Month: April 2019 (Page 3 of 4)

Sunday, April 14, 2019 (Court Day #254)

Yesterday morning, I called the physical therapy office to get an appointment with a PT named Ruby whom my wife swears by. They set me up with two appointments, 8 days apart, the first one in about three weeks. It’s been a long haul with this tennis elbow. The onset of which took place right after the tournament on November 17. It’s been nearly five months since then, though I made it worse by continuing to play right-handed until January 1 when it just got so bad that I had to stop using that arm . . . and it’s been three and a half months since that point.

Today/Work

We had carpet cleaners at work today on a Sunday when we’re closed. Seven days at work this week for me. If anyone tells that “you can work whenever you want” when you run a family business, you have my permission to laugh in their face! I was at work to open for the cleaners at 8:30 a.m. Dave Allenbaugh kindly accepted my request to open and close Derby Park today and otherwise assume my site coordinator duties for the day. He said he would be taking a lesson with instructor Cal at noon, so it was no problem for him.

My brother Matt arrived at work around 9 a.m. to help move displays and act as caretaker so I didn’t have to stay the whole time on my only day off. Shortly before 10:30, I was free to head to the courts.

Derby Park

I got to Derby about 10 minutes later and things were in full swing as expected.

A panoramic view of Derby today. That one weirdly shaped player on the left there! Ha!

I started off the day pretty rough. Granted, I skipped any warmup and dove right into a game. My first serve (0-0-2) was completely wild—off to the left and nearly landed in the adjacent court! Ugh. But it did get better. I still have a fair amount of work to do lefty. Consistency is an issue.

After about an hour of games, I convinced Stuart to play a game with me against two low-level players. Everyone had been skipping their sign up box and they were being stranded unable to take a court until they got another two. I forget their names, but it was very lopsided. There were a few points where Stuart and I passed on winners just to keep the point going. It ended 11-3, but we gave them a couple of points. Though one point was from me hitting a ball two high with my left hand which got slammed back at Stuart’s feet. Stuart gave me a bit of a hard time at one point on one of my serves. I told him, “You should serve left handed once just to see how hard it is!” He just looked at me, gave a small smile and shook his head “no”. My was point made! LOL!

I will say that I did play much better later. Dave Cox and I teamed up against Grita and Chris. Dave and Chris are both intensely competitive. In a challenging game, you’ll typically experience more swear words than smiles from Chris. So there we were, Dave with me playing left-handed against two competent players. Grita has a stronger game than Chris, but Chris isn’t a slouch by any stretch. In a sanctioned tournament, Chris would be a high 3.0—meaning a mid-3.5 for the rest of the world. Dave and I won 12-10. I’ll say that was quite the accomplishment. Believe it or not, I think Dave made more errors than I did in that game.

I made two shots where I had my back to the net and hit two lobs above my head back over the net. Another lob landed at the baseline and I dropped it low over the net for winner, again with my back to the net—I told Dave, “I wish I could consistently make that shot right handed!” Sometimes, you just get lucky.

We had an immediate rematch and Chris played much better. Dave and I lost that one.

Stuff to work on. My “forehand” drive using my left hand is unreliable when I try to hit it particularly hard. I hit two of those into the net in the first game. While I get most of my serves in, it landing where I want it to be is uncommon. With my right hand, I can add hefty spin and/or sent the ball to the receiver’s forehand or backhand, deep or short. Left handed, it’s a crap shoot where it lands in the service court.

Of note, I’ve started to try a little slicing on my lefty backhand. Some successful, some not. But you gotta try to get something working!

Tournament?

Dave Allenbaugh sent out an email message to the entire club last night. Aside from sharing the photo of my group in Madrid, he shared that Cabrillo will be holding a tournament the second weekend in August: 2019 Cabrillo Classic Pickleball Tournament. Dang. Super convenient since it’s so close!! No doubt, Kim, the pickleball instructor out there, is making that happen. As I told Eric S. at Derby today, the question is: “Will I be able to play right handed in that tournament? If not, should I try to play left handed?” If I decide to play left handed, can I get anyone to play with me? And if so, it would likely have a negative impact on my USAPA rating, which is already artificially lower than the reality of my right handed play.

