Topic: Monster

[monstertruck]

Monster on the court eh?  What are the odds!

Slim!

Headed back out again today with bro-in-law and nephew for round robin singles.  I send my report in from the hospital when we're finished....

[monstertruck]

Got out for a post-Turkey Day hit with the extended family.
Sis-in-law from Down Under and nephew & bro-in-law here in town.
Just social dubs where I played cooperatively.
Lots of laughs.
Good to be out on the court again even if the temp. was only 35F when we started.

We've had it a lot warmer here (not surprising)  .
Which part of Down Under? I'm from Sydney and it took the AO to get me to Melbourne for the first time in 15 years last January.
When I lived in Chile, I used to refer to Australia as "down under - other side"  .

1 sis is in Sydney with one of her grown daughters.
The other splits her time between Bright and Shepardton.
If Oz Land is anything like Chile I'll have to make more of an effort to get 'down' there.

[euroka1]

sis is in Sydney with one of her grown daughters.
The other splits her time between Bright and Shepardton.
If Oz Land is anything like Chile I'll have to make more of an effort to get 'down' there.

Sydney, of course, is just plain fabulous   with the harbor and the ocean beaches. Infrastructure (traffic etc) is not so good. It's a bit like Boston  .  I had an aunt who lived near Shepparton in Yarrawonga on the Victorian border. Dealing with family emergencies and the like, I got to know Shepparton quite well. We also took trips to Bright which is a pretty place, maybe a bit quiet for my tastes.  All are worth a visit.

[Tennis4you]

Monster on the court eh?  What are the odds!

Slim!

Headed back out again today with bro-in-law and nephew for round robin singles.  I send my report in from the hospital when we're finished....

Should we call hospice now or wait till your done?

[monstertruck]

Monster on the court eh?  What are the odds!

Slim!

Headed back out again today with bro-in-law and nephew for round robin singles.  I send my report in from the hospital when we're finished....

Should we call hospice now or wait till your done?

My other bro-in-law The Undertaker is preparing a simple (though quite large!) pine box as we speak. 

Ended up playing 3 sets of patty cake singles with DR since my nephew tweaked his back after 2 games leaving just the 2 of us.  I had to up the movement from a standstill to a crawl relative to Saturday's outing.  Bones are aching this evening but no serious twinges in the hinges.  Got me serve up to half speed which was more than enough on this day.  A few solid volleys as well.  Fun in the sun, outdoor tennis at the end of Nov. in N.H.

[Tennis4you]

Wish I could have joined you!  Glad to hear you made it out though!

[monstertruck]

Wish I could have joined you!  Glad to hear you made it out though!

I have another outing scheduled for next Sunday with Grasshopper.  Hoping to hit with him a couple of times/month over the winter since I gave up my club membership.  Should be just enough to keep me interested and prevent over-doing it.

[Jamesdster]

WOW!  I am so happy to hear you are back on the courts!  That is AWESOME!  Good luck bro.

[monstertruck]

WOW!  I am so happy to hear you are back on the courts!  That is AWESOME!  Good luck bro.

We ran out of beer and turkey legs here in NH so I had to do something!

[monstertruck]

Wooot!
Who's journal is at the top of the list for the past 2 weeks?

Bingo Baby, MT!

Got 2 hours of court time with Grasshopper and actually felt like I could see and hit the ball.  Perhaps the social outings last weekend helped engage the eye-mind-body connections.  Still can't move more than a few steps in any one direction, but good enough to fool a few folks.  The old crew was there getting in some practice dubs for league play.  Some solid game there which was fun to watch.  They must be going blind though as they thought I looked ready for the regular Thursday eve group.  That's a solid 6 months away at this point.

Serve showed some promise and I experimented with an eastern FH grip.  Ripped some beauties which drew comments from the peanut gallery.   Am hoping to get out twice a month until March to maintain interest.  Have set a weight goal that must be met before I can apply for membership again.  No since in abusing the knees anymore than necessary until then. 

I think it's a bit sad that most of the members of the forum are now fanboys and not players.  Oh well......hopefully that means those folks are just too busy playing tennis to bother with T4U.

[monstertruck]

Foolish Grasshopper invites me to play in memorial tourney for one of close friends who died in a car crash.  4 weeks to prepare, starting this morning.  2.5 hours of mostly target practice.  Focused on ready position and a quick shoulder turn & first step (as there is no 2nd or 3rd step in my game at the moment).  Quite comfortable for the first hour and quickly dropped off after that.  The serve and the hands are still there which allowed me to win a 4 games from a player I would usually dominate 3 & 2.

