It isn't often I get to serve up a tennis analogy. It isn't often I get to use puns either. Today is a special day.
Back in high school I played tennis. I loved it. All of it. I loved going to practice. I loved hitting tons of forehands and backhands and serving for hours. I had a hopper filled with tennis balls that I would take out on hot summer nights and serve to no one until I could no longer see the lines due to darkness.
Tennis was fun. And I loved the sport of it. I never dreamed of becoming a state champion or being the best player in the school. And neither of those things happened. I simply enjoyed tennis and wanted to play as much as I could.
Tennis was competitive in our league. No team was particularly great and we all could, on any given day, beat each other. This meant that we could always meet someone who was not as good as we were or meet someone that was slightly better than we were. But you would always meet someone who would play a good match with you. Even matches that we won 6-0, 6-0 were close games.
In any match it always comes down to mental and physical stamina. Who can keep moving their feet long enough to return the next shot? Who can keep their brains trained enough to not get frustrated and mad and down on themselves to stay strong through the next point? Every point was new. Every point was another chance to score. And things that happened in the past were not important, ONLY the point you were on mattered.
In high school it was always about who could hit the most shots in the lines. Yeah, sometimes there were winners that went zipping by and sometimes you met someone who could really serve. But usually, it was all about who could hit the most shots back in the court. If you did it one more time than your opponent, you would win that point. If you did that every time, you would win the match.
It seems simple enough. Frankly, that's how the pros play too. Though the pros have some strategy behind what they are doing, though for this that's not important. What is important, is that my coach always told me that I didn't need to hit winners on every shot. So often I would play someone that wasn't at my skill level. True to form, I often played to their level, getting frustrated in the process, mostly because I knew I was better than that. My coach would tell me, 'Don't try to hit a winner every shot. All you need to do is put the ball back in play and you can do this.' This was sage advice. If I followed it, I would be victorious. I didn't always follow it.
Somewhere along my journey in life I started to try and hit a winner every time. And worst of all, I was choosing my opponents who were well below my skill level. The result has been me playing a frustrating match, constantly asking myself why I'm not better than I am. Somewhere along the line I forgot the joy of the sport and the joy of playing for fun. Somewhere I forgot that the best way to play, at least on occasion, is to simply try to get the ball back in the court. And to realize that you probably won't win every point. No matter what.
It's time I played a smarter game in life. First off, I'm going to play a tougher opponent. I get to choose my opponents and I want someone who is going to make me better. I'm not going in with the idea that I'm going to come out a winner in straight sets without giving up a game. I'm going in with the idea that I'm here to play. And maybe, just maybe, I can squeak out a three-setter because of my stamina more than my skill. If I return just enough balls in play, my opponent is going to start screwing up more than I do. Will they get some aces? Yes. Will they get some points of long rallys that I thought I had? Yes. But it will be great competition. And I'll have fun.
Tennis analogies aren't easy to come by. I'll lob this one up to see what happens.
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