Month: August 2019 (Page 4 of 5)

Wednesday, August 7, 2019 (Court Day #293)

53rd day out playing lefty. Tennis elbow.

Carrie texted me in the middle of the night, which I slept right through. She was really stressed over the tournament and was suggesting that I find another partner—though she’d play if I couldn’t since she didn’t want to leave me in a lurch.

After trying to encourage her last night: “it’s just a game”, “the goal is to have fun”, etc. This morning, she was still wanting to back out but not leave me without a partner. She was suggesting that Janet might be available.

Derby

I arrived at Derby Park pretty close to 9:30. Moving slowly.

There are days where you just want to take up another sport. Except for the last couple of games, today was one of those. I was simply not playing well. No ifs ands or buts.

Carrie and I played a game against Binh and Olga. We got clobbered.

Carrie and I played a game against Cal and Ron. Cal was his reliable self. We lost 11-0.

Things were not going well. Bing suggested Carrie and I play a game against Ron and newbie Jazmine. We won that one but it wasn’t as decisive as it should have been.

Carrie and my last game was against Kevin and Rich. Surprisingly, we held our own, leading 3-2 at one point. We did eventually lose 11-5 or 11-6, but that was expected. Afterward, Rich asked if we wanted some advice. He and Kevin then suggested to Carrie that she stay closer to me and not leave a hole down the middle. (Rich had hit two or three winners down the middle from my right to my left.)

Close to noon, Carrie had to leave to teach an art class.

Binh and I played a game against Rick and Ted B. We were fairly solid. Like most of the morning, I was returning right side serves with my right hand. I hit a high ball to my right side right-handed off the court for a winner. Binh and I won probably something like 11-5. I don’t recall.

Eric and played a game against Olga and . . . was it Janet? I can’t remember. We lost. Eric said, “I’m not fast enough to cover for you like Binh is.” Yep, Binh has to clean up my “messes” sometimes. But Binh isn’t perfect either, of course. But he does get some shots that you might not expect him to get.

Tournament

After some play today and talking to Carrie, she was far more comfortable with the idea of playing in 3.0 instead of 3.5. After figuring out who was playing in 3.5—like Olga and Jane—she didn’t want to play in 3.5. She was feeling very outclassed. And, to be honest, after playing crappy today, I’m thinking 3.5 would be a stretch for me also . . . so since we are playing as a TEAM and Carrie is the weak link—though after today I have to wonder about that!—3.0 makes the most sense.

I emailed Mike Hoxie of Pickleball is Great, the tournament director, and I received a call a couple of hours later from Gigi on my home answering machine as I was getting ready for work saying they’d moved us to 3.0. Success. I texted Carrie and she is ready to play and is much happier.

There are far fewer locals in the lower bracket. Kristin Long and Mike Ballard. I’m not sure if I know Mike. I know a Mike, but I’m not sure if he’s the Mike. The Mike I know is closer to a 4.0 than a 3.0. The other local-ish team is Sharon Goldau and Jim Dal Porto. I’ve seen Jim at Brommer fairly regularly. Sharon, I can’t picture, but I bet I’d recognize her.

Thursday, August 8, 2019 (No Play)

So, my right arm is definitely not ready for a return. It’s been mildly aching up my forearm all day. And it’s sorer at the elbow bone with pressure. The aching is hard to describe. It’s a combination of a mild burning sensation and a dull ache.

There are times when I get depressed and frustrated about my pickleball universe. I want to play right-handed. I am so much better playing right-handed. Getting a taste of playing right handed was necessary since I need to know if I’m ready to switch back. But it’s also super frustrating. I play so much better right-handed, but I shouldn’t since it’s a chronic injury!

Friday, August 9, 2019 (No Play)

Tournament tomorrow. My right elbow is still aching some. A little better than yesterday, thought it’s still pretty sore when I press near the elbow.

Number of days on a court: 293
Number of total hours: 810.5

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Monday, August 5, 2019 (Court Day #292)

52nd day out playing lefty. Tennis elbow.

I woke up. My body was still fatigued from yesterday’s five hour pickleball ordeal. Play? Not play? I was strongly considering just going to work. But with a tournament this weekend, I should get out there.

