Jai Alai Over Fifty? Definitely, Yes!

Yesterday evening even though it was as cold as Bridgeport used to be in winter time I decided to go and practice some jai alai. Usually we gather on Friday evenings four guys to play for one hour or so on a court that is 43 meters long. Kind of indoor soccer jai alai version, very suitable for people over 50,  like me.

   I was a little afraid because it had been about four weeks since last practice, and boy, let me tell you something, 4 weeks without catching a ball it's too much when you are over 50. I had good reasons for missing practice, you know, a bad cold here, problems with a sciatic nerve there, tendinitis in my left arm from my last practice... Christmas... Well, the thing is that I got there before my jai alai buddies got there, plenty of time for a warm up.
  The place was freezing as all the frontons around are in winter time. I put my uniform on right in there and before I suffered of a hypothermia I started jogging with my winter coat on and the berret on my head as well.
      "What the hell are you doing here by yourself ", I said to myself.

    One of my practice partners is Astiga, 65 years old, a former pro in the 50s and 60s of the past century. In Orlando and Palm Beach, where he used to play, he  was known as El Niño Jesus, because of his angelical face that he still conserves. The other two are younger boys, Ivan Salas, 28 years old, he played in Fort Pierce; the other is Astiga's son, Jon.

"Amazing Danny" and Elordieta would fit really well into the group je,je...
  "Ballet with bullets?" "The fastest ball game in the world?" Come on! you must be kidding. If you watch us, Astiga and me, I assure you that you wont believe all that propaganda.

  Astiga and I usually begin practicing 15 minutes before the two kids, we need some advantage, extra warm up time. Those 15 minutes are the best for me, I feel great, even though what we throw, the way we move, is some kind of slow motion jai alai, we don't need  a rebote wall (we hardly pass the ball over the 10 line), I feel superb because my shots comparing with Astigas... well, I feel like Chimela  at  Miami, je,je.

   My climax lasts just about 15 minutes. When the two young kids get into the court and start throwing... party is over. Then I realize that I'm over fifty. Mentally I know what to do. I visualize a chula but I never reached. I go for the bote-corrido, but I'm always late. My rebote, oh! I feel stiff like a tree. My right-hand... well, I never had a good one, better said, it always been a lousy one. "What can you expect now, to get better?".
  Jai alai over fifty?...

 Anyways, what the hell, I have a lot of fun. To be able to catch and throw. To listen the sound of the ball hitting the front wall and the cesta... boy! nothing like it. And after that, you take a shower and you go out and you see flurries coming down from the sky. I feel like in Bridgeport in winter time right after the quinielas walking through the parking lot, feeling like a player again.

  Jai alai over fifty? Definitely, yes!