Wednesday, May 1, 2019 (Court Day #261)
Day 22 playing left-handed.
I arrived at Derby Park at 9:15. My wife had forgotten her water bottle, so I ran it by her work before heading to play.
Today, was a pretty good day. Almost all of my serves were in. I was involved with some really good rallies. All the while playing left-handed. I had my frustrating moments, for sure, but overall, not bad.
Rich and I played two games against Grita and Wendy. Rich and I were leading in both games, but lost both by a couple of points.
After one contended point at the net against Wendy, Rich commended me, “That was 5.0 left handed play right there!”
Wendy was pretty funny. As we all walked off the court toward the gate to sign up for our next games, Rich had told her that I’m not left-handed. She didn’t believe him and turned to me and asked if I was really right-handed. I told her that I was, but she was still skeptical so asked Rich again, “Is he really not left-handed?”
Far court: Karl, Tom S., Stuart, someone. Near: Mike, Diane P., John P., Wayne.
Two middle-aged women appeared at the doorway into the courts. Cathy and, the shorter of the two, Lauren. Both were very pleasant. Dave Allenbaugh was there as the site coordinator, but I asked them if they were there to play. They said they were interested and came to watch. I spent about 10-15 minutes explaining the basic rules, scoring, and a little history of the game. I had them sign the waiver. Dave later took them under his wing and played a game with them.
There was also an older couple visiting from Sacramento. The man said their daughter went to school here and they’ve always liked to visit Santa Cruz. They said they looked up where to play and came to Derby. Isn’t the internet great?
We had some strong players today. Dean, Dave DiBiase, Oleg, Stuart—and visitor Greg, the strongest of the bunch who had come again with his partner Dee. Right-handed, I might have had enough courage to squeeze into a game. But not playing lefty. Dave DiBiase called over and teased, “We were just commenting on how your form looks better when you are playing left-handed!” I responded, “I don’t know about that!”
Some progress. A ways to go, but progress playing left handed.
in other news, the U.S. Open is going on in Florida this week. *sigh*
Number of days on a court: 261
Number of total hours: 714
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