Tuesday, April 24, 2018 (Court Day #143)
Eric arranged some evening time to spar with David and Beth Black in advance of Saturday’s big tournament. I’d driven to San Diego last Thursday (April 19) for Friday’s interment and Saturday’s memorial held on the U.S.S. Midway with over 200 people in attendance. My wife and I spent 9 hours on the road on Monday returning home.
My injured back was doing much better but even after 16 days of recovering with no pickleball, it is still not 100%.
I left work a little early and arrived at Brommer Park a couple minutes after 6 p.m. Eric and the Blacks were already there settling in before warmup.
We played 5-6 games and Eric and I lost only one, a middle game, though it was a lopsided one, like 11-4 or something. After that, I video recorded the last two games—I wanted to see what I could learn.
Working my way to the kitchen with Eric on my right.
We played after sunset until it became too hard to see the ball.
David said, “You guys will do fine in 3.5.” Then a few minutes later, “You are both really quick at the net.”
I thanked Beth and told her that it’s great to play games where the ball comes back. (In many games, you hit a ball as a winner. Against better players, that same type of hit comes back and it really keeps you on your toes!)
We all left a few minutes after 8 p.m. My back held up well. My ankle still hurts at times—generally not while playing, and my right knee is a bit off still. But not bad at all. Definitely tournament-worthy.
There have been a few emails from the tournament director at Paso Robles. Eric and I will be grouped in men’s doubles with everyone from the age of 8 to 59. (There’s also a 60+ 3.5 bracket as well.) Eric just turned 59 last month and I’m a wee lad of a mere 50.
Number of days on a court: 143
Number of total hours: 407.5
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