Sunday, September 16, 2018 (Court Day #198)
I arrived at Derby Park at about 8:50 a.m. under very clear and sunny skies. I was just about finished blowing off the courts when Christine, a somewhat new player, was the first arriver. About five minutes later a few more showed up. Then it was inundation. It would be a busy day where a solid chunk of the morning was spent in the abbreviated game format of “play to 9, win by 1”.
Not too long after opening time, a unfamiliar woman appeared, Catherine “Cat” from San Luis Obispo. I had her sign the waiver then warmed us up and got into a game with her. A decent intermediate player. As for me, I didn’t make a good case for myself initially hitting too many errant shots. Fortunately, my play improved after a few games and generally got stronger over the course of the morning.
Chris (in blue), Christine, Greg, Marianne, Sarah (pink pants), Kate, Allan (against fence), someone (pink shirt), Daniella (all black)—and someone’s backside!
Wayne (turquoise), Jeff (rust shirt), Ted (distance, teal), Angie (near, back to net).
Terry (Laura’s husband, not Terry Long) hamming it up for the camera!
Waiting! From right: Eric, robin, Karl, visitor Cat, Grita, Diane (leaning down) and husband John P., Cathy, Jane (bright skirt) and visor Tom (crouched).
John P. and I are planning on entering a tournament coming up in October, though we haven’t signed up yet. So we played a few games together. John was not playing that great. For whatever reason, his drop shots were falling short into the net. There were other mistakes too, but that was the most grievous. John was making probably four or five errors for every one of mine. But he improved as the games went on. He was a slow starter today as I was, but it took him longer to climb up in his play.
I got in a game against Jane. She’s learning that I’m coming along in my play and is quick and upbeat with her compliments. I played well in that game, my partner and I won that one.
The big game of the day was a rematch with Jeff. Jeff and his wife were visiting from somewhere up north. I was hoping for a rematch with Jeff someday. Jeff and . . . I can’t recall for sure, but I think it was Janet . . . played against Eric and me last year and we got clobbered. Jeff was all angles and spins. Playing again against Jeff would prove to be a good “waymarker” to gauge my improvement since our original meeting.
Jeff and John P. would play against Eric and me. It did not start well, to say the least! Eric and I found ourselves down 5-0 or 6-0. Not good. Maybe we hadn’t improved all that much. But then things started to turn around and we climbed back into the game. We crawled back up to 8-9 in their favor. Soon it was 10-10. Then we won 12-10! Ha! Vindication. We had improved! And we weren’t just hitting to John either. A high point. Even if we had lost, it was a good balanced and long game.
I left Stuart to close up as I left at 12:45 p.m. to head home to have some lunch and watch some football.
Monday, September 17, 2018 (No Play)
I found a new good video that addresses one of my critical weakness. I need to heed this advice!
Number of days on a court: 198
Number of total hours: 548.5
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