Wednesday, March 29, 2017 (Court Day #9)

Before I talk about today, I want to mention something good from Sunday. I remembered one point that went perfectly. I had hit a shallow crosscourt shot from left to right and forced Alan a bit off the court. He managed to return it, but Paule successfully hit the ball right into the gap I’d created between Alan and Robin. It was my first successful strategic point like that. It felt good.

Onto today…

It was a beautiful morning. Sunny. Warm. I got to the court at almost exactly 9 a.m. I beat John to the court. Eric was there and we helped Stuart set up one of the nets.


Early. John setting up, Terry Long (in white) talking to a woman, and some dude’s butt (sorry). 

I put my GoPro into my shorts pocket and was able to record a few games. It’ll be good to analyze when I get a chunk of time to sit down and go over them.

Today, the club tried something different, designating a couple courts as the intermediate and the advanced challenge courts. Players would place their paddle in a holder next to the court and rotate in. Winning teams would stay on the court but be split up. The losing team would be removed. A player could only win twice before he/she would have to rotate out.

I figured it’d be good experience to try the intermediate challenge court. I played one game in the court against Marie and my friend John. I was partnered with a fellow named Mike. About my height, curly gray hair, and a mustache. Mike was a bit gruff. He had reason to be, he had me as a partner! I was hitting ball either too low (into the net) or too high (slammed back). Not good. One comment from him was, “Where were you aiming?” which I took as “Why the hell did you just hit it right into the net?” It was probably even more frustrating to me than for him. Almost all the pickleball players do a good job hiding any frustration and are encouraging and welcoming. For example, 4.5 player Karen Long (wife of Terry), while she was sitting waiting, provided some encouraging words when I made a winning hit, “Andrew! Nice shot!” For good or bad, Mike is apparently one of those blunt people who tells you exactly what is on his mind. I don’t know what to make of him quite yet. But he certainly plays better than I do.

The—kind of—Ace

A fellow named Richard whom I’d never seen showed up later in the day. Pleasant man. He and I played against Maree and Gary. Maree (married to Mark) is no slouch and is a solid player. I did manage to serve one ball low, shallow, and outside that she could only barely return into the net. I have to get those once in a while, but the thing is that when a serve like that fails, the returner is right up at the net instead of being kept back a the line—or the serve just lands out. Richard and I pulled away leading 9-3, but they clawed back into the game 11-11. Richard and I ended up winning by the skin of our teeth. I was expecting us to lose handily.

The crowd got thin and Richard and I ended up doing dinking practice against each other, while one other remaining court had a game going. Alan (not the English accent Alan I played with on Sunday) kicked us off since it was time and he wanted to head out.

Lunch!

Play wrapped up almost exactly at noon and Eric invited me to lunch with he and his friend Ted. I had my first hamburger in a Mexican food restaurant today. Sacrilegious, but I couldn’t pass up trying it. And, yes, they did a fine job with it!

Eric asked Ted if he was playing tomorrow night. Tomorrow night? Eric said Scotts Valley has an ongoing unofficial gathering on Thursday evenings. I thought it was a one-off thing, but apparently not. Maybe I’ll get to play again tomorrow! I need a lot of work on my “goldilocks hits”—not to high, not too low!