make myself—but hopefully with less frequency!

A weird thing that crept into my game was two or three serves when my backhand return went wide left tor wide right of the court. Embarrassing and odd. My backhand is typically reliable.

Oh, and I served my first let in a pickleball game. Just a another unimportant milestone passed.

I really need to get time to analyze the videos from yesterday morning’s matches. I need to objective advice on court positioning, hitting technique, and whatever else I can figure out from them.

Another piece of good news is my back isn’t as sore as it has been. That is particularly good considering I played yesterday morning for three hours.

i was on the last active court partnered with another Mark (not Maree’s husband) against Craig and Leah. Eric called them both out by name when they arrived, so they must be somewhat regulars though I don’t recall seeing them before. We wrapped our last match—Mark and I won both matches—at about 8:45 p.m. and broke down the net. Mark stowed the net and ball rack into the locker and that was a night.

Next playing? Maybe Sunday morning. There may be some Saturday morning someday when I’ll play, but not this busy weekend.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017 (Court Day #9)

Before I talk about today, I want to mention something good from Sunday. I remembered one point that went perfectly. I had hit a shallow crosscourt shot from left to right and forced Alan a bit off the court. He managed to return it, but Paule successfully hit the ball right into the gap I’d created between Alan and Robin. It was my first successful strategic point like that. It felt good.

Onto today…

It was a beautiful morning. Sunny. Warm. I got to the court at almost exactly 9 a.m. I beat John to the court. Eric was there and we helped Stuart set up one of the nets.

Early. John setting up, Terry Long (in white) talking to a woman, and some dude’s butt (sorry). 

I put my GoPro into my shorts pocket and was able to record a few games. It’ll be good to analyze when I get a chunk of time to sit down and go over them.

Today, the club tried something different, designating a couple courts as the intermediate and the advanced challenge courts. Players would place their paddle in a holder next to the court and rotate in. Winning teams would stay on the court but be split up. The losing team would be removed. A player could only win twice before he/she would have to rotate out.

I figured it’d be good experience to try the intermediate challenge court. I played one game in the court against Marie and my friend John. I was partnered with a fellow named Mike. About my height, curly gray hair, and a mustache. Mike was a bit gruff. He had reason to be, he had me as a partner! I was hitting ball either too low (into the net) or too high (slammed back). Not good. One comment from him was, “Where were you aiming?” which I took as “Why the hell did you just hit it right into the net?” It was probably even more frustrating to me than for him. Almost all the pickleball players do a good job hiding any frustration and are encouraging and welcoming. For example, 4.5 player Karen Long (wife of Terry), while she was sitting waiting, provided some encouraging words when I made a winning hit, “Andrew! Nice shot!” For good or bad, Mike is apparently one of those blunt people who tells you exactly what is on his mind. I don’t know what to make of him quite yet. But he certainly plays better than I do.

The—kind of—Ace

A fellow named Richard whom I’d never seen showed up later in the day. Pleasant man. He and I played against Maree and Gary. Maree (married to Mark) is no slouch and is a solid player. I did manage to serve one ball low, shallow, and outside that she could only barely return into the net. I have to get those once in a while, but the thing is that when a serve like that fails, the returner is right up at the net instead of being kept back a the line—or the serve just lands out. Richard and I pulled away leading 9-3, but they clawed back into the game 11-11. Richard and I ended up winning by the skin of our teeth. I was expecting us to lose handily.

The crowd got thin and Richard and I ended up doing dinking practice against each other, while one other remaining court had a game going. Alan (not the English accent Alan I played with on Sunday) kicked us off since it was time and he wanted to head out.

Lunch!

Play wrapped up almost exactly at noon and Eric invited me to lunch with he and his friend Ted. I had my first hamburger in a Mexican food restaurant today. Sacrilegious, but I couldn’t pass up trying it. And, yes, they did a fine job with it!

Eric asked Ted if he was playing tomorrow night. Tomorrow night? Eric said Scotts Valley has an ongoing unofficial gathering on Thursday evenings. I thought it was a one-off thing, but apparently not. Maybe I’ll get to play again tomorrow! I need a lot of work on my “goldilocks hits”—not to high, not too low!