Match: Joe McDonald

07/27/2010, Tuesday
Ultimate Tennis, Allen Middle School and Cooper Clinic

5:30 PM: Joe McDonald 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(7-0)

Its always tough playing against my best friend, Joe McDonald. Not only is there the mental aspect of playing a friend but Joe's style of play, which includes hitting with less pace and varying his shot placement well, has always presented challenges to my footwork and consistency.

I started well enough in this match getting out to a 5-0 lead. Strangely enough Joe seemed a little nervous and was making more UEs that normal. The first point I gave up was a double fault during my second serve game. Looking at the video of the first five games I can't say I was doing anything particularly well. The whole poor shoulder rotation issue sticks out to me like a sore thumb. Also I must start getting lower to the court as I look like a stiff stick man.

At 5-0 the rain finally forced us to stop and at that point I took down the video camera not wanting it to get water damaged. After a few minutes the rain let up and the court quickly dried enough to let us continue. The break hurt me more than Joe and he took the next game and was up 40-love when the sky fell in. We decided to head west to the Cooper Clinic at Craig Ranch and as luck would have it, even though we felt a few drops there, we were able to finish out the match at that location.

It was a good thing that Cooper had lights because the next two sets would end up being long ones and we would not finish until about 9:30. While Joe got two games back on me I was able to take the first set 6-2. But I knew that Joe would not go down without a fight. The first game of the second set was a long one and I had several chances to break him after getting a 40-0 lead but I could not pull it off. That was very frustrating and that carried over to my service game and I was quickly down 0-2. Nothing particular stands out to me about the middle of the second set except that I was playing more on the defensive and my shorter shots were becoming more frequent.

I ended up getting the break back and getting one myself and was serving in the 5-4 game for the match. However, today was not one of my better serving days as I was hitting a lot of first serves into the net and second ones very short. This allowed him to play lots of short angles and he was killing me with that. So he ended up breaking me, winning his serve and then breaking me again to win the set 5-7.

The third set started off like the second with a long service game for Joe during which I had my chances to break. Once again I failed to do so. In my mind the third set played out pretty much like the second with me not getting to the net or hitting aggressive shots nearly enough. This time around however he was up 4-5 on my serve and I was serving to stay in the match. Even worse he took a 0-40 lead on my serve! I pretty much was already checking off another close loss to him. But a miracle happened and I scrapped my way back to duece with one point consisting of me diving for a short ball just before it hit the ground. After getting level I ended up winning the game and we went on with the set reaching a tiebreaker.

As it was already pretty late I jokingly asked Joe if he wanted to play it out instead of doing a tiebreaker. Laughing he said we better not. As it was he might of done better as I ended up sweeping the tiebreaker 7-0 (don't think I've ever done that before) and pulling out the match.

My shoulder rotation is especially poor when I play players that hit with less pace. This robs me of even more power and I tend to fall into the trap of hitting the ball shorter and shorter as the match goes on. I need to continue to work on upper body rotation including using both hands on the racket during practice.

Ft. Worth Major Zone Wrap Up

This is one major zone that I'd rather forget as I did not win a match. There is little doubt in my mind that the competition level at this tournament was tougher than San Antonio. I think this not only because I did not win a match, my level of play was much better down there, but because of the matches I watched. Rich, having also played in San Antonio, agreed with me.

John Petty ended up winning the singles draw. The players he left in his wake were pretty impressive as he defeated Donnie Davis, Chris Church, Gary Schneider, Chau Troung and Rick Nunez. Mr. Petty also ran through the field at the Spring Brookhaven tournament so I'm thinking we might have a little sandbagging going on. But that's probably not fair of me as I've not seen him play nor do I know his history. Its pretty impressive to enter two tournaments and only drop one set total against some of the top 3.5 players in North Texas.

In doubles the guys that beat us, Lang and Thomas, won the tournament so I feel a little better about that loss. If I had been playing up to snuff we could of won that match. But I've got to be honest with myself and realize that even up to snuff my game still has serious flaws in it that need to be addressed. My reaction capability has got to improve and I must learn to read opponent's shots sooner so I can be in better position earlier. My footwork needs to improve. If I do these two things that should help cut down on my unforced error count, which was though the roof in this tournament. I've also got to figure out my loopy forehand and resolve the whole grip situation and try to get back to a less western style.

Singles Draw
Doubles Draw

Tucker Hill

Since I got knocked out of the Ft. Worth Major Zone so quickly Jo and I had some time Saturday to go home browsing. We've been kind of looking for a new home for a year or two. Our real estate agent lives in Tucker Hill and we think it is a very nice community. We walked through a couple of model homes and an available resale that caught our eye. It was somewhat overpriced but we liked the basic floor plan.

