Sunday, August 28, 2022 (Court Day #538)
Arrived about 8:50 a.m. at Derby Park to set up. There were about half a dozen players at the far end of the courts. There was a problem. Most of the courts were wet, especially the ones closest to the gate. My home driveway and street were dry—I checked—which is typically a good indicator, but not today. I immediately texted Mark D. and Tony S. to send out a “delay until 10 a.m.” email notice to the club. Mark responded about 15 minutes later saying he couldn’t get into the system to send the notice. At 9:57, Tony responded that he had been “out on a ride”. Needless to say, no notice went out, so I did my best to manage things. At first only, four nets were set up. Later, I allowed the last two nets to be set up, but initially as “dinking only”.
Play
My first game was with newish players Kevin, Isaac, and their friend Corrine. They borrowed club paddles. I played lefty in that game. I’m rustier than I should be playing lefty. It’s good for me to do that now and then. (I didn’t mention it in my last post, but I made a very nice crosscourt dink lefty at Brommer on Friday—the shot would have been very difficult righty, so I switched to get a better angle on it.)
Claire from San Jose
Rick had invited a female player from San Jose, Claire, to play at Derby. And she was rock solid. Fast serves, quick hands, power. I’d take her as a tournament partner in a heartbeat. Rick and Claire beat Ted and me. Later, Jason and I played against Claire and Briana. Briana signed up as advanced but is an intermediate. They got clobbered. I think it ended at 11-2 or 11-1. And we weren’t targeting Briana. I just goes to show how important a partner is.
Newbies
I trained some newbies . . . a married couple Fatima and Fred, and a woman named Sharon. I explained basic rules and strategy and played two games with them. They were very appreciative. Fatima and Fred had watched instructional videos so caught on quickly. Sharon came in cold and took more reminding as it was all completely new to her.
Jason and I played Charles and Rick and won 11-8.
As I left at about 1:15 p.m. , every court was full. There were two singles games and four doubles games. Barefoot Terry’s group of women had brought their own net. Three nets were city-owned nets. I asked Rick A. (the Wednesday site coordinator) if he could stow the remaining two nets for me and he agreed. There was a family of five waiting outside the fence for an opportunity to play. I’ve been playing 5 1/2 years and I’ve never seen this happen before. This sport is growing like crazy.
Monday, August 29, 2022 (No Play)
Today, I finally got the SCPC board to provide me access to the email system so I can send out my own club weather delay notices. It was supposed to happen a while ago, but it got bogged down. Now I have an account and I don’t have to wait for someone else. I can do it myself!
Number of days on a court: 538
Number of total hours: 2,452.5
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