Wednesday, July 10, 2019 (Court Day #281)

41st day out playing lefty. Tennis elbow.

I arrived at Derby Park at 9:05. I was the fifth arriver. Dave Allenbaugh was still setting up. My son Nicholas had an appointment this morning and couldn’t join me. And good thing too, read on.

I warmed up well. And played ok for the first few points. After that, not so much. I played ok, but too many balls flying long. A couple serves out. It was frustrating. This was not a good day. I was not even playing playing at a low 3.5 level.

At 9:45, I got a call from work. Staffing drama. *sigh* Every number of years, some part of the staff doesn’t get along. Someone is sarcastic. Someone can’t handle being directed by a manager. Arguments over the radio station. Something. Today, I had two of my employees were threatening to quit over each other. This was essentially a work emergency. It was the end of pickleball for me today. Often, these things are simply communication issues. Regardless, it required my immediate intervention. Such a bummer.

Afternoon

With three hours of personnel meetings, it appears things are worked out and everyone is getting along. Disaster averted. Almost all the staff gets along great, so, fortunately, these incidents aren’t common.

Number of days on a court: 281
Number of total hours: 773

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Sunday, July 7, 2019 (Court Day #280)

40th day out playing lefty. Tennis elbow.

I woke up my son Nicholas at 8:30. “Do you want it get some exercise or sleep in?”

”I thought you said we had to leave at 8:30?”

”It’s ok, we have 10 minutes.” To my pleasant surprise, he threw aside the covers. I was opening Derby Park today as site coordinator.

We got to the courts at 8:53. Tom Sherwood was already there and was opening the bins with his key. I thanked him for getting things started. I had Nicholas help set up as I got to blowing off the courts. Wayne and a few others were also already there early.

A man named Kevin showed up sporting a Tres Palapas T-shirt. He said he was on staff at a pickleball resort in Mexico. Yes, Tres Palapas. I’d heard of it. He said it gets too hot during the summer so they shut down for two months. He said he’s working his way up the coast heading toward Canada. Starting at Bobby Riggs Tennis Center, Kevin has stopped and played at 15 venues. He found us through our club’s website.

There were about half a dozen people who were either playing for the first time or had only played once or twice before.

Bruce and wife Janet partnering for a game.

Nicholas and I didn’t get all that many good games. Either people wouldn’t sign up with us—silly, because we weren’t any worse than them—or they’d strand weaker players so they wouldn’t get to play so I’d sign up with them. But we got a few solid games.

Leslie, of the club steering committee, came and played. Dean came too. They played a lot with visitor Kevin. It was nice a nice surprise to have Leslie at Derby. And Dean for that matter.

We had a family day trip planned to the Bay Area, so Nicholas and I headed out just after high noon. Janet kindly agreed to take care of closing. (She’s a backup site coordinator.)

Number of days on a court: 280
Number of total hours: 772.5

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Thursday, July 4, 2019 (Court Day #279)
Independence Day

39th day out playing lefty. Tennis elbow.

Last night, I emailed 20-some-odd people letting them know that my son Nicholas and I would be at Brommer at 9 a.m. this morning—I included a disclaimer that this wouldn’t be an official SCPC function, as a site coordinator, I didn’t want any confusion. An email came out of Scotts Valley that Kristen Long would be opening up Skypark at 9 also, but Santa Cruz folks are my primary people.

I got to Brommer Park a few minutes after 9. All four permanent courts had people on them already. One was a man and a woman playing by themselves whom I didn’t know.

Daniel brought his net and later John P. brought his personal net as well. Since this wasn’t an official club function, the club nets and balls remained securely locked in the club bins. It’s by the book.

Mike D. asked how my arm was doing. I told him that I’d played a bit of righty on Thursday night and it felt great to serve right-handed again, but I was paying the price the next day. Some months left to go yet.

“You’re doing pretty well with that left hand,” Mike said after a game. I told him as I’ve told others, “It’s inconsistent. There are some great shots and other shots that are just completely frustrating.” I had managed to dig out some shots that Mike was hitting down at me while we were all at the kitchen, it felt nice to win that rally.

Later in the morning, six people showed up that I didn’t know. Later I learned that they were all visiting from Fresno.

Grita suggested that she and I play a game with a couple idly sitting on the wall. We asked and they said yes. The man’s name was Casey and his wife Renee. Grita and I beat them 11-0. They weren’t horrible, but we were consistently better. They were intimated a bit. We played a second game and won 11-6. Our opponents were aided by me hitting four “out balls” that would have otherwise been winners. Oops. Still an achilles heel for me. I never did tell them that I’m naturally right-handed.

Yep. Bruised ring finger!

I got smacked a few times in the hand. It happens sometimes.

About 12:30 and we were done for the day. We left the pleasant Fresno people to the courts.

Number of days on a court: 279
Number of total hours: 769.5

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