Smarter

Earlier in the week I was debating skipping volleyball this week to let my lower body heal up a bit. Yesterday I did a self injury inventory and determined I should be good enough to go. It was very warm and humid last night. The first time I hit the sand I turned into an instant corn dog. Last week I mentioned how I was unhappy with my hitting where I was hitting either into the net or out of bounds more often than not. This week I took a different approach.

When I am missing hits normally it’s because I am trying to hit hard, trying to fool myself into thinking I can still jump like I could 25 years ago. When I try to do this nowadays I need to try to get an aggressive approach just to get out of the sand even a little bit. When I team that with an aggressive swing there is just a very small window where it times up correctly. Last night I dialed back the aggression. Instead I would take a more casual approach and just try to hit the ball with a high hand and good wrist snap. I was much more consistent that way. No it doesn’t deliver the same dopamine as hitting a ball really hard but it’s better than serving up a ton of unforced errors.

I didn’t hit a ball out or into the net the entire night. In addition I did not miss a serve, I passed well and played solid defense. I was frustrating one of the guys on the other team. For whatever reason I was able to read his hits consistently and would dig them cleanly repeatedly. I could see the frustration on his face and I enjoyed it, if I am being honest. Our team won all five games. I think I will stick with this change as it also causes less trauma to my lower body and ego.

After play last night I went to Bruninas and had dinner at the bar with Meghan. One of the other guys at the bar used to play a lot of volleyball so it was nice chatting it up with him and his much younger girlfriend/wife who apparently used to be a Hooters Girl.

This weekend I have a few things I would like to do. I will be playing pickleball Sunday morning. I was invited Sunday evening to a Cinco de Mayo party by one of the women I play volleyball with. The catch is she wants me to do the salsa class she is teaching at the beginning of this party. I told her that would require considerable drinking up front which she said was fine. We will see if I feel like embarrassing myself or not.