Friday, November 24, 2017 (Court Day #95)

On Wednesday, I used the Places2Play iPhone app to locate some games nearest to Bonita, CA in south San Diego County. (Visiting the in-laws.) It looked like there were courts in La Mesa that were reserved on Friday mornings, 9-noon. I didn’t want to bug the contacts from the venue by calling them the evening before Thanksgiving, so I checked the USAPA website and found the contact form. I sent in a request confirming the gathering on Friday, given the holiday. Tim, the contact, got back to me quickly saying play at Collier Park was a go.

Friday

I put on sunscreen, put on my SCPC shirt and cap, filled a water bottle with ice then water and headed out shortly after 8:30. Using my GPS phone app, I navigated the 10-15 minutes of driving to La Mesa. Passing the courts about 10 to 9, I saw they were already in use. Early arrivers! I drove on to the opening to Collier Park and doubled back to the courts parking lot.

I parked, grabbed my backpack, and headed to the courts. There were a couple of women and a man standing and talking at the far end of the parking lot past the court entrances. I introduced myself and told them that I was visiting from Santa Cruz.

One said they would likely get 40 players today. That must be tough with only four courts. The lines were deep red on dark green. I’m glad I’m not colorblind, otherwise it might be impossible to see the court markings! It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, but it would still prove to be harder than I was used to.

One of the women, Marie, asked if I wanted to warm up, so we dinked for a few minutes, hit a couple of ground shots, then started a game. Marie and I won fairly handily. Swapping players, in the second game, even without a strong partner, it was a lopsided win. Afterward, my partner gestured across the dividing tennis net, “You belong on that side!” Apparently, the weaker players stake out one side and the strong players stake out the other.

The Other Side

This group uses paddles in the fence to queue up for games. There was one paddle in the fence and I added mine next to it. It wasn’t a long wait.

It was heating up into the high 80s. With the strong sun, switching sides of the court at 6 points was commonplace at Collier—more so than in Santa Cruz.

There was a man named Gary who was warming up for a tournament later on in Oceanside today, 40 miles north. Pleasant fellow. He was playing with Iris, who was playing her third time ever at age 11 or 12. Gary played a few games then hit the road. He’s in great shape for a 74-year-old.

Before one game, I was warned about one player who uses a lot of spin. I was worried going into the game, but while he had some good spin on some balls, he wasn’t always accurate. And the spin didn’t usually prevent getting the ball back over the net. It turned out that he’s one of those people who takes the game more seriously than I think people should. After he lost, he seemed a bit grumpy and was explaining to us why they hadn’t won, at the expense of this partner—right in front of the partner. Though, if you are going to throw your partner under the bus, it’s good to do it on front of his/her face, I guess. But usually on a court, the players already know who the weak player is and why a team won or lost. There’s usually not a point to announcing that afterward.

Between a couple of games—we were waiting for the other game to end so we could mix up players—I got to share some strategy with a woman regarding returns and tracking, approaching the net properly, and team communication. The level of play in Santa Cruz keeps one on one’s toes. Study of the game.

With the warm temperatures, most players were gone by 11 a.m. Our last game wrapped up at 11:30. The girl, Iris, was my partner. She occasionally does the same thing Jeff (tennis Jeff) does—tries to hit it hard when the ball is too low. Yep. Into the net. (I told her with a smile, “Patience, Grasshopper!”) But she also had some really good rallies too. A good rough blank with a lot of promise. She’ll be really good if she sticks with it and learns the soft game. Iris and I lost 10-12, but we put up a good battle.

I would have stayed and played longer, but I’m a bit of a nut.

The players were all very welcoming. It was a nice experience there. With hindsight, since all the players were intermediates, I wonder if their more elite players were all off at the tournament in Oceanside. Dunno. I’ll have to go back on a future trip!

Me with Christina, Mary, and young Iris.

Number of days on a court: 95
Number of total hours: 269

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