Match: Steven Samuel

07/24/2010, Saturday
Fort Worth Major Zone, McLeland Tennis Center

9:00 AM: Steven Samuel 4-6, 4-6

This match represented somewhat of a milestone for me as Steve is the very first opponent I ever played in an official USTA match. That was back on Friday, November 4th, 2005 at the Bob Noel Tennis Classic. On that day I won 6-2, 6-3 but that was probably because I was so nervous and only barely able get the ball back over the net making it impossible for him to make heads or tails of my "game". This time I would not be so lucky as he evened our head-to-head matchup with a 4-6, 4-6 victory.

In both sets I would immediately be in hole losing the first games on my serve and never being able to dig out from that. I felt much better than I had on Friday but I still did not think I was at my best. My wrist was very sore (for now I'm blaming yoga) and I decided to play with a "4" racket instead of the "3" I had been using for about a month. I thought the larger grip might be easier on my wrist. This lasted only about 6 games as I felt I could not get the "snap" on the serve that I wanted. Although it was still early in the morning I was sweating much more than I had on Friday and that made me think I was more "normal" physically as I typically sweat like a pig.

Steve did a very good job of attacking my backhand throughout the match. This was especially true in the first set as he kept the ball deep and me on the defensive. Somewhere in the middle of the first set I managed to pull back the break he had taken from me but then on my next service game he broke me again! However, I remember thinking that as the set progressed I was playing somewhat better and felt good going into the second set. I definitely still had a shot at the match. I noticed that he seemed to have the most problem with looping balls at this feet on the backhand side, especially when he was close to net and. I was going to keep trying to attack in that manner the rest of the match.

At the beginning of the second set I started off sharply with an ace to the left sideline. This was a serve that I pulled off about 6-8 times during the set and he was mumbling after each one of them. I took at 30-love lead but then he fought back and broke me again to begin the set. This really upset me as I'd, once again, have to dig out of another service break hole.

I felt we both played a better second set and the level was improving as the match went on. I had my chances to break him but could never do it. One point stands out in my mind when, after a long rally I caught him going to the net and set a perfect lob over his head to the "T" at the middle of the baseline. He hustled back and pulled out a great over the shoulder shot that I was unable to do much with and he finished the point off. His fans, who had been cheering him on through out the match, went crazy and I was disappointed that I did not win that game. It was a big point score wise and mentally.

We continued to have good games through out the rest of the set and eventually we were at 4-5 with him serving to close the match. During first point I had a very makeable volley at the net but it hit the tape and the ball fell back on my side. This was a big mistake as we traded points and were at 30-30 instead of 40-15 in my favor. I then had 3 break point opportunities to even out the set but could not finish it and he eventually held to take the match. I was really disappointed that I had not broken as I felt at 5-5 I could of come back to take the set, but it was not to be.


Serve games are so important for me that I must take more time to insure that I'm hitting the right serve and varying my delivery to keep my opponent somewhat off balance.

Match: Todd Lang, Leslie Thomas (With Keith)

07/23/2010, Friday
Fort Worth Major Zone, McLeland Tennis Center

4:00 PM: Todd Lang, Leslie Thomas (With Keith) 2-6, 3-6

After my match with David I had doubles with Keith to look forward too but honestly I was dreading it and fearful that my performance would not be much better than what I had in singles. When you are playing bad its even worse to feel you let down someone else.

We had about five hours before our start time so Keith and I drove up to TCU to watch some of our friends and teammates (Enrique, Mark, Sam, Larry, Oleg) play in the 4.0 draw. I was very impressed with the college facility. All the courts were surrounded by grassy knolls that made viewing very pleasant and removed the need for windscreens. We made jokes about coming up from the ghetto to watch the "real" tennis players. Everyone was playing well and making decent showings at the 4.0 level against stronger competition.

Around 3PM Keith and I headed back to McLeland and prepared for our match. As we walked to the courts we noticed that the clouds were gathering. Little did we know that within the hour we'd fall victims to a very heavy Texas afternoon gully washer thunderstorm. So under the gray skies and cooler temperatures we started our doubles match. Immediately we were close to getting the upper hand as we had them love-40 and their first serve game. But we could not finish them off and that was a sign of bad things to come. I managed to hold our first serve, much to my relief after my disasterous singles match. But they broke Keith and took a 1-4 lead on their serve. Then I had a chance to close the gap but got broken to make it 1-5 and that was pretty much it. We had a slight glimmer of hope when we broke back to make it 2-5.

