Welcome to festival weekend!   It's not enough that Amazon is tempting us with discounts on just about everything, now local and travelling artists and craftspersons are offering beautiful, unique, and at times quirky manifestations of their talents calling out for the cash in our pockets.  Back in my days of gainful employment I trod many miles patrolling the campus side of the Arts Festival.  Besides processing a crime scene of an armed robbery and following a trail of small jewelry that a drunk thief stole from a booth and then managed to drop piece by piece that led to his room at a nearby fraternity, the memory that is almost constant is the heat.  One of the great pleasures in life is after walking a beat for 6 or more hours in typical "Arts Fest weather" is to head to the locker room and after removing your uniform shirt, undoing the Velcro straps to the ballistic vest and cool air conditioned air rushes in wraps itself around you and your sweat soaked undershirt.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, those were the days.  Let's move off of Memory Lane and blast off to the Pickleverse.

1. Portage Tournament - Good luck to local players competing in the tournament in Portage tomorrow and Sunday.  Hopefully next week I will have some photos of players sporting some hardware.

2. C3 Sports - I got some exciting news.  C3 Sports will be stepping up their presence in the local pickleball.  They have had very good availability, especially for groups looking to play as a private group, but their facilities have been in decline.  I have heard that they will be replacing the nets on their 2 roll-away nets and purchasing 2 new ones.  In addition, the pickleball court will be re-lined.  My hope is that the court lines will be unique and there will not be any dual purpose court lines.  As I learn more I will update you. If this all comes to fruition, this could be a game changer for them.

3. Pickleball Paddle Palooza Tournament - I had the opportunity to meet with one of the organizers for this tournament and was able to get some more details about the tournament.  It will be on July 29 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM at C3 Sports.  The theme is to be heavy on fun and community.  The games will be round robin, games to 11 (win by 1 I believe) with a time limit so as to maximize the number of games everyone gets to play, it is mixed doubles, no skill level brackets, there will be door prizes, silent auction, participation medals, tee shirts, and individual medals for the top 3 teams.  If you have never played in a tournament this would be a great way to get started.  The flyer with the QR code to access registration is attached to the blog.

4. OK, I just had a crazy idea.  You know how I just encouraged newbies to the tournament world to sign up?  What if some players did this?  How about players with previous tournament experience inviting a player that has never played in a tournament to partner up with them for the Palooza Tournament?  By the 29th I should be able to hold a paddle again (trigger finger release surgery next week) so I'm in the market for a partner that is tournament curious and looking to give it a go.  Message me if you are interested.  If I get multiple notes by the 18rh, I will pull a name from a hat and would be willing to help others match up.

5. One Day Fun Day Tournament - Remember this tournament has two parts.  You will be competing for individual glory AND if your club (like the Bernel Briners) have 5 or more teams playing they can compete for the Central PA pickleball cup, which the Bernel Briners currently hold.  I just looked and unless I miss counted, we need at least 1 more team.  More of course would be welcome and increase our chance of retaining the trophy.  This is a mixed doubles competition with 3 skill brackets of Low Intermediate, High Intermediate, and Advanced.  If you are not certain you might fit in check with me.  Last year we had a team that was disappointed that they only won 1 game; but, guess what, that one game was our team's margin of victory.  There is a flyer can be found here. This is a fun event, we set up tents and sat around in camp chairs and cheered each other on.

6. Johnstown YMCA Dogwood Pickleball Tournament - August 2nd (men and women's doubles) and August 3rd (mixed double) at the Johnstown YMCA.  This is one where the number of type of entries will determine the final groups of age range and skill bracket.  There is a basic flyer here and you can get additional information from the Johnstown YMCA Facebook/Web pages.  I will be playing mixed doubles in this one with SaraLee.  

7. Some Tournament Tidbits - I just looked and so far I am the oldest person registered.  For players not familiar with tournament groupings, for many smaller tournaments there is a 50 and under grouping and then 51+ or something similar.  I fall into 51+ group but because SaraLee is in the younger grouping, I have to move to her age grouping.  Similarly if two partners are at different skill levels, the expectation is that the lower skilled partner plays "up" with his/her partner in their skill bracket.  If you have higher skill players intentionally playing in lower brackets just to grab a medal, that is called sandbagging.  A major headache for tournament directors.

8. DUPR Players - In case you didn't hear, DUPR has adjusted their algorithm.  Completed matches will not only consider who and and who lost but point differential will also be considered.  If the computer had projected, based on current DUPR rating, that your opponents should have an easy win over you but you put up a good fight (lose but the score was 11 - 9), your rating would go up.  Conversely you opponents would go down.  I am sure I am oversimplifying it but you get the idea.

9. Tip Of The Week - I had mentioned previously about moving back when you are facing a potential ferocious overhead from an opponent but SaraLee shared with me a mental trick to help players remember.  When that attempted lob is going to be falling short and feeding right into the opponent's kill zone, tell yourself "When you hit crap, move it on back".  Now you can't do a full retreat but you want to create a little distance to give you more reaction time and be in position to take a low volley or block back a half-volley.  So here's the deal if you are my partner, if you hear me yell "crap" that is warning that my lob or high arc shot didn't turn out like I planned and you may want to moonwalk yourself back a few steps.
   
   

The links for indoor play are below.  Have a great weekend.  Remember to keep hydrating and taking the occasional when playing in this heat.  I may not be able to play for a couple weeks but I might swing by to harass encourage folks.  Peace.

C3 Sports:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0B4BA5AA28AB9-57525814-c3pickleball

The Centre:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0B4BA5AA28AB9-57525812-nvsc

Randy Hoffman

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