My son Nicholas—home for Christmas—accepted my invitation to play tonight. He hadn’t played pickleball since pre-pandemic, a couple of years. By the time I got home, changed, and picked him up, it was 6:50 p.m. when we pulled into the Skypark parking lot. There was even a spot in the lot; it was cold and it was a lighter crowd.
Diehards playing on a chilly December evening.
There was a middle-aged man at Skypark last week who was super familiar. Filipino, I think. I couldn’t place him at the time and there wasn’t a convenient moment to ask. Tonight, I figured out who he is. David. David is the neighbor of some very good friends of my wife and me, Richard and Laurie. Whenever there are birthday parties in their grassy common area, their neighborhood turns out. David said that Laurie told him that he should have been at the last event since I spent much of it talking about pickleball paddles!
I played a few games with Nicholas. One was against David and a man named Glenn. Nicholas and I lost, as you’d expect with a partner with very little experience and a two year hiatus. But it wasn’t a blowout.
We played another game and I felt guilty serving. I scored probably 4-5 points in a row off my serve getting returned into the net and more such points here and there throughout the game. But given that I was playing with a green and rusty partner, I had to take what I could get to make it an even game.
I also had a series of fun and challenging games against and with Paul, Matt, and their friend Dan.
I did return a couple of serves into the net. Not good.
Lights off at 9:30 and the stragglers all when home.
Health
My right knee is bothering me just a little bit, not not enough to bother me when playing. I’ll take it!
Number of days on a court: 445 Number of total hours: 2,168.5
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All weather predictions called for rain between 9:30 and 10 a.m. And this wasn’t “maybe rain”, it was 100%, chock-to-block rain. I texted Dave Allenbaugh at 8 a.m. that I’d opted to cancel—I warned him the night before—saying there wasn’t much point in setting up then taking it all back down half an hour later. When I didn’t hear back after 20 minutes, I texted Leslie, sharing with her that I’d told Dave. That would cover my bases if Dave was unavailable to send out the cancelation email to the club.
Wait, what?
With that, I went about my morning, expecting rain around 9:30. I saw that it had showered very briefly, but not significantly. I got a couple of texts from people asking about play. Dave texted back at 9:25 saying his neighbor ended up in an ambulance from a fall and he had gone with her. I didn’t see his text until closer to 10 a.m. He hadn’t been able to email out the cancel notice! I was now debating what to do. Go the courts in case people show up? Have Dave send a cancel notice late? Will it rain any minute? I turned on the Raiders game to see how that was going. It was a few minutes after kickoff . . . the Raiders had fumbled on their first drive and the Chiefs returned it for a touchdown. “Do I really want to watch this game?” (It would turn out to be their most lopsided loss in the history of their rivalry.) Instead, it was still not raining, so I packed up and told my wife I was heading to the courts. I didn’t want to leave players there stranded.
Derby
I arrived at Derby at 10:15 a.m. it was downright chilly. My hands were hurting a bit from the cold. Definitely in the 40s, not the 50s. I was still wearing shorts, but I had a sweatshirt on.
Larry Y., Ted B., Tom B., and a tall newish regular Dan were in a game more bundled than normal—gloves and jackets. Larry’s wife Jacquie was on a separate court drilling/dinking with a woman I didn’t know. That was it, six people.
I told the guys about the failure to get a message out and Dave’s neighbor. They said that no one showed up anyway! I guess everyone was all checking their weather apps too—either that or checking their thermometers!
I warmed up for a few minutes with the ladies then I was in a game with Tom as my partner against Ted and Larry. I was not thrilled with my play. We were down quickly, fought back, but ultimately lost.
A couple arrived and played a game with Jacquie and the woman.
Jacquie was ready to go and so she and Larry left when my game with Larry ended. Tom took off too.
Travellers
That couple was visiting from Wisconsin, a tall man named Reed and his wife Megan. Ted said he was going to leave and I said I was going to leave as well, but it was us or that visiting couple would be stuck playing just by themselves. I said I’d stay and play then looked askance at Ted. He said he’d stay. So we played a couple of games, mixing up partners. Reed and Megan are 3.0 equivalent players.
Didier
A man with a German accent appeared, Didier. He said he was pretty new and also had a shoulder injury so he was playing offhanded. He was playing righty, so he must be a natural lefty. “You should play with Andrew.” That was Megan. She obviously thought I was the strongest player.
Halfway through the game, Didier turned to me and said, “We should get all the balls to you.” It’s nice to be appreciated.
I was partnered with Didier against Ted and Reed. After one rally, as I raced of to chase a rolling ball, I overheard Megan to Reed: “His reactions are so fast!” Well, had I been faster, I would have kept the ball from glancing off the edge of my paddle, into my face and away from our court!
Players rotated in and out. I played with Ted against Reed and Megan, in that game I played lefty. They were ahead 10-7. I then I played righty when they were serving and could end the game, but I played lefty when we were serving. Service went back and forth a few times. It was 10-9. Reed served and I returned his serve a bit too far to right outside of the right sideline. Oops. And that was right-handed! Game over. That’s embarrassing!
Noon it was time to go.
Ted B. and Didier face off against Megan and Reed.
Nippy day, but fun to get a little play in.
Tuesday, December 14, 2021 (No Play)
Most of you know, I don’t share a lot of game videos. There’s a shot in this one that I’d never seen before. An outside-in enre shot. It happens at 1 minute, 18 seconds and I’ve linked to the video to start at 1minute, 15 seconds. You’ll see the man on the left jump across the NVZ and hit the ball down the middle. The man in red failed to close up the gap and his opponent too advantage.
The title claims 5.0 players. Nah. They are more like 4.0 players. There are too many mistakes. I think the man in teal has his crosscourt backhand drop way too high, and it gets attacked for a winner at one point.
Number of days on a court: 444 Number of total hours: 2,166
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
Larry and Jeanne (near) taking on Judy and Dan while Mike, Kristin, and Mustache Matt watch.
I got into some good games with Larry, Paul and his friend Matt. We could see our breath. It is December, after all!
Notable tonight was Paul and Matt beat Larry and me. That was unexpected, but goes to show the gradual improvement of the two. When they won, I told them, “Congratulations!” Larry has only a year under his belt, but I consider him a solid intermediate player.
The lights clicked off at 9:30. Time to go home.
What did I learn?
I slammed 3-4 popped up balls into my side of the net in my exuberance. I did well with my serves. I think I only missed 1-2 all night and I wasn’t holding back on my serves. But overall, I didn’t like my level of play. Too many mistakes.
Arm
Holding pattern. If I place my right palm on my chest over my heart and press, I feel noticeable pain in my elbow—maybe a 5 or 6 on a scale of 1 to 10 (most painful). I’ve been dodging a bullet so far in that it doesn’t bother me while playing . . . with some minor exceptions for some outings.
Number of days on a court: 443 Number of total hours: 2,164
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
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