Number of days on a court: 254
Number of total hours: 696

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Thursday, April 11, 2019 (Court Day #253)

Earlier this week, I emailed my GP doctor and he provided me with a referral to a physical therapist for my tennis elbow. It seems that it should be improving faster than it is. I need to follow up and set up an appointment, but work has been demanding and I’m concerned about committing to a particular appointment day/time.

I left work five minutes early today and—after a very brief stop home—got to Skypark right on time at 6:30. My car read 54°F degrees and it was blustery. A net would blow over later from a particularly strong gust. The chill and wind kept the crowd lighter, we maxed out with four nets set up and 18-19 players.

After we partnered for a game, Olga said, “You are almost professional with your left hand.” I’m far from that, but I am improving. I can easily beat 2.5 players, playing lefty, for instance. I think she meant “competent” versus “professional”!

There was an older woman named Nancy there—a retired teacher who knows Janet—and it turns out that she’s the widow of “Visor Jeff”. I hadn’t seen Jeff (maybe it’s Geoff) for many months now, maybe a year. She said he passed away two months ago. Such a shame. Allan remembered him immediately and expressed his condolences.

My back was pretty sore. Crouching was uncomfortable, but that didn’t keep me from playing on. It seems to be still regaining strength after the long lapse of play due to a very rainy winter.

A woman, Olga, Janet and—one her fourth time out—Ying. The last game of the night.

Olga’s husband Oleg and I played a last game against Mark G. (Maree’s husband) and Mark Dettle. We won 11-7. Not bad for a lefty. Of course, Oleg was the strongest player on the court so he made a good partner for me!

So? I am getting better. I still make wild shots. And I miss serves more than typical for me. But I am getting better playing lefty.

Number of days on a court: 253
Number of total hours: 694

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.

Sunday, April 7, 2019 (Court Day #252)

We flew back from Madrid landing very late yesterday afternoon and arriving back at our house around 7 p.m. On a side note, while boarding in London for the second leg of our trip home, in the other aisle on the plane were friends who live three blocks from our house! Crazy coincidence!

I’d arranged for John P. to open the Derby courts in case I was too out of sorts with jet lag. As it was, I was up early and there to help John set up.

Eric S. and John P. (left) playing against Cal (white) and Stuart. In blue, behind Eric in the photo, is Marianne on the farthest court and running away from her is her grandson Ian.

It was a beautiful day.

So, Marianne, whom I’ve been playing with since I started playing over two years ago, asked me a question while I was sitting on he bench waiting for my next game:

”Do you know someone named Gary Meyer?”

“Gary Meyer? He was one of my really good friends in high school!” (We’re talking thirty years ago now, of course!)

”Gary is my son!”

”No way!” Small world! Fun stuff!

”He might be coming later. I’ve been trying to get him to come, but now that he knows you are playing, he might come today.”

In the meantime, I played a game with Ian, Marianne’s grandson, Gary’s nephew as well as being Gary’s younger sister Heidi’s son. Ian is well over six foot—tall like his uncle—at just 13 years of age.

And Gary did come later. It was a real pleasure to see him after so long. We are both sporting a touch of gray—Gary’s more “distinguished” than I am, as well as thinner—but we picked up right where we left off! He’s such a nice guy.

Stuart and I were playing as partners. During the game, he turned to me and said, “You might just stick with you left hand and not switch back, it’s working for you.”

A good compliment, but I’m far from equal or better playing left handed, “No way! I’m so much better right handed, it’s not even funny!”

If I have to play with my left hand, I might as well make the best of it.

Number of days on a court: 252
Number of total hours: 692

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.