tennis, life and a few things in between

It’s a cold cold night. Two girls come from the city with the #7 subway. I pick up one and the other girl who’s new to the team, doesn’t want to trouble anyone, opts to walk. Thank good lord another teammate spots her and gives her a ride to the the small bubble (har tru). We all huddle up in the holding cell (the small waiting room left to the court). The captains are not presented, and I’m not informed who’ll be the acting captain.

We exchange lineup a little early and leave for our own match at the main building. Court 12 is open for two hour straight but it’s kind of stuffy so we take court #6 8-9 and #1 9-10pm. Tony and I lost all sets: first set 1, the second set in tie break and the third set – I was beaten so soundly I couldn’t remember it any more -:).

The league match is fine, except there is an argument on third court:

.. On Thursday night, we had an argument with 3D guy in the tie-break. After his serve, 2-1, in their favor, we won 6 points in a row. On the next point, 3D girl hit a return that was just out. I had a good look of the ball and called it out. He started arguing that the ball was good and it’s not my call, which is ridiculous. But my partner backed me up and told him to stop. It was our call, both of us. The argument was quite disrupting. We lost the next four points before held on to our lead to win. It was good win. We deserve it!

A few of us who knew him – 3D guy who was a long time captain, felt that he should have known better: it’s our call. The 3D goes to tie break and my pair won 11-9. After the match, everyone stay to share a fruit tart and a bottle of Mondavi’s Cabernet Sauvignon 2010. A sweep is the best birthday gift!

My friend played well in the 2009/10 winter season and came up on top. The other day he saw a discounted golf trophy in a shop, liked it so much that he made the shop owner to refurbished it to tennis, and awarded himself for the win, three years after the fact. file 23160
Learning something new everyday, great.
We are no just crazy about tennis, some are down right nuts.
I’ve to admit that it is a love trophy.
Good eye, buddy.

Our 5th match has gone well, nice opponents and enjoyable games.

I haven’t been sick in ages, so when I had a headache last Tuesday night, it took me a couple of hours to figure it out why my head felt funny. Diarrhea followed on Wednesday. I went to bed early last night, watched a few movies. When I was about to sleep, I got a text from my co-captain that we had swept.
Yapeee.
Today all the symptoms are gone and I feel great. Checking on the scores, I realized someone had changed the lineup. With the newly regained energy, I started to spam everyone, as if we haven’t had enough drama this season.
No, no, no, calm down, my co-cap said. The match were well. When he got to the court as both teams started writing lineups on napkins at the small VIP Transportation Lounge next to the clay courts.

..
There is no viewing area at the clay courts so one of the opposing captains went back home to Bklyn and I sat with the other lady captain and chatted for 2 hrs. Their team’s philosophy was to have fun, play everyone and took in a lot of new players that had no teams (while we aim to make the playoffs). We were discussing if we should drive our Manh ladies home since she had 2 and we had 2. Everything worked itself out and we left very cordially.
..

There are teams that are cordial and display good sportsmanship, which makes the league play so much more enjoyable, fun for everyone.

And .. my senior moment ..

Irene:

you forgot that i already paid you 5 matches for queens league… you bought my share from GNE and i was short for some $ and then i paypal you the balance.  it’s like a few days ago…

regards,
xxx

We swept both matches last night:  the LI 8.0 (4th) and the Queens 7.0‘s first match. No drama, everyone’s happy. Congratulations kids!
I could put a happy ending period here. Pix on FB.
But ..
King was scheduled to fly out of JFK at 10:50pm and he told me that he’s down with a mild cold, headache and sleepy at about 5pm.

Quickly, I divided the night:
6:30 to the club, setting things up – we were hosting
7:10-8:10 home, to check on him, despite him saying, it’s necessary ..
8:20-9:00 at the club, taking care of the league match and the full house 9pm-11pm that followed
9:10 to JFK

When I returned to the club, finally had a moment to check my emails, I found one player informed me at 6:48 that he needed to cancel.  I wasn’t too worried, because there’s 17th player who signed up at last second. So I called Mr. 17th, who readily agreed to come.

The result from our Queens match came in: a sweep.

The result from our home match concluded too: a sweep.

The 9-11pm players have arrived, ready to play. The club house was humming and everyone was mingling well. Jim surprised me with two gift certificates (one for Jenn), he organized with our usual suspects. THANK YOU all so much kids! … When couple of players asked me about lineup, I checked my email to show them … then it struck me, Mr. Cancel did not sign up. (I forgot to check line up before calling Mr. 17th. What else is new?)

So I took out my kneeing pad, and began begging my 8.0 players: who wanted to play?

No one wanted.

Mr. 17th looked not too happy and I totally understood.

Golfer called, asking if I was on my way home. We needed to leave for JFK.

So I pleaded with Mr. 17th: just wait for me for an hour, I’ll be right back ..

He laughed: JFK? An hour? Are you kidding me?

Just when I was at my wits end 热锅上的蚂蚁, three guys rushed in. Two were on the line up and George. I was overjoyed and hugged him. Go away you crazy woman ..

..

