Fun and Games

Lee from xray had invited me to the local health club 4 or 5 months ago in an effort to entice me join.  I played a game called Walleyball, a sort of volleyball hybrid played with a kid's bouncy ball; in this case, it was a Spiderman ball.  Anyway, I had loads of fun and wanted to join, but it took some doing to convince Mr. EDNurseasauras that it might be good for us.  We walk the dog all the time, and he hikes, but since I've stopped skating I needed something else to do.  With lots of group exercise classes, the pool, and some new fun and games it seemed like a good move.  I signed the two of us up the first part of the month.

I have yet to step into the pool, but there are some aqua classes I want to try. There's tennis, yoga, Zumba, something called Body Combat that sounds dangerous, and lots of other stuff that should keep me out of trouble.  I have been enjoying Walleyball, Pickleball (a tennis/ping pong type of game with a scoring system that only an MIT graduate could learn), and a couple of group classes. 

I should mention that the Walleyball is for the over-50 crowd only, and they play about four mornings per week.  Whereas the co-ed walleyball game I played several months ago was fun, light and with a range of player abilities, there had apparently been an influx of serious ex-athletes out for blood. They are all men whom I call "The Fermented Jockstraps".

For the most part people are fairly gracious; "nice shot", "good try", "almost, you'll get it next time", and "you are doing really well for just learning the game", but there is always someone who has to turn every game into the 1980 USA-Russia Olympic hockey game, with a  tendency to ruin it for everyone else.  Especially when the men outnumber the women 2:1.  They are LOADED with helpful hints.
"Play back"
"Play closer to the net"
"Play away from the wall when she serves"
"Play his serves off the wall"
"Her serves are virtually impossible to hit when she's on"
"Let it hit the back wall; it's out of play"
I pretty much stopped listening and tried to just play the ball as best I could.  It really wasn't as much fun as I remembered it thanks to Art.  His helpful hints go something like this:
"Shoulda had that"
"Shoulda let that go"
"That was yours"
"Try to get it over the net"
"Be aggressive"

Aggressive? I am competitive, but it is just a game.  A fun game.  Y'all are mostly retired but I have still have to make a living. You really don't want to tell me to be aggressive, but...ok.

Next time I went right for the ball since Art was going for every ball including some that should have rightfully been mine.  I'll show you aggressive.

I connected with the ball and his hand but drew  blood.  I gave him a raised eyebrow in challenge but didn't apologize.

And that just about covers Walleyball, much more fun now that Art has gone to Florida for a month.