LAST WEEK’S RECAP | May 13 – May 19, 2013
FRIDAY
Players from Budd Lake, Butler, Jersey City and Paramus enjoyed their first hour together. For friends it’s ok to joke about each other’s game. The Butler player said to the Paramus player something about swinging volleys are not easy or good idea to do from a certain spot on the court. The Paramus player did one just right and said “See?” as if to prove that he could do it. Then the Butler player hit a few good non-swinging and more traditional volleys and said “See?” just to joke back. They always seem to have good bantering fun on court and some really interesting conversations off court.
On another court, players from Crystal Springs, NY, Essex Fells, Rutherford and an out-of-towner had their fun. It was a nice surprise, or maybe not anymore after so many similar kind acts he has done, that the Essex Fells player paid the party fee for the stranger, whom he had just met, just because he was visiting an ailing relative and needed a picker-upper.
SATURDAY
Oddly there was not one woman in sight. It was probably about the 3rd Saturday oddity in 7 years.
Two former partygoers from NYC started coming to the parties again a few weeks ago. They’re fun to have at the parties, for one has an interesting line of work in the art world and the other a good sport and fun on the court, not that the former isn’t. The art player shared something interesting that he probably has the one of the largest, if not THE largest, collection of punk art, which he explained encompasses art, music and fashion. The Jersey City newcomer and I learned something new. Whenever I look at the 2 friends, I always think that they’re unlikely
During the warmer months, I get more opportunities to play. It’s really funny that newcomers who have never seen me play are surprised that I can actually hit the ball. As with any tennis players, sometimes you play like a super star and other times not at all. For me I can never trust myself to play well and I like to work myself into a match as a “fill in” whenever there’s an odd number. On Saturday, the player from Cliffside Park watched me work myself into a match, only to pull myself back out about 5 times in 4 hours. At the end of the party he amusingly said – “You almost played 5 times” and of course I laughed. I did get to have a fun 40-minute match with a couple of newcomers from NY and Jersey City, 2 friends who were practicing from a match the next day. I dropped out and replaced myself with an ex-college player from American University, aka The Boxer to give them a real practice challenge. They totally enjoyed it and were glad they came to the party!