We got to the airport quickly despite of thick fog. His flight would delay till midnight. I got back to the club in a little over an hour time. The matches were very competitive.

One of my dear teammates has the misfortune to have to collect match fees from other mates on the team for me. Six matches in a row.

The pay records on Metro

This Manhattan mixed 7.0 team is my largest, and also the team that I had the most online payments:
17 out of 60 (my math is terrible – I paid 66 instead of 60; one mate paid after I satisfied the season = 67 match fees in the account)

When I captained my first team in 2009, I did send out the note telling the mates where to pay and when was the deadline. Only one veteran paid 6, out of 66. I should not complain because the percentage is improving over the years.

Each league runs differently. The Metro winter teams need to be paid in full by a deadline (usually a month after it starts); the summer teams pay to the club directly where it plays, like the Long Island winter. (I never played on the LI summer team.)

My very first season on the job: Queens 7.0 mixed 2010

There must be a reason that the Metro winter needs us to pay it in full while the season is just under way. Because it will take them four months to issue a refund (canceled court, over payment ..) without an explanation. As if fiduciary doesn’t exist.

My current team: Manhattan 7.0 mixed 2013

It’s during my third captains’ meeting, when I learned that most captains/teams made the players to pay online, before the deadline. One of the captains said to me,
“Irene, don’t be shy about asking them to pay, this is a business.”
I never thought this as a business. But after many seasons and teams, I began to feel the burden of ‘reminders’ and ‘instructions’ when no one listens -:). It may still seem fun to the mates but at times, it certainly feels like a work for me. What’s the button says?
Work is for people who don’t play tennis.

Slowly, I’m starting tennis again. Wednesday we just hit for about an hour. Last night I played the full two hours: Pete/I vs Dan/Jess 6:4 but we lost to Jenn/Michael 7-3 in tie break in spite of having a match point when Pete was serving at 5 to 4. I hit an easy put away shot long. Today I/Wah won over Michale/I 1 (almost got a bagel!). Kai/I was down 5-2 but .. eventually lost in tie break. We won the 10-point super tie break handily tho.

The weather wasn’t too nice (clooudy) but all the courts were taken, some were still wet! There was a group Cantonese speakers. The three adults playing next to us were very cordial, retrieving our balls without any complain. However, when one of kid came over to talk to them, he just walked onto our court without any regard that he’s interrupting us.
Come on, a little common courtesy?
I called out to them, the adults disbursed but the kid walked extra slow, almost stalking on the court. What on earth did he have to do that?

I got two more signatures for Denise

Can’t win on court? Cheat. We’re playing the same team that tempered with our line up (but got swept anyway last time). Tonight, their 2D won the first set at 5 but we were up in the 2nd Set (4-3) when the Court Clock read 9:53. During the change over the opponents purposely waited at the bench while my players were on the court ready to receive. After a prolonged moment, my pair approached the opponents to urge them to start to play. But the opponents stated that according to the time on their personal watch it was 9:55. My players challenged their position as the court clock clearly had it at least 7 to 8 minutes to 10pm.

One of the rules ..

Timing Matches: If a clock is visible from the courts, then players must go by the time on that clock. If a clock is not visible, players must use the match ending device determined by their captains.

The male player from the opposing team stated that ‘it doesn’t matter as we are electing to take the 90 second change over break’ and that would put the time at 9:55. (Please keep in mind, throughout the match they never took 90 seconds during any of the change overs.)

Is this allowed – that to use 90-seconds change over allowance to exhaust the time in a timed match? Regardless of the rules, it doesn’t sound good sport to me. But the league coordinator ruled that yes it is allowed. They can take 90 second change over allowance in a timed match, and to end a match.

The league coordinator wrote that “no one can deny the 90 second changeover ..” guess the answer is yes.

As to the time device: we’ve been playing at Westside for a long time and everyone knows there are clocks on the wall. So no one ever bothered to decide which time device to use. Actually no one bothered to decide on a time device when there is NO clocks on the wall. We all depend on the goodness and fairness in us.

As it turned out, our 1D was also a timed match and they were still playing when the argument began on the 2D court. Isn’t this a clear indication that there was more than 5 minutes left on the clock? Both my 1D and 3D players said 2D stopped well before 9:55.

I’m thinking: they were leading but to clinch the match win, they resorted to the unsportsman conduct .. does it still feel good at the end of the day? The pitiful team (sorry don’t mean to rub salt .. ) is the 4th on the 6-team division, with 27 points (we’re the 3rd place team with 49 points, as of 12/25/2012). I never like to brag but I’ve to say that my team always do well, only because I’ve great players who are considerate and fair, good sportsmen (and sportswomen, to be PC). Kids, please keep up the good work and deed. At the end of the day, goodness always will trump the evils.

A little side note: Denise was scheduled to play the 3D. I asked Cate to take one of the balls as souvenir for Lady D. The opponents were the home team so they provided the balls. When Cate asked for the balls, the captain said no. After Cate explained the reason, the captain reluctantly surrendered one ball, saying she wanted to bring the rest to her dog.

How I handled a similar match on Jan 18, 2013.

The back and forth emails; back more problems