Friday pickleball and I had a really good time. It’s a good group but I’m sort of scared to try new things. I value the opportunity to play so much that I don’t want to risk not being asked. But there are times I want to see if I can do different things, to practice different shots. I can’t tell people, hey I’m working on this today because then they will be ready for it. If I’m trying something new I want to know 2 things: can I do it and what happens if I do.
I worked all summer to figure out how to do the snap serve. Hours and hours dedicated to snapping the ball – not even swinging the paddle, just snapping the ball. Then I spent hours on the court snapping and connecting with the ball. After I figured out how to connect with it, then I had to figure out how to hit it properly with the spin in order for it to kick when it landed. It was a process. A long, dedicated process. When I finally got to the point that I could comfortably do it I found out that if the serve did not kick and produce a winner it came back to my side with so much wonkiness that my partner, or myself, rarely could do anything with it. I learned how to do it and I learned if I do, it may not be the result I want. Practice taught me that I had to use that serve sparingly for the few months it was allowed after I figured it out.
The Friday group is interesting. I think everyone wants to win every game they play but some hide it better than others. There are a few people clearly working on things, up until the point they start losing, and there are some people there to exercise. Today I went in knowing I was going to try to play aggressive. Serve it hard, hit it hard, know when to adjust to soft and see if it would produce anything positive.
What I learned was if I hit it hard with any level of success, people are going to hammer my backhand, and also hammer me with their idea of hard. Which is fine, but not a true test of what I’d see since most of the group are men. Regardless, I got worked over in a few games. Sometimes my partner would come in and save me – since every ball was coming my way and I was hitting the ball in a spot so my partner could save me – other times I just had to keep battling.
The rotation was pretty decent today. One game I played with a guy who makes smart decisions and is really good at placement. He hit a drop that I knew it was going to be good so I hustled to the net for the potential put-away opportunity and he’s right there beside me. I told him I loved how it felt like he was racing me to the net and he said yeah, I heard you say one time you didn’t like when people passed up those opportunities so I wanted to show you I have wheels. Who knew people paid that close attention to what others say in passing?
I went to my favorite local rec center to close the place down and see some of my friends I haven’t connected with in a few weeks. After dealing with some hiccups with my rec center card – it’s like the third one I’ve had so hopefully they got it right – I went in the gym and saw a fairly big crowd. We managed to play 3 games and even though I consider the outing a social one, I still tried to focus on not missing shots. Of course I did.
I was happy to get to chat and play some good games, hearing about the city’s plan for pickleball and hearing an awesome story about a letter from the USAPA announcing a player’s move up to 4.5. I wish I would have found pickleball sooner than I did but I love hearing the way things used to be and the fun people had when they found the sport.
