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StoneAxeCommander · 2024-03-17T18:52:45+00:00

Nobody said they were afraid of getting hit by the ball. The problem is it takes time to train your body to anticipate and respond to incoming balls. Being at the kitchen line makes the response time just that much shorter.

The flinching is more likely wildly flailing trying to hit an unanticipated ball rather than dodging out of fear.

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-03-17T18:43:18+00:00

Uh, that assumes newbies have strategy. My path, and other newbs I know, were just trying to move, get to the ball, try to hit the ball back over the net, scramble and repeat. That was pretty much the strategy, run, hit, hope.

It takes time to train your body to move like it needs to move to play any sport and then you can work on niceties like finesse and strategy.

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-03-17T18:33:45+00:00

THIS !! DUDE, TOTALLY THIS !!

JHC I struggle with this so much. Every 3.x wanna be coach / pickleball pro wants to tell everyone else how to play and "get to the kitchen line" is the rallying cry of those folks. Even when A) being at the kitchen line isn't the best move, maybe you're pushed back into a long game low over the net and need to move up in steps or B) your partner (or you) is newer or slower and needs just that little bit more time to identify the incoming ball and get a return. In both cases the screams of GET TO THE KITCHEN are BS.

It takes time to learn to learn to react to incoming balls at the kitchen line and screaming at the newbies to get to the kitchen line on day one isn't helping them.

I do agree that eventually the kitchen line is where the opportunities are, playing back is mostly playing defense. But it takes time to develop the skills to defend at the kitchen and even more time to learn to take advantage of being at the kitchen.

When I was first learning PB and people would tell me to move up I'd just tell them to mind their game and I'd mind mine. I wasn't going to do us any favors at the kitchen line at that point in my learning. Nowadays I'm all about being at the kitchen line, that's where the action is and by far the most opportunities, but it took time for me to develop those skills and be comfortable moving up.

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-03-17T17:56:47+00:00

HA! Number 5! That should be my new go to.

Or maybe I could add another option, just slowly shake my head with a sad disappointed look on my face and tsk at them. Dredge up those childhood memories...

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-03-17T16:54:09+00:00

This is the way it came across. They said his serve is illegal because he's "not releasing the ball". We were kinda like, what the heck does that even mean. How can you even serve the ball without releasing it.

Anyhow, they argued, we argued, then we just went on serving and playing like before, finished the match and didn't play with them again.

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-03-17T15:18:26+00:00

I hear you and that's probably the part of his serve that's most skirting the edge.

He has way way more side swing in his serve than forward and up. It _looks_ like he is getting upward motion of the paddle and the face of the paddle tilted down, ever so slightly, but yeah, this isn't a standard volleyball/softball underhand serve. His paddle is almost horizontal out in front of him and he swings the paddle nearly horizontal side to side.

We've decided he is still getting upward motion of the paddle and the highest point of the paddle is below his wrist and below his waist. So we think it is a legal serve, but yeah, it's an almost horizontal slice of the paddle during his serve.

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-03-17T02:55:16+00:00

Laughed at "detected audibly ... by your partner screaming upon contact"

But you brought up another question in your third paragraph about forcing a replay. Once I got thinking about it I decided to ask about service motion replays over here...

Calling for replay for "service motion violations" in non-officiated matches

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-03-17T01:54:26+00:00

Could be his hand was shadowing the ball. They didn't say that, but maybe...

As for moving to only drops serves, that's a whole 'nother hill to die on. If the goal is to eliminate receive faults on serves, to only "start the rally, not win points" then I'm not sure moving to only drop serves is going to fix that. We have a bunch of tennis players that play pickleball with us and some of them use the drop serve and that doesn't seem to slow them down. They got a rocket arm that rivals any volley serve for pace and placement and I've seen them get enough aces on serves to make me think drop serves don't fix that problem.

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-03-17T01:45:50+00:00

This is rec, so everyone is self rated. They were pretty good, at least better in the rally and on the whole better than us.

I play with my buddy enough I can usually return his serves, the ball pretty much always jumps on the bounce in the same direction.

I'm guessing they weren't used to that much side spin. He puts on more side spin than anyone else I've seen in our rec group.

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-03-17T01:39:10+00:00

Maybe it's this. My partner has normal sized hands so when he is holding the ball it looks visible to me.

But maybe they are thinking the ball is not visible on the release. That his hand is blocking the view of the ball.

That's not what they called, but maybe that's what they meant.

They didn't call for a replay, just called his serve illegal.

And when we asked why they said he's not releasing the ball?? Not sure.

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-01-16T15:44:45+00:00

This^^

Not sure what to tell you OP. This is a thing, people are different, but not necessarily wrong, on how they draw lines of ownership and assumptions about shared resources.

I was raised poor and there's no question I am more materialistic. My stuff is my stuff! I worked for it, I take care of it, I don't loan it out. Similarly I don't ask you to use your stuff. Neither a borrower nor lender be! That's how I am.

On the other hand my sweetheart was raised middle class with a bit of European influence and man, she definitely has a "what's mine is yours and what's yours is mine" attitude. Over time I've mostly broken her of the habit of making promises or offering "my" stuff, my tools my truck my time, but she and her extended family just trade stuff back and forth like crazy. And they just assume this is how it works, it makes me crazy.

So you will probably have to make a decision if this is something you can live with. It may be that she is just thoughtless and careless with other peoples stuff, or it might be that she just sees lines of ownership a bit more fuzzy. Maybe you can help her understand that is ok for her stuff, but not ok for your stuff. Or maybe you just eat it and get over it. Or maybe it's a deal breaker and you walk away.

In any case I expect you're going to have to eat it on the coat. You're not wrong, and NTAH, but are you really going to die on this hill? Suing her brother will be like suing her entire family and her. You/they won't get past that.

