Paso Robles Pickleball Club

Friday, January 10, 2014

Important Pickleball Meeting On Monday, January 13th

Our Paso Robles Pickleball Club Website: www.pickleballpasorobles.shutterfly.com Join us for Pickleball anytime you are visiting the Central Coast of California. Paso Robles was recently named the 2013 "Wine Region Of The Year" by Wine Enthusiast Magazine. Pickleball and wine tasting. Sounds great!!!!

A reminder that we have an important meeting on Monday, 4 PM, in the Live Oak Room at Centennial Park. We are making a proposal to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee. Your attendance and support would be greatly appreciated. Should not take very long. We are the only presentation on the agenda.

29 players today. This is a new attendance record, and although we do not like to see players having to wait for courts, we knew this day was coming. Thank you for your continued attendance and passion for the game. We are growing and it is nice to see.

Enjoy a few pictures from today's play.....

Friday, January 3, 2014

New Year's Resolutions

Will She Hit A Placement Or Power Shot?

Our Paso Robles Pickleball Club Website: www.pickleballpasorobles.shutterfly.com Join us for Pickleball anytime you are visiting the Central Coast of California. Paso Robles was recently named the 2013 "Wine Region Of The Year" by Wine Enthusiast Magazine. Pickleball and wine tasting. Nice way to spend the New Year!

Albert Einstein once said "it is a form of insanity to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results." Hmmmm.....sound familiar? You are six months....nine months....a year....into playing Pickleball, still swinging away, still trying that service ace, still playing a power game, still neglecting the short game, still losing against the better players....and still expecting that your game will produce different results. Time to make some changes. Time to set some 2014 Pickleball resolutions.

Ever heard of 'living backwards?' This is a goal-setting technique (let's look at it in terms of Pickleball) whereby you decide what kind of game you want to be playing in 3-6 months. Set some goals: (1) more consistent placement of serve; (2) better, softer return of serve that allows you to get to the net; (3) less power game, better placement game; (4) better, more patient short (dink) game; (5) better understanding of positioning on the court; (6) better communication with partner. OK, you get the idea. NOW, move back in time to the present and decide what is is you need to do every time you play to achieve these goals. Sounds easy, but if it were easy, everybody would be good. 1% daily improvement over a hundred days....not 100% improvement in one day. There's that patience thing again.

Start with fundamentals. Get to the courts a little earlier and work on your game. Decide what you are going to work on and do so while playing. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals....without them, the fancy stuff is not going to work.

Improvement comes by choice, not chance.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Club Pickleball Mixer Tournament

Our latest "rated, blind draw, differential" Club tournament seemed to be a success. We tried a new format for the tournament which centered around giving each player a skill rating, doing a blind draw for teams and seedings, creating a point differential, and, adding in some Club rules like no overhead smashes and no lobbing. Seemed to make the play a little more equitable....and, therefore, maybe a little more fun. The point differential mentioned above refers to a system whereby a team with a rating of 7.0 (a 4.0 player paired with a 3.0 player = 7.0 rating), playing a team with a 5.0 rating (two 2.5 players) would start the game trailing 4-0 (differential is 2 X 2 = 4; we multiply the differential 7.0 - 5.0 = 2 by 2 = 4). Highlights of this double elimination tournament included the newer, less aggressive team of Richard La Vine and Ellen Frost losing their first two matches, 11-9 and 11-4. No fun losing, but decent parity. We also saw the team of Robert Belmonte and Nevin Linthacum go undefeated in the tournament. Each match was one game played to 11 points (except for the finals....15 point match). They won their preliminary rounds 11-4, 11-0, 11-9. In the finals, they beat the team of Alan Belmonte and Steve Sidwell 15-12. Third place winners Tony Domingos and Carol Linthacum lost in the first round 8-11, and then won in the loser's bracket 11-8, 11-8, before losing to Alan Belmonte and Steve Sidwell 10-12.

