Monday, September 4, 2017. Labor Day. (Court Day #66)

I arrived at Brommer Park at 9:10 a.m. I was expecting things to be already hopping, but I was only the fifth person to show up.

My first game was Dean and me against Grita and Mark (Maree’s husband). We won. I made a few mistakes but they were far from chronic. I held my own—not as good as Dean, of course, but not a major liability. And I did have one serve that flew too deep, though we were using the the Dean-preferred harder, bouncier, slightly-greenish ball which responded differently. I’m not 100% sure I can blame the ball for that bad serve, but I’ll take whatever excuse I can get!

About two thirds through that first game, someone told Dean that the park worker wished to speak to him afterwards. Two net cables had been vandalized—cut. This is the second time someone has come out and cut the net cables on our new courts. Someone is not a fan of pickleball, apparently. Sad.

Later, there was an announcement that the club has a batch of club caps for $25 each. I’ll have to get one for myself!

Oleg and I got to play a game against Barb and Bev. (I learned today that Bev is Kevin’s wife. There are a lot of husband/wife couples in pickleball!) Oleg and I pulled out to 4-0 before our opponents started to make a game of it. But there wasn’t much doubt that Oleg and I had the better combination for this one. I made some mistakes, but overall, a pretty good performance.

It was warm. It was only about 70° but it felt far hotter. It was very muggy. A smattering of heavy raindrops fell mid-morning, but it didn’t open up—it just made polka dots on the courts. I was almost more comfortable in Pleasanton yesterday at 103°! It was also a touch humid there, but nothing like this. This felt a lot like Hawaii. Or as Terry (not Long) claimed, “Like New Zealand.”

I got to play a game with Oleg against Terry Long and Jeanne later. Terry is always great to play on a court with. He makes for a challenge and is such a nice guy! There was one return he did where he had so much spin on it that it dropped dead—it hit halfway back in my court and didn’t go further. Point.

As what turned out to be my last game ended, it started to pour in earnest about 11:40. There was no formal announcement. As people started to slip and others started to get drenched, the courts cleared and the temporary nets started coming down.

Beth Black suggested we could get back together after the rain broke. Maybe having lunch between. She gave me her mobile number, as did Oleg, with hopes of more pickleball later. People milled around for a few more minute then went various directions.

Stuart said, “We’re going to have lunch at Mayflower Chinese in the Brown Ranch, if you want to come.” I opted to go and “we” turned out to be Stuart and Chuck—which was fine, though I was expecting more people. There was a little pickleball talk, but mostly Stuart and Chuck talked about random things . . . both went to college together back in the 1960s.

I texted Beth after lunch the  Stuart and I each drove back to Brommer. Unfortunately, there was no one on the courts—aside from a tattooed beefy man in a tank top stretching next to a soccer ball for what seemed to be a long time. Stuart shared that they recently caught a guy kicking a soccer ball into the nets—not healthy for the nets—so he kept an eye on this guy, but the man left. Maybe he knew he was being watched.

Beth got back to me and said they found the courts still wet and had moved on with their day. I texted Oleg to see if they were interested, but by the time his reply came half an hour later, Stuart and I were long gone from the courts and on to other things. Oh, well. No more pickleball today. The rain was a big disappointment considering it was Labor Day and most people had few obligations to leave the courts once there. Alas. At least we got in two and a half hours before the showers hit. It sure felt like a lot shorter time. It was weird. I first thought it was 90 minutes of playing, but doing the math, it was an hour longer than that.

Take-Aways

I played well today. Not perfect, but solid. My worst game was John P. and Jeanne against his wife Diane and me. It was a bit sloppy. I guess I wasn’t as focused.

There were a few dinks today where I didn’t get enough lift on the ball and it ended up in the net. Oleg said was dropping my paddle and not hitting the ball out in front of me. After a lost point in the Dean game where the ball hit me, he instructed, “That’s a sign that you need to have your paddle up high and prepared.” I have to figure this out. Jerry and Stuart have commented on this—having the paddle up and ready, poised in a backhand position. I tend to keep my paddle pointed straight out balanced between forehand and backhand. Stuart has said, “80% of your shots at the kitchen line will be backhands.” But it doesn’t feel comfortable for me, nor natural. But I’ll likely have to force myself to do it.

At the risk of sounding conceited, there were some great shots that I’m surprised that I made. “How the hell did I do that?” Like Luke in Star Wars with that floating laser ball and his face covered so he can’t see. Yet he performs anyway. Strange pickleball Jedi things are happening with my paddle that I don’t understand. Like a powered smash near my legs where I crouch down off the the right and drop the ball back over the net into their kitchen where they can only dink it. It’s all reaction. I don’t have time to think up something like that. It just happens. But then I still do lame stuff. Like returning a not-too-difficult serve into the net. Or popping up a winner to my opponents at the net by hitting it too high. Or lobbing a ball that sails left or right out of the court. But the ratio was better today.

There are good days and bad days. This was a good day.

In the afternoon, Dave Allenbaugh sent out message about the new caps, but also included a video of the Brommer courts:

Interesting to see from a bird’s eye view. It must have been a quieter time, there’s one court not in use. In my experience, there are bunch of people waiting to play.

Number of days on a court: 66
Number of total hours: 187.5