Then the skies opened up and the rain, lightning and thunder came rolling out of the south. It was pretty awesome considering that the forecast called for only a 10% chance of rain. Based upon reports from other venues the rain was hitting the entire area pretty hard. So we waited until 5:00PM when the two indoor courts became available. The lightning had knocked out some of the lights in the facility but we could still see pretty well. But our luck was not any better indoors and we failed to hold Keith's serve, largely due to my poor net play, and lost the first set meekly at 2-6.

The second set started with us, once again, setting up our chances to get the early break. At 15-40 we had two opportunities but could not get it done. Then Keith gave me three more break point opportunities on the ad side but I simply could not get it done. So once again we traded sides having let an opportunity slip away.

Serve was held until it was my turn at 2-3 and we lost an ugly game at love at make it 2-4. I felt horrible but to their credit they were hitting some very nice deep return shot winners down the alley and cross court. They held to make it 2-5 and I was feeling we had no shot. We fought hard to hold Keith's serve but could not find a break to stay in the set and lost 3-6.

Results wise, day one of the Fort Worth Major Zone was a totally disaster. But even bad tennis, and spending time with friends, beats a work day or most other things.

Match: David Barclay

07/23/2010, Friday
Fort Worth Major Zone, McLeland Tennis Center

9:00 AM: David Barclay 1-6, 0-6

The day before this match was the closest I've come to dropping out of a tournament as I was still pretty tired from the previous weekend in San Antonio and the subsequent Ultimate Tennis matches I had Tuesday and Wednesday. On Monday I had gone to yoga class so basically I had been hard at it for six days. Then Thursday brought the unexpected passing of our dog, Truman, and a night of very little rest. Even though I took an Ambian to try and help me sleep it was a tough night.

But I felt I had an obligation to my opponents and, more importantly, Keith my doubles partner to show up and play. I must also say that I felt having the distraction of some tennis might help deal with the sadness for a few hours - and it did. Keith and I were carpooling so I had to get up at 5:45AM so I could meet him at a Frisco McDonalds at 6:15AM. It was nice to have some company to the hour trip to Fort Worth.

My match against David Barclay was so totally frustrating that I was miserable. I felt like I was playing in fog. Not to take away anything from David as he is a quality player who is very consistent and was a 4.0 player for 15 years before dropping down to 3.5 a few years ago. David's strengths were his consistency and shot placement. His serve was surprisingly very mechanical and non-threatening but at the level I was playing it made no difference as I could not get half of my shots on the court. I won one serve game and that was it.

I tried to vary my approach to the match playing from the baseline and then attacking the net at every opportunity but it made no difference. My serve was not giving him any problems and he was truly just toying with me most of the time. This was the worst match I've played in a long time and I cannot take any positives from it. What I can take away is the hope that will meet David again and try to make a better showing. He is also in the Ultimate Tennis league and undefeated in his division. So we'll both be in the playoffs and could meet in the later rounds. Not thinking I could necessarily beat him but I sure as heck could make a better showing.

We Lost Truman Today

We lost a member of the family today as Truman, our sheltie-collie mix, died unexpectedly at the emergency vet's office. He started throwing up yesterday and as the day passed got progressively worse. Jo, knowing something was wrong, decided to take him to the emergency animal hospital since our normal vet's office was closed.

They put him on an IV and he rested quietly through the night. An x-ray showed that he had some type of possible growth in his stomach but the doctor wanted to keep him overnight and take another look in the morning. The next day's follow up showed the growth getting smaller so the vet was not as concerned. Then this afternoon about 2PM he collapsed and passed on without much warning about an hour before we were scheduled to pick him up. We take some comfort in the fact that he did not suffer with illness for a long time as he seemed perfectly fine yesterday morning.

Truman was a wonderful dog that Jo rescued through the SPCA when, we think, he was about 2-3 years old. He was part of our family for 10 years. We named him Truman after Jo's High School in Independence, Missouri, which had been named after President Harry S. Truman. He needed lots of love and special attention and Jo gave that to him in abundance. It took some time but he adjusted to his new life and was a happy dog. He loved Jo so much that he would always do his dance of joy whenever she came home, even if she was only gone for a few minutes.

I'll always remember him for the nose nudges that he would give when he just wanted to be petted or let outside. He'd literally lift your arm on his head with that nose of his. He was a companion to me as I worked in my home office. He had a gentle spirit and only got upset when he spied other dogs during our walks, which he loved to take. I think it was because he was so protective of Jo. He did not care much for the doorbell either. He was often very animated and sometimes after taking a drink, when he thought you weren't watching, would stick his butt up in the air and run his mouth around on the carpet.

