Sunday, May 5, 2019 (Court Day #263)

Day 24 playing left-handed. Tennis elbow.

It was 52° and overcast when I left my house for Derby Park. The weather prediction was dreary. (My wife is the mistress of weather—if you want to know what’s going to happen, ask her!)

I got to the courts a full 15 minutes before opening time but Mark (Maree’s husband) was already there. Janet was the third one to appear. Cal was the fourth and soon we were in a game.

Cal and I later played a game against David and Beth Black. We took a lopsided loss, but we did make the Blacks work for their win.

Beth and I played a game together as partners later. She matter-of-factly stated, “I didn’t realize earlier that you were playing left-handed.” This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten this comment from people. If I hadn’t made so many errors, I would take it as a compliment. As it is, it’s a bit of a bummer that people don’t notice the difference. I know that I can tell!

The sky cleared and it became almost perfect pickleball weather. If it was just a little bit less breezy, it would have been truly perfect. Still beautiful.

Allan and I played a game against Chris and George. Allan and I won. While I still had my share of errors, I made some points that I would have been proud had I done them right handed, let alone left-handed. Digs, poaches, slams. Nice. Allan commented afterward, “It’s going to be interesting when you can start playing right-handed again.” Will I switch hands more readily to make shots? I don’t know. There’s still an awkward feeling playing lefty.

We got a treat today, young Tom and his girlfriend Ileana (“Ill-lee-ahna”) appeared again after many months. They are always upbeat and Tom can be a crackup. (He may have a more nutty sense of humor than me and that’s saying a lot!) They said they are still living in Los Gatos and haven’t really been playing pickleball at all. We got into a game with a fourth player, Jeff. We were deciding on how to split us all up. I told Tom, “Even playing left-handed, I’m better than you are…no offense.” Smiling, Beth Black called over from her chair, “You didn’t have tell him why!” Oops. Sorry, Tom.

The four of us played five games. Me and Tom, Ileana and me (3x), then finally Jeff and me.

Ileana and l lost 11-3, then 11-4. I smiled and said to Ileana, “We gotta keep going, we are making progress each game.” Jeff laughed and said, “Another nine games and you’ll have it!” It didn’t take another nine, it took one! We pulled of an unexpected win on the third try.

For the last game, my partner Jeff played left-handed too. I was very impressed with his serves. I think they are better than mine right out of the gate! Jeff said he used to play ping pong left-handed. He wasn’t quite as strong with the rest of his game, but still decent, considering. The youngsters beat us by a few points. I was expecting to win even with both of us handicapped. Kudos to Tom and Ileana.

Tom told me, “You’ve gotten a lot better.” I exclaimed, “I’m playing left-handed!” “But you are a lot better than when I last saw you.” Then I went on to explain that I’d been playing a whole lot more than he has and he’d be better too in similar circumstances. It’s true though, even me playing lefty now would have easily beat a newbie version of myself.

It was 12:45 when the last game finished and it was time to go.

Cabrillo Tournament

As we were about to leave, Binh bought up the local tournament in August. He said that Manny had also asked him as a partner. I asked Binh what his age was. “47.” That means that I’d have to play in the “Open” bracket instead of 50+ and 60+. I’m 51, and playing Open doesn’t bother me one bit. I relish the competition. I wish there were no age brackets. Right or left handed. Binh said it would be his first tournament and he was fine with me playing lefty if that’s what I’m still doing come August. He also said that Kim was hoping that they’d get 250 players for the tournament. That’d be big! I have to give this some thought. If Binh and I are eliminated quickly—a likelihood if I play lefty—then my UTPR will go down. The USAPA has no idea that I’ll be playing lefty, and from what I hear, won’t care. Injuries are irrelevant. If you play hurt, you take your chances on your rating. I do want to play. Hmmmm…

Tuesday, May 7, 2019 (No Play)

I had a 9 a.m. physical therapy appointment this morning.

Ruby worked on my right shoulder, right wrist, and right elbow. The good news is that she said the shoulder was improving and to continue doing the exercises that she’d given me previously. I will say that my shoulder is sore afterward, as expected as that is!

Even from Sunday night, I’ve been dying to get back on the court. I. Want. To. Play. Unfortunately, it’s looking like there won’t be enough staff tomorrow morning for me to play. Putting food on the table and not stressing out the remaining staff (if I were to play) is important. So, maybe Thursday night. And possibly Friday morning.

Number of days on a court: 263
Number of total hours: 720.5

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Friday, May 3, 2019 (Court Day #262)

Day 23 playing left-handed. Tennis elbow.

