Thursday, December 14, 2017 (Court Day #102)
Looking back at Tuesday
On Tuesday evening (December 12), a sizable group of us pickleball people gathered at a wine bar on the wharf to celebrate the release of Kevin Kearney’s new book. Countdown to Z-Day. It was great fun to see players in street clothes. One or two, I didn’t even recognize at first! (Such as Kevin’s wife Bev!) Tim was telling me that Kevin’s book falls into the “comedic thriller” genre . . . a genre I didn’t even know existed!
I bought a copy and Kevin inscribed it. We sometimes get confused for each other—dark hair, similar build, similar height—hence the reference to “Bizarro Kevin”. I think I started the “Bizarro Kevin/Bizarro Andrew” thing, but I can’t remember for certain. It’s been a few months now. Kevin is a good guy.
Thursday Night (Court Day)
I arrived in Scotts Valley about 6:40 pm. The lot was full, so I parked on the dim street that dead ends at the courts. “Hellllo, Andrew!” came a happy voice. It was Rolando.
It was a chilly evening, in the low 50s. I would have been wearing my sweatshirt but in my haste at home after work, I didn’t grab one. But I was warm enough in no time. I played an assortment of games. Kris and me against Terry (Laura’s husband) and someone. Janet and me against Mel and Maria. Depending on the game and my partner, I sometimes notice that the ball doesn’t come to me as often.
Kris came up with a nickname for me she said. The Velvet Hammer. LOL! Maybe “nice but look out for the slams”? I do smack it hard if I’m given a popup ball.
Somewhere along the line, my right glute muscle started nagging me a bit. Nothing serious, just a touch uncomfortable.
Best of Three
Three games near the end were Olga and me against Oleg and Jeanne. They were relatively balanced games and we played three in a row. Oleg and Jeanne won the first. Olga and I had been ahead until Oleg insisted on switching from a soft Pure 2 ball to a hard ball. Olga and I won the second game. And Oleg and Jeanne won the third. Boy, Oleg is a competitor! He can get intense! He does not like to be on a losing team! But he’s a nice guy and a good challenge on the court. My challenge on those games was switching from the soft ball to the hard ball. It’s a different game. I returned a number of serves too deep (out) and some points where I expected them to be over instead bounced high enough to allow the opponent to return the ball over the net—and sometimes even high enough to drive a shot over the net, not just dink!
Last Game
Rolando and Olga and Jeanne and me started a game. Clouds of misty breath in the cold night air was an obvious sight. But we found out that Kris held the responsibility of being the “closer” for the evening. (Mark Dettle didn’t come tonight and Cheryl had already left.) But Kris—being nice—said we could play to 6, so we did. By the time our opponents rolled to a 5-0 lead, I figured it was going to be a quick game! Rolando said, “If we can win this point, we’ll get a shutout and I can brag tomorrow!” But, with service back and forth, Jeanne and I put up a battle and clawed back into the game. Then we tied it up at 5-5. Then pulled ahead at 6-5 and finally won at 7-5. Sorry, Rolando. Not this time! “Serves me right for talking about a shutout!”, he laughed. Pickleball is like that. It ain’t over until it’s over!
We wrapped things up about 9:15. Walking back to our cars, I asked Rolando if he ever thought about entering tournaments. “Nah. I have too much to learn.” But, when I asked him, he admitted that it’d be fun when the time is right. So . . . a possible partner down the road!
I was in my car pulling out at 9:34. Late. But fun!
Club Christmas Party!
The Santa Cruz Pickleball Club hosted it’s annual Christmas party on Friday night, December 15. They had over 70 RSVP and even more showed up. The food was very good, desserts were aplenty, and spirits were high. It’s astonishing how different a lot of the women look all dressed up! Makeup, dresses, and hair down versus ponytails, sunglasses and T-shirts.
I saw Mike midway through the evening:
“Hey Mike! Boy, you look way different . . . ”
“A lot of us do,” Mike interjected.
” . . . wearing makeup!”, he heard me finish my sentence while he was talking. I got a few chuckles from that one!
Eric was there with his wife Ellen. I got a surprise. Eric said, “I need to talk to you about Paso Robles.” “I’m ready!” “You get first dibs.” Paso Robles is the site of pickleball tournaments. Wow. Maybe Eric is interested in playing in a tournament after all! The next one there is in April. Though there’s also a tournament in Livermore in February. Paso Robles is a 2 hour drive. Livermore is about an hour.
One nice compliment came during one of those standing circle chats. John P., Eric, his wife Ellen, Cathy (hang with Kim), Oleg, Olga. Cathy was asking how often we play. I said, “Last night was number 102 since January. What is that? Every three days?” Cathy surprised, responded, “No wonder your drop shots are so good!” Though one has to consider, while we played together a couple weeks ago, that’s the only time she’s played with me once in the last few months!
Number of days on a court: 102
Number of total hours: 287.5
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