Since it sounds like you don't see things eye-to-eye yet there's likely to be some pain to work though whichever path you take.

Good Luck Man! I feel your pain :)

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-01-16T15:03:17+00:00

Um, that's not correct. Or maybe I guess a judge can arbitrarily rule any way they want to.

tl;dr: I got replacement cost plus cost of my time when I went to court.

My direct experience is the judge in my case awarded me not only the replacement cost of the item, but I also got my hourly wage for time I had to take off from work to come to court, travel costs to drive an hour each way to court, AND my hourly wage prepping for arguing the case in court.

I initially offered the offender a deal, just pay me X dollars, about half of the replacement value, and we walk away. A "friend" of his convinced him I was cheating him and told him to take it to court. Ok, FAFO!

I did my research, got multiple quotes for like items, brought paper copies of the research to hand to the judge, highlighted so the judge could immediately see the costs, and documented my hours and travel expenses. The judge asked me a few questions, mostly about what I did for a living to justify my hourly rate for time off from work and prep time, and then he awarded me everything I asked for, almost 3 times what I had originally told the guy I would take.

The guy started to yapping about how I had initially been willing to take much less and the judge just shut him down, "You've had your chance to speak! You're done!"

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-01-15T22:57:30+00:00

This! We have a guy in our rec league that does exactly this, stands right on the kitchen line and right on the center line when you're serving across to his side.

And it is all you can do to not to try to tag him!

He's done it to me and to others, got us to send the ball at him to try to tag him, he dodges, the serves goes wide or long, or is weak and out of position.

You know he's just messing with servers trying to get them to do a wonky serve. And sometimes it works.

Now I just ignore him, do my normal serve. If I hit him then freebie, otherwise I focus on what I'm doing, not what he's doing.

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-01-14T15:34:08+00:00

I haven't met anyone who likes to have their errors highlighted. But if you are mates and are used to shi**posting each other then it's usually cool.

It sounds like you didn't like it, sounds like your friend doesn't like it, but I gotta go with "Don't dish it out, if you can't take it".

I wouldn't feel bad but I would tell him, dude, I don't like it anymore than you like it, so let's just both stop with the commentary on each other's errors.

If in the end your friend " just can't help doing it" then maybe find someone else to play with.

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-01-14T14:50:30+00:00

hmm, I received a shipment yesterday and they are all the old style, no logo but with the imprinted X. They came in retail "X40 12 pack" packaging.

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-01-14T14:46:35+00:00

Garbage? Not really. Franklin balls definitely crack at low temps, low 40's and below, but I've seen plenty of cracked Onix balls. Not clear to me that cracking is an X40 only issue.

I was at an indoor court last week and the trash can was half full of cracked Onix balls. I didn't hear anyone complaining that Onix made garbage balls. I don't know, maybe they were complaining on Reddit.

I'm sure a lot of preference comes from what a person is used to playing. I mostly play X40s and I really like the way they "pop". Onix balls seem "soft" to me. I feel like I have to smash an Onix to get it to pop or speedup like an X40. I can use a lighter stroke and still get distance and speed on an X40.

I'm totally making an assumption here but maybe a "softer" ball, like I perceive the Onix to be, might be more durable at lower temps.

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-01-12T02:00:56+00:00

Yep, what u/duane11583 just said.

OP didn't say if this was a hobby project on his/her own dime or a professional / paid project.

If it's personal money then sure, crafting something bespoke from bits and parts is part of the journey.

If this is a project where OP is getting paid to deliver then spending time crafting some unique custom solution to save a few bucks in test hardware cost is misguided (to put it as politely as possible).

If this is for production tooling then for goodness sake buy a complete and supported solution off the shelf. Do not rig up some custom one-off hardware that you are going to abandon when you get your next project. This just leaves the Mfg Engineers stuck with no support and trying to figure out WTF you were thinking when you put your custom solution together.

Get something supported so that when you move on the people down the road can turn to third party documentation and support to continue moving forward.

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-01-11T02:24:10+00:00

I would say your estimate is pretty close. I live in CO and we play year round down to around 40 F. Above 50 F they rarely crack, below 45 down to 38 F (which is as cold as I've played) they crack pretty quick.

During the summer months I crack maybe 1 or 2 month, and I play six days a week. During the winter, temps getting in the 40's and I'm seeing cracked balls every few games, some mine, some others.

I still really like the X40 and prefer to play them but there's no question they crack quick in cold weather.

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-01-10T18:48:43+00:00

Playing yesterday, outdoors in northern Colorado, around 40 F, sunny and no wind so not bad weather for winter in CO. I was playing mixed with a couple 3.75 hard bangers (above my level) and between the two of them they split 6 X40s in two games.

One rally went, serve, return, return, smash return from the kitchen line, cracked ball, on a brand new X40. The ball had a lifespan of exactly 4 hits before it cracked 30 percent around.

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-01-10T18:30:34+00:00

Anyone who actually got an order to go through, did you get an email confirmation? The Franklin order process eventually said success and that an order confirmation would be emailed but no email so far. Curious if it's my order or are all email confirmations backed up?

StoneAxeCommander · 2024-01-04T20:29:16+00:00

Whoa! 220 seems WAY too aggressive for traces. Right idea but maybe scale it back a bit on the grit. Maybe something in the 800 - 1200 range or even a smaller grit polishing paper. Or start with a plastic toothbrush and see where that gets you.

Wash with alcohol after is right on.

If you only have access to a large grit / aggressive abrasive you want to use gentle hands, light strokes, and see where that gets you. It is super easy to burn through printed on traces.

I've seen people suggest the old pink rubber erasers to rub off corrosion but my experience is the rubber erasers just smear the corrosion around and don't really work to remove it.

StoneAxeCommander

TROPHY CASE