I Miss Playing Hardball and my Movable Feast

All

With the recently completed US National Hardball Singles Championships hosted by the Harvard Club of New York, and with the news that the hardball singles court at the Pacific Union (up the hill from the University Club) will meet it's timely death, it got me thinking of how great the game of hardball singles is and how much I miss playing it.  It was the game that I learned from my venerable coach, Dick Crawford, when I was an undergraduate at Berkeley, and it was the game that I played, (not much softball play at the time), when I won my first national championship in 1991.

Competitively, the stretch from 1989-1998 was a heady time for me when I reached the national finals seven times altogether in hardball singles and doubles, winning two national singles titles and one national doubles title.

In 1989 the US Nationals was held at Princeton. I reached the semi-finals of the 35+; my first year competing in that age group eventual going down to the eventual Champion, David Linden in 4 games.  In 1990 the year when the city of Rochester hosted the National Singles. I reached the 35+ Finals only to lose to the former All American from Yale, Derrick Niederman in three games.  The following year at Yale University, I earned a rematch in the finals against the now defending champion Niederman, playing in front of a crowd of Elis and ingloriously proceeded to lose the first two games.  Over a span of a year, five blameworthy lost games were lost in a row.  So entering the third game, I wasn't that optimistic about my chances of winning the game let alone the match. 

But I soldiered on, and I managed to win the third game......and then won the fourth game to tie the match at two all!

Given what was at stake and looking back at the hundreds of matches that I have played, the fifth game of that match was the most memorable game of competitive squash that I have ever played. (How could it not have been?)  I won by the score of 18-17. To this day, I clearly remember the dialogue that I had with myself when the score was tied at 17 all and readying myself to return Niederman's serve  "Try not to think of playing the next point as if it was in the Finals.  Hit good shots, not careless ones and what will come will come. Whatever the outcome, I've played my best."

Rummaging through my video collection, I rediscovered a full taping of the match except for the few beginning minutes. Loved watching it; so I decided to share by posting the third, fourth, and fifth game on YouTube.

******

As for my general well being; I'm feeling better. The docs have reduced the dosage of my meds, my energy level is improving, and I'm walking a few miles a day.

I hope to be back on the courts, on the slopes, and on my bike soon.

John