My self-imposed break from pickleball games was a great decision. We had a good group for Friday pickleball and the rotation was fairly solid, mostly because at one point there seemed to be an effort to consider rotating players. I didn’t play with everyone and played against a lot of the same people but with the exception of seeing a lot of the same shots, I was fine with the rotation.
I got lobbed a lot, which is ironic since it was a problem for me in drilling yesterday. It was a problem today too. I didn’t try to drive much, my drops were good, there was a good amount of dinking and I’m not unhappy with how I performed with those, my defense was solid and rather than try to serve hard I just tried to get them in. I missed a few returns, which has been a mental focus point for me this week, so that was disappointing. I managed to land one ATP on the day.
The first round of games were fun and competitive. I was dinking one guy straight on and it was obvious we were both thinking Erne. He made the step once but couldn’t pull the trigger but that was more than I could do, I was only able to do the set-up shot. A few points later we were in that situation again and he made the lunge and hit it right at me. I was ready for it but the shock factor is still effective, I plopped it right in the net. His jump was clean and I’m so jealous I can’t figure out the timing on those. The same fella who did the Erne on me came in with a clean haircut, looking sharp but complaining that the guy who cut his hair didn’t leave enough on the sides to cover his hearing aids. I’m glad I write these things down so I know what to expect in the future. He made sure to tell me he did 2 other Ernes, an ATP and a Nasty Nelson, none of which I saw (but I believe).
The second round of games were less fun for me. I got roped into one of those ultra-competitive games. A game where I got zero shots to my forehand, no movement of balls and all put-aways came at me. On top of that there was excessive cheering. I understand pumping yourself up for tournament play, but in rec play? It was a real display. I’ve not done anything to deserve that but regardless, I had to deal with it. Until the game was over, then I moved on to play with other people.
I went to my favorite rec center for my evening social outing and got a few games and lots of conversation. I used my Selkirk to see how it would do with a heavy, squishy ball and it was about the same. Just not the right paddle for me.
It’s pretty much the same crew each Friday but tonight was a few new, very new to pickleball, faces. It was a completely different concept – to try to hit someone’s paddle so it would come back over the net – but I still was out swinging rather than sitting watching re-runs of The Walking Dead so that’s a good thing.
