Thursday, December 7, 2017 (Court Day #100)

After a quick stop home, I arrived in Scotts Valley at 6:30. The tennis courts seems busier these days, but the tennis players typically take off earlier than the pickleball players. It was in the low 50s and you could see your breath under the lights. Some of the players even sported gloves due to the cold. (Us California people are wimps!) The sweatshirt I was wearing came off after the third or fourth game—leaving me in a T-shirt and shorts. This time around, I was able to get into a game upon arrival as a fourth. Coordinator Mark Dettle was still dutifully blowing pine tree needles off of the courts.

Rolando is definitely coming along. His prior handball experience has given him a big jump start to adjusting to pickleball. He’s starting to get his strategies down. If he keeps progressing like he has, he might just make a good tournament partner this coming year!

In one game, my opponent Lauren was hugging the center line to protect her backhand on my serve. Instead, I served it on the opposite side of the service court for an ace. It’s nice when it works. Janet and I won against Lauren and little Maria.

James, Oleg, Janet

Next to last game was James and me against Oleg and Janet, they lost 11-5. I think we had them down 8-2 before they crept the score closer. I think we may have relaxed a bit! Janet was the weakest player on the court and James the strongest, so the outcome wasn’t too unexpected.

The last game was a good battle. Oleg and me against James and Janet. It was back and forth with neither team pulling out much ahead. It was tied 8-8 and they went on a three point run and we lost 11-8. It just goes to show how strong a player James is. I definitely did not hit just to Janet and occasionally made decisions to hit specifically to James. It made for a more challenging game . . . but Janet is not a pushover. She gets the ball back over the net most of the time, it’s just that a slam can intimidate her and/or she may not have the skill to return tough shots. Like most of the players, she’s improved with time. She’s an intermediate category player.

I guess the good thing is that I wasn’t too far off from the play of Oleg and James. I distinctly remember one net battle between James and me that I won on a downward attack. Any points against James are a small victory!

That last game finished up at 8:30. Aside from Mark and Oleg’s wife Olga, we were the last ones there. While packing up the last net, Janet asked James his age. 43. We all put him younger. I figured 30s myself. But as James said, we’re as young as we are inside.

Wrap up

Tonight was a good night. I played well. Not perfect, but very well. My biggest consistent error was hitting back an opponent’s “Christmas present” high ball into the net on a smash. I did that probably 4-5 times over the course of the evening. Turning a clear winner into a loser! I need to pick a target on slams. Simply hitting down certainly isn’t working!

Surprisingly, I completely forgot that today was my 100th day on a pickleball court until I was driving home. A big milestone has been passed.

Number of days on a court: 100
Number of total hours: 282

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