Sunday, June 2, 2019 (Court Day #275)
San Juan Bautista Tournament
(Competing using my non-dominant left hand. 36th day out playing lefty.)
Last night I set out all my things for the tournament. I was going to have to get up early and pick up Binh after his RN shift at Dominican Hospital by 7:30 a.m. I went to get my second set of court shoes and discovered that, uh oh, I’ve been wearing my second set of court shoes! Time to get some more! I’d have to bet on no shoe problems unlike that one tournament when I’d partnered with Dave Cox and ended up wearing his extra pair of shoes!
It was misting when I pulled into the hospital parking lot at 7:26. Binh was concerned that the moisture might delay the tournament. I figured that we’d cross that bridge if and when we got there. We were on the road in short order. About halfway to San Juan Bautista, the misting stopped. We made good time with easy early Sunday morning traffic and arrived at San Juan Elementary School with time to spare at about 8:15.
People warming up at the courts.
It was gray skies, but dry, and a light breeze with cool weather requiring a sweatshirt when not playing. Warmed up though, no sweatshirt. Aside from the slight breeze, it was perfect pickleball weather.
True to her word, Jen had given us the first bye. There were five teams, so one team would sit out each round. Binh and I did get an opportunity to warm up for about 5-10 minutes before we had to vacate the courts and wait about 20 minutes for the second round of the Men’s Doubles 3.0 bracket. In the announcements for our bracket, Jen said that we’d be playing to 15, win by 2. If there was a ties at the end, the teams would have a playoff game to determine the winner.
As one team came to the admin tent, it sounded like they had been beaten handily. Jen explained that that one team had told her that they’d play in either 3.0 or 3.5. With a light 3.0 bracket, she’d put them in 3.0 to get the five teams and balance the brackets. She apologized to them. Binh and I wondered who that team was, sooner or later, we’d find out!
With this being out first tournament together—and Binh’s first tournament ever—and me playing left-handed, there were a lot of unknowns. We could go down in flames, or we might do ok. I would depending mostly on whom we’d be playing. How good would they be? How good would we be in comparison?
Game #1
Our first game was to be against Tom and Earl. They’d already played one game, of course. Binh and I stacked, keeping our forehands in the middle. (We would be the only team stacking in our bracket.) We went down 2-6 then down 2-8. Ouch. But we started to warm up. We went on a run of points. It was a battle back and forth, but we were dialing it in. We won 15-13. Tom said it was his first time playing with Earl in a tournament and that Earl was playing hurt.
Game #2
Our second game was against Z and Greg. We were up 8-4. But the tide turned. They came back and we ended up losing 15-13. Drat. We were now 1-1 in the tournament. That’s one we just let get away from us. It was definitely winnable.
Game #3
Darren and Mike would be our opponents for the third game. These I felt might be the strong team. They had faster serves than the others and hit harder. The breeze was getting a little bit stronger, but not too blustery, but enough at times to affect the flight of the ball. It started out tight, but we took a lead. Then built on it. Then built on it some more. We walked away with this one. Sometimes, things just snowball. Teams get frustrated and the mental game takes effect. I feel this was the case here. These guys were better than that 15-3 score showed. We were now 2-1 in the tournament.
Game #4 (Last in Round Robin)
Our last round robin game would be against Bob and Steve. While the score was a bit closer than the previous game, it was more lopsided. There was a more obvious skill-level difference in this one. We won 15-4. After we’d pulled far ahead, we got a bit to relaxed and let them score some points. One was me doing a slice backhand return with too much spin and it landed a few feet in front of me! Duh!
There were a lot of different brackets going on at the same time. Between games, we would catch pieces of various battles going on.
Jen (blue) and her partner playing Santa Cruz locals Cathy and Kim. Cathy and Kim went on to win this game. Kim told me later that the top three teams finished 2-1 (two wins, one loss) and Jen’s team ended up with silver and Kim/Cathy with bronze on tie-breakers. A team from Palo Alto took 1st. (The math seems weird to me but maybe so.)
Playoff
Darren and Mike had finished with the same 3-1 record as we had. We’d be having a playoff game. The woman standing in for Jen (who was on a court) offered us a choice: two games to 11; one game to 15; one game to 21. I was thinking 15 sounded good, but it was Mike who spoke up first, “Game to 15?” I voiced my approval. 15 it would be.
We battled back and forth, but Binh and I started to slip behind. Soon, we were down 8-4. Not good. I told Binh, “We just beat these guys 15-3. Let’s do this.” That seemed to make a difference. Soon it was 8-8. We went up 12-9. It wasn’t easy. It was work. But we finally pulled it off. 15-10. Gold medal!
The almost final results, awaiting the outcome of the bronze medal match.
The winners! Silver (Darren & Mike), Gold (Andrew & Binh) and Bronze (Bob & Steve).
Santa Cruz Pickleball Club winners! Jean and Olga won all of their matches in Women’s Doubles. Dan Bliss kindly volunteered to take the photo for me. You can tell that it’s a touch breezy.
My first ever medal while playing left-handed.
Vi, the tennis pro from MPC, was there playing in a higher bracket. He came up and said, “Hi! Remember me?” I told him that I did. He was the one whose team beat Colleen and me in the 3.5 Mixed Doubles gold medal match in the November tournament here at SJB. Later, with the gold medal around my neck, I walked up to him. “I have a secret. I’m playing left-handed.” “What level are you playing in?” “3.0.” “What? You were playing in 3.5 at that tournament…” I protested, “But I’m playing left-handed.” He had to dash off at that moment, so our conversation ended at that. Did he think it was wrong for me to drop a level when playing with my off hand?
Binh and I were grabbing our things to go when I checked the time. Exactly 12 noon. We stopped for Binh to grab something from the market across the street.
While traveling back to Santa Cruz, Binh said that my pep talk in the gold medal match made a difference. It worked. I had given him confidence and helped him focus. Nice.
Binh was “amped”, he said. A gold medal at his first tournament! I know exactly how that feels, that was my first tournament experience too. Gold. Binh said he would have been disappointed if we hadn’t won gold since he felt we were the best team there. Me? It’s hard to say, players have good days and bad days, but it’s hard to argue that we weren’t the best on the day.
I was a bit torn. Honestly, I was feeling a bit guilty. Officially, according to the USAPA, I’m a 3.0 player. (A UTPR rating of 3.469 rounds down, not up.) But I feel that UTPR is wrong. I believe I’m easily a 3.5 player . . . when I’m healthy. Playing lefty, it’s a different story. I’m not the same player.
My feelings are flipping from elation of winning a gold medal while playing left-handed—crazy, right?—to feelings of “did I do the wrong thing playing in 3.0?”. I posted my quandary in the Pickleball Forum on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1340630926008388/permalink/2793442304060569/
The responses were almost entirely supportive of my decision to play in 3.0, but there were a handful of dissenters. Honestly, I didn’t know if I’d be competitive in 3.0 while playing left-handed. Now I know. At least in a small, barely publicized, tournament. In a big sanctioned tournament, I think we would have been clobbered.
I talked to Binh and told him that I was thinking we should play in 3.5 in the next tournament even if we weren’t nearly as competitive. He agreed.
Ongoing Medal Count:
Gold: 3
Silver: 2
Bronze: 0
(Zilch/Crash & Burn: 4)
Number of days on a court: 275
Number of total hours: 757.5
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