Tuesday, July 6, 2021 (Court Day #390)

Stuart visited our family business today. He’s redoing the court reservation whiteboard for Brommer Park. An email went out to the SCPC membership this morning saying that Brommer will be officially reopening for club play on Monday, July 12. That will be 16 months after the pandemic shutdown occurred. I could have never imagined. Anyway. Stuart picked up some white dry erase spray paint, a black enamel paint pen, some masking tape, and some vinyl stick-on numbers to number the squares on the whiteboard. I’m sure it’ll look good when it’s done.

Scotts Valley

I tried to get out of work as quickly as possible. Even then, it was nearly 6:40 p.m. by the time I got to Skypark. Kristin’s plan was for everyone to start at 6 p.m., but I had told Kristin I might not be there until 6:45.

Sharyl, Larry L., Terry S., Mark D., Adrian, Janet, Kristin were all there. Mark announced my arrival to the others: “Andrew is here!” He was happy to see me, it turned out that I would be their fourth!

Terry and Sharyl on the near court, Janet and Adrian on the far side.

We rotated through partners. After about an hour, Sharyl had to go. So we played games to 7 points instead of 11 to get the three waiting players into a game more quickly.

I think my biggest problem tonight was court positioning. Closing up the gap between my partner. This is a very common issue among even intermediate players. There were a few points where I needed just another half step . . . maybe ever over the middle line. (Then there is Stuart who was recently complaining that I was coming too far over to his side and crowding him . . . you can’t win.)

The Youngsters

About 9 p.m., I asked Janet if she wanted to play with a young couple playing singles. There was a tall fellow with dark hair, Marcus, and his friend/companion, Emma, with light hair in a ponytail. They are both graduates of St. Mary’s College in Moraga, California—about an hour and a half of driving north of us. It had only take me watching a few shots across the courts to know that Emma has some significant form of formal tennis training. Her footwork and body preparation for shots was impeccable. When I asked her about that, “High school…?” then she started to answer, “College…”, but Marcus blurted out “D1!” Ah. Makes sense. With a big grin, Marcus said, “Pickleball allows me to keep up with her…almost!”

After the game with Janet, Terry and I played them. When I asked for yet one more game, Marcus said they hadn’t eaten dinner yet. I said, “I haven’t either!” “Hardcore pickleball players,” he observed. They agreed to another game, this time with Adrian as my partner.

It was fun. Emma was really good at poaching and hitting the ball angled off the court. She had quick hands too. Once she learns a soft game and adjusts to the ball and the court size, she could be really, really great.

Home

It was 10 p.m. by the time I pulled up in front of my house. My wife asked, “How was your other family?” Since it was 30-40 minutes later than normal, she was concerned that I was unresponsive in a ditch somewhere. She didn’t call or text, but was still worried. “Let me know if you are going to be later than normal.” Busted.

Nationals Tempest

The 2021 Nationals will be at Indian Wells again, here in California. They sent out a notice this week telling people that all attendees, staff, volunteers must be vaccinated against COVID-19. Some people are up in arms over this. Me? People! Just get vaccinated! Or don’t come. This isn’t a medical school you got into that you would be avoiding and would affect your entire career path. This is a game you play for fun. But some are into the conspiracy theories that are out there. Pseudoscience nonsense that pops up on YouTube from nutcases. Don’t get me started. Some of us actually have science degrees and can differentiate real information from garbage that’s coming from a source that, in some cases, should know better but is misleading people. Had the internet been around, would these same people have eschewed the polio vaccine or the smallpox vaccine? Will COVID-19 variants continue to circulate for years to come because we never reach herd immunity? It’s a shame. Sure, there are a small percentage of people who have some medical condition that may validly prevent them from being vaccinated but that’s a pretty darn small percentage.


Number of days on a court: 390
Number of total hours: 2,011

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