Ericson’s Pickleball Birthday Weekend 🎾🎂

Today was a full day, the good kind of tired—the kind that comes with family, pickleball, and a lot of food.

We started the morning early since Ericson had an early training session with his new pickleball coach, Sophie. I’ll be honest, I still prefer Coach Vi, but his availability just doesn’t line up with Ericson’s weekend schedule right now. That said… Coach Sophie is available—and yes, she’s cute 😂, so Ericson didn’t seem to mind one bit.

More importantly, it turned out to be a really solid session. Ericson told me he learned a lot, and Sophie helped him clean up several bad habits. One big thing she caught was that he kept lifting his back foot when swinging, which was throwing off his balance. Once they worked through that, his strokes looked much more controlled. His backhand has always been solid, and now his forehand is starting to come together too.

Footwork though? Yeah… still a work in progress. He’s got effort, but he looks a little clumsy out there moving around the court. Nothing reps and time won’t fix.

After the session, we headed home to reset and get ready for Ericson’s pickleball birthday party at CnP Grand Prairie. My wife’s side of the family came out since my family isn’t based in Texas, and it was great having everyone together. The kids had a blast running around, playing pickleball, and just being kids.

We also tried something new—CnP’s Sunday brunch, which is now the only food option until 2pm on Sundays. We hesitated at first, but it was lunchtime and there was no way we were skipping food with that many people. Turns out, it was actually pretty good. Pricing was reasonable too:

• Adults: $26

• Kids (5–12): $6

• Kids 4 and under: Free

After the party wrapped up, we headed back to the house and kept the celebration going. Nothing fancy—just family, food, laughs, and a birthday well spent.

All in all, a long day, but a really good one. Pickleball in the morning, family in the afternoon, and memories all the way through.