Month: October 2021 (Page 3 of 5)

Thursday, October 14, 2021 (Court Day #422)

I texted Dan, the PT assistant, and told him that I’d be playing about 6:45, which was the time I arrived and found him waiting in the parking lot.

I spent the evening mostly playing with or against Dan. Dan is coming along, he still needs to work on pop ups, court positioning, some strategy, more ball control. But he’s doing all right.

The last four games were Dan and me against a rotation of Matt, Paul, and Eric of the clan of young men. I’m still learning to remember Eric’s name. Dan and I got clobbered in that first game which was against Matt and Paul who are the most formidable of that group. We did better when we rotated through and played them a second time.

Games were done by 9:30. I was not thrilled with my play. I’m realizing that I have a much harder time judging ball distance under lights. As my third day in a row playing, my right shoulder was noticeably sore. Could that have affected my play? Possibly.

Scary Guy

Eric, Paul and Matt shared a story. So, a couple of weeks ago—after issuing a death threat to John—the mysterious guy who lives near the courts went immediately back to the pickleball courts and called the players still hanging out there “rapists”. Then when they tried to leave the parking lot, the guy stood in the exit and blocked a car from leaving. When that happened, all the players got out of their cars and got the guy to back down.

I encouraged Eric to report the incident so there is some recorded history if the guy acts out again. Eric seemed inclined to go to the SVPD.

Saturday, October 16, 2021 (No Play)

My right elbow where the two bones meet was quite sore. It would sometimes ache when I wasn’t even moving. Three pickleball outings in 48 hours was definitely pushing it. It’s feeling a little better today.

Number of days on a court: 422
Number of total hours: 2,100

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Wednesday, October 13, 2021 (Court Day #421)

Since I needed to deliver the refurbished court signup board, I wanted to be Derby early. I took the morning off from work for something else that didn’t work out so … pickleball instead! I arrived at 8:45 a.m. and a number of key pickleball people were already there: Rick (the brand new Wednesday site coordinator), Leslie, Dave Witte, Dave Allenbaugh, John P., and Leslie’s husband Tim who walked in about the same time as me.

Play

I felt very positive about my play today. Leslie runs with the advanced group at Brommer, so when I finish a session feeling I made a good impression of myself, that’s a good day.

I had a great game with Eric S. against Leslie and John P. Eric and I won 11-6 or something thereabouts, we still play well as a team. (I miss the days when Eric and I were tournament partners before he turned 60 and he wanted to play in age brackets!)

There was only one game in the two hours that I felt I might have easily gotten away with playing left-handed—so, strong games today. I had two people ask me or comment to me “You are playing right-handed again? Great!” I hadn’t seen Jerry in two years and Tom B. I hadn’t seen for five months since he, John P., Eric S. and I had gotten together for some Friday night play at Skypark . . . Skypark has gotten busier since then.

Out at 10:51 a.m. for home then off to work!

Business Cards

When I got home tonight, I found a mysterious box on the dining room table. I opened it and learned that my USA Pickleball business cards arrived. That’s good news, now I can pass them to potential players!

Number of days on a court: 421
Number of total hours: 2,097.5

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Tuesday, October 12, 2021 (Court Day #420)

I arrived at Skypark about 6:45 p.m. It had been fairly windy earlier but the wind had died down quite a bit . . . still a slightly breezy but not enough to affect play.

Six courts were full and the lights were already on when I arrived—it’s getting dark earlier and earlier! Sharyl and Judy were playing against Kristin L. and Maria. Tim and Janet were on another. Larry L. was around too, but the majority of the players were people I don’t remember seeing before! Crazy. This sport is exploding!

I played one game of Debbie B. and newbie Sabina—has played three months—against Sabina’s friend “Weezy” and me. It turned out to be a more fun and challenging game than I expected. Still 2.5 maybe 3.0, but we had some good points.

Tim, for being in his mid to late 60s, is a very solid player. Not flashy but gets the ball back over the net. He was his normal self tonight.

I was really impressed with Janet, she makes so fewer egregious mistakes than she was making a few years ago. One could make an argument for her being a low 3.5 player . . . but unquestionably a solid 3.0 easily.

Play wrapped up at 9:40 p.m. It was court closing time, the ladies were complaining about being cold, and I was hungry. Aside for the time, I probably would have played more games.

My Play

After playing great as Sunday ended and being really happy with my play, tonight was back to reality. A bit more in the way of “dropshots into the net” . . . some not even making it to the dreaded white tape!

A bright spot was my serving. I did miss 2, maybe 3, serves tonight over the three hours. But I could serve hard and fast and reliably. I overheard Tim commented to his partner about it during one game.

My arm was hurting a bit, but it was the inside of my right elbow, not the typical tennis elbow. I guess that’s good.

Number of days on a court: 420
Number of total hours: 2,095.5

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