Sunday, October 1, 2017 (Court Day #76)

Wanting to get to the courts earlier and see Dave in action for setup, I arrived about 10 minutes to 9 a.m. Surprisingly, I was the fourth person there. But wait. Two were mother and daughter tennis players. That’s rare. You don’t see tennis players much. Dave apparently had to break the news to them that the courts were reserved on Sunday mornings. But there’s Meder Street and other tennis courts around.

Dave gave me a key to the storage boxes. I guess that officially kicks off my responsibilities as a site coordinator for the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club. What did I get myself into? I guess I’m about to find out!

Some Games

I played a few games. Oleg and I took on his wife Olga and Janet whom I have not seen for a while. Oleg and I won, but Olga and Janet did not make it easy! It was a hard earned 11-4 win. Katie (newish player) and I played against Olga and Janet—it was a fun game.

Eric showed up later, maybe 9:45. We played some games separately then, after asking the score of his current game, I signed the two of us up in a schedule square.

At some point in the morning, we played against each other, Kim and me, he and Grita. It was a back and forth game. Often when I play with Kim, I’m a big liability, but not so much in this game. Sure, I made some errors, but it wasn’t much out of balance from Kim’s—thank goodness! Maybe she had a bad game, but I like to think I’ve gotten overall better.

Eric was wearing a support on his forearm, just below the elbow. Hopefully, the pain he’s experiencing will heal up soon.

The Game(s) of the Day

The big “feel good” game of the day occurred later. Oleg and Grita were signed up in red (advanced) on the schedule board. Eric asked if he and I could join their square. Eric signed us up in red—at which he said, “This takes some cajones!” Of course, we didn’t need to sign up in red, we could have signed up in the intermediate color of the day, but “when in rome…”! This was going to be a tough game—one that takes cajones!

Eric and I raced out to a big lead (8-3), but Oleg and Grita came back. It was a long back-and-forth game that lasted 18 minutes. In the end, Eric and I pulled off an upset. 12-10. (I’ve heard of some tournament games taking even 30 minutes, but I’ve yet to get to anything close to that length of a game!)

This game was recorded. (Yes! Saved for posterity!)

Even though we were all tired, we played another game. This time, Eric and I lost 11-8.

It was still 10 minutes before noon, though it seemed later, so we played yet another (last) game. I was beat. I think we were all beat. This one we also lost 11-8. At least we are consistent!

Two weeks to tournament day!

Number of days on a court: 76
Number of total hours: 219

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