Sunday, September 4, 2022 (Court Day #542)
Yesterday, I went to the annual highland games held in Pleasanton. I usually go with Jay Salter who taught me how to play bagpipes and is my mentor and friend. He had students competing in the various events at the games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but felt that three days was too many for him. He asked me to tune up one of his students, Brian, who was competing in his first event at 9 a.m. I left my house about 7:30 and arrived in Pleasanton at about 8:30 which gave me about 20-25 minutes to tune Brian up. This was his very first bagpipe competition so I gave him advice based on my own competition experience—telling him to relax and enjoy playing and not stress over it too much. He was very appreciative of the time that I spent tuning and also helping him with his mental preparation.
Brian placed in the middle of the pack at the competition which is pretty good for a first time out, I definitely have to give him some credit. A lot of people never get out to compete in the first place due to the stress, expense, time, and fear of failure. I spent the rest of the day meeting old friends and listening to pipe bands perform. It was a long hot day. I got home about 6 p.m. then headed to a friend’s party with my wife.
Bleh
There occasionally days when you feel a lack of motivation, today was one of those days where just didn’t really feel like going to play pickleball. If I was not a site coordinator I might’ve either given it in a miss or arrived late at 10 a.m. instead of early to prepare for a 9 a.m. opening time.
A nice surprise today was Tim F. walking in. I can’t remember if I’ve seen him anywhere other than Skypark in Scotts Valley. He said that his son Casey wanted to try out Derby on a Sunday and then he’ll be coming shortly.
Casey and Tim took on me and Hugh. During the game, Tim told me, “You are playing like a beast today, Andrew.” Maybe part of that was proper lighting. I much prefer to play during the day than under lights at night.
Hugh’s Gift
So, yes, Hugh was there with his dog Groot and—as he had offered on Friday at Brummer Park—he gave me a T-shirt that he had made up for some of his buddies.
Annoyed
Eric and I started an advanced box and two intermediates added their names under ours. I was annoyed. But the crowd was thinning, and I wasn’t going to be overly picky. It was a uneventful game of very short rallies.
Home
I got out my gift “Brommer Street Bangers” T-shirt and took a photo to share:
Number of days on a court: 542
Number of total hours: 2,463
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