Sunday, June 27, 2021 (Court Day #387)
I arrived at Brommer at 9:15 after dropping my daughter off at work. Three of the four permanent courts were full and no one waiting—well, except for now me! It was overcast and a cool summer morning with a slight breeze.
Juls showed up and we started warming up. I figured I’d give my natural right hand a chance again today. Though I’m still a little leery as it was nagging this past week.
A Comeback!
Patty and I took on Jason and Juls. It was Patty’s first game. We were down 2-10 to Jason and Juls. Patty warmed up and we gelled better. We came back and I won 12-10. Never give up! In a first, Patty was encouraging me to poach when I was up for receiving. I’ve never had a partner suggest that. Patty is a good player and has won an assortment of medals. Hue was back. Tall, Hue sports a scraggly red beard. During our game, Patty requested that Hue not vape near her . . . that she’s a retired firefighter and is very sensitive to smoke/vapors. Jason chimed in that he preferred to not have to nearby either. Hue stopped while nearby.
Hue likes to vape between rallies. There was another young fellow, Cameron. Cameron is a quite a good player. There was a visiting guy, Greg. Stocky, maybe Latino or Filipino. Greg and I played against Hue and Cameron. Hue was definitely the weaker of the two. It was back and forth, but Greg and I won. We played again and lost the second game. I played pretty well in that game. It’s funny to think I was on a local court with three guys whom I’d either never met before or only met in the last week (Hue).
I played a game with Chris against Rick and his girlfriend Rene. Chris and I won. We took a strong lead, Chris and I both made mistakes, they got closer but then we wrapped up the game. I had an ace in that game. Rene was lined up at the corner; I served hard, fast, and low about a foot inside service court. She never got close. “Nice serve, Andrew!” That was Rick. That was a serve I could never had made left-handed.
Brian (from Marin county) reminds me greatly of my cousin Nate. Tall, tan, unruly hair that sticks out under his cap. He was playing with tall, redheaded Brad who has a “down under” accent. Stuart and I took them on. Oleg had come just to watch today (his wife Olga was nowhere to be seen) and advised Stuart to not get into a firefight with them, so we played a soft game against Brian and Brad. It was close, but we did win. Afterward, when I asked, Brian said he’d been playing a couple of years.
Juls and I played a game against Brian and Brad. That would be a tough row to hoe and I was right. Juls was no match. Brad did get an ace on me, he applies a ton of spin to some shots. His serve hit the outside upper corner of the service box and spun out. High risk, but a winner. (2-3 other serves by him never made it over his side of the net.)
Sitting on the wall, Brian commented on how I don’t just hit balls with topspin but curve my paddle over the ball. And that I do it with serves too, “which is good.” I do have to wonder if that arc on forehands is part of my tennis elbow issue. I think on serves it would not be a factor.
When I left at 1:37, Rick called over and told me I’d played well right-handed. Nice to hear. I have far more power in my shots and more reliable hard serves using my right arm.
Grrrrr.
I will share an experience today. A lesson on what not to do. Art arrived, barely warmed up, and jumped into a game. Art on one side, me on another. He was not playing up to his standard, kind of expected for a first game. I was not playing great either, but not horrible. (Heck, it was—what?—my eighth game right-handed in nearly two years?) This local player—no, not Stuart—playing with Art put in a dig at Art and me. “You’re both playing like 2.5 players . . . right?” It was said with a grin, but Art and I didn’t laugh. This was an outright insult and was not meant in jest. Even playing badly, we weren’t below a 3.0. Not cool. No wonder some players refuse to play with y this guy. This is the same player who I played with later who would comment when I’d make an error but be silent when he made one. I’d never tell a partner “let’s not do that anymore” when a pop-up happens. I might ask permission to give advice then suggest a few specific key corrective measures. But I’d never just tell a player not to make an error—such as popping the ball up when you are digging a ball off a slam.
All that said, I did have too many pop-ups today. I’d say that was my #1 problem. Followed by hitting my dropshots into the net. Those were the two biggies.
Home
When I got home, I iced my shoulder. More than anything, my shoulder is sore. Knock on wood, my forearm seems to be experiencing only mild discomfort. I did decide to ice it in the evening, mostly as a precaution.
I emailed Leslie (SCPC Venue Coordinator) and Karen (board president) about reopening. Leslie said the board decided to start official play only with Brommer. It was going to be July 5, but she said that the county was having a basketball camp that week, so official play is now bumped to July 12.
Tuesday, June 29, 2021 (No Play)
I’m experiencing very mild forearm pain, if you can call it pain. Maybe a super mild periodic ache. I had a fleeting thought about . . . could it be? Can I dare? Tournaments. If this holds out, I could return to tournament play. But it’s very early. And I’m still only playing once a week. I don’t want to disappoint myself with hopes.
Dan Bliss posted some photos on Facebook today of crack repairs done at Skypark in Scotts Valley. Excellent. Thanks go to these volunteers!
Friday, July 2, 2021 (No Play)
I went to PT again this week. In recovery, there are plateaus and climbs. I’ve been making some climbs lately. My range of motion is increasing. I am experiencing very mild forearm discomfort . . . like a faint charlie horse. It’s like walking on ice. Am I going to be fine? Is my tennis elbow going to stay in check? Or is the ice going to break and my arm is going to start getting really bad again?
Mark Renneson sent this out in his Third Shot Sports newsletter:
Rather amusing!
Saturday, July 3, 2021 (No Play)
My right forearm has been bothering me a little bit. A couple of days ago, I got out that pressure roller device and used it to massage my arm a bit. Hopefully, it helped. All I have is anecdotal evidence and I can’t tell if it made it worse, or it was my computer or iPad use that made it seem worse. Dunno.
Number of days on a court: 387
Number of total hours: 1,099
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