Thursday, August 10, 2017 (Court Day #56)

I arrived at Skypark in Scotts Valley at 6:45 p.m. I wasn’t able to leave work right at closing, we had a late customer needing my attention.

The courts were busy and I was the odd man out. Sitting on the bench by myself. Again. It seems that happens regularly in Scotts Valley for me! “Andrew!” It was Allan. “Come over here!” He was at the far end, a smile on his face. “Pickleball is not a spectator sport!” It was just us, but we had the opportunity to warm up with some dinking. I was grateful. After just a few minutes, a game broke up and the two of us were invited in and played. We won.

Maree and Mark were back. She said they’d been busy. I got to play in a game with Mark. You can’t get lazy with Mark, he’ll take advantage of opportunities. I don’t know how long he’s been playing, but he seems to be playing better the last couple months.

An amusing moment happened in one of the games when I hit a service return before it bounced—fault! That is an extremely rare occurrence. If I’ve ever even done that before, it was only once. I must have been daydreaming. A sign I that needed a more challenging game!

A humorous exchange happened when I was playing against Kris, the tall down-to-earth mellow former tennis player. She had a carry on one hit. The ball stayed on her paddle and was swung around in an unexpected direction. “That was more of a fling than a hit!”, she exclaimed. “I’ve had flings too!” I announced, until I realized what that sounded like! “Well, not FLINGS! You know what I mean!” (I’m a good, faithful husband!)

Olga and her husband Oleg arrived very late, it might have even been 8:45, after most people had already left. Janet and I played against them. Before we started, Janet told Oleg, “You are the best player on this court . . . no offense, Andrew!” I knew Oleg was a strong player, I played against him twice recently. I wasn’t entirely convinced he was better, but Janet usually knows what she’s talking about. Um, yeah. He’s better. He was a good balance for his wife Olga who is learning. I think Janet and I lost 11-7 or thereabouts. Oleg won at least three points driving a passing shot down the sideline outside of Janet’s forehand. Precision! Good spin, fantastic placement, quick reflexes, exceptional court perception regarding a ball heading in or out of the court.

We were about to play a rematch but Bruce wanted to head home so Janet was replaced by Mark Dettle. This time, we won. Olga returned at least 3-4 balls that were heading out—at least two of those were my errant shots. Oleg would yell, “No!” but it wouldn’t be quite in time for her to refrain from hitting it. Nonetheless, Olga is coming along. She returns balls that I’d expect a less experienced player to not return. And she can hit low, fast forehands.

After play wrapped up at 9:15, I quizzed Oleg a bit about his play. “I was an open tennis player and played racquetball too.” OPEN TENNIS PLAYER! Ahhhh! That’s why! No wonder!!

“Oleg, didn’t you say that recent game we played with Stuart was only your third time playing?”

“Yes, I believe it was.”

“That was a good game.”

“It was insane!”

I’m glad it wasn’t just me who thought that was a challenging game. I remember Janet—spectating-—commenting afterward how that game was inspiring to her.

Lesson for the Day

So, in my second or third game of the evening, my partner (to my right), stretched out with his backhand and took the shot and hit the ball into the net. I had an easy forehand shot. I didn’t say anything.

Later, I was playing with Jeanne (Eric’s friend) as my partner. She’s coming along, by the way. I was playing to her right. I stretched out with my backhand and took the shot and hit the ball in some crazy unhelpful direction. She had an easy forehand shot. I had just done the exact thing that I had been mentally scolding my earlier partner for! Colleen, enjoying the game from the bench, even advised, “Andrew, you just took your partner’s shot.” “Yes, I know,” I admitted sheepishly. I turned to Jeanne and apologized. (I didn’t get to play with Colleen, which is always fun, she’s great at getting the ball back over the net.) The key is trusting your partner to get shots in the middle that are their forehand. It relates to a comment by Joyce a month or two ago: “If you are going to poach, make it a winner.” Not that these were poaches, but still instances of being the partner’s shot.

Shoes

While I’ve been fooled before, but I’m hopeful that the epoxy will continue to hold the insoles. So far, so good. 100% solid tonight.

Health

Lately, I’ve been doing pretty well as far as aches and pains. My pinky is still not healed, but maybe  another week and it’ll be back to normal. I could feel my right glute at one point, but not all night. In the earlier half of the evening, after a smash, the muscle along the top of my forearm felt weird, like a slight pull. It’s still a little tender. And my right hip is a touch sore. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow, especially since we have a softball game at 9 p.m.!

Number of days on a court: 56
Number of total hours: 162