My Crappy Score Tracking Nightmare
Okay, folks. Got totally fed up today. Again. My regular doubles partner Mike swears he served for the set. I KNOW he didn’t. We argued like idiots by the net for ten minutes. Third time this month. Enough. Need a way to track the damn score so nobody can cheat – accidentally or otherwise.
Started simple. Grabbed a scrap of paper from my bag and a dying pen. Easy, right?
- Scribbled ‘Set 1’ at the top.
- Made four columns: Me, Mike, Sarah, Dave.
- Figured I’d just tick when someone won a game.
First game took ten minutes, it’s 40-AD back and forth. Finally win it. Go to mark my tick… wind blows the damn paper right onto the court mid-point. Sarah nearly faceplants trying to hit a winner. Paper’s toast. So much for that. Got yelled at. Felt stupid.
Pulled out my phone. Thought, “There’s gotta be an app for this.” Searched the store. Found dozens. Downloaded three random ones that looked easy. Big mistake.
- App #1: Wanted me to create accounts for all four players. Email verification nonsense. Ain’t nobody got time for that between serves.
- App #2: Took five minutes to set up one game screen. Settings galore. Ads popping up every time I tapped ‘Love-Fifteen’. Aggravating.
- App #3: Simple interface… until I tried entering the score after the first point. Needed premium to track sets. Of course it did.
Phone battery died anyway halfway through the second set. Back to zero. Mike looks smug. Sarah is rolling her eyes. Dave suggests flipping a coin for every disputed point. We are a mess.
Sat down after we eventually gave up playing. Remembered seeing those old-school tennis score trackers. Little plastic things with dials. Figured it couldn’t be worse than blowing paper and draining phones.
Went online to buy one. Found the most basic model. Looked like a tiny plastic flipboard. Said “No batteries needed.” That sounded like my speed.
Got it yesterday. Tried it out solo.
- Put a small one on each player’s side of the net. Simple.
- Point for me? Flip my own tracker up one notch. Point for them? Flip theirs. Done.
- Games are separate dials too. Just twist the knob.
Used it for actual matches today. Game changer? Honestly? Yeah, kinda.
- No arguing. Score is right there on your side of the net, bright plastic numbers. Can’t lie. Can’t forget.
- No battery panic. Just fingers flipping knobs.
- Even Mike agreed it was obvious when he hadn’t served for the set. Progress!
Look, it ain’t rocket science. It’s plastic and gears. But after paper airplanes and app hell? This little thing just works. Lets me focus on trying not to hit the fence instead of remembering if it was 30-all or 40-30. Simple win. Finally.