STATUS QUOtes — 20150331

“If you fuel your journey on the opinions of others, you are going to run out of gas.” — Steve Maraboli

“The soul helps the body, and at certain moments raises it. It is the only bird that sustains its cage.” — Victor Hugo

“There is an applause superior to that of the multitudes: one’s own.” — Elizabeth Elton Smith

“Trust me, you can dance.” — Vodka

STATUS QUOtes — 20150330

“Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more.” — Louis L’Amour

“The price of greatness is responsibility.” — Winston Churchill

“Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.” — Tennessee Williams

“Legend: A lie that has attained the dignity of age.” — H.L. Mencken

STATUS QUOtes — 20150329

“We hear voices in solitude, we never hear in the hurry and turmoil of life; we receive counsels and comforts, we get under no other condition . . .” – Amelia E. Barr

“After all it’s the people you hold close to your heart who have the power to make you bleed.” — Ally Carter

“Words calculated to catch everyone may catch no one.” – Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.

“Genius makes its observations in short-hand; talent writes them out at length.” – Christian Nestell Bovee

Pickleball: Almost Just Like You

The link below is to the Grand Canyon State Games 2015 men’s Pickleball finals in El Mirage, AZ between Justin Rodgers & Dave Weinbach and Steve Wong & Aspen Kern.

I would encourage you to watch the video. I wouldn’t say it is an exceptionally exciting match, but there are some good observations that can be made:

These are top notch players, perhaps best in the world, and they make the same mistakes we all make. They just make them less often.

  • Notice how much of the game is played in or near the non-volley zone.
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  • Also note how every once in a while the direction of the shot is changed by the player hitting the ball into the opposing non-volley zone. Angling the shot seems to give the offensive player better odds at getting the ball over the net and keeping it shallow and low. I have found this to be the case in my playing as well.
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  • Interestingly, the lob was NOT used to back the opponents off of the non-volley zone area. Beginners and some intermediate players use the lob quite often. This underscores the difficulty of making great lob shots and turning a defensive position in to an offensive one.
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  • The players do not serve hard, but try to serve in such a way that they can get to the net on the third shot or shortly thereafter.

 

STATUS QUOtes — 20150328

“But our preferences do not determine what’s true.” — Carl Sagan

“Happiness always looks small while you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and you learn at once how big and precious it is.” — Maxim Gorky

“The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you.” — Kendall Hailey

“Art is anything you can get away with.” — Marshall McLuhan

STATUS QUOtes — 20150327

“Inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that’s where you renew your springs that never dry up.” — Pearl Buck

“If you talk to the animals they will talk to you and you will know each other. If you do not talk to them, You will not know them. And what you do not know You will fear. What one fears one destroys.” — Chief Dan George

“We love the things we love for what they are.” — Robert Frost

“We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone.” — Unknown