Wednesday, September 4, 2019 (Court Day #304)

63rd day out playing lefty. Tennis elbow.

It was a warm one today. I’m finding I’m swamped with things I need to do with work, pickleball, volunteer obligations, and home repairs. Time for writing is short.

Chris, Tony, Cal, Patty on the near Court. Joe, Rob, Dyane, Wayne (farthest court), Leah, Craig.

My serving was bad again today. I’d try to serve deep and it’d land shallow in the service court. I swear . . . left-handed serving is a pain in the butt.

I had an early game with Cal against Mark G. and Grita and we won decisively. I played pretty well. And Cal, with his years as a tennis instructor, is solid. He’s not flashy, but consistently gets the job done.

I won’t mention any names, but there’s a player who is very weak. Marianne, not a strong player herself, would play circles around this woman. But I do my best to be supportive. In a game like that, I’d normally switch to my left hand—the only problem is, I’m already playing left-handed! What do I do? Play with my feet? Hold the paddle upside down? Close one eye? There’s only so gentle and easy that I can play. Though kudos to her for sticking with it.

My play was bordering on junk later in the morning. Way too many mistakes. After one game, I felt bad for my partner Tony. Maybe my poor play was due to fatigue. I was tired. It’s one of those days where you think about leaving an hour into the session. As it was, it left at 11:45. I think that’s the earliest I’ve ever voluntarily left.

Noise Barrier

With the Derby Park neighbor complaining about noise, I was going to make a new post on the Pickleball Forum Facebook group asking about solutions, but once there, I realized I should do a search first. An old post came up about a group that installed this:
http://www.acoustifence.com
I replied to the post asking the woman if they were still happy with it over a year later. She said they were and that it cut the sound by 50%. Good to know. I passed that information on to the SCPC board.

Witch Doctor

I got a call back this afternoon from Rachel Bergman in Walnut Creek about my insurance coverage and determining an appointment. Some of the session will be covered and some won’t. I’ll be spending about the equivalent of a new paddle on treatment. We set up an appointment for later in the month that doesn’t conflict with someone’s vacation at work. It’ll be a long drive and eat up a good chunk of the day with at least three hours of total driving.

Number of days on a court: 304
Number of total hours: 842.5

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Monday, September 2, 2019 (Court Day #303)
Labor Day

62nd day out playing lefty. Tennis elbow.

Last night, I asked Nicholas if he’d like to come and play today. He said yes and was up and around without me having to wake him up.

We got to Brommer Street Park a few minutes after 9 a.m. It was sunny. A few of the courts were still empty.  We started warming up with Trevor and soon Allan K. joined us and very soon after, we were in our first game. Trevor and I were on the same side of the net and ended up as team.

It got warmer as the morning went on. I’ll admit, after 4 hours of play yesterday, my body was still fatigued.

Quite the crowd on this holiday morning!

Nothing of great note today. I played ok. Not great.

I played pretty well in a couple of games of Jeff and me against binh and my son Nicholas. Maybe it takes me hours to warm up. Or maybe they were tired. I know I was.

Chris Yoder was talking up Dr. Bergman in Walnut Creek again for my tennis elbow. He’s convinced that the “Witch Doctor” as they call him will be able to help me.

City Courts Conversion

Cal was talking to Leslie. He and his student Charles were leaving on Sunday when they were approached by a neighbor to Derby Park. The man was harsh with the two of them about the city’s proposal to covert the venue to 6 dedicated pickleball courts there. The man included, “Over my dead body” in the conversation. There’s a Parks & Rec commission meeting on Monday, September 9 which will discuss the proposal. The man said he’d be there. Cal suggested having police there would be a good idea.

Nicholas and I were on the road shortly after 1 p.m.

Tuesday, August 3, 2019 (No Play)

I bit the bullet. I emailed the Witch Doctor’s office 90 minutes away. (Well, 90 minutes at the right time. Bay Area traffic can be horrible.)

Number of days on a court: 303
Number of total hours: 840

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Sunday, September 1, 2019 (Court Day #302)

61st day out playing lefty. Tennis elbow.

As I walked out my front door, it was already warm. It would be a hot one.

I arrived at Derby Park shortly before 9 to set up and there were already a few players there ready to go.

It was a good day. Yes, I made occasional wild lefty shots, but they were more the exception. My serves went back to landing consistently short with a few even landing in the net.

In a game with Charles against George and Allan K. I was on the left across from George. Allan hit a sharp crosscourt shot. I left it bounce wide outside the court, then hit a forehand drive low and deep, the ball landing in the corner. Successful around the post shot!

Later, with Charles as my opponent, I hit another ATP, this time, as a backhand around the right post but also landing in the corner of the court. A first. Two ATPs in one day! And both left-handed! I was quite pleased with myself.

On one slam coming from my left to my backhand, I was able to return it and return it crosscourt just inches over the net. George, my partner, asked, “How did you make that shot?” “Dunno. My body just does it.” Of course, my body just hits balls out too!

Allan K. said, “I can’t decide I you lay better right handed or left handed.” I can’t decide if that’s a compliment or an insult! (I’m sure it was intended as the former.)

A definite compliment was from jerry. “You’ve got to stop playing like that left-handed, you are making the rest of us look bad!”

The last game of the day was Eric (not Eric S.) and me against Charles and Bruce. I have to say, Bruce is playing better. He had some great passing shots and handled some fast volley battles well. Overall, he played quite well. It was a close battle, but Eric and I lost. I had to stop in the middle of the game, my eyes were stinging from sweat and sunscreen. I jogged over to my backpack and poured some water on a towel and washed my eyes. It was better but not perfect. Very annoying and very distracting.

I left the court at 1:18. Cal was another class going. Sue—whom I’d met Thursday night—was one of the students. Janet and Bruce were in a game when I left. When I asked, Janet said she’d stow the net—I’d stowed everything else.

A woman named Stacy, who has played for a couple of months, stopped by the courts and I chatted with her a bit about her friends who were considering trying pickleball. She’s encouraging them.

Number of days on a court: 302
Number of total hours: 836

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