I was invited to a guys group that plays at 7 a.m. on Saturday. The courts they play at are 45 minutes away from me so it’s an early day. I’m grateful when whoever they normally play with is out because they are strong players, they actually dink and my only other option on Saturdays is open play at the local rec center. Not a lot of dinking in that scenario.
It is definitely tough being the only female on the court because I don’t know when I’ve messed up with a really bad shot or if I had a sort of bad shot that in reality they should have covered but were out of position. For the most part they don’t treat me like a female, at least in terms of your typical mixed play format. If my team, or our opponent, starts losing I’ll see more balls or see my guy come and take balls I could have hit, but most of the time it’s just straight up play (going for the best, strategic, logical shot). Because it can be a little bit of both types of play it does make it more confusing for me to know when I’ve really bombed or made a bad decision.
These guys are so fast and it’s such a benefit to play people that can speed it up and read the ball as quickly as they do. It’s a nice reality check for me because I can’t get anything past them. I’d think, oh that was a fluke he got that and then he’d do it again. Nope, not a fluke. I need to stop trying that shot.
Most of my shots that were winners were because I can’t hit it as hard as they expect it to come to them. When I thought I had winners I didn’t and the winners I did have I didn’t think should have been. My slowness/weakness was a benefit a couple of times.
Playing once a month against people who dink is a disadvantage but I’m happy I’m getting as much play as I am. It’s obvious I don’t see much dinking in my normal play because I tried way too many times to hit shots I just can’t hit and my patience, which usually isn’t a problem, was too little today. I tried so many times to hit shots that weren’t attackable.
I did land an ATP, and defended one successfully, but I also set up 4 or 6 of them for my opponents. My “new” serve took a little bit for me to feel comfortable testing but it was fairly solid all day. I did try to drive and do a 5th shot drop more often than I ever do and I’m not unhappy about how that turned out for me.
I used the Icon all day (Franklin ball) and we were playing on a court that a lot of people had to pass, causing more distractions than we normally see at that facility. The absolute best thing about playing there is they use playsight which means I spend more time watching myself play than I played. It’s so nice to be able to review games.
End of Week Numbers
- Pickleball play
- 6 sessions
- $63.88 court time
- $41.73 gas
- Drilling
- 1.5 sessions
- Weight: -1
- ATPs: 2
- Injuries: 2
- Right knee bruise
- Lower back soreness
