Rain, Rain, Rain

Friday, May 17, 2019 (Court Day #267)

Day 28 playing left-handed. Tennis elbow.

I pulled into the parking lot at Brommer Park at 9:15 a.m. It was mostly overcast with the sun peeking out now and then over the course of the morning. It was also breezy.

A nice surprise was that Terry and Karen Long were back in town after their extended stay in Arizona. I didn’t get to play with them, but I did get to talk briefly with Karen.

After a game against John P. and Eric, John P. commented, “That left hand is coming along. You’re going to be dangerous ambidextrous.”

I missed an inordinate number of serves today. It was just one of those days when my serve goes haywire.

To gauge where I am in recovery, I placed my paddle in my right hand at arm’s length and raised the paddle at the wrist. Pain in my elbow. Boy. Worse than I thought. I can’t see it being good enough to use by the local August tournament. I just have to shake my head.

The young gentleman who’s name I couldn’t remember was back. His name is Shawnte, pronounced, “Shawn-tay.” I haven’t asked the origin of the name. Joe, the fellow with whom I played singles last week, was also back. Joe is a solid raw blank. His game currently is more appropriate for singles than doubles. His biggest weaknesses are driving the ball to a competent opponent at the net—offering up a winner to them—and not taking advantage of opportunities to get to the net. I told him so. I’ll admit that I was a bit frustrated with his approach to the game, but I didn’t vent that in the slightest other than politely offering suggestions two or three times. I can relate to Mike K. feelings about me when I started two years ago! It’s one thing when a partner is all around weak. But when they can hit the ball consistently, you expect more of them. It’s not fair, but it’s a natural thing. Strategy comes with experience. Joe has the potential to become very good.

Bihn and I played a game against Joyce and a woman whom I’ve only seen around lately named Sue. Binh and I won, but we were behind midway through the game. Joyce and Sue are not a 3.5 level team. They are a 3.0 team. That is not encouraging. Between games, I talked to Binh. “Maybe we should sign up as 3.0.” Binh said he didn’t mind losing and he’d rather have more challenging games. I thinking we may get challenging games in 3.0! If my lefty playing gets more consistent, great, otherwise, I might push to drop into 3.0 so we don’t get eliminated too quickly!

The last game was Binh and me against Tony and Adrian. It was a closely matched game with several lead changes. Binh and I lost 14-12. Adrian and Tony are not 3.5 players. (Yet.) They are 3.0 players. At the moment, I’m thinking Binh and I should move our August tournament registration to 3.0 from 3.5. I will say, there were a few highlight worthy points in that game. I dug out a slam from Tony that I returned crosscourt to Adrian who was also at the kitchen line . . . but bummer is after a flurry of great volley shots, I had the opportunity to finish that point when the ball went high, but merely hit it into the net. Gag.

Rain, Rain, Rain

The weather forecast is looking bad for this weekend.

Saturday, May 18, 2019 (No Play)

Very late in the afternoon, Eric Schmidt texted out to a group of us about a tournament in Monterey the weekend of June 22 & 23. It got excited until I figured out that the event would conflict with my son’s graduation party to be held at our house the same day as the Men’s Doubles.

The weather app on my phone is predicting 100% chance of rain at 8 a.m. tomorrow. I email Dave Allenbaugh and told him to go ahead and send out a SCPC cancelation email tomorrow if it looks the same and not wait for me to make the call.

A week ago, my wife developed a sore throat. Tonight, mine is hurting a bit. I hope it’s just a fluke and not the same thing.

Sunday, May 19, 219 (No Play)

Well, my throat is getting worse. Not a horrible sore throat, but annoying. With the rain, my wife end I made a trip to the Capitola Mall this morning.  My wife was buying makeup for my daughter Charlotte who is returning from Spain tomorrow. Why I was there was to pick up new shorts to use for pickleball. My black Champion shorts have developed two small holes near the left pocket. I think they’ve seen about 500 hours of use, so you’d expect some wear and tear! Walking around though, my right ankle was causing me pain. Not good. It’s been bothering me lately. I found a couple of Tek Wear shorts on sale at Kohl’s for $11.99. Perfect. In the retail world, there’s a phrase: “One to show, one to go”—this is more “One to wear, one to wash!”

I realized that I still hadn’t registered for the Cabrillo Tournament, so I signed up. $51.50 . . . . $40 registration, $10 event, $1.50 online payment fee. There are a whole bunch of locals signed up for the tournament, so it’ll be fun. I only wish that I could play right-handed, but I’m thinking that’s not going to happen.

What’s very interesting is that I found out that George’s last name is Propper. (He’s signed up with Mark Girotti—Maree’s husband—in the 60+ bracket of 3.5.) I worked with a George Propper for a short time as a software engineer at Mountain Computer back in 1989. (I was offered a permanent position at Mountain Computer, but I didn’t take it. I was complimented on my coding skills there, but I was ready to be out of a cubicle.) I wonder. It’d be a trip if this George is that George. The odds are extremely good. 30 years removed! I’ll definitely talk to him about that when I see him next. Wow.

Monterey Tournament

So, I took another look at this Monterey tournament. It’s actually in Salinas, though Salinas doesn’t have the appeal of Monterey which conjures thoughts of Cannery Row—made famous by writer John Steinbeck—and art galleries. Salinas conjures thoughts of farming and gangs. It starts at 9 a.m. The party for my son starts at 3 p.m. It’s a one hour drive. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Am I crazy?

Pro Switching Hands

A woman on the Facebook Pickleball Forum who started a discussion if switching hands is legal. (Oh, yes, it is!) One guy, Rich, mentioned a guy named Kurtis Campbell who switches frequently with success. I asked for a video and Rich provided this one—even timestamped with an excellent example at 5:23. (Kurtis is the one with no cap, partnered with Kyle Yates—man, no pressure or anything!)

With no games today, I pulled out our car and spent 15 minutes drilling. (Camera timer!) I did hit 4-5 shots with my right hand just to test and it was manageable. In January, it would have been excruciatingly painful. But I’m not there yet.

Video

I went back and watched a few videos of me playing games left-handed back in March. Pitiful. Granted, I was probably about six weeks into it, but pitiful. And depressing. I was going to upload it, but it’s so bad. But I should. Historical reference, right?

Wednesday, May 22, 2019 (No Play)

The weather finally cleared up today enough to play. However, my sore throat morphed into stuffy sinuses and chest congestion. Miserable. I spent between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. this morning coughing. If I had gone to Derby and played, I would have been in very sorry shape. *cough* *hack*

Number of days on a court: 267
Number of total hours: 734.5

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