Schooled

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Our softball team won last night so we head to the playoffs next Friday night. Of my four at-bats, my first was a walk. My second was an infield grounder with two outs and I got thrown out at 1st base to end the inning. My third was an infield grounder with two outs and I got thrown out at 1st base to end the inning. (Again. Miserable.) My fourth at-bat was a stand-up double (with an RBI). At least I ended on a positive note. We wrapped up the season 5-5. We had one forfeit due to not enough women showing up and another game where we had to leave an outfield position empty for the same reason. You’d think with 9 women for 5 positions, you’d be ok. But that’s softball some years. As the #4 seed we go up against the #1 seed—who ended the season 9-1. A very strong team. At least, their only loss came against us! We’ll see if we can pull off an upset!

I was hoping to squeeze in some pickleball this morning, but with one person on vacation and another calling in sick, it’s into work I go. Alas.

My quads are a little sore from sprinting around bases last night. Bursts are much shorter in pickleball, so I should be fine playing tomorrow.

Sunday, August 20, 2017 (Court Day #59)

I arrived at 9:05 to Derby Park. It was overcast and would remain so for all day.

Things of note.

Greg offered to play with me against Kent—advanced player—and a lefty named Mark who was visiting for a month from Palm Springs. (His son is a UCSC student who is doing a summer class.) I had just played with Mark as my partner and knew that he was a solid player. Greg said he wanted a chance play with the “new, improved Andrew”. I told him that the new, improved Andrew wasn’t warmed up yet! (Even though I’d played 2-3 games—but sometimes it takes me 3 hours to play well!) The game was a schooling. Greg was maybe responsible for 2-3 points of our 11-0 loss . . . I got credit for all the rest. One or two returns in to the net, a slam into the net, a dink that was too high and got hit for winner . . . it was bad. So much for showing Kent how I was better than I was five months ago! Ouch! Embarrassing! Greg was a good sport about it, though. 

Oh, and it turns out that Greg is married to Angie, the woman I’d talked to whose daughter is heading into her junior year studying English at UCLA where my son is heading into his junior year studying Applied Mathematics. Though Greg said their daughter is studying abroad this year—not in L.A.—and they’ll be going to visit her at some point. Our daughter Charlotte—studying at Tufts—is hoping to go to Barcelona to study abroad in a year or two. My wife Kristen and I would like to head over there to visit her and sightsee. Parents like to do that!

The newbie Rolando returned. Apparently, he’s gotten hooked too. I told him that I’d play with him as my partner. “Are you sure?” Yes. We played against Eric and another player of marginal skill whom I can’t remember. It was a close game that Rolando and I won, not that it meant anything—I’m sure we weren’t trying all as hard. As Karen Long said, playing with less skilled players allows you to relax. But, also sometimes lazy and unfocused. I found myself not playing close attention and missing shots that I should have made. I made a conscious decision to be more focused and play as if each shot counted as important. These games are opportunities to improve just like a more challenging game.

In one of the games on the day, I noticed my right wrist was aching a bit. We’ll see if that was a one off thing.

The last two courts in use. Janet and Oleg take on Wayne and Gary on the near court.

The last game of the day was Stuart and myself against Oleg and Wayne. Stuart said, “I’ll play with Andrew . . . that’ll be fair.” As I walked to our side of the court, I said, “No, it’s not!” And it wasn’t. We took the lead and kept it for the whole game and won by a 2:1 ratio. Wayne has a rocket forehand with really good placement. His backhand is inconsistent at best—he can often get it over, but it’s a defensive shot typically. And his soft game is a surprise when it appears. Oleg is human and occasionally makes mistakes, but not often. He’s doing fantastic for only having played less than a dozen times. If I was picking teammates to win, I’d take Oleg over me. Stuart was relatively flowing with positive comments on my play. Gee, it only took me about four hours to get going…

Things wrapped up just before 1 p.m.

I felt today was a regression. While I had my moments, but overall, I wasn’t happy with my play. But it’s time on the court, right? I can only get better with time.

Number of days on a court: 59
Number of total hours: 170