Sunday, October 17, 2021 (Court Day #423)

Today was a mix of easy games with newbies and solid challenging games.

This was my first day resuming my duties as Sunday site coordinator for Derby Park. Dave Witte, Tim, John P., Rick A. were all there to assist—in fact, though I was 15 minutes early (8:45 a.m.), Tim and Rick beat me there. I had solid support to get players to sign the waiver form and also understand how things work under the auspices of the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club.

Friend Sighting!

Over the years, you get to know people though your work. Since our family business is artist materials and picture framing, I get to know people at the University of California, Santa Cruz who are related to art . . . professors, lecturers, administrators, some students, and in the case today, a director of one of the galleries on campus, Shelby. Shelby took an early retirement in June this year, four months ago. I was happily surprised to see her on the courts. Just as an example, 11 years ago to the week, I was on-site at her gallery helping repair/correct some framing on a very large loaned piece of artwork and I already was well acquainted with her at that time. I asked her when she started playing and she said when she retired. I didn’t get to play with her, but watching, she looked solid.

Notable games today

Late in the morning, Ted B. and I took on Eric S. and Adrian. That was a fun and challenging game. I played very well in that game and Ted said as much afterward. He and I won.

My last two games featured me and Adrian against Rick and his girlfriend Renee who had made a surprise appearance from Brommer Park where they normally play on Sundays. When I asked, they said that they’d gone to Brommer first and it had only 8 players and the two courts were arranged games—that is, very difficult to rotate into . . . so they left and came to the westside of Santa Cruz instead. I was very happy to see them. Both are strong intermediate players.

Adrian and I got killed in the first game against Rick and Renee. It was something like 11-2 or something horrible like that. Both of us didn’t exactly play great. Adrian missed a few of his serves and I lost a lob in the sun and that was only the beginning. Adrian apologized and said he wasn’t playing well.

We played a rematch, switching sides. This time, it was Adrian and me who walked away with the game.

We were going to play a tiebreaker, but when I asked the time, it was already 1:15. I was supposed to FaceTime with my son at 1:25 to share the Raiders NFL football game! Time to go! I scrambled to stow the last net, take down the signup board, grab the “welcome mat” and the ball caddie, put the donation monies into an appropriate envelope and a few other duties. Did I forget anything? Nope, looks good. Say goodbyes and out!

The last ones. Wrapping up with Rick, Renee, Adrian.

Health?

My right elbow as well as my forearm were sore . . . a mild precursor to worse tennis elbow. I used ice on them and later used the massage gun. Hopefully, it holds up.


Number of days on a court: 423
Number of total hours: 2,104

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