In the immortal words of pop star Britney Spears, "Oops!...I Did It Again".  So there I was the game was ragin' and I was feeling pretty good.  I forget which of my opponents made a good drop shot and I was a few steps back off of the NVZ line so being cybernetically enhanced with my various pieces of ceramic and titanium I figured I had a good chance to reach the ball and counter.  Well, never got the chance.  I stepped with my right foot and it would seem the outsole of my shoe is a whole lot grippier than the sole.  Like a javelin spearing the earth, my foot came to a complete unbalanced stop.  Alas, the rest of me continued forward directly towards the net.  The next thing I knew I was sprawled flat on my stomach on top of the net which I took to the ground like like Jimmy Superfly Snuka coming off the top rope.   I take the customary, I guess when you tumble twice in 3 weeks it is now customary, moment of evaluation and after determining all systems were functional I gave two thumbs up.  Chris S. shouted out "Not again Randy". No nets were harmed in the making of this moment.  The really, really odd thing was that after the first fall I was done for a week, but after this fall I had an adrenaline rush and I almost felt like this one knocked everything back into whack.  So strange.  Let's look for more strange things in the Pickleverse.

1. The Centre - With next week being a holiday week and with a power shutdown on Tuesday, only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday will be available for play.  The SignUpGenius for those days has been formatted to reflect that.  Monday and Wednesday will have the normal private court rentals at 11:00 and 1:00.  On Friday there will only be the 11:00 AM session for private court rentals.

2. The Centre (Baby Watch) - Brie (the desk supervisor) has my email and will notify me when baby Logan decides to make his debut.  As I receive information I will share.  A big thank you to all those that stop when they check in and ask how she is doing and wishing her well.

3. C3 Sports - I have no reply to my inquiry about C3 Sports schedule for the coming week.  Not wanting to post inaccurate information I have opted to not post a SignUpGenius for them. If this is your venue of choice my best advice would be try to contact them directly.

4. Dinking In The New Year 2026 - With a bit over 50 registered players DITNY is beginning to pick up steam.  A flyer with more information can be found on the Tournaments page. I had someone ask me about the playing surface. The courts are asphalt with court paint surfacing.  The ball for the tournament will be the Selkirk Pro S1 which by design is an outdoor ball.

5. Last Week's Case For Grace - I received some very nice comments about last week's post and one person asked if perhaps we could set up a challenge court or king of the court during the drop-in that would create more opportunities for the players of a more advanced level to get more games with each other.  I am open to the concept and it is tumbling around in my head.  The one concept that I need to see is that all players have the opportunity to play about the same number of games for the drop-in fee they paid.  Keep those ideas coming folks.  BTW - the suggestion came from a mid-level player showing grace to help promote options for play.

6. The Case For Grace (Encouragement) - This is one were I don't often see failures but no harm in reminding everyone.  Everyone one will on occasion have a rotten day of play.  It can be discouraging.  Since most of us are predominantly doubles players the success or failure of a team can turn at times on one players bad day.  When I have a stinky day, I feel like I let my teammate down.  One of greatest lessons I learned early on was that you don't have limit paddle taps to your partner's winning shot.  At times a paddle tap and a quick "you'll get the next one" can lift a partner's spirit.  Do that for your partner and it might just come back to you when it your turn to stink up the joint. 

7. Pickleball Novice Group - I hope to have a date set for the next Novice Group Play in the next Pickle Jar.
   
   

Hey gang, the SignUpGenius for The Centre is down below. With a hectic holiday week in front of me I have a slim chance of maybe playing Wednesday so hit a couple of shots for me - and stay upright please.  Have a happy Thanksgiving and I will eventually see you on the courts.

The Centre:  Indoor At The Centre

Randy S. Hoffman

Pickleball: The art of keeping your eye on the ball…mostly.