Sunday, February 25, 2018 (Court Day #130)
It was a bit warmer today than yesterday as I was about to head out the door to pickleball, 46° instead of 32°, but it was also about two hours later than when I left for the tournament. I arrived at Derby Park at about a quarter to 9 and got about to setting out a few things and blowing off the courts. Dave Allenbaugh arrived about 5 minutes later and helped set up. With the chilly weather, it would be another lighter attendance day. We ended up with all the nets set up but never had much need for the signup board with only a few players at a time waiting to get on.
I’d shared a photo of John and me from yesterday with some of the bigwigs in the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club, including Dave. Dave said he’d be adding the photo to the Tournament Gallery page later in the day since he was working on updating the club website anyway.
And We’re Off…
The first game was Dave A. and me against Tom (not Tom S. or visor Tom) and Wayne. I missed a couple of serves . . . one just outside the line to Tom’s backhand in the middle and another where I far overcompensated and it was a couple feet outside the court. (First game, right? Oy.) On my next opportunity, I laughed and told Dave that I’d get this one in! Tom overheard and, kidding around, walked up to the net. “Hit it into this box!” indicating the box formed by the “L” of two tennis lines and the other “L” corner by the service court at the kitchen. It was about 18″ deep x 4 feet wide. I served the ball. Dave was quick to point out, “Hey! You hit it in the box!” Yes, I did. It’s just a matter of focus and picking a target. Dave and I fell behind early but came back and won that first game.
Tom S. and I played a game against Daniel and visor Tom. Daniel is a strong player, he’s always been better than me—though I’m getting much closer—and visor Tom is a strong player who is better than Tom S. I was expecting to lose, but we won 11-9. Surprise! We had a rematch when we rotated back onto a court and the outcome was much more what I had originally expected . . . though even worse! I think we lost 11-3 or something awful.
I got to play a few games with and against Oleg and Olga. Oleg is always a good challenge. Balls come back that you might not expect to come back. I am improving. There isn’t nearly the gap in play between us as there was in the past. Oh, Olga had a great shot—I hit an around the post shot off the left post and Olga hit it back, I had already started coming back into the court, but the ball was just inches out of my reach and she got the point. That’s the second time that I remember that happening against me, the first was Carl at Brommer a few months ago—it’s a bummer to being making a great shot and have it be foiled!
Over the course of the day, I got a few congratulatory comments—and some teasing—about the gold medal from people. That was nice.
Tournament Analysis
Taking into account all the five games yesterday, John and I won by an average of 5 points in 15 point games. Of only the games we won, it was by an average of 7 points or almost a 2:1 ratio. While it didn’t feel like it at the time, John and I did dominate. Had I played with Eric, him being a stronger player than John, I can’t imagine not winning every game and it being even more lopsided. Paso Robles will be a bit of a quandry. It’s a bigger venue and a bigger draw, so the caliber of players might be better, but maybe not. I emailed Eric asking his thoughts about contacting the Paso Robles organizers and see about moving up to 3.5 even though their entry is closed. I think a 3.5 team would have to drop out and it would depend on how they handle their waiting lists. But I’ll see what Eric thinks. We don’t want to sandbag, that’s not fair.
Website Fame
And, here you go! John and me temporarily immortalized on the club website.
Number of days on a court: 130
Number of total hours: 369
To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.
Leave a Reply