Our days at home would always end with Jo giving Truman a big snuggly hug and whispering a pray into his ear. She did the same today when we went to the animal hospital to hold him and say goodbye one last time.

Truman Newman, our buddy, will be missed but never forgotten.

Match: Raj Ramakrishnan

07/21/2010, Wednesday
Ultimate Tennis, Allen High School

07:00 PM: Raj Ramakrishnan 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(8-6)

Until I can comfortably defeat an opponent like the one I faced tonight then I don't believe I can consider myself a decent player. There was certainly nothing comfortable about my match against Raj and I was lucky to escape with a win.

The report on Raj was that he was fast, had limited ground stroke capabilities and loved the no pace balls - especially the drop shot. I did not see this during the warmup or the first five games of the match as he struck the ball well and hard. He opted not to practice his serve and he did not really need to as he was doing quite well with it. As it was I managed to break his second serve game and took a 4-1 lead.

Then things took a turn for the worse as he totally changed his game and went with the off speed dings and dongs. Of course, that exposed my weak footwork and poor mental approach to dealing with that "junk" and I began struggling. The frustration level racheted up quickly as I was ahead of a lot of short slow balls and totally misplayed them, usually sending them flying over the baseline or wide of the left side touchline. Thanks goodness I had a lead as it was the only thing that allowed me to hold on for the 7-5 first set win.

The second and third set are just a mess-mash of memories regarding chasing the short drop shot and running back for the lob. I lost the second set 4-6 and was coming a little unglued, although I don't think I showed it externally. The sun had gone down and the lights were not coming on and I hate that time of day as my vision is poor. That combined with trying to time hitting a slow ball actually caused me to totally miss two easy shots. Needless to say that was embarassing.

I had my chances early in the third set as I had him at 40-15 on his serve twice. But neither time could I cash in those chips and he hung on. In fact he was serving at 4-5 for the match and held one match point. Lucky I managed to hang on and we ended up going to a tiebreaker. I served first and lost that point, but got one back on his serve. I managed to work into a lead of 6-3 but then he won three points in a row to make it 6-6. But I won the next two points to take the tiebreaker 8-6.

I sqweaked out a win and insured myself of at least a second place finish in our division. That should get me a decent seeding in the 32 player playoff draw.

The core of any tennis player's abilities lies with his footwork. Until you master your footwork you'll always be second rate. You must be willing to really work during long rallies against players that give you no pace and there is no substitute for properly preparing for each stroke.

Match: Manny Gomez

07/20/2010, Tuesday
Ultimate Tennis, Cooper Clinic

06:00 PM: Manny Gomez 7-5, 6-2

This match was important to me because, if I won, it virtually insured that I'd qualify for the August playoffs. I had played Manny once before and won fairly comfortably but word was that he had gotten better. This was indeed the case as his flat heavy serve caused me all kinds of grief during the first set. I adjusted during the second set by moving further back prior to the serve and then going forward as the ball was hit. This allowed me to get a little more on the return.

Rallies were almost nonexistant as he almost always attempted to end points quickly with his heavy slapped forehand shots that rocketed low by me often before I could even react. Hit without any topspin they really took away any time I might have to setup and offer a decent rely back. My slow reaction time is something that will keep me from ever really becoming a truly good tennis player. Hopefully as I get more experience I can make up for some of that by anticipating earlier.

Manny quickly took an 0-3 lead as he served first and then broke me. I was in big trouble but buckled down and put together a string of 4 games myself. Serving at 4-3 I felt I was in control but then I gave up a love service game to make it 4-4. I managed to break him again and setup serving for the set at 5-4 but once again he broke back. Ugh! But his serve was getting less consistent with a lot of first serves going into the net and I once again broke for the 6-5 lead. This time I was able to serve out the set to take it 7-5.

The second set started out with a long first game. I had several break opportunities but he always managed to get a low deep serve in to keep me off balance. He finally pulled out the game and took the early lead. I was a little more relaxed now as I had a set in hand, my serve was getting better and I held serve fairly easily through out the set. I managed to build a 4-2 lead breaking him during his second serve game and at that point I felt the match was mine. Indeed that was the case as I broke him again and then served out the second set at love.


If you are having trouble dealing with serve try varying your receiving position to get different looks at the ball.

First Yoga Class In One Year

This evening I went to my first yoga class in almost one year. Gulp! I was originally going to have a hitting session with Luis but his wife became ill and it was awfully hot to just hit against the ball machine. So at the last minute I decided to overlook my fear and head to Cooper Clinic. The class was lead by Christi whom I've know for several years and trusted would keep an eye on me.

