Sunday, March 24, 2024 (Court Day #641)
I’m in New Orleans for a trade show for the next few days, I don’t have any free time once it starts in earnest this afternoon. I’d done some reconnaissance a month ago and found a place to play that I could squeeze in. I had used the Places2Play app to reach out to a venue near to my hotel. I had exchanged emails with someone named Dale . . . I wasn’t sure if it was a man or a woman.
I left my hotel a little bit before 9 a.m. and started walking towards the Hilton Riverside Hotel. It was a fairly quick walk, it was only about five or six blocks.
Navigating the Hotel
When I arrived to the hotel, I inquired with the doorman “I hear that there is a gym here with pickleball courts, can you tell me where those are?“ With a smile, he told me to go through the lobby and take the elevator to the second floor. Once on the second floor, walk down the hallway and take a second elevator to the sixth floor. Ok.
I followed his instructions, but when I got to the second elevator, the group that was there between me and the controls said the elevator only went to the fifth floor. Since I couldn’t see the buttons, I had to trust them. Up we went. When they got out, I also got out and followed them up the stairs to the sixth floor. There was a man scanning mobile phone codes outside of the door to a gym that was full of screaming girls. There is some kind of volleyball tournament that was going on. I asked the man at the door about pickleball courts and he said that he did didn’t know much about that and I should go to the front desk down the hallway and ask there.
I found the front desk and asked the woman about pickleball. She asked me if I was a guest at the hotel and I told her no. She had me charge a $10.95 fee onto my credit card. She then kindly pointed to the door labeled with a big number “4”.
Gym
The door opened up a on a thick vinyl cloth blocking the view of anything. I found a seam and walked through and found a tennis court that had been taped off with four pickleball courts in a very large gym space. Between us and all the screaming girls was just a large mesh screen to keep the balls in their respective spaces.
There was a man and a woman sitting on a row of folding chairs next to the nearside court. I walked up and said I was visiting and asked for Dale. The man, Craig, smiled and said “Oh, you don’t want to talk to Dale. He’s crazy.” Of course, having never met Dale, I wasn’t quite sure to make his warning other than to assume that he was teasing Dale.
Next to Craig was a woman named Sharon who Craig introduced me to.
Games
My first game was with Craig against Sharon and Douglas. Douglas, young African-American gentleman, a 4.0 player who I later learned that he had just entered his first 4.0 tournament and had a similar experience to me. (Yeah, no medals!) Craig and I were down initially in that game, but came back to win.
When I talked to Douglas later, I said the thing with 4.0, is all the balls come back. You hit what you think is a winner, but the ball still comes back over the net.
My second game was with Douglas against Brittany and Billy. Sharon told me that Brittany is a good player. I think she’s a 4.0 She was also very nice. Douglas and I won that game. After we started scoring points, the result was never in doubt. I think it was 8-0 before they scored any points.
Later, Craig introduced me to a woman named Charlotte and he told her that I was a good player. Then he added, “For an East Coast player, he’s good. For West Coast player, he’s so-so.” I like Craig, he’s got a good sense of humor! Charlotte turned out to be the most accurate lobbers that I’ve ever seen. She’d hit balls to within a foot of the baseline and many of them were winners.
I met a man named Billy who is also a local, and he’s an oil painter. Being that my job is selling art materials, you got to talking a bit about supplies for painting. I gave him my card telling him to visit if he ever got to my area of California.
A man named Jay and I played a game against the man named John and another fellow named Britt. All three of them are in their 60s. They’re all decent players, I would say slightly above average compared to players in my area.
It was quite humid in the gym. I noticed it later in the session I went to serve. I had a new experience of several drips of sweat sailing into the air trailing the ball when I served!
About 10:45, a man named JT arrived. JT is from Austin, Texas. I played in his first game. While warming him up, from how he was hitting his dinks I could tell he was special. I asked him “Are you a 4.0? Or 5.0?” He smiled and replied, “5.0.” That makes sense. It’s funny what you can sometimes tell from simply warming up at the net with someone.
JT has one of the best serves that I’ve gone up against. One local in town, Adrian, is probably the closest, but not nearly as consistent as JT. I’d love to play against JT regularly, he’s a step up for sure.
Heading Out
By the time 11:45 a.m. rolled around, most of the players were gone, but Douglas and two younger players were on a court. I walked over and asked, “Can I join your game or are you waiting for a fourth?“ Douglas said that his buddy was there and pointed over to another young fellow. I thanked Douglas for the games and collected my things to go. Vicky bid the rest of us farewell and walked out, leaving me with Charlotte and John. John said that some number of months ago he’d had a heart attack right here on the courts. He was rushed to the hospital, and they installed a stent in an artery. He said the condition was called the “widow maker.” He joked that he’s not married so it didn’t really apply to him. He said that within 19 days of the procedure he was back out on a court playing. That’s dedication!
John, Charlotte, and I left the gym. Out by the desk, I told John that I might see him again in November. I have a smaller distributor art materials show that takes place in the fall every year in New Orleans.
I left the gym and headed back to my hotel on Canal Street.
Today was another lesson about not judging players by their age or gender. All the players today that I met were all at least strong 3.0 players and perhaps even 3.5 level players.
Monday, March 25, 2024 (No Play)
I bumped into Andrew C., a sales rep friend, at the trade show. He shared a photo that he took in Target, figuring that he’d see me.
Yes, that’s decorative pickleball paddles in the women’s section!
Tuesday, March 26, 2024 (No Play)
This popped up on in my YouTube suggested videos:
Fun when our little—not so little anymore!—sport appears in on a popular YouTube channel. Not thing earth shattering in the video, but worth a quick watch at 1.25x speed!
Tomorrow, later afternoon, I’ll be flying back to California.
Thursday, March 28, 2024 (No Play)
My new Klitch Shoe Clip showed up today. It gives me some flexibility for carrying shoes—or extra shoes—to rec or tournament play.
Saturday, March 30, 2024 (No Play)
Shock of shocks! My wife is taking my May pickleball class. “The only reason I’m doing it is my friends are taking your class.” All it took was for several of her teacher buddies to sign up and now she’s in too! I never imagined that she’d sign up for my class. It’s kind of funny that our household paid to take a class that the household is getting paid to teach.
Number of days on a court: 641
Number of total hours: 2,762.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 24.5
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