Category: Pickleball (Page 77 of 323)

Thursday, October 3, 2024 (Court Day #722)

At 5:45 p.m., Conner sent a message to the WhatsApp group that he was the only one at Skypark. I found that a little little surprising even with the heat. I told him that I would be out of the courts in about an hour.

This whole week has been quite warm and today was no exception with temperatures in the 90s. I went to change for pickleball in the work bathroom, but much to my dismay, the pair of black nylon shorts that I grabbed this morning turned out to be a pair of black nylon sweatpants instead! Boy, just perfect for hot weather!! (Yes, that’s sarcasm!) Fortunately, the sun was already setting and the temperature dropped at the low 70s, but still it was warm.

Drew Sighting

Being a nice and responsible sibling, I gave my brother Matt a ride home from work and dropped him off at my parents house in Pasatiempo. As I turned onto their street, I spotted a man collecting his mail. I immediately recognize him, it was Drew who I frequently see at Skypark playing pickleball with Marquis and other strong players. I dropped off Matt then turned around and pulled up and front of Drew‘s house which was across the street from the mailboxes. He smiled and called over, “Pickleball guy!” to which I replied, “Drew!” He then asked, “What is your name again?” He said that they had moved into their house for years ago and they had a have a 15-month-old daughter… which was why he was not playing tonight!

Skypark

It was hot and felt muggy, but that might just be perspiration. When I got there, shortly after 6:30 p.m., surprisingly, there were only two games in progress and one additional court just had Mark and Chuck.

I joined those two in warming up until the game next to us broke up and we joined in.

First Game

My first game would be Chuck and myself against Mark and Kristen Long. Mark said Kristin and he are playing together in the tournament on Saturday so they wanted to play together tonight. I was playing very well and Chuck was playing on par with Mark and Kristin. Chuck and I won 11–6 or 11–5 or something like that.

The next game was Matt and myself against Paul W. and someone whom I don’t recall.

James

I played with Conner against David L. and tall James. I haven’t been on the same court with James for months and months. I did see him out on the courts recently, but I didn’t get to play with him.

Tonight, I was making mistakes in those games. I need to play a more conservative game. As a rare experience, I felt that I was the weakest player on the court for that game. I felt the David and Connor were both outplaying me tonight, and James, well, James is a level to himself. Conner and I lost the first game something like 11–3. We played a rematch and we did a little bit better, but still lost. I’m sure Conner was frustrated with the play of his partner… me!

For the third game, we mixed up partners with me playing with James. James and I were winning 8–6 when the lights clicked off and Connor shot hit me in the right knee just have to lights clicked off.

And?

Lessons learned tonight. Cross court, cross court, cross court—that’s a reliable way to avoid doing pop-ups. Getting a serves in is so important. Only attack shots that are truly high enough to attack. I hit the white tape tonight at least four or five times for some reason. I need to give myself more margin.

New Paddle

The Gherkin package was waiting at home for me. Their paddles seems a bit top heavy versus my Players Rogue 2 paddle, but the grittiness is quite impressive on the Gherkin paddle. They send quite a kit. Paddle, cover, overgrip, lanyard, paddle eraser.

What is really neat, they send all the specs of the paddle right on the handle. 8.0 ounces, Swing Weight of 118, Twist Weight of 6.83. Being handwritten, that implies that those last two could to be unique to this one paddle.

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Friday, October 4, 2024 (No Play)

It is now known…

UPA-A Paddle Certification Prices

On Wednesday this week, the UPA-A—the group that is trying to supplant USA Pickleball as the governing association for the U.S.—announced their pricing for certifying paddles under their umbrella.

“March 31, 2025: UPA-A Interim Certification and Provisional Status ends. Only paddles with full 2025 UPA-A Certification will be allowed at UPA professional events after this date.”

This means that paddles approved by the USAP will not be allowed to be used in the PPA Tour nor Major League Pickleball starting on April 1, 2025.

“UPA-A Certification Costs
For 2025, UPA-A Certification will cost a flat fee of $20,000 plus $5,000 for each model and $1,000 per variation.”

As speculated, the up front high cost serves to prevent mom-and-pop/garage paddle manufacturers from getting UPA-A paddle certification.

