Sunday, August 25, 2019 (Court Day #299)
58th day out playing lefty. Tennis elbow.
This was the first day that I was honest-to-goodness late to open. 9:01. Eric S. was already there setting up, thankfully. I got out the blower and got to work blowing off the courts. Things were hopping right off the bat with a number of players raring to go.
There was a man I recognized, Shmuel Thaler. Shmuel—who signed up on the court board as “Shmu”—has been a staff photographer for the local Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper for over 30 years. When our building at work caught on fire in 2002, Shmuel was there snapping shots right behind the firefighters. In 2012, when I tipped off the Sentinel about my sister’s father-in-law’s involvement with the civil rights movement back in the 1960s, they sent Shmuel to take a photo of Paul and his wife, Pat. (The accompanying article is pay-to-view these days, but the photo was reused three years later and you can see it here.) Shmuel said he’d played pickleball about ten times already, though none at Derby. I have to admit that I thought I’d recognized him previously before amongst the throngs, but it was across a series of courts and the opportunity to confirm his identity didn’t present itself.
I warmed up with Shmuel and then played a game against him. He’s already off to a fast start. He’s going to do just fine. He needs to get himself up to the kitchen faster—a super common newbie mistake—but he’s quite good getting the ball back over the net. Very promising! He’ll make a strong adversary on the court 6-12 months from now.
I had a handful of people ask me how the arm was coming along . . . Charles, Tom (Robin’s son), Terry, Tom B. . . . people are kind and caring. Charles had seen me at the tournament earlier this month and thought to himself, “Andrew is really putting away shots! Oh! He’s playing right-handed!” (Unfortunately, it was not to last.)
A slice of Binh, Art, Allan K., Ray (behind Allan) playing with Tom against Robin (Tom’s mom, red hat) and Tom’s girlfriend, Ilena. To the far right are Marie and Terry (red shorts).
There was a tall man with long whitish hair who told another player that his name was Gregg. Ah. So the new guy at Skypark on Thursday night was indeed the man who had messaged me on Facebook. I introduced myself and we later ended up playing together. He’s a lefty and not bad. Probably a 3.0.
There were a few games of note. Tony and I played a game against Mark G. and George. It was a close game but we won. Ask I walked off, I told Eric S. who was sitting on the bench. He smiled and congratulated me. Mark and George aren’t 4.0 players, but they are solid. To beat them playing left-handed is an accomplishment.
Later, Mark G. and I played several games against Ted B. and Rick. We won two out of three and barely lost the one that we did. Mark wasn’t having his best day. Maybe that’s why Tony and I had beat him and George. Mark asked if we could stack and also asked if I could help him get to the right place at the right time . . . I guess I’m getting to be a stacking expert! Binh must be too!
Scheduling Board Insanity
There was a bit of a snafu with the scheduling board. We had new players skipping boxes and starting new boxes of the same color. Even after I explicitly wrote instructions in a box at the top not to do that! At one point, I had two black boxes with two names each in them then chronologically after those was yet another black box with four names signed up in it. AGH!! Grrrrrr! Come on, people.
Terry was saying that there were newbies signing up in black (intermediate/advanced) instead of green (intermediate). It’s an ongoing problem. People always sign up a bit willy-nilly. I told her that if I were the king of the club, we’d assign ratings to every player. Terry said there’s a club in Oregon that does that. But, I’m not king of the club.
Clinic and Strays
Cal had another clinic going after the morning club session. There were about 10 people.
There was a younger couple—30s?—that was messing around with singles on one of the courts after noon. I extended a cordial invitation for them to join us during the morning club session. “But we don’t really know how to play,” she admitted. I told her, “We’ll show you how, just show up at 11 for the newbie time.” I told her to visit the club website for more information. Later on, as they were leaving, shortly before I left, I extended the invitation again. Hopefully, they’ll come.
By the time I’d counted the donations and put everything away, it was 1:20.
Later
By evening, I could feel my right knee and my hips were bothering me some from today.
Thoughts
Today, I felt I did pretty well. Sure, I made mistakes. But I served better today. I generally made good shots. I dug out some slams and made shots were hard to make. I can confidently say that I’m on par with half the club even though I’m playing lefty.
Monday, August 26, 2019 (No Play)
I dropped by a local packaging/cleaning supply company, Coast Paper. A friend of mine, Reed—he was my best friend when I was 8—was there, as he often is, manning the counter. While there trying to get a large roll of butcher paper (they were out of stock), I asked about the cost of some protective goggles. Reed said he didn’t know, paused, then asked, “Do you want a free sample? I get them all the time.” I said, “Sure!” and then he came back with two of them. Nifty. I’ll have some new ones for night play! Maybe I can find a fabric sleeve to store them in.
Tuesday, August 27, 2019 (No Play)
Boy. This elbow thing is nasty. In the family art and picture framing store, Lenz Arts, I manage a team of about 20 people . . . typically about a dozen on a given day. I don’t do all that much hands-on framing these days, at least not extensively, I play the role of “advising doctor”, that is, my staff grabs me for the hard stuff. There was a slightly canvas stretch and I was involved. Using canvas pliers was painful. I could only manage a few pulls before I had to relinquish it to a trusted framer. I came back to finish stretching the corners which could be pulled by my left hand alone.
I don’t know.
Just how long will it take for this elbow to get better? I think January is now unrealistic for a return to my right hand. Do I need to add yet another year? Will I have to play left-handed forever? Do I need to take a trip up to the “Witch Doctor” in Walnut Creek as the Yoders call him? Maybe the trip and expense could be worth it. It’s such slow going as it is. It’s miserable.
Rating
I realize that the USAPA has probably updated my rating since the tournament. Yep. My doubles rating has taken a hit. It was 3.469. It’s now 3.432. Oh, well. I’m not playing my best, so that’s the way it goes. I’ll have to earn my way back up when—if?—I ever get back to playing right-handed.
And I have an official mixed rating now too: 3.051. (They don’t count the tournament were Colleen and I won silver at San Juan Bautista in November or it’d be higher.)
I still don’t have a singles rating. I’d love to play singles in a tournament someday.
My right knee is still hurting a bit. Just certain movements. I must have twisted it on Sunday.
Number of days on a court: 299
Number of total hours: 828
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