Thursday, February 17, 2022 (Court Day #469)

I didn’t play on Tuesday night this week. The back of my right hand was hurting—that tendon/muscle pull happened again and this time, it lasted a few days. My kidneys were hurting, mostly my right side, but my left too to a lesser degree. At least, I think it’s my kidneys. It could be my lower back, it’s hard to tell.

Phone Call

As I drove through the Skypark neighborhood, I got a phone call. It was my generic ringtone, so not someone I talk to often. (I set specific ringtones for common calls, such as members of my family—my mom’s is the Peanuts theme, for example, she’s into Snoopy.) Who was calling me? The security company for work? I twisted uncomfortably to dig my phone out of my left shorts pocket. Dan M. came over the speaker, “I’m behind you!” Sure enough, the car behind me flashed its high beams a few times. Funny! I pulled into the Skypark parking lot around 6:45, Dan and I taking the last two spots.

It’s hard keeping track of all the new faces!

I played a game with a tall newer player named Melvin against Josh and Daniel. (Part of the Tall Paul and Matt with the Hat clan.) I played lefty, we won 11-0. Not exactly stiff competition, but give them all time.

The Harder Games

The games that made the night worth it was play with John A. against Casey and his dad, Tim. John and I lost every game, but the last one was close.

John can be a bit of a ball hog. There was a head-level shot a little on my side in the middle within easy reach of my forehand so I swung hard . . . only to violently scrape the top edge of my paddle down the edge of John’s forearm as he attempted a backhand. Ouch. I winced myself. It was unquestionably painful for him. I felt bad about it and I apologized a few times. John commented that the injury would teach himself a lesson about keeping proper space. Tim concurred with a comment of his own . . . I suspect that Tim played with John before and got tired of John’s poaching. Depending on the partner, I can either be a ball hog or not aggressive enough and let balls go that my partner thinks I’m going to take.

John said, ”You are so good at the short game.” Nice to hear. It’s more true when I am patient. I drove a couple of balls that bounced in the kitchen into the net. So dumb. My lesson in these games was be patient and play smart pickleball.

Our games ended at 9:15.

Suspension

Matt with the Hat thought that when I didn’t show up on Tuesday that maybe I was the one in the fight and was suspended. The incident was mentioned in an club email blast about two players who were involved in a physical altercation and were consequently suspected from club play for three months. Those unmentioned players were Stuart and Dave C. I was told by a witness that they were verbally sparring from adjacent courts at Brommer, getting on each other’s nerves, when Dave hit an overhead that went sideways in the direction of Stuart on the other court. Stuart had no doubt as to why the ball came near him so he ran and tackled Dave and started punching down on him. Stuart and Dave feature the more “self-confident” personalities you’ll find on the local courts. Sometimes we forget that pickleball is a game. I tend to like most people and I get along with Stuart and Dave. There is only one local player whom I didn’t get along with much at all—I don’t know of anyone who much liked him, though I treated him cordially—but he’s moved far away. Unlike Wayne, who moved far away and I miss!

What did I learn?

I need more patience. I feel I’m pretty patient, but I’m starting to wonder. I really need to video record some of my recent games. It’s easy to play dumb pickleball. It’s harder to not go on automatic and instead make wise strategic decisions with your shots. You have to be “in” the game and paying attention to each shot.

Arm

Tennis elbow still ok. It seems I have more golfer elbow with the pain on the inside of my elbow. If I lock my elbow out straight, there is pain there. And while it’s not constantly painful, it’s there all the time when I straighten out my arm. During play, I feel it for slams, but that’s about it.


Number of days on a court: 469
Number of total hours: 2,238

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