LAST WEEK’S RECAP | Feb. 25 – March 3, 2013
FRIDAY
Friday players weren’t going to miss the party for anything. They came under different circumstances:
“Greetings from Belgium. I should be back Friday in time for the party.” – player from Butler, but eventually succumbed to food poisoning.
“Food poisoning yesterday [Thursday]. I was about to die. Friday 9pm please.” – player from Edgewater, arose from food poisoning and lasted for 2 hours of play time. I think he came for the pow wow (see bottom of Friday news).
“I will try to make it to tiger tonight although I’m flying back from Atlanta. The flight gets in at 7pm, so let’s see if I can make it there.” – player from Weehawken.
“I can get there by 10:15-10:30pm. Should I come? I still want to play.” – player from North Bergen.
This player got in more tennis than usual, attending Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Of course, he’s young (30’s) and full of energy, and trying to get in as much tennis as he can before the baby arrives, much like another player in his 30’s and expecting the baby around the same time.
There’s been a trend of new players bringing their friends the following weeks. This week a player from Fort Lee brought an old friend from the Bronx. A newcomer from Morristown said she had a blast and is bringing a friend next Friday.
A player from Yonkers said the newcomer from Morristown liked the party. She said she will bring a buddy also next Friday. Before you know it, there’ll be so many 26-year-old newbies around, adding to the growing number of 25-35 year-olds at the Friday parties. Maybe I’m just glad to have a pharmacist at the parties so I can pick her brains.
The Yonkers player beat his opponent from Elizabeth. I told the Elizabeth player that the good news is that the Yonkers player normally plays on Saturdays, to which he replied – “One of these days I’m going to play on a Saturday so I can beat you [Yonkers player]” and they both smiled. I love friendly rivalries…..
At the midnight hour I noticed a congregation of 8+ people by the bench on Court 2. They were friends who hadn’t seen each other in a while, a 23-year-old who got busy with school, Dwight who hadn’t been to Friday nights but came for the special occasion and other friends from Nyack, Boonton, Edgewater, Englewood and Mahwah. It was probably 20 minutes before the pow wow finally dispersed!
As the Mahwah player and I walked down the corridor at the end of the party, we noted that this was one of the best Friday night parties!
SATURDAY
A Brit, now Westwood resident, was in town and without visitors. She doubled up, playing an Irishman (a Hoboken resident) and another Birmingham Brit (Edgewater resident). The Edgewater player joked – there’s hardly anyone from America at the party. As I looked around, I saw players originally from different continents: (a) Asia: Burma, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korean, the Philippines, Thailand; (b) Europe: England, Germany, Hungary and Ireland; (c) North America: Canada; (d) South America: Colombia, Ecuador and Peru and (e) Caribbean Region: Dominican Republic. From other tennis nights there are players originating from France, Italy, Taiwan, Kenya and Nigeria. And then there were Americans, almost a minority group, just kidding. We truly are a diverse group, proudly representing so many countries and ethnic backgrounds, almost like a mini United Nations!