Monday, September 2, 2024 (Court Day #710), Labor Day
Last night, I tried to arrange some people to meet with me at Derby Park to play to avoid the boatload of people that I’d expect to be at club play at Brommer. Nearly everyone was busy, although Ying said that she and Larry would be a Derby Park in the morning. I said I’d probably come around 9 a.m.
At about 9:15 a.m., Larry texted and asked if I was going to be at Derby Park to meet with them. I told him that I would be there in about 15 to 20 minutes.
Derby
I arrived at Derby Park at 9:30 a.m. Parking was relatively easy and when I walked to the courts, only half were in use. Larry and Ying were in a game with barefoot Terry S. and her husband Gary.
Games were a mix of challenging and not challenging. An example of not challenging was myself in barefoot Terry against tall, older Mike and another man named Gary whom I’d never met. In that game, I played entirely left-handed and we won 11–0.
On the more challenging end was me partnered with Terry in my first game against Ying and Larry.
There are definitely some good rallies in some of those games.
Pauly
Pauly arrived and Larry and I played a game against him and Ying. Larry and I won but it wasn’t an easy game.
Larry and Ying were done. Larry said he had come at 8 a.m. (He had his new Titan ball machine there.) Terry and her husband Gary were playing with some friends at the opposite end of the courts. Pauly agreed to a game of skinny singles with me. Pauly ended up winning 11–4. It was a good drilling situation.
We finished that game shortly before noon and I was debating whether I wanted to go to Brommer, or wanted to go home and have lunch, or if you want to go and have lunch and then go to Brommer. I checked my backpack and I had a snack bar. I decided to go directly to Brommer.
I was pretty sweaty from my 2 1/2 hours at Derby… and a bit tired from playing 3 1/2 hours yesterday.
Brommer
I arrived at 12:24 p.m. Club play had wrapped up at noon and I greeted Andrew McLeod on his way out as he was chatting with Oscar. Andrew said he wanted me to print out some club forms in bulk for him.
Pauly showed up after riding his e-bike and I was still waiting on the wall to get into a game. He and I played a game against a couple people. It was an OK game.
Pauly and I played three games against a couple of guys, I’d never met before, Carson and Ben. We won the first one, lost the second, and also lost the third. Those are good games. Carson and Ben played better than I was expecting. I’d say Carson is a stronger of the two, just as I was a stronger of Pauly and myself.
At 1:55 p.m., I decided to call it a day. I could have rolled easily into one more game, but Carson was willing to be a fourth, so I was free to go.
It was warm and I was beat.
Quiet Balls
I discovered a package in our mailbox yesterday. I assumed it was something my wife ordered, but when she opened it, she was annoyed that I’d handed it to her. It was a package of pickleballs. Not ordinary pickleballs, but special soft and quiet Ninja pickleballs for drilling. The original green versions have been superseded by this never version which, according to a third party review, bounces more like a real pickleball. I’ll need to do my own testing.
Number of days on a court: 710
Number of total hours: 2,946.5
Number of paid coaching hours: 69.5
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