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How we got here, part 4

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           The tournament...    The day of the tournament arrives I can't get access to the hall until an hour before people are due to start playing! Cricketers are still at their practice, whacking the ball around but there is a safe space to start putting the nets together, so I get to work. Cricketers clear off with around 45 minutes to go, time to mark up the NVZ... which takes longer than it should, but thanks to help from some of the incoming players gets done in time.   Get all players to register via a google form (who knew only one person could enter data at once - even on multiple devices?). Accepting terms and conditions, etc...  Then on with play - round robin, everybody plays with as many others as possible - 9 rounds over 4 courts with 23 people playing (one late drop out)... Players from 20s to 80s whacking the ball in all directions.  After 9 rounds, using the pickleheads app to create and record matchups, the top 3...
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OFF TOPIC: Polestars 2 and 4

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Some of you will know that I took the plunge into Electric Cars a couple of years back, leasing a black Polestar 2. Shadowfax     I've taken this to and from the continent, and the only time I've had problems charging it was in Oxford finding a working fast charger.   It is a great car... But the other week it died (RIP Shadowfax), or rather the 12 v battery, that runs the onboard systems, as well as the TPAM battery both died. These don't get charged by the charging infrastructure, but are charged when driving - I'm not sure how they got discharged as I'd driven to and from Oxford the previous day, and had 39% charge on the drive battery. The next day I tried to unlock it but.... dead as a doornail, it was emulating a Norwegien Blue - pushing up the daisies, it was an ex-polestar.... Recovery person came out and  'jump started' it but told me it was likely to happen again within a week, and I should get it to the garage, via the Polestar recorery, ASAP. The...
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The gentle pok sound of Tennis dying?

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Tennis Dying? Video is self explanatory...    
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PPL - a bit of a shock to the system...

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  So... I went along to the Franklin Premier Pickelball League draft/try out and pickleball festival yesterday... Got a bit of a shock with most players there were 4.2+ and playing how we generally play just didn't cut it!  The techniques I've been taught to coach - up to 3.5 level - just don't work A Long-Dink, for instance, as third shot, just gets pummeled as the players whip the ball adding top spin from balls beneath the level of the net... And anything slightly high turns into a volley-battle... Lots still to learn... It was great fun though - I learnt a lot through losing.. And hope to be back next year, to see how much I've improved (IF my legs can cope).. 8 hours of pretty non-stop play has left me hobbling a little today - by the 17:00 I was struggling to waddle up to the NVZ...   A number of players were using the REAL Ben John's Perseus IV -  to which my 'knock-off' got compared favourably! (even without JOOLA written on it - though probably not ...
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New Paddles, What a difference!

 OMG... I got my new paddles through (from Ali-Express and AliBaba) the other day, and was able to try them out for the first time yesterday...   What a difference.. The Ben Johns Perseus clone feels so close to the real one - it looks, feels and sounds exactly the same (to my unpracticed ear), so much so that I think the blurb on the site might be true - and that this is essentially a pre-press of the real thing - it even has Ben's Signature on it... Now I KNOW how easy it is to put whatever graphics you like on a paddle (see my upcoming Pickleball Cabin Paddles - but that's another blog), but this feels real.. AND I can do a *proper* banana server with it - the first time I tried I was astonished!   At the weekend I was playing at the Premier Pickleball League event - Draft/Festival, a senior coach/player asked me to take a look at my Ben John's paddle commented that it seemed exactly the same as the REAL one... but said I'd not be allowed to use in a real tourney.......
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First coaching sessions complete...

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Today I ran two training sessions using techniques from the PbE level 1 course, only the second recorded, 'cos I'm a Muppet.    Photo from the first session Not sure how to attach the video to here .. here's a link to it:  video of training session...
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How did we get here, part the third.

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Usually the 2nd sequel is less than stellar, I won't disappoint on this front...   Straight back in to the action... Running a tournament... Ouch.. didn't quite know what I got myself in for... I thought: just put it on pickleheads, if you build it they will come... And then.... Floodgates didn't open... I asked around, verbally, checked with people at Friday night pickleball etc... but only a trickle of people interesetd... so I needed to do more.   I reintroduce myself to Facebook, joined various Pickelball Groups (e.g. Pickleball England), and used Canva (and it's AI) to generate a Poster for the tournament - called it the Two2 tournament (on 2nd Feb)  and started posting on Facebook in groups, etc.. not just about the tourney, but about sessions we were having. Meanwhile I managed to get myself invited to a tryout session at Surrey Downs Pickleball Club (because I posted an ad for the tourney there) - went along, and held my own enough to get asked back. Started sha...
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