Just a bit of catch up. Played 25 twice, and both times it was ugly...7-1 and 8-1. But still fun.
Then played TA.
The games were incredible with some unbelievable rallies. There were a lot of sideouts. He built 5-0 leads twice, but I scratched and clawed and in no gadid he get past 10. Then we played cut throat and again I started slow but ended up with a clear and easy win.l
Played tennis twice with 25, a 4 set and 3 set day, winning, all,
then we played racquetball for an hour after our last tennis match and the rallies were better than ever, the games more fun, and the result typical...I won all four games.
Saturday
Racquetball Chronicles
By Thursday my legs were exhausted. 2:30 of racquetball Tuesday mixed between singles and cut-throat, 2 hours Wednesday and I was worn down.
So when TA started the first game with his traditional lob serves I fell right back into my bad habits. I casually flicked at the ball from waist level, did not get into good position, and worst of all did not hustle. ball after ball I looked at and just did not chase.
As a result he won game 1 by a 15-13 score...and here is the thing; it was because he played together. I knew what the slow pace was doing and instead of changing it, went along with it which resulted in poor shot execution. Meanwhile, he was executing extremely well.
Game two was slightly faster but still very deliberate. I was bored...which is not good when a game ends 15-14. However, the problem is, I was getting so little action that I had maybe 5% of my shirt sweat-drenched.
Since most nights there is maybe 5% of my shirt DRY after half of a first game...that means I was not getting much done.
So games 3, 4, 5, and 6 I enforced my will...I stepped up the pace, made a point of letting balls drop to the point where I had to run to get to them, which in turn got me moving constantly. And the games became blowouts as I won the last four handily. I think he never got past 4 points.
Lesson; even in "lob serve only" games, I can push pace and be energetic.
Friday I was coming off 6-1/2 hours of racquetball and nearly an hour of weights over the course of the prior 3 days and, counter-intuitively, I was fresher than I had been Thursday. This did not bode well for 25.
Indeed, over the course of the next 8 (or 9...he thinks 9, I think 8) games, he scored 10 once and 8 once.
And the 8 point game...well, we agreed to experiment one time with "no points off serves". Had we not it would have been 15-5 I think. I was up 14-3 if we were counting serves when I stopped paying attention.
I was super energetic, getting to numerous balls. I was hitting corner pinch shots better than I ever have. I was hitting the new shot I developed where I get close to the front wall and gently tap the ball, leading to numerous rollouts. I even got my z-serve working super well to both corners.
I even started working on a new serve that applies backspin. It has potential.
So lots of fun, lots of success. Not enough energy expended.
So when TA started the first game with his traditional lob serves I fell right back into my bad habits. I casually flicked at the ball from waist level, did not get into good position, and worst of all did not hustle. ball after ball I looked at and just did not chase.
As a result he won game 1 by a 15-13 score...and here is the thing; it was because he played together. I knew what the slow pace was doing and instead of changing it, went along with it which resulted in poor shot execution. Meanwhile, he was executing extremely well.
Game two was slightly faster but still very deliberate. I was bored...which is not good when a game ends 15-14. However, the problem is, I was getting so little action that I had maybe 5% of my shirt sweat-drenched.
Since most nights there is maybe 5% of my shirt DRY after half of a first game...that means I was not getting much done.
So games 3, 4, 5, and 6 I enforced my will...I stepped up the pace, made a point of letting balls drop to the point where I had to run to get to them, which in turn got me moving constantly. And the games became blowouts as I won the last four handily. I think he never got past 4 points.
Lesson; even in "lob serve only" games, I can push pace and be energetic.
Friday I was coming off 6-1/2 hours of racquetball and nearly an hour of weights over the course of the prior 3 days and, counter-intuitively, I was fresher than I had been Thursday. This did not bode well for 25.
Indeed, over the course of the next 8 (or 9...he thinks 9, I think 8) games, he scored 10 once and 8 once.
And the 8 point game...well, we agreed to experiment one time with "no points off serves". Had we not it would have been 15-5 I think. I was up 14-3 if we were counting serves when I stopped paying attention.
I was super energetic, getting to numerous balls. I was hitting corner pinch shots better than I ever have. I was hitting the new shot I developed where I get close to the front wall and gently tap the ball, leading to numerous rollouts. I even got my z-serve working super well to both corners.
I even started working on a new serve that applies backspin. It has potential.
So lots of fun, lots of success. Not enough energy expended.
Wednesday
Racquetball Chronicles
Knowing TA tends to play a slow place and tire easily, I tried to set up some cut throat with him and German. It was a fortuitous match-up.
We all three get along well, have similar overall skill sets and it was fun.
On the downside, I discovered my beloved red and black racket...i left it the previous time and instead of turning it in, someone stole it. This makes me very sad.
We played three games. I feel I should have done better in the second game, but in the end I won two of the three. Then German had to leave so TA and I played a couple games.
First game I was up 8-2 and then something happened. My serve was off just a bit, I could not pass him, could not hit a kill shot. Still I took a 13-12 lead but then gave up 4 straight points.
Game two was back and forth until about 8-6, then I ran off the rest of the points.
Then we played two more games of cutthroat with a guy who has nice touch and plays good position. I kind of felt like there were a lot of shots that I let go thinking TA would get to but he did not go after them. As a result, Ted had some big runs and won both by big scores...I scored I think 7 & 10 while TA had I think 2 and 1.
Then tonight I played 25. My legs were tired going in so I played mostly positional. We played 9 games. I won them all. In only 1 did he break 10, and in only 2 did he break 6. It was a domination. But it was fun...several good rallies, and I was hitting more successful kill and pinch shots.
We all three get along well, have similar overall skill sets and it was fun.
On the downside, I discovered my beloved red and black racket...i left it the previous time and instead of turning it in, someone stole it. This makes me very sad.
We played three games. I feel I should have done better in the second game, but in the end I won two of the three. Then German had to leave so TA and I played a couple games.
First game I was up 8-2 and then something happened. My serve was off just a bit, I could not pass him, could not hit a kill shot. Still I took a 13-12 lead but then gave up 4 straight points.
Game two was back and forth until about 8-6, then I ran off the rest of the points.
Then we played two more games of cutthroat with a guy who has nice touch and plays good position. I kind of felt like there were a lot of shots that I let go thinking TA would get to but he did not go after them. As a result, Ted had some big runs and won both by big scores...I scored I think 7 & 10 while TA had I think 2 and 1.
Then tonight I played 25. My legs were tired going in so I played mostly positional. We played 9 games. I won them all. In only 1 did he break 10, and in only 2 did he break 6. It was a domination. But it was fun...several good rallies, and I was hitting more successful kill and pinch shots.
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