I put on my shoes but with two layers of socks, it was a bit tight on my toes. I grabbed one of the pairs I’d ordered recently. I removed one layer of socks and slipped on the new pair. I went to lace up my left shoe. What the heck? There was a knot in the lace that prevented me from tying the shoe. Grrrr. And it was a bugger of a knot too. Begrudgingly, I took off the shoes, put back on the second layer of socks and reverted back to my old pair. *sigh*

After my shoe adventures and moving slowly, I arrived at Brommer Park about 9:30. A couple of the eight courts were still empty. Leslie asked me to come be their fourth. I played ok. Missed a couple of serves and drop shots. Nothing to write home about.

Cal reaches for a ball at the net with Barb S. looking on. Binh and Olga are seen on the far side of the court to the right.

Chris and I played an early game against Jean and Judy. We were down a bit, but decisively came back and won the game. I played better as the game progressed. I told Chris so. “You know why right? They were hitting everything to you!”

Shawnte and I played a rotten game together. I think we lost 11-3 against Gregg and his partner. Shawnte enjoyed the game though and we played another against Tristan and a woman whom I forget. Going into the game, Shawnte and I agreed to try to hit almost everything as drop shots. Yeah. While it may have been ok practice, we lost 11-0.

At this point in the morning, my drop shot was horrible. Sometimes, the ball would even land somewhere between my feet and the net. The ball landing in the top half of the net was almost a victory. It was bad. If I play like this at the tournament, it’ll be a very short day!

The best game of the day was the last. Binh and I against Jean and Olga. Jean and Olga won gold in the women’s doubles last month. I think they should be in 3.5 but have been playing in 3.0. Olga said her rating is 3.4-something. Binh and I lost the first few points then had to battle back from an 1-5 deficit. Eventually, we did win 11-9. There were some very good battles at the net. “When your right hand is better, you are going to drive your opponents crazy being able to play with either hand.”

Binh suggested one more game. I saw Olga was wearing a device on her write that would probably give the time. “Olga. What time is it?” “11:40 . . .” . . . I got excited . . . “no, 12:40.” I turned to Binh, “I gotta go. It’s half an hour later than I thought it was!

Of note, I played much better when stacking. It felt “right”.

Righty-Lefty

Today, I continued to experiment a little bit with using my right to return serves coming to my right side. Switching can be confusing. On one right-handed return, I hit the ball into the net. Unheard of. With more practice, I got it down though. I probably half a dozen to a dozen returns I did with my right hand.

Evening

Tonight, an email came out from the club that someone had their bicycle stolen at Brommer today. The bike was locked by the picnic tables. Even with all the activity, a thief brazenly cut the lock. Santa Cruz. Such a bummer. My son Nicholas’ bike was stolen right out of our open garage door during broad daylight. The perpetrator had ridden up with a junker bike and hopped on my son’s which had been a nice gift from his grandparents. These days, we vigilantly keep our garage door closed. Such a shame. Santa Cruz has a inordinately high level of property crime. Especially bikes. Bikes are turned readily into cash for drugs.

Tuesday, August 6, 2019 (No Play)

I’m trying to figure out what to make of my right arm. It’s not painful. Maybe it’s a bit more “off” than normal, but it’s hard for me to put my finger on it . . . no pun intended. I shook a person’s hand today with no pain. When I tried righty a few weeks back in Scotts Valley, the next day, shaking hands hurt. But I also limited my play quite a bit more this time. At the bottom of the humerus (upper arm) bone at the outside of the elbow is a round bump. Right in front of that is where some of the tennis elbow pain would manifest itself. It’s still ever so slightly sensitive to pressure. I didn’t notice my tennis elbow until late in the day when I was lifting and swinging something with my right arm, then it was unmistakably still there. Not bad, but residual.

Carrie texted me. She’s a good soul. She was getting nervous about not doing well at the tournament and letting me down, I told her it’s only a game and no one will die if we get “slaughtered”—her choice of wording. I’m just happy to be able to play at all!

