Sunday, December 17, 2017 (Court Day #103)
It was crazy windy last night. When I got to the courts I was expecting a big mess. There were twigs and leaves strewn across the courts, but not too bad. Rolando appeared as I was finishing blowing.
Nearly all of my games today were played with a hard ball. I was disgusted with my initial play. My first few games were frustrating.
Looking Up
As the morning continued, my play gradually improved until I was playing very well.
My drop shots are continuing to come along. I make them far more of them than I miss. While playing with Beth, she said, “That was a great dropshot. I think you are better at them than you think.” (She had asked before the game what I wanted to work on. It would have taken too long to explain about not slamming popped up balls into the net—plus you might not see more than one or two of those in a game.) Beth also paid me a compliment after a rally at the net, “You have quick hands.” Nice to hear.
It turned into a beautiful day. “Another day in paradise”, someone said. Indeed, it was pretty amazing. Sunny, mild breeze. In the 60s. Mid-December. Wow.
There was a woman newbie there today, Nancy. She said she played a few times three years ago, but a golf social group got in the way, but she’s back to it now. I took her as my partner against Janet and Tom S. Nancy is pretty green but got it over the net most of the time. Not a game to write home about, but court time is court time. Nancy was very nice.
The last game was John P. and me against Eric and Oleg. It was a great back and forth game. Janet and Olga were watching from the bench and clapped at the end. John and I lost 11-9. Eric provided the weaker play for his team, John on ours, but there was no bad play. It was a good game.
Mexican Lunch
Eric and I headed to Mexican food and Oleg and Olga tagged along. Afterward, I talked to Eric about tournaments. When I told him, he wasn’t aware of the one in Livermore in February. He suggested that we ask Jerry about his throughts about that tournament and also what level we should register as. 3.0? 3.5? Eric doesn’t want to sandbag. And I don’t either. But given that we’ve never entered a real tournament (just that weird racquetball court one), I’m thinking 3.0, but we’ll see what Jerry says.
I told Eric, “We’re pretty close in skill level, though I’d give you the edge.” “I don’t know…” “I think you are more consistent. I’m more up and down.”
“I may still need some convincing, but let’s say yes for now.” I’ll take that!
Shoes
I had shifting insoles again with my new shoes. I’ve been debating buying third-party insoles. The frugal part of me is offended by paying 2 to 3 times the cost of the shoes for fancy insoles. But the Costco/Kirkland insoles did deteriorate—and before the rubber soles were worn down. I wore right through the heel and through parts of the front as well.
I opted to take a trip to the fabric store and purchase a couple of denim iron-on patches. I traced the insoles and cut the patches to shape.
And ironed them on. Here’s the result.
I’ll glue them in and see how the hold up.
Going Forward
Now, let’s see if I can reach 300 hours of court play for 2017.
Bonus
An interesting video by Deb Harrison that may require some study and experimentation.
Number of days on a court: 103
Number of total hours: 291.5
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