Our school may not be particularly known for athleticism, but the past unit in gym sure has been fun! Pickleball play-offs were today, and they were quite intense. Six freshman teams competed to be crowned the ultimate champions of the pickleball court. Erica and I were the fourth seed team in the starting line-up. We work well together because she is really, really, really good at serving and hitting powerful shots, while I just specialize in returning the ball. We have had a whole strategy worked out, including how to play "rock paper scissors" to start a game, which side of the court we prefer to play on, which team we prefer to serve first, and which one of us should serve first when we win the serve over to our side.
The pressure was on today as we prepared to face out first opponents, Victoria and Christine. Once Erica had the serve in her possession, she amazed us all with her incredible aces and won us that game.
We then moved on to face the first seed team in the tournament, Joey and Christian. Oddly enough, I don't believe we had ever faced them in pickleball before. We weren't accustomed to all of their strengths and weaknesses. Each point was intense, as both of them slammed and smacked the pickleball with force, often volleying it right out of the air before it even bounced. After quite a few intense rallies, some of which resulted in redos, Erica and I won the match and advanced on to the finals.
The championship match was played against the resident pickleball masters, Thomas and Nick. Thomas and Nick both have some pretty wicked awesome shots, loaded with underspin and different angles and depths. My heart was racing, even though I knew we probably wouldn't win. We have played this dynamic duo numerous times in the past, and each time we have lost, usually by a great margin.
The class quieted down and plopped themselves down on the ground, surrounding the center court on which our game was being played. All eyes were on us. Once Thomas got possession of the serve, he immediately scored four points because he is just that awesome. There were many great rallies and encouraging chants from our peers, but in the end, we lost to Thomas and Nick 11-2. We strode off the court with pride, shaking our opponents' hands and accepting our hard-earned titles of the second place team. "Our defeat is so sad," Erica told me. "We endured great strife. This is just another struggle in your hard life."
Someday we will beat Thomas and Nick, our biggest pickleball rivals. It may take until we are seniors in high school (or maybe even senior citizens...), but someday...
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