Friday, October 20, 2017 (Court Day #84)

Descent Day. That’s not decent, it’s descent. As in going down. All that stuff I said about reaching the next level . . . I question all of that today.

There were at least half a dozen returns of serve that I simply hit back into the net. Yes, they were low and fast, but still . . . not good.

It had rained overnight and I was checking email to see if the gathering had been canceled or not. No message. I looked out the bathroom window and saw sun. Well, that is always a good sign! I would give it a shot. The odds were good that at least someone would be at the courts.

I arrived and Brommer at 9:00 a.m. sharp. Leslie, Stuart and Dean were blowing, wiping, and setting up. I jumped in and helped where I could too.  There were still wet areas on the court. It would be a lower attendance day and we would never set up the 8th court. I think between the cooler temperatures and the precipitation, some people stayed away.

Eric, like me, sometimes hits balls that would otherwise be heading out of the court. Eric refers to this as the “lizard brain” taking over. Not the high functioning brain that would logically decide to let it the ball go, but the instinctual brain that says, “Swat it!”

After ducking a ball that was heading out, Eric said, “Lizard brain override!” That’s what we all need more of. Lizard brain override.

It got very windy as the morning progressed. This was definitely one of the 2-3 most windy conditions that I’ve played in.

If today was a movie, today would be the day that the Major League Baseball scout shows up and the prospect has a bad day pitching and the scout thinks, “What’s all the fuss about. Why did I waste my time?” Hopefully, today was just a bad day and not a regression. Not that I’m prospect for the U.S. Pickleball Olympic Team. (Which is impossible since there is no such thing and there are probably half a million people out there better than I am at pickleball!)

I got to play with Chuck today. “We haven’t played together for a long time!”, he said. “Probably something like four months.” It was Susi and John P. Versus Chuck and me. Figuring Susi was the strongest player, I suggested that since it seemed to me to be the most balanced team. Chuck and I are pretty evenly matched. And it was a very close back and forth game. In the end, Chuck and I snuck out with an 11-9 win. But it easily could have gone the other way.

I left Brommer at 12:15 p.m.

Number of days on a court: 84
Number of total hours: 238.5

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