Sunday, June 17, 2018 (Court Day #159)
It rained last night. And I could hear drips in the downspout outside my bedroom window as I laid in bed after I woke up. After a couple emails back and forth, I got a call from Dave Allenbaugh. Given the drips, I figured we’d likely need to delay but I asked Dave what he thought since he lives somewhat closer to the courts. He said the streets around his house were dry. We decided not to delay.
I arrived at Derby about 10 minutes before 9 a.m. Hey! They upgraded the gravel pathway into the park to asphalt! Fancy! I’m gone for about a month from Derby and things improve. Maybe I should miss days more often!
I walked into the courts. Oooo. Not good. Standing puddles. I texted Dave a photo. He emailed out a delay until 10 a.m. then he drove over.
I got out the squeegee and got to work. When he arrived, Dave initially thought we should cancel for the day. I’m the eternal optimist and as site coordinator, it was up to me, though I leaned on Dave’s experience. I opted to stick with the 10 a.m. time since a few dry spots had appeared even though the sun was still behind clouds.
George (left) and a visitor from the Bay Area, John, pitched in to help. My back was thankful for the relief!
As I warmed up with Rob, my drop shots were working well. (For a change.)
First Games
The first game was with a woman named Marsha from Castro Valley. Based on the greetings that she received, she is well known by a number of old-timers in the club. Leslie, the Longs, Kim and more. I may have seen her before, but I don’t recall. Marsha and I teamed up against Rob and George. It’s started be out pretty even, but before long, she and I pulled ahead and won in decisive fashion. Marsha is better than I am. She has great consistent drop shots. Though I had my moments—after one point in particular, she turned to me and said, “That was great!” To which I replied, “I had to fix up all my crappy shots!” I’d hit too high and get slammed but I would get the slam back over; that kind of thing. But overall, aside from missing a couple of serves and an occasional ball too high, I played pretty well in that game.
Marsha and I partnered again in another game. Tom S. had a really nice ATP shot against Marsha on a crosscourt dink that I made long enough for Tom to take advantage! Though Marsha and I won that one too.
Tom S. and I played a game against Mike and visor Tom. It was an 11-0 goose egg in our favor. I hadn’t played against Mike for a while and my level of play has continued to climb.
As I walked back into the court from the reservation board outside the gate later, Kim looked up from her chair and asked me, “Are you going to join us?” “Sorry, they already signed me up with them and it would have been rude.” Still, to be invited into an advanced match is nice.
Eric and Ted B. faced off against Olga and me. It was a close game. I think we won, but either way, it was very balanced. By the end, 12:20, I was dog-tired. Beat. Dead on my feet. Eric shared that he was completely beat too.
Lefties
Christina, a fan of this blog, is recovering from surgery on her right shoulder. She has to play left-handed for 9 months—or not play at all. She, Janet, and Olga needed a fourth. Even though I was fatigued, I played with Christina. As expected, with Christina’s handicap, we got clobbered. Still it was fun and it was good to provide her with an opportunity to play. As Janet said, “I’d hope you would do the same for me if I were recovering from surgery.”
We decided to play one more game, but with ALL of us playing left-handed to make it even. “This may be a very short game!”, speculated Janet. “It may be a very LONG game!”, I responded. I was right. It was hilarious. At least 4 out of 5 serves were out! We did get a little better at it as the game went on. After about ten minutes, Janet needed to leave since her husband Bruce was anxious to get going. We convinced Terry Long to take her place. It was so funny. I secretly harbored hopes that my left-handed play might be better than Terry’s but that was a pipe dream. Terry reliably served regardless from the get go. I did manage to win a point or two against him when the two of us were facing off at the net, but he played quite well lefty.
Play wrapped up shortly after 1 p.m. for me. Marsha and Oleg played a really good game against Kim and Cathy. That was the last game of the day and finished up about 1:15-1:20. As site coordinator, I was my responsibility to close up the courts. The Longs were still there, so I probably could have had them close, but I didn’t mind sticking around.
Brace
I decided to not wear my ankle brace. It’s still not 100%, it hurts when extended a certain way, but it hasn’t had any “close calls” lately. The ankle held up fine today with no issues or pain. I go back to wearing it if something prompts that, but we’ll see.
Tournaments
Thursday night, I’d asked Rob about being my partner for the Golden State Championships in Concord. He said he was game, so I told him that I’d investigate. Today, three days later, I told Rob that I hadn’t checked into it yet. But I checked this afternoon. Men’s doubles will be on Sunday—no chance of work interfering! I did a final confirmation with Rob, who said he still wants to do it. I tried to register but PickleballTournaments.com told me that my USAPA membership had expired. Actually, it hasn’t but would have by the time the tournament rolled around, so I extended my membership for another year then finished registering for the tournament. $70 all told. Sheesh. These things aren’t cheap! Plus gas. And maybe accommodations the night before. I do count my blessings that I have a steady job and don’t have to worry where my next meal is coming from.
Number of days on a court: 159
Number of total hours: 436.5
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