Sunday, May 22, 2022 (Court Day #498)
When I arrived at Derby Park at 8:50 a.m., there were already seven players there. That is a first. A handful, sure, but seven? Mark G. was drilling with Dave Cox on one court, a game was going on with Larry and Janet and a couple of others, then there was another female player who was simply hanging around waiting for the club session to formally start. It was 53°F and overcast, but it would burn off later for a nice day.
The first games were decent, but then I got into games that were not very challenging.
Newbies
As I was hanging around waiting for my red/advanced box to come up, a woman stopped me, “Are you the one in charge?” I said I was. ”I thought that recognized you from the website.” It turns out she (Lori) and her husband, Scott, were brand new players. They’d heard about the game, knew next to nothing about it, and came to check it out. I got them club paddles and had them hit a ball back and forth out on the grassy area, then came back and explained the basic rules. I then had them watch while I got into my already scheduled game. That was a fun game of Eric and me against Rick and René.
Someone stopped me after that game and pointed out another brand new player, Sonya. I signed up the four of us in a box for an instructional game. That took probably 45 minutes all told…between drilling and then playing.
Come on now.
My last game of the day was a good one. I was paired with a player who generally doesn’t come to Derby. He played well today, but I believe I’m a better player on average. That didn’t stop him from criticizing my play if I made a questionable strategic choice—like driving at Rick from the kitchen line—or I otherwise helped lose a point. When he made a poor shot or missed an opportunity, I didn’t criticize him. Instead, when he made good shot, I complimented him. That is my way. He knows what he did wrong. He doesn’t need me to point it out. When, after one rally, he gave me a hard time for not getting to a shot when he was off the court (and he was a bit slow getting back on)—and I was already fully into his side of the court—René countered on my behalf, “There’s only so much of the court Andrew can cover!”
When the game was done, he called another player over to the court then turned to me and said, “Thanks for playing.” Not, “I’d like to play with so-and-so, do you mind?”, instead he forced me off the court. I had a family party to get to anyway, but still…I took it as rude. You don’t invite someone else to replace a player who may not wish to be replaced. That is very presumptuous. And who says you get to stay on the court?
Fulfilling my site coordinators duties, I made sure everything was stowed in the bins then headed home, annoyed, leaving a couple of games still going on the city-owned nets.
Monday, May 23, 2022 (No Play)
I emailed the player who made what I considered the rude move, explaining my thoughts on the matter. He did apologize twice in his reply for his “misstep” and that it wasn’t personal. I’m closing the book on that episode and moving on.
Number of days on a court: 498
Number of total hours: 2,327.5
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