Sunday, November 14, 2021 (Court Day #434)

As I drove to Derby Park to open and set up, my right arm was acting up a bit with certain motions on the steering wheel—it’s slightly sore. But not enough to keep me from playing mostly comfortably right-handed today, As I walked in at 8:45, Maia was there hitting a ball back and forth with an older man that I don’t know.

It was already sunny and it was a warm day that other players commented on the heat. We are so spoiled. It’s in the 70s and we’re complaining about it being hot in the middle of November!

Full courts and more waiting outside the gate. 40-45 players.

Once 10 a.m. rolled around and players were signing up in skill-based colors, I was signing up in red (advanced) mostly with Eric S., Ted B., and Rick.

Ted commented that I was playing really well. He again later praised my net play.

Kids

I looked over to a court near the end and Allan K. was playing with a number of boys, I’d guess between 8 and 10 years old. It brought up an interesting dilemma, that is, they are too young to legally sign the release that the club requires to play during their time (time which is an agreement with the city) and the boys had no legal guardian with them. We want to be welcoming and grow the sport, but the trick is, what if they got seriously hurt? Who do we call after an ambulance? We’d have no one to contact. This will need to be addressed by the SCPC board.

Matt and Sara

The new taller guy with the gray mustache, Matt, was back. This time, he brought his college-aged daughter, Sara. Sara goes to Sacramento State and plays on their D1 soccer team. She’s also a Biology major with medical school aspirations—just a few years behind my own Biology/PreMed-track daughter Charlotte. Med school is super competitive. Charlotte was telling me she applied to school with 190 openings but a whopping 17,000 applications! Sara did ok. Natural athletic ability.

Net Time

Shortly after 12:30, I started taking down nets. Three were on vacant courts. Eric and Ted helped. This new group of players aren’t stepping up to chip in. Old hands are more altruistic and ask to take down nets at the end of the session.

After stowing the club nets, I got talked into another few games and it wasn’t until almost 2 p.m. before I left. A big chunk of my day at the pickleball court!

Mistakes

I think my most chronic error today—and it was only once or twice an hour—was hitting service returns too long. And I’ve mentioned this before, but a slice service return needs to be a full and no-holds-barred commitment, otherwise . . . out the ball goes!

Arm

When I got home, I could feel my arm. It’s a combination of soreness on the inside of my elbow and a little of my tennis elbow. A few hours later, I iced my arm—one cooling pack on the outside of my arm, another on the inside.

Monday, November 15, 2021 (No Play)

My right arm is experiencing more pain on the inside of my elbow than the outside or the top of my forearm. Unexpected, but better than a relapse of intense forearm pain.

One question puzzling me is, am I as good a player as pre-arm problems or am I now starting to exceed where I was two years ago? Or am I still working back up to my prior skill level? My sense is I may be about back to where I was. Better? Hard to say. I do have some new weapons . . . such as an overhead shot lefty or an even more solid lefty dink for those crosscourt dinks. I guess if I ever get the yips right-handed, I can switch to left. But better righty? Not sure yet.

Number of days on a court: 434
Number of total hours: 2,136.5

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