Sunday, August 1, 2021 (Court Day #397)
I took it a little slow this morning and leisurely arrived at Brommer Park at 9:30. It was overcast with no breeze. With my tennis elbow a worry, I opted to play nearly all the day lefthanded. I warmed up with Mike from Pacific Grove for about 30 minutes since there was an unusually light crowd. His wife Barb was in a game on an adjacent court. When I mentioned the Charmisal tournament last weekend, Mike said he was supposed to play in it in 4.0 Men’s Doubles, but his partner canceled the morning of the tournament. Mike said he usually plays in 3.5, but it was either 4.0 or not at all.
Local Winners
Oh, I should mention a surprise. The Santa Cruz Pickleball club sent out an email this morning sharing that John P. and Jon (white trim beard, boisterous) won 3.5 Men’s Doubles at Charmisal. I’m shocked, actually. (Olga and I had beaten John and Barb S. 11-2 in a warm-up game the day after John’s win and that loss was not all on Barb!) I kind of wonder if Eric had played with me instead of Allen Goldberg, if Eric and I would have won it. Alas, we will never know. But congrats to John and Jon! Excellent job representing Santa Cruz pickleball!
The SCPC also shared that Tom Sherwood and Karl Shubert won gold at the Pacific Northwest Classic in Bend, Oregon in the 3.0, 65+ men’s doubles. Congrats to Tom and Karl too!
Ken and Hui
Around 10 a.m., a couple arrived whom I had never seen before. A very tall fellow, Ken, and his much shorter Asian wife, Hui. (Hui is pronounced “Way”.) When I asked where they were from, they said they very recently moved to town from Los Altos. Today was their second outing at Brommer, she said.
Mike and I took on Ken and Hui. Mike and I won all three games that we played, but they made a good showing. When I served a precision ace to the outside front corner right-to-left against Hui, Mike looked at me and said, “I thought you said serving lefthanded was hard!” (I had shared earlier that serving was the hardest part of me learning to play lefty.) I smiled and said, “I didn’t say that I was still bad!”
I wasn’t going to bring it up to Ken and Hui that I’d played lefty but we were talking injuries or something and I mentioned that I was playing lefty. Hui said, “And you are right-handed? You can’t tell.” “I’m much better with my right.” Truth be told, right now, it seems that my warmed-up left is probably as good as cold right.
I had good game after good game today. There were no games where I felt I was with weak players. The crowd was thin and so I only had so spend short bits of time waiting for a game.
The Daves
The last three games of the day, I played right-handed. I played with David Black against Rick and his girlfriend Renee. After a few points, “Did you switch on us?”, Rick asked rhetorically with a big smile. Yep. In my first righty game with David Black, I had to turn to him and excuse a few bad shots with, “Maybe I did need to warm up righty.” When Rick slammed a shot to my feet, I don’t know how I got that back over, but magic things happen when I play right handed. That garnered some positive comments and stunned looks from those on my court. We won that point.
Rick slammed a shot angled off the court to my right. I had anticipated his shot and barely got there in time but managed a good shot back over the net. Had I been playing lefty I couldn’t have made that shot. It’s shots like that one that make me want to play righty so badly.
Then I got into a game with Dave DiBiase as my partner. BiBiase likes to power his shots. Hard and fast at his opponents and it can work. The problem is sometimes the opponents can handle power well.
I checked the time: 1:42. There were plenty of players still around. I could have gotten another game after a short wait, but I could hear my wife’s voice saying how I haven’t been home much this past week. Time to go.
Incident
Rick shared that last Sunday there was an incident where Greg (tall, white ponytail) got frustrated after losing a game and hurtled his paddle into the net in disgust. But he missed. He hit Rick square in the jaw with his paddle. Fortunately, Rick is ok other than his jaw is still sore a week later. I’ve also seen Oleg throw paddles in frustration but never in the direction of anyone. Obviously, throwing paddles can be dangerous and is poor sportsmanship. I can understand the frustration and I’ve never seen Greg be mad or unpleasant in a game, but we always need to be careful. I mentioned it here at the time, but about a year ago a top pro lost a doubles game and slammed a ball that had popped after the point was over and that ball hit her unwitting opponent—who was already celebrating with her partner—square in the eye. Careful, folks.
Home
This video popped up somewhere . . . social media or a YouTube suggestion. Nice point:
Monday, August 2, 2021 (No Play)
The used Toloco T11 Pro wireless massage gun I bought on eBay showed up today. I tried it tonight and I can see how it could help things heal. I used it very briefly on my left thigh, then longer on my right forearm, my left forearm, and my two calves. Then the battery died—while the LED indicator still read a full “99”. Uh, oh. Not good. I found the company online and submitted a contact form asking if this behavior meant a bad battery.
Tuesday, August 3, 2021 (No Play)
I was all set to play in Skypark tonight. I had everything in my car ready to go after work. But . . . my daughter texted me. She wanted me to proofread another batch of her medical school application essays, and it had to be tonight. Oh, well. I can always play another night.
As for good news, I charged the cordless massage gun overnight and tried it again tonight for at least as long as last night’s test run. Tonight, the battery didn’t die. I’ll use it again tomorrow night and see if the battery holds up.
Toloco did get back to me this morning asking for my order number and “a video”. The temptation to put an old VCR tape in the mail was strong, but instead I wrote back reiterating that my T11 unit was used, not purchased new from them. I have yet to receive a followup reply.
Number of days on a court: 397
Number of total hours: 2,031.5
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