It’ll be interesting to see what paddle makers who stand behind the USAP—such as Selkirk—do with regard to UPA-A certification. If they don’t certify, they can’t sponsor any players to use their paddles in the PPA or the MLP.

The press release also states:
“MLP/PPA will require a licensing fee for paddle brands competing at the professional level.“

In other words, paddle makers have to be UPA-A certified and have to pay a currently unspecified fee to have their paddles appear in PPA or MLP events.

Players Pickleball

Tonight, I purchased a Players Rogue 2 Gel-Core paddle. I had a $50 credit, so it brought the price down to $89.99. The Gel-Core or the Gel-Core Ultra. I was thinking that the Ultra was too heavy for what I’d want… it’s about 8.6 ounces. So I decided against the Ultra.

Paddle Comparison

The Gherkin Aspire paddle on the left, my Players Rogue 2 paddle on the right for visual comparison. I did a bit more testing and the balance is actually fairly similar. The Gherkin’s center about 1/4″ higher than my Players’ paddle… and part of that could be the additional grip wrappings on my Players paddle.

Part of me is tempted to this Gherkin paddle the next time I’m out, but that would be the tournament tomorrow and that’s not happening! Using a paddle for the firsts time at a tournament is never a good idea!

Number of days on a court: 722
Number of total hours: 2,974
Number of paid coaching hours: 81.5

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

Tuesday, October 1, 2024 (Court Day #721)

Today was a really warm day in the 90s. As I was driving to Scotts Valley at 6:30 p.m., it was already sunset and it had cooled some.

City P&R Meeting

At 1 p.m. today, Mark Dettle, the president of the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club, and I had a virtual meeting with the Parks & Rec Department of the City of Santa Cruz regarding putting in pickleball courts at Depot Park. The meeting lasted about 45 minutes and we talked about how many courts we could fit, the proper orientation of those courts with regard to the sun, possible evening lighting, access and egress, possible neighborhood noise concerns… a wide range of things. If everything goes according to plan and we might have courts there as soon as spring or summer 2025. But you never know.

Tournament

René reached out last week about the tournament being hosted by the Rotary Club at Cabrillo College on Saturday. It’s a fundraising event. René was trying to line up a partner. I reached out to her today and she said that she didn’t have a partner yet. She was a bit concerned about the lack of competition since she knew that there would be at least a few 4.0+ players, but it would probably be pretty light beyond that.

We agreed to partner up and play in the tournament. René texted, “You have hella fast hands so we’re golden.” That’s it, instill confidence in your partner!

Skypark

My first game was with Mauricio against retiring Mike and a woman whom I don’t know. Mike said they were going to play in a tournament together on Saturday so they wanted to pair up. Mike said up front that he expected them to lose. We all did some crosscourt dinks and some drop shots and by the time we finish warming up about five or six minutes later we were already in the last court position. There, we started our game.

This, my first game of the evening, I played extremely well. Surprisingly, Mike and his partner scored a number of points and went ahead. They started targeting Mauricio relentlessly, but even then we eventually made the game close. It was tied up 10–10 in a back-and-forth, long game. In the end, we won 14–12.

More Games

I continued to play very well for another couple of games.

After about an hour, my play started to deteriorate. Mauricio and I played a game against Gabe and Paul W. and got clobbered. Everything that could go wrong, did got wrong. I returned serves long and popped up a few shots, Mauricio was popping up shots or hitting the ball into the net… it was generally bad. We went for a rematch and the result the similar.

Better

Later on, I played better. Rachel and I played a game against Spencer and a woman, maybe it was Christy, I can’t remember. I do remember one rally were the ball got popped up to Spencer directly across from me on the left side while we were both at the NVZ. He slammed the ball down at my feet. I managed to hit a low cross-court shot that landed outside of his partner’s left foot and she couldn’t get the ball back, hitting the ball into the net. Sometimes, you manage shots that are inexplicable. (Yeah, maybe I do have quick hands!)

