Category: Pickleball (Page 39 of 323)

Thursday, July 31, 2025 (Court Day #837)

It was very sunny and 77° when I left work and headed to Scotts Valley. With plenty of experienced staff at work today for a change, I was secretly hoping to leave around 5 p.m., but then I found a needed project for myself, then another project, then I was the last one to leave around 6:20 p.m. I’m a demanding boss for myself!

Skypark

When I arrived at 6:35 p.m., there was good deal of parking.

My first game was with Frabrizio against Alec and his brother Eric—whom I’d never seen before. Frabrizio and I lost the first game but then came back and won the second game. 

It was then decided that we would have a rubber match. We were up 6–0, then they came back some, but then Frabrizio and I wrapped up the win 11–8. 

We played one more game—a four game—with these pairings and we won again 11–3. 

David, Alec, Eric

At this point, Frabrizio decided that he wanted to mix things up and get in with new partners. While I was waiting to get into another game, David L. arrived and we started warming up for a few minutes and then Alec and Eric and I made eye contact and I invited them over.

Alec was telling Eric right before the game, “This is our game.“ I had to chuckle at that. It seems that they’re unfamiliar with David’s play. David is an even stronger player than Frabrizio. The result was as I expected, with David and I winning in a very lopsided fashion.

After that, we decide to mix things up and Eric and I played against Alec and David. David is a stronger player than I am and Alec is a stronger player than Eric and the results would be as you expect, we lost.

We mixed partners again and this time Alec and I played against David and Eric. Eric got himself a win with David, although the game was close.

We played one more game with the same configuration, but this time Alec and I pulled off a strong win.

I wasn’t going to mention it during a game, and I forgot to tell him later, but a number of Eric serves were illegal. He would often serve with one of his feet outside the imaginary extension of the sideline. That’s a foot fault.

Lights

It was time to call it a night and when I checked the time, it was 8:45 p.m. Oddly, the lights were still on. It seems the setting is off because the lights are coming on too late and also staying on later than they are supposed to.

And?

My biggest problem tonight was cutting things too close with some shots. I kept track and I hit the white tape of the net a whopping 11 times tonight. I was announcing my count after every time the ball hit the white tape. After one such announcement by me, David said “Why are you keeping track? You should forget about it and move on.” It’s true, but it’s also a reminder of what to work on.

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Saturday, August 1, 2025 (No Play)

There’s yet another official ball for the PPA Tour. It was the Vulcan ball, but now it’s the LT Pro 48 ball, the Lifetime Activities athletic clubs ball. Whoever pays, plays! If I paid enough next, I could have the “Andrew Lenz ball” be the official PPA ball!

A.I. Funniness

“When you show up after 5 p.m. to pickleball courts”:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DM0KJU_JSy_

High Profile Game

A nice rally of Andre Agassi & Steffi Graf versus Andy Roddick & Genie Bouchard:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGQRnpTtSUC

Air Zones

Now, this is an interesting take. I’m a total analytics kind of guy, but is this an over technicalization of this? What do you think? (You can even comment below, if you wish!)
https://pickleballunion.com/pickleball-air-targeting-9-zone-model/

Number of days on a court: 837
Number of total hours: 3,245
Number of paid coaching hours: 156.5

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

Tuesday, July 29, 2025 (Court Day #835)

This morning, this popped up. I need this, yes, a shock collar when when I hit an out ball!
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMkiTeUzhKS/

Padel vs. Pickleball

“Move over pickleball”? This is a news report from the Bay Area, about an hour away:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHluxzTR9fk/

I’ll admit, padel looks like a lot of fun. But according to Google’s A.I., “A June 2025 study on pickleball in Asia found that close to 812 million people in that region have played at least once.” Also, “The Association of Pickleball Players (APP) estimates over 100 million players globally.” Also, “There are an estimated 30 million active padel players worldwide as of 2024 and 2025.”

Padel may be great, but it’s far harder and more expensive to set up a padel court than a pickleball court.

Skypark

As I drove away after work at 6:26 p.m., it was a sunny warm 75°F without a cloud in the sky. Even though it was only two days, it felt like forever since I played. I believe a part of that is because I only got two good games on Sunday at Derby Park.

I parked and was walking into the Skypark courts around 6:40 p.m. The courts were a little busy and people are waiting however there was no whiteboard out.

I pretty quickly got into games, including some with and against David L. and against Rachel. I had two games against a guy named John who is quite a good player and I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen him before.

David was absolutely on fire tonight. Unrelated, his partner Minori is now 35 weeks along with their first child.

I felt somewhat satisfied with my play tonight, but it’s not necessarily because I played particularly well but more so that I was just tired. By 7:30 p.m., I was dragging a bit and not caring so much about the outcome of the games.

Fremont Courts

A new indoor pickleball facility has opened up in the East Bay, specifically, in Fremont, roughly 45 minutes north of my house:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMjMrRsS1bk

I doubt I’ll ever play there, but who knows? Maybe.

Number of days on a court: 835
Number of total hours: 3,242
Number of paid coaching hours: 156.5

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

Wednesday, July 30, 2025 (Court Day #836)

After got home from work, I was informally eating dinner by myself standing at the kitchen counter when I got a text from Conner McNicholas asking if I wanted to drill at Derby Park—like, right then!

Being a responsible husband, I checked with my wife to see if there was anything she needed me to do, but she told me was it was a beautiful night and to go play. I told Conner that I would be there in 20 minutes.

Derby Park

It was 66° and the shadows were long as the sun dipped low in the sky. Sunset would be coming in about an hour.

When I arrived, there were a couple of players on one court, a family of three on another court, and then there was Conner on the third court by himself, a little bit farther away.

We started with a few minutes of straight ahead dinking, and after a few minutes, we switched to crosscourt dinking—or if you believe voice to text “crossword thinking”—punctuated with an occasional speedup. Then we switched to drops from the baseline with the other player at the net trying to make it as difficult as possible for the dropper.

After about 20 minutes, Conner suggested we play skinny singles. Under Conner‘s rules, after serving from the even side, the returner would return straight ahead and the server would shift over. When the server was odd, both players would stay and play diagonally.

In the first game, while there was definitely some back-and-forth, I found myself down 1-9. I did claw back and make it 7-10, but then Connor scored one more point and won the game.

We switch sides and played it again this time, it was I who took a lead 8-4. Conner came back and tied it up 10-10 and then he won 12-10.

We switch sides again and this time it was tied up 2-2 when Conner decided it was too dark for him to continue.

It was just shy of 8:30 p.m. when we called it a day.

Junior Player

Here’s a news report out of Phoenix about a 13-year-old girl named Kelly Goodnow. According to the report, she’s the top-ranked “14 and under” junior pickleball player:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMgpFOQSNgR

Number of days on a court: 836
Number of total hours: 3,243
Number of paid coaching hours: 156.5

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