I knew the class was not a beginner's class and that probably should of given me more hesitation but I figured I could just ramp it down if I needed too. Yeah, that's me always ramping things down a notch or two... right! I knew going in that I would not do any postures that arch my back inwards. So upward dog, cobra, wheel, etc. were out of the picture to start with.

I had never been to a class at Cooper but I knew where the room was. There was a lady already in there and she told me where the instructor would be so that helped me get situated. It was not long before about 20 people were in the room. I was surprized to see about 7-8 guys in the mix and, believe it or not, one fellow might of been as old or older than me.

The class was fairly straight forward with usual child poses, sun salutations, warriors, half moons, triangles and side planks. She threw in a couple of less commonly practiced ones such as garland and side crow (which I've yet to be able to master). I did not like that we did not have any music in class as that helps me control my monkey mind from wandering all over the place. But I have to say the hour went by pretty fast and I managed to get through it without any problems.

Unfortunately even as I was driving home I could tell my lower back was heading for "tight"ville. Sure enough things got progressively worse over the next 24 hours. At times it felt like there was a pressure pushing from the inside of my spine. Nothing overtly painful, just always present. During the year I had spent a lot of time in the gym and I was somewhat surprised at the pain in my right wrist and shoulder.

I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel regarding continuing my yoga practice. However, today sent me a ways in that direction. I was extremely tired on Tuesday but I think most of that was the eight tennis matches I played from Friday through Sunday in San Antonio. After I'm done with the Fort Worth Major Zone I'm going to allow my body some recovery time and then try another class. I think I'll be better able to decide at that time what the future holds.

2010 San Antonio Major Zone

From July 16th-18th I participated in the 2010 San Antonio Major Zone tennis tournament. I was joined by my good friend Rich Farris as we played doubles together as well as singles. Jo came along as did Rich's wife, Carolina and their children Nicole and Dylan. We drove down on Thursday evening...

Body, Or Boloney, Mass Index (BMI)

I had my yearly blood draw and body measurements done today. My company provides this program, which if taken, entitles you to a discount on health insurance premiums. Since I work out of my home a nurse is sent to the house. My blood pressure was in the usual range for me, 100/80. My pulse was 60. So nothing unusual there. My weight was 200 lbs. so I've still heading in the right direction having lost 22 lbs. from my late 2009 high of 222 lbs.

But its a little disheartening when you plug all the numbers into the BMI measurement formula and realize that you fall into the overweight category. According to the formula my BMI is 25.67, which puts me about a 1/3 of the way into overweight. In order to be at the top of the normal range I'd have to drop to 186 lbs. The normal range for someone my height, 74", is 148-186 lbs. I'm sorry but if I weighed 148 lbs people would be rushing me to the hospital.

I must acknowledge that in my prime fitness years, 25-35, when I was running 40-50 miles a week, doing step aerobics 3x week and playing basketball 2x week I was in the 180-185 lb. range. For a while when I was training real hard for 5 and 10Ks I even slipped down below 180 lbs. on occasion. My wife said I had the build of Abraham Lincoln during my thinnest days. Not a look I was going for, but I could run all day long.

I definitely have a weight goal in the <= 190 lbs. range. But I'm doing a lot more weight and resistance training now then when I was younger so I know I can't, and probably should not, get down to the weight I once was. I've gone through several weight loss/gain cycles since I was 35 and 200 lbs. always seemed to be the bottom rung as I varied between that and 220 lbs. Getting down into the 190's, and staying there, will definitely be a victory for me. But I won't be using the BMI as my scale for success or failure.

Smoke On The Water

As a teen one of my favorite 70's songs was Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water". I was reminded of this song while watching the HBO documentary "GasLand" and I have to say that, while I'm not normally one to react to this type of show, this film really bothered me. What other reaction could one have when you see kitchen tap water set ablaze?

What are we, as a country, allowing corporations and the chase for the almighty dollar do to our future and the heritage handed to our children. The natural gas companies are currently ripping up North Texas. How can we be sure what results when chemical fracking is destroying the natural division of our underground resources? This could make the Gulf oil spill look like a Greenpeace project.

It would be considered a crime if any other company injected solvents into aquifers like this. But in 2005 clear air and water acts were deliberately overridden to allow companies to do this. If Americans don't wake up and regulate business to save the environment, our children won't be able to live in this country. Is corporate America sociopathic in pursuit of the next quarter's bottom line?

How long will it be before we have "Fire in the sky"?

'Gasland' Documentary Shows Water That Burns, Toxic Effects Of Natural Gas Drilling

2010 East Texas Major Zone

2010 East Texas MZ (Part 1)



2010 East Texas MZ (Part 2)