Sunday, April 18, 2021 (Court Day #370)

My wife said “It’s chilly but it’ll get nice.” And she was right. As I drove to Brommer Street Park on the freeway, the sky cleared for sun. Nifty!

I arrived at 9 a.m. Mike A. from work came not too long after, but there was someone in each of the four courts. Diane was in one court by herself drilling with a machine. I asked if she’d mind if Mike and I drilled on the part of her court that she wasn’t using. She agreed. Mike and I took left side and did some dinking. Mike has really good hand-eye coordination. I was impressed. Many newbies aren’t very good getting the ball over the net, but he has quick hands. This was his second time ever. We drilled for about 10 minutes.

Rick and Renee arrived. I asked if they wanted to join our court, now that Diane had collected all her balls and headed out. Renee and I played Mike and Rick. Mike did ok, but he’s learning to come up to the net and not step in after a serve, etc. Basic strategies. He stepped into the kitchen on volleys maybe half a dozen times over the morning.

Playing with the Girls

Mike and I stepped out to let Shawnte and Jon B. Get in a game with Rick and Renee. While waiting on the wall, one of the girls called over: “Andrew!” Jackie was taking a break, so they wanted a fourth. I looked at Mike and he said, “Go ahead.” So played with Olga against Patty and . . . spacing on the other woman. Anyway, Patty was doing a good job attacking me with hard shots. Olga and I lost, and that loss was mostly me. They invited me to play another, but I told them that my friend was by himself.

Miles and Alissa

I went over to Mike. A couple that I didn’t know were hitting the ball back and forth. I asked if they wanted to play a game. They introduced themselves, Miles and I think the woman’s name is Alissa, though I can’t recall for sure. Anyway, Miles was the better of the two, but they were both relative novices.

They won the first two games. After the second, at the net, she told me that she had seen my tournament shirt and was thinking, “I’m doing ok against him.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I was intentionally taking it easy on them! Though I did tell her that I was playing left-handed. We played again, and this time, I was taking the game a bit more seriously and Mike and I won the first few points and never looked back. Mike chucked and told them mid-game, “I think mentioning his shirt was a mistake!”

Playin’ with Shawnte

Shawnte and I got a couple of games against Rick and Renee. We tweaked our strategy a bit, stacking, sometimes switching, sometimes not. We won two games in a row, 11-5, 11-4. Shawnte had two great “flying ernes”, sailing through the air over the kitchen and volleying the ball for winner. Impressive.

Shawnte and I also played Allan K. and Dan, we won 11-8. We were up 6-3 and then Shawnte tried a Nasty Nelson against Allan and missed. I tried one against Dan, not looking at him, and missed by about a foot. Later up, when we were up 10-6 or something, I tried another against Dan. This time, the ball headed right for his chest, but he rotated out of the way. “You were a lot closer that time!”, encouraged a smiling Shawnte. Three Nasty Nelsons, but we missed all three! Not the best strategy, maybe only if the receiver isn’t paying attention and looking the wrong way! Shawnte and I won. Probably not a huge surprise.

Shawnte and I lost our third game against Rick and Renee, 11-5. If I were looking for excuses, I’d blame switching from an easier game back to a harder game.

I checked the time. 1:07. I could probably get into some more games, but I figured it would be longer waits. Time to go.

Spotlight on Pickleball

In his newsletter today, Mark Renneson sent out a link this video from CNBC where they did a short feature on pickleball:

There’s that Ben Johns guy again!

Tuesday, April 20, 2021 (No Play)

I was in my garage doing some PT exercises when I figured I’d look for my autographed paddle. Hmm… Cleats. My softball manager clipboard. Several footballs. Mini orange cones. Pickleballs in a package. Pickleballs in a bag. Loose pickleballs. I think I’m set for those! I thought I found it, but the handle” turned out to be a giant squirt gun. Oh. Maybe the sling bag? Feels like it. Open the zipper…eureka! One long unseen paddle autographed by Kyle Yates, Morgan Evans, and a 19-year-old Ben Johns! A relief!

Number of days on a court: 370
Number of total hours: 1,053

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