New Zealand Sabbatical

The first morning on the water leaving Sydney in our wake found me borrowing a pickleball raquet and playing with both upstarts and experienced players. I played 16 hours over the next 8 days and even won in one of the abbreviated doubles tournament on board. This first picture shows the diverse group. The nicest one in the bunch was Kevin Dennis, a former All-American offensive guard for Texas A&M in 1982 (seen at the far left).

We later docked in Melbourne and went to the Australian Open sight and found out we could rent equipment and play tennis on their practice courts where pros warm up before playing in this major tournament held each January. An athletic woman played in the adjacent court and Dianne recognized her as Samantha Stosur, an Australian who won the US Open in 2011. She retired from the tour after the most recent Australian Open that Adam and Dianne attended 10 months ago-a most gracious lady who agreed to the photo below:

At the venue we did a tour of the facilities and bumped into some new pickleball friends from the ship who posed for the next picture. Like Dianne, their passion for tennis started many years before this pickleball craze got underway. If you think the guy in the middle, Jeff, looks the part of an accomplished tennis player and instructor then you would be right.

Another athletic feat we witnessed was tango dancing on the ship one evening. It was so good we saw both performances giving two standing ovations. An hour later I saw the female lead dancer in the ship hallway and was able to tell her myself how impressive she was. I bet she would be good at any racquet sport she may want to try.