BiteSized Tennis
February. 2024
I have never, and I mean never, been good at any sport that requires any amount of coordination. I mean, I’m not especially good at sports that require no coordination either, but I do have perserverence on my side. Listen up folks, that can get you far! But in sports that require coordination, it will get you less far.
Enter me trying to learn tennis as an adult. When I say learn tennis as an adult, I don’t mean what most people do and that is that they played growing up, were state champions, played D1 college, etc and are just getting back into it. I mean I literally only held a tennis racquet once, maybe twice as a kid. I was forced to play golf as a child which I now thank my parents for, but tennis, not so much.
So here I am, 41 years old, taking tennis lessons and wanting more than anything to get ‘good enough’. In running or triathlon lingo, which is more familiar to me, to play in the middle of the pack. I’m not at all trying to be the best or ‘win the race’, but I don’t want to be the worst. And damnet, I want to be good enough to participate in the race. Or in the world of tennis, to be good enough to play with the other ladies.
I am in a pickle - figuratively and literally…I really should just try out pickeball instead of tennis. But back to the figurative pickle - I don’t have any friends to play with because I’m not good enough, but I can’t get better unless I play. Arg!! I do have the good fortune of playing once a week with a guy named Chris. He is patient and teaches me things and it is a super fun hour, only making me want to play and get good and play all the time. See, indeed it is a vicious cycle!
I had a period where I got real down on myself and my tennis abilities, or lack thereof. But then I had this epiphany. I am having fun! I am trying to learn something new! I can play with Chris, and from time to time Alex has the patience for me, and the ball machine and maybe, just maybe, at some point in the distant future I’ll be good enough to play with the other gals. And maybe I won’t EVER get to the point where I am good enough to play with another living human being. But that sounds far fetched, even to me.
It's a good reminder in life that we are all on our own journey. Some people started the specific journey forever ago, others are naturally disposed to it, and others – like me – will just keep putting in the time and energy. I picture myself as a kid in elementary school and picked last for every team. Or maybe we didn’t pick teams, but I can assure you if we did I WOULD have been picked last for every team and for good reason (insert picture of chubby, unathletic kid here…who only ran as punishment).
But fast forward a few decades and I can tell you with confidence that at this point if I went head to head with just about any of those middle school classmates in a long distance running event, ski competition, bike race, triathlon, plank hold, I would beat most (all??) of them. What I lack in natural athletic abilities I have spent the past two decades relentlessly pursuing. Perserverance, baby! Let’s go pick teams now, jerks. Karma for being middle school bullies is a bitch!
That’s the fun thing about life. It isn’t over until it is over and no matter what the goal or the ludicrous dream is, keep putting in the time and effort relentlessly and at some point, you WILL get there.
And so, I will keep putting in the time and energy and ball machine hours and of course, money, and at some point – not today or tomorrow – but at some point, I think it is fair to say I will get there. And no, I don’t even know what or where ‘there’ even is, but that is part of the fun of the journey and taking it all one bite at a time.