Monday, May 12, 2025 (Court Day #802)
There was rain this morning so club play at Brommer Park got canceled. Unfortunate, since today is our monthly board meeting and I could’ve gotten in a good amount of play. As it was, I got there at 11:15 a.m. with the hopes that the courts would be dry enough to at least drill, if not play altogether.
It was in the mid 60s and mostly cloudy, although sun would periodically pop through.
First Game
There was one game going on and two guys hitting a ball back and forth on a different court, plus a regular named Dina and me, who had arrived. I asked Dina if she wanted to play and she nodded. Then I also asked the two guys and they said yes, so we had ourselves a game.
Divvying up teams, Dina said she is the weakest player. I teamed up with a guy named Sean. (Sean later told me that his last name is Leonetti.) The other fellow, whose name is Lupko, teamed up with Dina. I overheard Lupko telling Dina that his name is Chech.
Sean and I won 11-6, not a huge surprise with Dina’s admission. Lupko is strong player. I’d rank us: Lupko, me, Sean, Dina.
More Games
After that game, Dina stepped out and an unfamiliar man named Eric, who Sean knew and who had arrived mid-game, stepped in to replace her.
Eric is a good player and given that he has a tendency to stay back at the baseline, I have a strong suspicion that he has played a lot of tennis.
Eric and I teamed up against Lupko and Sean and won 11–7.
We played a second game and the outcome was exactly the same as the first game, 11–7.
Board Meeting Time
I checked the time. 12:05 p.m. With the monthly pickleball club board meeting starting in 10 minutes, there wasn’t a comfortable amount of time to start another game.
So done at 12:05, it was.
There for the meeting, George Propper was eating a sandwich and watching from the bench above the courts. I walked up to sit next to him since we had a few minutes. He paid me a compliment, “You’ve gotten better. You are very consistent.”
We started our board meeting at 12:17 p.m. we talked about the website, upcoming social events, upcoming training sessions for members and some other club business. We adjourned the meeting at 1:30 p.m.
Post Meeting Games
From there, I made my way back to the courts. I ended up playing a game with Art against two young guys, one of which is named Andy, who has curly brown hair and thin facial hair. Art and I got absolutely clobbered. We lost 0-11.
We switch sides and played again and this time the outcome is exactly the same with Art and I losing 0-11. Well, that’s a first. I’ve never lost two games in a row without scoring a point. Sure, it’d be easy to blame the wind, which was blowing the ball all over the place, but both teams were dealing with that.
Most young players that I don’t know generally turn out to be not that good. However, that was not the case with these two young guys. Especially Andy. They were simply not making a lot of errors, plus making good shots. To be completely honest, I was getting frustrated with my own play. Sure, I just sat for an hour and probably needed to warm back up, but boy, that was embarrassing. I’m still trying to figure out if the two young players are that good or if I was just playing that poorly!
We played a third game, this time I played with Andy and Art played with the other fellow. It was a very even game and I can’t remember if we win or lost but I think it was 11–9 with a lot of back-and-forth. Andy made more errors in that game—he was complaining to himself—maybe my subpar play was rubbing off on him!
Art and I played a game against Dave Cox and Robin. The two of them are preparing for a tournament. We took a strong lead before they came back, but then we finish them off, winning by a couple of points.
In the next game, I paired with Wendy against Dave and Robin. Wendy thanked me in advance for letting her play with me. It was fairly close most of the game with the lead going back-and-forth but they pulled ahead and won 11–7. Wendy played reasonably well. Sure, she made some mistakes, but she did a good job getting the ball back over the net pretty consistently.
I checked the time. 2:57 p.m. I was tired and ready to go.
Wednesday, May 14, 2025 (No Play)
I had my hands full last night, so I didn’t get to Skypark to play.
I found this short clip quite funny. Have you ever had a try and convince someone to join a game to complete a doubles pairing?
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJHIY7HKtKz
Number of days on a court: 802
Number of total hours: 3,151
Number of paid coaching hours: 135.5
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