The Sporting Life

I took Ev out Saturday to play a little tennis. We played twice and actually had several 3 and 4 volley sets. It's fantastic because I didn't start tennis until high school. And it wasn't long after that I stopped playing with any regularity. I probably have not made an effort of any substance in the past 15 years. I made a similar trek to the courts a few years back with Kels but got fired from that job just as quickly as it started. And yet, it's fantastic that I played with Ev the other day for a couple of reasons: One, I can still control the ball, teach, and hit a decent ground stroke. Two: Ev actually shows some native ability which leads me to think maybe he can acquire a life-long recreation.

It's one of the shortfalls of my upbringing that, although my Dad made a personal effort at both tennis and golf, he never made an effort to make it part of my life. I can't say I feel deprived in any way but, how nice if I had grown up with a sport/recreation to enjoy throughout life. And, too, it's one of the shortfalls of public education: too often schools still adhere to ancient curricula when it comes to "physical education." Volleyball, basketball, baseball, football, soccer, and track are great if a kid is so inclined. But how much better would it be if our kids graduated with at least a rudimentary proficiency in golf, tennis, yoga, and tai chi? Ever since being crab blocked by Ron Moss on the blacktop football "field" at Emerson I have had a slightly sketchy low back-- and a firm disinclination to play football.

Not one to always take my own advice there was a time many years back when my brother induced me to play a game of flag football on the banks of the East River (Hudson?) about the time of my 30 somethingth birthday. It was thrown together by an old female friend of his who wanted to get involved in a friendly game of pick-up flag football. Hey, what the h? It's a girl football game.  17 hours later I found myself in a coach seat to Detroit-- a seat and position from which I was fairly certain I would require the services of an EMS crew to get out. I could hardly move for 2 days. I still enjoy football. From a suite in the stadium. Or, less so, a stadium seat. Or, best of all, from the chair in my den. I just feel so much better the next day.

With tennis a person doesn't have that problem. Low impact, low strain, low stress-- it must be something else I did that's making it hard for me to walk around this morning.