Author: andrewlenz (Page 257 of 331)

Wednesday, October 3, 2018 (Court Day #207)

With the tournament on Sunday and with me having a dentist appointment at 11 a.m., John P. and I arranged to meet at Derby at 8:30 a.m. My wife texted at 7:40 saying that her weather app had predicted drizzle starting in 50 minutes. Yeah. Perfect timing. Sure enough, as I approached the courts in my car, drops appeared like clockwork on my windshield.

I checked my phone. Dave Allenbaugh sent out a rain delay until 10 a.m.

John brought his own net which we started setting up. Halfway through that process, Dave Allenbaugh appeared. We stowed John’s net and set up one club net. The three of us dinked to warm up. Maybe we’d play 2 on 1. But then Mike showed up. Visor Mike. We played a game. John and I decided to use the Pure 2 ball which is going to be used in the tournament on Sunday. Rain drops were falling but you could still make out the individual drops on the ground. I missed a few shots long or wide. Kind of sloppy play on my part. I hope that’s not where my play is headed! John and I won the first game—not a surprise—and we all started a second game. Binh showed up and sat on the bench.

It started raining in a serious way. Mike said he was done. The court was getting very slippery and it was far from ideal conditions for a game! About 9:15, we were done.

We took down the net and went our separate ways.

Wet courts!

Later

I got a text a little after 4 p.m. from John:
“Get this- Di insists we go over to Brommer when it cleared up at 10. Got five games in with Alan, Karl, Oleg, Stuart, Di, Sarah, Dan, Gary and Art. All four courts were full. Tomorrow night!”
(“Di” being Diane, John’s wife.)

Drat. Oh, well. I had a dentist appointment anyway. Still it would have been nice if the rain had rolled in later instead. Darn rain!

Number of days on a court: 207
Number of total hours: 571.5

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.

Sunday, September 30, 2018 (Court Day #206)

I was up early. There was no cloud cover, it was going to be a beautiful day. I arrived at Derby early, about 8:45. Nick (from Monterey) and his friend Tami (from Prunedale) were already there, dinking over the permanent tennis net.

Jean, Allan, Craig, Leah, Dan, Janet, Olga, stuart, Maria, Bruce, Karl, Grita, and a man I don’t know.

I played a random assortment of games. There weren’t lot of strong players around, though Nick is already in the mix. Eric and Oleg would arrive a bit later. There would be no Dean, no Terry Long, no Leslie, no Kim, no lefty Steve.

John and I agreed to wait for the other so we could play together. That person turned out to be me as the waiter as John finished his rather long game!

During a game, John turned to me and said, “You are playing very well.”

John and I got in a game with Eric and Oleg. John and I won 11-5. We had a rematch and John and won again 11-8. A first happened in the first game, I hit a ball (unintentionally) back over the net with the side of my paddle—it happened to be for a winner, but very weird!

Eric and Ted B. took on John and me. I was expecting a fairly easy win, but Eric played a great game and Ted also played really well. John and I lost by a substantial margin. We were all dragging but played one more game. John and I had been playing for over three hours. John and I pulled ahead early and cruised to a win. It was 12:29 p.m.

As the site coordinator, i was responsible to close the court. One game was still going.

Tami drives a forehand toward her friend Nick as Oleg (nearside) and a man visiting from Palo Alto look on. 

Their game wrapped up and, and me as a glutton for punishment, snuck in one more game. Nick and me against Dan and Oleg. After falling behind initially, Nick and I won. I was still pretty beat. Dan gets away with some things with youthful speed. Once he gets his drop shots and a bit more strategy, he’ll join the elite of the club. It’s only a matter of time.

A take-away for today is the reminder to set before hitting the ball. I drove a short return right into the net. Later, I noticed Angie doing the exact same error.

USAPA Update

The USAPA sent out an email announcing the “3rd Phase of UTPRs”. I checked and they moved my rating up to 3.446. Up a little bit since their last announcement. The two upcoming tournaments for John and me are not sanctioned and so will not affect our ratings…actually, I think if Livermore submits their results, it might, since they are using PickleballTournaments.com. Then again, they’re the tournament with their online registration all messed up, so who knows.

Number of days on a court: 206
Number of total hours: 571

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.

Friday, September 28, 2018 (Court Day #205)

As I was driving to Brommer Park, mist was descending on my windshield. A quick wipe with the wipers and it was gone. For a few seconds. Then it got a little heavier. This was no longer light mist. It was a heavy mist, not quite rain, but approaching quickly drizzle. Uh, oh. I decided to gamble and continue on.

A text from one of my staff while on the road. I had my phone read it to me. One of the staff was calling in sick. I pulled off the road. I asked if he could manage to work until 1 p.m. and he said no, he’d been throwing up at 3 a.m. Decision time. Mornings are quiet. I decided to go ahead with a very short session. I let my assistant managers know that I’d be in around 11 a.m.

Wet courts. Barb S. on the far left, Mike on the far right. 

Leslie was fretting a bit over the wet courts. To limit club liability, she limited play to the permanent courts. Permanent courts would be “private play whereas play using club nets would be “club play”. We all limited ourselves to “dink games” until it was safe for play. After about 20-30 minutes, the courts dried enough for regular play.

Mike and I lost to John P. and short Barb S. We were leading by a substantial margin, but they clawed back into the game and won it. My part in the loss was throwing away good strategy and driving too many shots at them while they were at the net. We lost a few points like that. Aside from that though, I was playing quite well.

John and I played against Alan (English accent) and Barb R. It was a lopsided and quick game. We won 11-2.

It was still before 10 a.m. and so skills were all mixed on the sign up board. John and I signed up. Kim and Lora added their names.

As we got to the court, John shared with me, “We’re going to get schooled.” I was more optimistic. I figured we should be in the mix and it’d be a good game. The skill levels between Kim and me is no longer a chasm. We won the first two points. 2-0. The serve switched. We held them to no score. Kim tried a “no-looky” drive passing shot while we were both at the net, but I returned it down the middle for a winner. She smiled and said, “You were ready for that one, were you?” We scored another point. 3-0. Side out. It continued like that until we finished the game. An 11-0 victory. Wow. Shocker.

As we walked off, John told our opponents, “The score does not reflect skill or looks.” We all laughed.

It was 10:15. It was already past time to go. Off I went. As I left, Eric was just arriving, we passed each other on the sidewalk above the courts. Ted/Theo yelled up, “Andrew! Leaving already?” “I have to go to work!” Allan K. also called out after me, something about me leaving early. “Because you smell really bad, Allan!” (We kid each other!)

When I checked my email in this afternoon, there was a message saying the Brommer start time had been bumped to 10 a.m. instead of 9 a.m. Oh, well!

Number of days on a court: 205
Number of total hours: 567.5

To start at the beginning of this blog click on “1st Post” in the menu above.