Thank you to the following players for participating: Brett Noel, Bill Joyce, Pete Gomez, Janice Van Bever, Robert Belmonte, Nevin Linthacum, Kathi Stanley, Janet Van Boxtel, Alan Belmonte, Steve Sidwell, Scott Ellis, Kelly Forrestal, Ellen Frost, Richard La Vine, Tony Domingos, Carol Linthacum, Dick Solis and Rob Martin.

L-R: 1st Place - Nevin Linthacum and Robert Belmonte; 2nd - Alan Belmonte and Steve Sidwell

Monday, December 23, 2013

Playing Pickleball With Santa

Santa visited our Club this morning, joining 24 Pickleballers having fun at Centennial Park here in Paso Robles. Tomorrow, Christmas Eve morning, we will play at 8:30 AM. Join us. You will still have time to do some last minute errands.....after PB.

If we do not see you, have a Very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Looking Merry and Bright

Santa Picklin. Doesn't Pete look good in Dodger blue!!!!

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Merry Christmas From The Paso Robles Pickleball Club

Enjoying our 15th month of Pickleball......Best Wishes For A Great Holiday Season

Friday, December 20, 2013

Club Pickleball Tournament

25 players today as we had a for-fun-blind-draw-single-elimination-tournament. Prior to the start of the tournament, the "everyone up" call when out to the participating players asking them to gather round so we could explain the format, rules, etc. Ever called out to a group of mature players (O.K., senior players) asking them to "gather up?" 10 minutes later.....

I digress. This was actually a seeded, blind draw tournament, pairing some of our more experienced players with a less experienced partner. We wanted the tourney to only go for the first hour of the two-hour class. Thusly, the single elimination format. Coming away with top honors was the team of Shelly Hanna-Tom Comar, defeating Pete Gomez-Kelly Forrestall 11-8. Third place went to Tony Domingos-Ed Rodriguez, who were victorious over Scott Ellis and Ellen Frost, 11-6.

A big thank you to the other participants in this tournament: Kathy Stanley, Reggie Haggatt, Sue-Lin Bracken, Letty French, Steve Sidwell, Richard LeVine, Dick Solis, Cathy Brady, Don Odle, Janice Van Bever, Dick Beiden, Nancy Mello, Doug Bates, Keith Haynes, Cal French, Bob McLaughlin.

L-R: Pete Gomez, Kelly Forrestall, Shelly Hanna, Tom Comar, Ed Rodriguez, Tony Domingos

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Christmas Pickleball

Did Santa Win Or Lose?

Not Christmas yet, but today had all of us feeling like the festivities have started. Our courts are located adjacent to Lewis Middle School here in Paso Robles. The school P.E. instructors had their classes out doing fitness assessment workouts. Not so uncommon. What was particularly nice about their workout was the music---Christmas. Two very large speakers and an instructor who may work nights as a D.J. combined to give us two straight hours of Christmas songs courtesy of Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, Brenda Lee (you know...."Rockin Around The Christmas Tree"), Elvis, The Carpenters, Bobby Helms (bet you can't name his most famous Christmas song), Bing, etc. Could have used Chris Rea ("Driving Home For Christmas"....if you haven't heard it get on iTunes and listen), Mannheim Steamroller and Manhattan Transfer. It was a perfect day to play.

On a Pickleball related subject, I'm compelled to write about positioning----once again....yawn!. We encourage players to get to the NVZ line as soon as possible. What is important to understand is that "as soon as possible" means when you or your partner hits a shot---dink or lob---that allows you to get to the 7' line. You can't rush the net on a poor shot that hangs up for your opponent to BANG DOWN on, because you have very little reaction time as a result of being too close. Work your way to the net based on your return shot. Good return---soft and at their feet---get to that line. Poor return---in their "hitting down" zone....stay deeper for more reaction time and try---again---for the soft shot that allows you to advance. Yes, we want to get to the 7' line, but only if your shots allows you to do so.

Back to the Christmas music. Very festive and relaxing. Makes you wonder why you don't have your iPod strapped to your arm? Better check the IFP rules on that one!!!!

Happy Holidays......