Saturday, September 10, 2022 (Court Day #546)
I had arranged to pick up Jason at 7:45 a.m. for our tournament together. We headed south, arriving at the Chamisal Tennis and Fitness Club fairly early—at about 8:30 a.m.—giving us plenty of time to check in and warm up before the planned start of the tournament in about 9:30 a.m.
It rained a little bit on the way down, but it was light with only sparse heavy drops and there was no precipitation the rest of the day. It was overcast . . . but I’ll take overcast for a tournament every time!
We checked in with Mike, the tournament director, then set about finding an empty court.
Warm Up
After warming up and drilling a little bit ourselves on half a court shared with strangers, Binh and Jon invited us to go play a warm-up game. Jason wasn’t too keen on playing much, but agreed to play to 5 points. They pulled ahead but then we tied it up 4-4. They scored the next point at which time Jason walked to the net and I followed extending paddles in thanks. Binh and Jon obviously wanted to continue playing but we had at least six games lined up that morning and we didn’t want to wear ourselves out.
Game 1
Our first game was against Gerritt Henry and Mark Donaldson, both of Carmel. We won 15-5. We finished up and I took a photo of our score sheet at 10:21 a.m.
Game 2
We typically had 10-20 minute breaks between our back-to-back games today. Our second game was against Brad Griffin and Vernon Russell, both of Salinas and affiliated with the local Chamisal club. We won this one also by a score of 15-5. Done by 10:58 p.m.
Game 3
Next up were “Mustache Mike” Aubel and Dave Cook. Mike is from Mountain House, California—which I’d never heard of and is out in the Central Valley near Tracy—and Dave is from Tucson, Arizona. Mike’s nickname is appropriate, he sports a bushy, wide mustache. Keeping to what was a developing pattern, we won 15-5. 11:37 p.m.
Game 4
Our last game before our bye was against Santa Cruz regular Dave Cox and his partner Jack Hagler of Salinas. Both of our teams went into this game 3-0. One of us would remain undefeated. Dave and Jack targeted Jason in this game. Jason got a bit frustrated and it affected his play. Jack is quite tall and has a long reach. He’s a very good player. They were stacking and they got confused a few times—it also confused us as we waited for them to figure out where they were supposed to be. Dave and Jack pulled ahead, then we started to make some headway, but it wasn’t fast enough. Dave and Jack scored the last few points and closed out their win 15-9. Jason and I were now 3-1 to their undefeated 4-0. 12:16 p.m.
Bye
We had what turned out to be a long very bye before our next game. I believe it was a hour and a quarter. I was getting concerned about getting “cold” and having a problem restarting for our next game. Jason ate his “free” lunch (included with entry) of two small tacos, but I stuck to the free snack bars from the tournament director area.
I forget who I talked to but he was a local and his contention was that Jack is a 4.0 level player, not a 3.5. [Later note: I looked Jack up at USA Pickleball a week or so later, and he is listed as a 3.5—but then again, I’m listed as a 3.0!]
Game 5
Craig Pierce and Robert Franklin, both of Salinas and local to Chamisal, would be our next challenge. I was a bit worried about sitting for over an hour. Would we be not warmed up and not play as well? As it was, we did fine. We won very decisively 15-2. 1:42 p.m.
Game 6
Our last game of the round robin was against Chris Harrison and Dean Littlewood. Chris’ location was listed in the computer as being from “Pacific Grove, FL” . . . yeah, that’s FL as in “Florida”. But he’s listed as affiliated with Chamisal, the local club. I think he’s actually from the nearby “Pacific Grove, CA”. Dean is from Carmel.
Jason and I took a strong lead, but Chris and Dean started to claw back. I started to get a touch concerned and called a timeout. When we restarted, they missed their next serve and we got the ball back. Jason said, “Good decision on calling a timeout!” We finished off the game 15-7. 2:47 p.m.
Playoffs
The big question now was where were we in mix of teams? With a record of 5-1, would we be in the playoffs? If so, what would be our seed? When would we play? So many questions. With all the events and us waiting for other matches to finish, it took some time.
We were told that we’d be in a playoff, but it turns out that the team from the second pool who we were to play against departed so we won our playoff match by default and would head right to the gold medal match.
Dave and Jack, from our pool, had also finished 5-1 . . . they lost 10-15 to a team we’d beaten 15-5. Dave and Jack had to play a playoff against the #1 seed from the other 3.5 pool. The question we were asking was, “If Dave and Jack beat us in head to head, wouldn’t they be get the default win and we’d play in the playoff?” But the tournament was using the official sanctioned software and the organizers were following its instructions—unless they messed up. Regardless, we belonged in the playoffs.
We had to wait until Dave and Jack finished their playoff match. They lost the first game, barely won the second, and lost the third. After us waiting around for an hour and a half to two hours, we would face their opponents in the gold medal match.
Gold Medal Match
Jason and I were down quickly of the first game in the best of three match. We clawed back within a few points but dropped the first game 11-8. We’d need to win the next game or we’d be done.
We took a few minute break then swapped sides and started the second game. Rather than targeting Jason like Dave and Jack had, David and David were targeting me. Our style was not matching up with theirs and we got creamed in the second game 11-3. I hit at least 2-3 balls that were heading out—frustrating.
I was disappointed and dejected. It’s one thing if you play well and are simply outclassed. You can still be proud of that. It’s another if you don’t play up to your standard and are frustrated when shots you typically make are instead subpar and lead to opponent points. Plus to be the targeted player and let your partner down. Arg.
It was about 5:15 p.m. when we finished up the gold medal match.
Wrap Up
We hung around while organizers compiled results. A number of local players took home medals. I asked Mike, the TD, if there would be any announcement or ceremony—they’d bullhorned earlier results—but he said no. Jason and I collected our silver medals and took some photos.
Jason and I left just before 6 p.m. and headed home to Santa Cruz.
Details
Here is the complete breakdown from our round robin. Jason and I had the highest point differential by far with +45 points. Dave and Jack tied second in that category with +25 points along with Mustache Mike Aubel and teammate Dave Cook.
Local Medals
René Baker and Lena Wikner, Gold, Women’s 4.0 50+
Sheri Shipe and Sue Stone, Gold, Women’s 3.5, 14+
Jack Hagler and Dave Cox, Bronze, Men’s 3.5 50+
Jon Barlow and Binh Ly, Bronze, Men’s 3.5 35+
Additional medals on the day:
Tristan Bjork and Alan Darer, Silver in Men’s 4.0 14+
John Funkey and Peter Levy, Silver, Men’s 3.5 35+
Barb Lang and Jackie Signor, Bronze, Women’s 4.0 14+
Santa Cruz made a good showing.
And?
I went home depressed. Ah, well. I simply need my “off games” to be stronger. I need to “raise the floor”. More work to do. But medalling with a total entry of 13 teams in two pools is pretty good, really. I’ll feel better about it with time.
[With all the waiting, though I usually count arrival time to departure time in my ongoing “total hours” count, I’ll call today 5 hours, instead of 9+ hours.]
Number of days on a court: 546
Number of total hours: 2,476
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