There was a conversation about getting to the net on the return of serve. Paul was saying if you hit a bad return, it’s best to stop in the transition zone and give yourself time to react to a hard drive. My contention was people to run up until the opponent is about to hit the ball then you split step. “But then, since you are close, you don’t have time to deal with their drives.” “I could probably deal with it anyway.” Paul W. paused, looked at me and said, “You probably could—you were bringing it.” (I had my moments tonight.) There is some validity to Paul’s contention. If your return is absolutely terrible—very high and short—staying back to give yourself some time is probably not a bad idea.

Mauricio definitely had an off night. I typically see him play far better than he did this evening.

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Wednesday, October 2, 2024 (No Play)

Today, I noticed that Ernie Medina Jr. posted an article in the USA Pickleball Ambassador’s Facebook group.

Journal of Physical Activity and Health, Volume 21: Issue 9…

Pickleball Participation and the Health and Well-Being of Adults—A Scoping Review
https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jpah/21/9/article-p847.xml

Number of days on a court: 721
Number of total hours: 2,972
Number of paid coaching hours: 78.5

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

Sunday, September 29, 2024 (Court Day #720)

It was kind of chilly this morning. It was overcast and misting light droplets onto my windshield. It was 57°F. Almost cold enough for me to consider bringing a sweatshirt.

HS Reunion

Last night, the 1984 graduating class of Harbor High School had to small reunion at Fast Eddy’s Billiards in Capitola. While it’s been around since 1976, I’d never been there. They have an upstairs loft area and it was reserved for us. Patrick Smith—who was the one of the main organizers, if not the main organizer—is friends with the owner who gave Patrick a deal. The 1984 class invited the class before and the class after which is why I was there. I was in the class of ’85.

Two pickleball regulars were there, Rachel—who was in my class—and Sycha, who also came although she’s from the class one year younger than Rachel and me. There are about 30 people there. I was kind of surprised that Patrick Smith said that he remembered me. (He and I were the only two still sporting two full heads of dark hair!) We played football together in high school although with him being a year ahead of me, we very much traveled in different circles. I definitely remembered Patrick, although everyone called him Pat back in those days. Patrick prefers the long form of his name, just like I prefer my name. My high school coaches called me “Andy” regardless, so those who knew me from sports in high school still call me “Andy”.

Brommer

With the weather being not quite as nice, there was even more parking than normal and only four of the eight courts had games going on them.

My first series of games were lopsided and not particularly challenging.

Aaron & Kim B., Jordan

Tall Lefty Aaron B. arrived with his wife and introduced her to Jordan and myself. Her name is Kim and she comes from a tennis background. Kim played pretty well considering that I’d never seen her around before. She was still the weakest player on the court, but not a slouch by any means.

Jordan and I played several games against Aaron and Kim.

We won the first game in a decisive fashion.

The second game was a little closer 11–8.

Then we played a third game, which was not our best. Jordan was missing a lot of his serves for some reason… a mild form of the yips. We lost that one.

We went to play one last game as a group before I had to leave. Jordan dialed his serves back in and we won this one 11–6.

Those were good games.

I checked the time and it was 11:56 a.m. It was time for me to go home and get ready for teaching.

Classes

I had my first day of my new classes today. It was pretty routine. But I will comment on one thing. One of my beginning students, Josh, seemed a bit distant or disinterested at points during my class when I was talking and I was a bit concerned that he didn’t see any value in my class. However, at the end of the class he started applauding. You never know!

I suppose that another feather in my cap is the fact that one of my students, Tommy, who lives in Carmel and took my Beginner class, signed up and is taking my Advanced Beginner class. That shows that he felt that he got good learning value out of his initial class with me and is again willing to drive about an hour to take my next class, then later spend another hour driving home. That’s really something.

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Monday, September 30, 2024 (No Play)

Last week, it was announced the comedic actor Ben Stiller will be starring in an producing a pickleball-themed film called “The Dink.” Former tennis star Andy Roddick will also appear in the film.

Here’s an article in the Hollywood Reporter about it:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/ben-stiller-jake-johnson-pickleball-comedy-the-dink-1236011721

And an article from ESPN from a Roddick angle instead:
https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/41462504/andy-roddick-pickleball-movie-dink-ben-stiller

Number of days on a court: 720
Number of total hours: 2,970.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 81.5

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