Fitness and Friendship: Tennis

I love tennis. I started playing as an adult and became addicted to it fairly quickly. I was living in Atlanta when I began playing. Atlanta is truly a paradise for tennis fanatics, with both local and national leagues available; you can always find an individual, team, or social tennis group in which to play. Several aspects of tennis really appealed to me. I like to run and tennis gave me the opportunity to run all over the court. Being outdoors was wonderful as well, as I relished the chance to enjoy nature while I was playing a match. But my favorite part of the tennis world was being on a team with other women. I had never played competitive sports and didn't really understand what being on a team meant until I played tennis.

Several friends and myself formed a team, and gradually we added women from group lessons at our tennis facility. We were at the beginner's level and started slowly. After many losses and few wins, we finally managed to become more successful. To our amazement, we actually made playoffs! Then we won our division, and received what was known in Atlanta as the coveted "bag tag". A bag tag was a tangible way of showing other teams that you were a winner. I was generally intimidated at the start of a match if the opposing team had tennis bags with numerous bag tags attached, as that meant they were probably going to give us a run for our money!

Through this experience, I practiced, took group lessons and played weekly doubles matches. But personally, I was never a great tennis player, my main problem being that I could not hit the ball! If I practiced 3 times a week, I was fairly consistent if the ball came right to me. But I was never a hard hitter, and often became frustrated as I saw my awesome teammates hit incredible shots. In spite of my ineptitude at hitting the ball, I played tennis for over 10 years! I continued to play when we moved to Asheville and even played a short time in Florida. I just couldn't give up the game, as it was so much fun to me!

Five years ago, I finally decided that because of my low skill level, I would get more exercise doing an hour of zumba class than playing several hours of doubles tennis. I couldn't keep the ball in play long enough to get a good workout. As much as I love dancing, I will admit that I miss tennis. The thing that I miss the most is my tennis friends. Friendships that I formed through tennis have lasted through the years. I still keep in touch with Atlanta tennis friends, and see friends socially from my Asheville tennis experience as well. Perhaps it is the experience of playing together on a team that makes these friendships special. But I know that if I had never played tennis, I would have never have met so many wonderful people that I still like!

I think that tennis is a terrific sport, and also one that you can play for many years. It always makes me happy to see men and women in their 70's and 80's on the tennis court and getting exercise. If you haven't tried it, maybe you should! You might find that you are pretty good at the game. Or you may just gain some cherished friendships in the process. My memories of the sport are special to me and I will never forget the early days when team members consoled one another after a loss, the striving to improve together as a team, and finally the victory celebrations! Sometimes after exercising at my gym, I will pass a tennis court and stop to watch people playing. I smile, thinking about my fun tennis experiences. Maybe I will ask them if they ever need a substitute player- you never know!