I’ve probably said this here before, but I am repeating as a public service announcement -
PLEASE WEAR EYE PROTECTION of some sort!!
I was hit in the head on Monday, on my temple, and it still hurts. Another inch or two and it would have been my eye. You can get fine goggles for less than $20, probably less than $10.
Interesting analysis. I think(?) my pb pals and I play about that level, which he says is really 2.5 not 3.0. Makes sense. We consider ourselves advanced beginners, bronze/lowest level at the indoor court lessons and events.
Watch his other one’s. I have actually learned a lot from them and started trying things out. It really makes a difference. Today was a really good day until I pulled my calf muscle. Did some stretching. I should of stopped playing but of course I didn’t. Motrin and Voltaren to the rescue.
I watched some of the video, and I agree that the players seem more like 2.5 than 3.0. Thanks to league play I now have an official DUPR rating (not a guessed one.) It’s been hovering between 2.78 and 2.91, and now has a 90% accuracy rating (the more official DUPR games you play, the higher the accuracy of your DUPR.) I am definitely better than those players. LOL about the twirling!!
This is really something. Really good 12/15 year old playing a mid 20 year olds.
With all the senior citizens playing PB, it makes me think that we’ll start to see more ping pong tables in independent living centers etc.
After two knee & one hip replacement, previously competitive tennis player H moved on to pickleball. He recently joined a pingpong group that he’s really enjoying.
Yesterday evening I played PB almost 2 hours, with just one short game on the sidelines (the group had 9 signed up for 2 courts). Temp was in the 80s, so we all got a workout. Alas, I started at the “loser” court and stayed there the whole time (but only pickled in one game). Still it was a lot of fun, and I even met somebody from my home town in NY.
I’ve started organizing a weekly Fri 7am indoor PB event, 2 or 3 courts of ladies my level. It takes advantage of the $10 early bird court deal. In addition to text messaging (and one post on TeamReach), it involves old fashioned methods - clip board, cash envelope.
Again this week some of us opted afterward for some outdoor play at free courts a few mile away. So fun to be on the court with a variety players… laughing a lot (ha, especially when one or more of us loses track of the score - none in the group are competitive).
Tough PB morning for me -
I was playing with all men, all rated higher than I am, and they play hard. Someone hit a lob, over my partner’s head. He didn’t appear to be going backwards, so I rushed over to his side and prepared to hit the lob, as I have been “trained” to do. Meanwhile, he turned directly around and I almost smashed him in the face. It was really bad - I’ve never come anywhere close to an “accident” like that. I have been “slammed into the wall” by a guy who came rushing over to my side, and I couldn’t get out of his way, and I’ve hit people with the ball, but after the thing this morning I had to “take a minute” to get back in the game, and I never did quite recover. The guy was quite gracious, but it really freaked me out.
As mentioned above, I have been “trained” that if someone hits a lob, the person on the other side of the court should go behind the other person and hit it, so I was “doing the right thing” but I’ve never known anyone to just turn directly around while that was happening. It was a case where my brain couldn’t quite catch up with my arm to stop myself from hitting. Fortunately I hit the ball and not his face…
Glad it all turned out ok. I don’t have a regular partner, play a lot in various large groups… rotating each game. Sometimes that does make it hard to predict partner moves. It does sound like you were doing the right thing there.
He should have turned sideways to retreat to the ball, but I know I have certainly turned and ran straight back in an attempt to catch up with a lob - so I can see how this could easily happen. As @Colorado_mom mentioned, playing with new partners means everyone may not be trained to the same degree or even in the same tactics (we get different coaching techniques from different coaches at our club.) My league coach is not a fan of players switching sides, especially at the rec play level. He is training us to retreat for the lob (side shuffle; good skill to work on but we rarely do it successfully!) Thanks to league play, where points count towards standings, I have been learning to use my voice a lot more so my partner and I can better work together as a team. I think (hope?!) that if I were going for that lob I would say “I got it” as a heads up (and a cue for your teammate to move sideways.) But I’m sure it all happened so fast for both of you! Glad it didn’t result in an injury.
As I think I have said before, I don’t enjoy playing with the higher level/hard hitting men. The style of play is different, and I do think the risk of injury is higher, because as the lesser player I am playing tense and trying to do too much to stay with it and prove myself. I like my 2.5+ ladies group!! This morning we were a small group and we had some great sustained volleys where we did much more dinking rather than just batting the ball in the air. It was fun waiting to see which side would get the opportunity to go for the kill shot!
I was not “in the mood” to play with them this morning. I’d actually asked a couple of friends to see if I could move to a “lesser” rated court if they got there before me (I was dealing with an Amtrak customer service issue, but that’s for another thread), and instead a friend moved up to be on the same court as me. Then she “ditched me” because there were courts available and 3 other people needed a partner 
So, I had to continue playing every game.
I guess the “good thing” is I always get lots of points towards my movement goal when I play with the men. And it’s not like I rank myself highly - there I rank myself 3.75 (when I did 3.5 I won most every game, often by a lot) and the guys are 4.25 or higher. I think the people at the front desk know I WILL do it, and some people really don’t want to. It’s hard for them too during open play, when they can’t control who’s going to sign up.
ETA - not intended directly for you @Embracethemess…
Yikes—sorry that scary incident occurred. It would unnerve me too! Wow! Glad no one was injured but near misses can be really upsetting.
Happy to report I played during open play indoors again today, and I didn’t nearly kill anyone. On our court were 4 from my group and 2 men who were maybe a little bit better, but we were all pretty close. It was really fun.
The woman from my group who was playing “up” somewhat said she was working much harder than normal, but she did great.
It’s May, and we’ve had to play inside much more than outside this month (bc of wind and/or rain many days). Not good, but we deal with it.
I had quite the surprise last week when a nice gal from a group (all a bit better than me) where I sometimes sub invited me to a celebratory happy hour… her 80th birthday!
This week I sub’d in a group of former tennis players. Two seem to be less mobile than in younger years, but they still have some great shots. And a bit of spin. What irritates me is that I really “git what I git” with my shots. (My joke is that surely my opponents must be surprised where the ball goes because so am I.) So sometimes I want to do a nice easy serve or shot but end up making the player run more than intended.
In my response on the “What does your town need more of” thread I should have put outdoor pickleball courts!! I’m fortunate to have access to the indoor courts at my club but there are many people in our township that would like to play but have nowhere to do so.
Yes the tennis players are generally good at both the spin and placing their shots. I have not mastered the spin at all. My women’s group is having our first happy hour in early June, at the home of one of our players. Everyone bringing something including cups and plates. It will be a lot of fun to be with everyone off the court!
So after taking a week off from a calf injury plus work and going out of town, I played yesterday and will again tomorrow. We play mix women /men and most of the women are excellent. I learn so much from everyone. I had a really bad game. Then a good game then I played well but lost then…and so on. I am working on a few thing’s and getting better but really would like just to be more consistent. But I guess that just comes with playing more. But it’s great to see some player’s really improving and coming up to speed. I would just like to make another slight jump up. But it’s really fun and I sweat so… That’s a plus
I removed the post since a member stated it could be a scam. I don’t think it was but still
