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The pride cometh after the fall
My rating: 5 out of 5
Today I played seven straight Pickleball games before inventing an excuse to go home. I actually had a great time, but I hit a wall and realized I had better leave while I could still walk.
I’ve mentioned before that I understand Pickleball is a funny game—har har har, silly name, get to play with a bunch of seniors, etc. But like anything, if you really put effort into it, you can go home with a nice limp and a couple of blisters.
And there are the player names, which—Jim, Rita, Dot—sound a bit like they were pulled out of a word problem from your middle school math textbook.
But I managed to hit Dot in the eye with a wiffle ball today, so I can tell you that she’s real, and she feels pain. Sorry, Dot.
See, I’m working on my front-court game. Jim told me I should. Don’t stay too far back, he said. But don’t sit in mid-court, either. Once the other side has returned the serve, go to the front and get your racket up in the air.
One of the risks you take—especially when you’re playing doubles and you’re both up-court—is becoming a victim of the lob, which is when the other team force you to retreat by hitting one up, way up, and back, behind you. I do this a lot. But today it was done to me a lot.
I rushed back a little late, tried to scoop up the ball and fling it back across the net, and it went forward, which is to say, toward the back of my side of the court, right into Dot’s eye.
She said it hit her eyebrow, ha ha. But it really hit her in the eye. I could tell by the squint.
Sigh.
I also met David, who was extremely fun to play with. He’s probably in his late 60s. He has white hair, a white moustache, and wears neon Ray-Bans. Dresses like a surfer. Talks like a surfer. And he’s very easy-going, tells jokes a lot. This is all great for me, because by the end of my first game I was fuming. It was almost a complete skunk, 11-2. Bill was hitting every single ball with backspin or sidespin or frontspin. And joking about it. And his partner was, too.
But David just kept his spirits up. Giving points away with lines like, “no, I think I hit that out. Go ahead and take the point. Marc and I will just deal with it.”
I want to be more like that. Otherwise I’m headed for an early Pickleball grave.