Sure was fun though!

Next hit-  Thursday night.
WOOt wOOT  Get in the game!

[Tennis4you]

Thursday night?  Why wait?

Enjoy being back on court?

[monstertruck]

Thursday night?  Why wait?

Enjoy being back on court?

A Little something called work will delay my return to court until Thursday.

It was completely different compared to last time (last fall).
I felt more relaxed and willing to allow myself to fail.  Repeatedly.
The hands are still sick and the serve is reliable.
Though I was just rolling in a solid kicker to avoid any shoulder aggravations, I was still able to spot the ball within 2' of the T on the deuce and 3' short on the sideline in the ad.  Very effective against a weak 4.0 Grasshopper.  Gave my fat arse plenty of time to slide over the service line and knock off many sweet half volleys for clean winners against a rabbit (almost as fast as you ).

So yes, I enjoyed it thoroughly and probably stayed an hour longer than I should have.  Tomorrow will tell the tale.  For now, I am a tennis player once again.

[Tennis4you]

Welcome back to tennis. 

I love me the kicker.  I have been intentionally rolling one fat piece of ass kicker at about 40 miles per hour to the ad side way out wide and just burning rubber to the net.  Seems to be giving people some trouble way out wide on their backhand side.  Still cannot believe how many points it is winning me.  It is the slowest serve I could probably hit other than underhand.  And just when they get comfortable leaning that way, I arch the snot out of my back like another kicker is coming, they smoke it up the "T" for the ace.  Nasty combo.  I love the big back arch fake, gets em' a lot!

[monstertruck]

Welcome back to tennis. 

I love me the kicker.  I have been intentionally rolling one fat piece of ass kicker at about 40 miles per hour to the ad side way out wide and just burning rubber to the net.  Seems to be giving people some trouble way out wide on their backhand side.  Still cannot believe how many points it is winning me.  It is the slowest serve I could probably hit other than underhand.  And just when they get comfortable leaning that way, I arch the snot out of my back like another kicker is coming, they smoke it up the "T" for the ace.  Nasty combo.  I love the big back arch fake, gets em' a lot!

I find it amazing that opponents know that it's coming and can't seem to find a return that works consistently.  (except for those darn leftys!).

One of things I like about 'slow rollin' the fatty' is it's consistent and accurate.  And of course I need all the minutes I can get to reach the service line before they poke the return.

Knees are still sore though.

[monstertruck]

Teamed up with 'Grasshopper' to play in an annual memorial tourney for our pal.  Remained injury free and had fun seeing the old friends, even managed to take a set from the club pro.  Also got a look at some serves from a DI playa.  Too much bite for me to get any stink on the returns, but I managed to put the majority of balls in play.  Not bad for a fat old man.

[Lugburz]

awesome Monstah  Keep it up bud, always glad to hear about tennis activity at 'certain age'.
I'm just very happy I still can play tennis with my dad, and he can still beat me 
Playing with friends is fun too, but when I play my dad...Its ON! 

[monstertruck]

Family tennis is a great way to spend time together Lug!
Must be fun to get out and hit with your Dad.

Quads, right lat, and abs are mighty sore today, but no joint pain after Saturday's 4 hour marathon!  yippppeeee!

[Jamesdster]

Glad to see you are still on the courts!   :applause:Ah yes family tennis.  My son just finished his freshman yr of high school.  He played 2nd doubles on the VARSITY!  Ok, so what if they were average at best.   But since the season ended, I have been instructing him like crazy.  We are at the cts 5 days a week and I am feeding him a bazillion balls and instructing him on proper technique/strategy/etc.  He is a hard worker and a good listener but we have MILES to go!  My own game is obviously suffering since I now play myself maybe once a week.  Scott and I got out once last week.  My game is sooo bad but it is worth it watching Anthonydster develop!     

[euroka1]

Glad to see you are still on the courts!   :applause:Ah yes family tennis.  My son just finished his freshman yr of high school.  He played 2nd doubles on the VARSITY!  Ok, so what if they were average at best.   But since the season ended, I have been instructing him like crazy.  We are at the cts 5 days a week and I am feeding him a bazillion balls and instructing him on proper technique/strategy/etc.  He is a hard worker and a good listener but we have MILES to go!  My own game is obviously suffering since I now play myself maybe once a week.  Scott and I got out once last week.  My game is sooo bad but it is worth it watching Anthonydster develop!   

That is really great to read about. He could not have a better teacher! 
I bet also that Anthonydster is also well schooled in the rules!