Number of days on a court: 292
Number of total hours: 807.5

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

Sunday, August 4, 2019 (Court Day #291)

51st day out playing lefty. Tennis elbow.

Last night, I asked my son Nicholas if he wanted to play pickleball, he said yes. We were out the door about 8:40 and on our way to Derby Park to open and set up. Ten minutes later, we were there. Mark G. had beaten us to the courts.

Nicholas and I played one game together and it was halfway through the morning session. I had us stacking which confused the heck out of our opponents whom I think had never played against a stacking team. (Stacking during rec play at Derby is unheard of.) Nicholas needs to develop his strategy and soft game, but he’s quick and gets shots I don’t expect him to be able to get to. At six foot, he’s got a good reach too. It’s only his fourth time playing, so that’s normal to still have lots of work to do.

A woman I don’t know along with regulars, Tony (nearest), Ray and Robin on the far side.

Joel (2nd time out, 1st I’ve seen him), another woman I don’t know, Wayne (tie-dye), Buzz (white) and newbie Bill toting the white beard.

A woman named Joanne came to Derby for the first time to try pickleball. Since I didn’t recognize her and she seemed tentative, I said hello when she walked up and walked her through the waiver, how the courts works, and some basic rules. Janet jumped in and assisted with getting Joanne up to speed.

While waiting, I grabbed a Pure 2 ball and took Joanne outside the gate where we volleyed a ball back and forth. She has good hand/eye coordination. She’ll be fine. Midway through the drill, I realized that I was drilling with my right hand! Oops. No pain though, so that was good. I switched to my left hand a few hits after I noticed.

A game Binh had already signed us up for came up, so left Joanne with Janet. Binh and I played against Kim and Buzz. We should have been clobbered. Instead, he and I won 9-2—maybe it was 9-4—regardless, it was a surprise. (With a big turnout, we were playing to 9.) They had a bad game. It was like Olga and me losing 11-0 to Cal and Gregg two days ago. It was a fluky event.

Janet and I played a game with Joanne and a man named Joel who told me that this was his second day out playing pickleball. Joanne was enthusiastic. When she and Janet won a point, she’d jump up and down. I think she’ll be back!

In that one game with Nicholas, we played against Bruce and Deshen. When Deshen learned Nicholas was my son, he said, “Wait? He’s your son? How old are you?” Ha! Good genes! (Nicholas and I did win in a strong fashion.)

My son Nicholas gets a hug from Diane P. while John P. (white hat) looks on. I believe the woman with the ponytail was visiting from Palo Alto. Binh (blue) talks to Shawnte next to the drinking fountain.

There was one game with Binh and me against Charles and Terry (female), but there was one intense volley rally at the net which involved mostly me. We won the point and when back at the baseline, I turned to Binh and said, “Just a reminder, that was all left handed!” I was rather proud of myself.

The last games of the day were Binh and me against Charles and Mark G. I’d been playing over four hours. I was beat. We played three games and lost all three. I was battling fatigue as we approached my five hour mark in the last game. I’ll admit that in that last game, I was battling focus and the desire to throw the game and be done. But I knew that wasn’t fair to my partner—nor my opponents, for that matter. As it was, I dragging anyway.

The more I play with Charles, the more respect I have for his skills. He uses a lot of spin, and it can be very effective.

Up until the last game, I felt much better about my play. My dropshot came back. Thank goodness!

It was just before 2:00 p.m. when Nicholas and I headed home.

Cabrillo Tournament

With the closing date for registration two days ago, the teams for the tournament next weekend are finalized. (Unless the TD allows some late additions.)

Here’s bracket for Carrie and me. There are seven teams of which three are local. Of those, I’d give the edge to Colleen and Adrian since Colleen is the strongest woman of the local bunch. The visitors, I haven’t the foggiest. Who knows, they might sweep the medals from the locals.

The entirety of the bracket that Binh and I are in. Yes, just us! We’ll be likely be rolled in to the 50-59 bracket and end up playing a round robin.

Closing

As I write this bit, it’s at 10:30 at night. And I am still tired and a bit sore from play today. Five hours is a lot of court time.

Number of days on a court: 291
Number of total hours: 804.5

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