Sunday, July 4, 2021 (Court Day #388)
I arrived at Brommer Park at 9:30 after dropping my daughter off at work then going to work myself for about 15 minutes. It was overcast, but it would burn off later and it would get a bit windy. The four permanent courts were full.
There was an empty temporary net—it turned out to be owned by Larry—and Kent and I warmed up. I would be playing right-handed again today.
In The Mix
Soon, we were in a game with Dean and Stuart. We rotated partners after each game. I lost when playing with Kent but won with Dean and then Stuart as my partners. Dean is ripping his serves. He caused a lot of service return errors. Amazing for someone north of 70 to be such a good player. He got me a couple of times on his strong serves.
I played quite a number of games. I was playing better as the morning went on. My right arm is starting to get dialed in a bit more. I’m still rusty playing with my right, but playing solidly. In one game with Stuart admitted, “You are carrying me in this game.”
One game was proud of myself was when I chose to be partnered with a woman that Hue asked to be a fourth in a game with him and Mike from Carmel Valley. “I’m pretty new.” She was most definitely the weakest on the court. Still I was playing very well and we took a 9-4 lead. Kind of amazing. But Hue and Mike came back and won. The expected result, but we had successfully held them off for a while.
An interesting conversation, Greg talked about me inspiring him to play some with his off hand, in his case, with his right hand. He said that playing with his non dominant hand required him to be much more focused. To pay much more attention where he wanted the ball to go. I told him that I have to do the same when playing with my off hand. He went on that after he switched back to his left hand, that the focus remained and made him a better player overall. I can see that.
Fun Stuff!
Shortly after 1 p.m., tall (and good) Mike came with his student, Dan. I invited them into a game. I knew they were there to primarily to drill but Mike agreed. I called over the strongest player of those waiting, Dave DiBiase.
Mike and I teamed up against Dave and Dan. Mike and I won 15-4 the first game. (Mike suggested games to 15.) I overheard Dave telling Dan, “Andrew is sneaky with that right hand.” I can say, there are shots that I was amazed with myself getting the ball back over the net. Dave was obviously impressed too. That said, I also returned balls that would have otherwise sailed out past the baseline behind me. After one such shot, Mike shared, “Andrew. That would have hit the fence.” Oops. I have to remember the saying: “Shoulder high, let it fly!”
Dave wanted to play a rematch, so we did. This one was closer. Mike and I won 15-9. I was starting to drag in the last game. I’d played for 4 hours. I think what made my day was after a really nice shot on my part was a compliment from Mike with a casually extended paddle as we walked back to the baseline. Mike is a very nice, smiley guy but also a bit stoic at times. A man of few words.
Dave DiBiasi said as we left, “With that right hand, you are viscous.”
I left at 1:59pm., my family were gathering at my folks for Independence Day festivities at 2 p.m. I would be late! When I went, I was wearing an ice pack on my right forearm. After 4 1/2 hour of playing righty, it was starting to get fatigued and a touch sore. Serving seemed to have the biggest negative impact. But I did mange to play nearly all shots righty. There were a few dinks made along the sideline to my backhand, so I simply switched to my left and took them as a lefty forehand instead. Those all went great—controlled, low, effective.
Tomorrow
With a basketball camp planned for Brommer this week, I’m planning to play at Skypark tomorrow. At the party at my parents, I asked my brother John if he wanted to come play. “You’re playing in the morning? You’ll teach me how to play?” Yep.
Leg Cramp!
While at the party, I had a pretty intense hamstring cramp in the right leg. Man that hurt. Then a few minutes later, I had one my other hamstring! Ouch. I had sipped some pickle juice this morning but that didn’t stave off these two cramps. Tonight, about 8 p.m., I had an intense cramp in my left foot by my little toe. Man! These hurt. I’m tempted to get some of those that leg cramp product they advertise on the Pickleball Channel on YouTube!
Milestone
Today, I passed 2,000 hours on pickleball court. Is that a lot? Or not a lot? It took 4 1/2 years. I bet the pros do 2,000 in under 2 years—maybe even under 1 year. 6 hours a day, playing every day, that’d be 2,190 hours in a year. 4 hours per day, five days per week, that’s 1,040 hours in a year. Granted, we had a pandemic and I had shoulder surgery, so that slowed things down! 2000/54 months = 37 hours/month. That’s an average of over one hour per day over 4 1/2 years. Not bad, really, for a guy who works six days a week.
Number of days on a court: 388
Number of total hours: 2,003.5
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