I pulled into Brommer Park a few minutes after 9 a.m. Kim was walking in with her little dog about 20 feet in front of me. No games were going yet, just a few courts of warming up players and a net or two being set up in addition to the four permanent courts.

Claire

A middle-aged woman with cropped hair was warming up with Chris. I’d never seen her before. She introduced herself as Claire and she said she’s local but only plays at Brommer once or twice a month. She played at the recent Paso Robles tournament. We ended up playing as a team in my first game of the day. She has solid forehand and backhand strokes. That was a frustrating game—as they would prove to be during the course of the morning, my drop shots were consistently bad. Forehand, backhand, didn’t matter. I was hitting far too softly. Claire and I only lost by a couple of points. She wasn’t perfect, but the vast bulk of the errors were on me.

Of note, after one point, Claire said something to the effect of, “Don’t stop on your way to the net.” I didn’t say anything, but my first thought was the damaged ego thought, “There must have been some good reason I stopped.” And, honestly, I suspect there may have been. Maybe I thought the shot was attackable and about to be slammed back. But it’s very possible that I just errantly stopped too soon. Stuart also said that to me this week, “Get to the net!” I know for a fact some of those times I was either stopping instead of moving through a shot or expecting a ball to come back very fast. Regardless, this is something I’m going to have to investigate. Probably with the use of video.

Adrian

In a later game, Adrian and I had a fierce volley battle at the net. After the ball careened back and forth a number of times, Adrian hit it into the net. “Jesus, Andrew, left-handed!” He was obviously impressed.

Sacramento Doug

Doug and his wife were still in town visiting from Sacramento. I signed up in a box with them—unknowingly, since I didn’t know their names—and ended up in a game with them along with a younger fellow with an unusual name that escapes me at the moment—”Sante” maybe. He said this was his fifth time out, four at Skypark in Scotts Valley and this his first time here. After a volley battle at the net between Doug and me, his wife blurted out, “I’d hate to see him playing right-handed!”

But, for every great shot, there was a completely lame shot that ended up in the net or sailing off into Never Never Land somewhere. I missed a 3-4 serves today. Not bad. I figure not worse than most players today—miss one serve every game or two. One was when I was serving to a lefty—a “real” lefty—and trying to land it near his backhand . . . instead, it landed across the centerline in the wrong service court. Accuracy is still not there yet with my left-handed serving.

With the stiffer competition at Brommer, it’s a wake up call on progress. Yes, I’m very much improving playing left-handed, but lots of work to do yet. I really miss using my dominant right arm.

It was time to go. 12:11. Home, lunch, shower, work. In that order!

Number of days on a court: 262
Number of total hours: 717

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Wednesday, May 1, 2019 (Court Day #261)

Day 22 playing left-handed.

I arrived at Derby Park at 9:15. My wife had forgotten her water bottle, so I ran it by her work before heading to play.

Today, was a pretty good day. Almost all of  my serves were in. I was involved with some really good rallies. All the while playing left-handed. I had my frustrating moments, for sure, but overall, not bad.

Rich and I played two games against Grita and Wendy. Rich and I were leading in both games, but lost both by a couple of points.

After one contended point at the net against Wendy, Rich commended me, “That was 5.0 left handed play right there!”

Wendy was pretty funny. As we all walked off the court toward the gate to sign up for our next games, Rich had told her that I’m not left-handed. She didn’t believe him and turned to me and asked if I was really right-handed. I told her that I was, but she was still skeptical so asked Rich again, “Is he really not left-handed?”

Far court: Karl, Tom S., Stuart, someone. Near: Mike, Diane P., John P., Wayne.

Two middle-aged women appeared at the doorway into the courts. Cathy and, the shorter of the two, Lauren. Both were very pleasant. Dave Allenbaugh was there as the site coordinator, but I asked them if they were there to play. They said they were interested and came to watch. I spent about 10-15 minutes explaining the basic rules, scoring, and a little history of the game. I had them sign the waiver. Dave later took them under his wing and played a game with them.

There was also an older couple visiting from Sacramento. The man said their daughter went to school here and they’ve always liked to visit Santa Cruz. They said they looked up where to play and came to Derby. Isn’t the internet great?

We had some strong players today. Dean, Dave DiBiase, Oleg, Stuart—and visitor Greg, the strongest of the bunch who had come again with his partner Dee. Right-handed, I might have had enough courage to squeeze into a game. But not playing lefty. Dave DiBiase called over and teased, “We were just commenting on how your form looks better when you are playing left-handed!” I responded, “I don’t know about that!”

Some progress. A ways to go, but progress playing left handed.

in other news, the U.S. Open is going on in Florida this week. *sigh*

Number of days on a court: 261
Number of total hours: 714

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