Friday, September 1, 2017. (Court Day #64)
80 degrees. At 8:50 a.m. Yeah. This will be one hot weekend! I arrived at Brommer a few minutes after 9. Folks were warming up—am I’m not just talking temperature! As more people came, the signup board came out. At about 10:15, Karen Long wisely told everyone to move to the parking lot side of the courts where there is grass and a large shady tree. Protection from the sun was very welcome. So the signup board moved too.
Some games that I recall…
Kim and me vs. Sycha and woman
Kim isn’t too talkative. At least with me as her partner messing up. I was hoping not to let Kim down, but I made probably 3-4 mistakes for each of hers. But she never said anything mean. We lost and it was most certainly not her fault. I had my good moments, but way too many stinkers.
Kevin and me vs. Leslie and woman
“Need a fourth?” I invited invited myself into a known challenging game as Kevin’s partner. Leslie, the very strong woman player, was across from us with a regular Brommer woman I don’t recall ever seeing at Derby—though she might show up there now and then, who knows. It was a somewhat even game with things tilted in the women’s favor, and they slowly crept ahead and won the game. Leslie has fast serves that keep you on your toes. I made probably twice as many mistakes as Kevin, he had some he wanted back too.
Oh. I told Kevin before the game that people keep calling me by his name. (It’s happened 3-4 times now.) He kidded, “That’s a compliment! It’s probably because you are good looking!” I told him that it’s probably due to,the fact that we booth have dark hair, removing my cap to demonstrate!
Monica and me vs. Ted and Sycha
I ended up in a game with Monica from Palo Alto as my partner. She sports an English accent. With her white hair and mild manner, she is one of those you can easily misjudge by first appearance. She has a solid command of the soft game and uses placement instead of power. Me? I used power on one occasion—right into the net! She kindly recommended simply blocking the shot instead of powering it. Though overall, I impressed myself with my soft game. Drop shot and dinks were my friend. Patience and control. I played prettty well in this one. Monica and I won.
There was some staffing drama at work—according to a text I received from one of my assistant managers—and so I was very preoccupied in that last game and couldn’t really enjoy it. Rather than stress over work, I sadly opted to just leave at 10:30. I had left the court with a pickleball. On my way out, I swung over to a man in a chair. “Hey, Kent! Here’s a ball. Use it in good health!” He made some courteous remark and I continued on my way.
Hot!
During the 15 minute drive home, I was literally dripping sweat off my elbows. And I could feel it trickling down my shins too. A very weird and unusual experience! It was already into the 90s and on its way to 100. 100 is a rarity in Santa Cruz, but we have a Northern California heat wave for a few days. It’s supposed to break by Sunday.
Number of days on a court: 64
Number of total hours: 183
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