Nice!

Monday, September 3, 2018, Labor Day (Court Day #193)

I didn’t get to play pickleball yesterday since I spent the day up at the highland games in Pleasanton—my annual trek for two decades—but since today was a holiday, I got to play anyway on this extended weekend. Lots of other people were off too, so it was a full house at Brommer today!

There were three games of particular note.

One was Dave Cox and I against Karen Long and Jen (Chris Yoder’s wife). That was a good game. We kept it close but lost 11-9.

Another was Jane and me against Cathy (Kim’s good friend) and Jen. Jane and I won 11-5. Jane and I were both playing well.

One other was Dave Cox and I against Josh (the former UCSC tennis player) and Kent. Dave and I kept it close, but lost 11-8.

My worst game of the day was a game against all weaker players. I was just not focused. I still played the best of the four on the court, but I made more than my typical number of mistakes!

In another lower skill game, I said, “I’ll play with X.” That player said, “Thanks!” Well, while it’s a compliment of sorts—I’m not generally going to choose to play with a complete jerk, for instance—when I’m the strongest player on the court, it’s not really a compliment about skill level. I’m picking the weakest player to balance the game and I’m also being selfish in that I want the toughest competition to play against.

Today, I was overall very happy with my play. Not perfect, not 5.0 or anything, but of the games with advanced players today, I very much deserved to be on the court. No question. That’s a very nice feeling.

I had a successful backhand ATP shot, but my partner said it had bounced just outside the sideline before I hit it. Bummer. But it did garner some cheering from some of the waiting players. “It was still a nice shot!”, consoled Kim from her chair.

Health

I’ve been having some very mild cramping in my right calf. That didn’t bother me today. My back has been tight lately. There’s muscle pain when I lean forward. One of these days I may take up my wife on her suggestion that I go to yoga. Stretch out that back. But things are pretty good. I was laying on my left side in bed last night and realized that my right hip was not hurting. That’s a good thing!

Number of days on a court: 193
Number of total hours: 535

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