Spectral Observations

This may come off a little bit harsh, but truth be told, I enjoy tennis much more than I do interacting with probably 70+% of the people who will read this. WHAT!? “JAY, YOU ASSHOLE!!” Yeah, yeah, yeah….At least I’m telling the truth! After reading this post, perhaps you can try to win back my love and favortism by taking on some of the qualities of a seemingly silly game called tennis Nevertheless, let’s be honest here. How many of you really think you can give me the same feeling that a down the line backhand winner on match point in a third set super tiebreak can!?

Nearly every Wednesday at around 9:30pm I hear the same variation of a ridiculously lame sentence. “Wow, you seriously come down here from Flagstaff every week just to play in this league?” – YES, I do….. That’s right, I put more milage on my car going to play tennis than I do visiting friends or family. I trade the opportunity to make money at work for losing money on gas, court fees, and the occasional dinner. I avidly await every Wednesday where I get to escape the harsh realm of independent college student reality. School, work, social frustration, and family distortions all take a back seat when Wednesday rolls around. In fact, class is the most enjoyable for me on that day. Nobody can ruin my day on Wednesday. I don’t care if you’re calling me to cancel plans that we made weeks in advance, I couldn’t care less. The thought of playing tennis in a meaningful setting (in this particular example, USTA league play) consumes me. I can’t wait to execute what I’ve been playing through my mind all week. I can’t wait to see the answers to the questions I’ve been asking myself all week. “How can we set our lineup to give us our best shot of winning this thing? If my primary strategy isn’t working, how many backup plans do I have ready? How will I pick my teammates up if one of them is losing confidence, or feeling down?” I can’t wait for the exhilaration of hitting solid shots point in and out and seeing practice and hard work pay off. Or, if the solid shots aren’t exactly rolling with consistency that particular night, tapping into my newly found mental toughness to make up for what my strokes are lacking. Is this worth dedicating one night a week to? You bet. Sad as it may or may not seem, I’d actually be making this trip twice a week if I didn’t have Tuesday and Thursday evening classes, as I’d participate in another league on Tuesday nights!

You see, tennis is more than a game. It’s more than enjoying the outdoors and getting exercise. It’s more than anything I can write in this blog. It’s a yearning. It’s a desire. It’s a passion. 

Tennis has helped me create and maintain friendships with some of the most unbelievable people in my life. I have so many fond memories of growing up as a junior in small town Prescott, AZ and waiting for school to end so I could hit the courts with my buddies. Summers as a junior were unparalleled. Everyday consisted of us hitching a ride with our folks to the courts, somewhere between 8 and 9 am. Each day we would play tennis. Even if we weren’t playing tennis, we were still at Roughrider Tennis Center. We used to just sit around and hope good players would drop by and randomly want to play some doubles with us, or possibly rotating singles. Though this seldom happened, we found other things to fill the time of our youth. Though many of these were seemingly meaningless fillers of time, they did in fact strengthen and reinforce one of the most valuable assets in life. Friendship. True friendship at that. I’d even dare to say myself and my tennis comrades (primarily consisting of Nick Cristea, Lander Sims, and Dan Oliver) transcended friendship and have redefined it of sorts. I will forever be in debt to tennis for the friends it has given me. (it is important to note that Nick and I were good friends prior to tennis consuming my life) These friendships were fostered and housed by a tennis center.

Life lessons are easily conveyed through tennis. In fact, I can say with the utmost certainty that ANY lesson in life you deem to be valuable can be learned on a tennis court. Even those of the most intimate, private lessons! Considering trading your steady relationship for a one night stand? We all know what kind of results that would yield! This same lesson can be learned when demoing one of the new “top of the line” tennis frames. Immediately you will be mesmerized, hypnotized  even. The new cosmetics are SO gorgeous…..So much more shiny and polished from your old faithfuls. Not a scratch to be found. Reluctant at first, you eventually get the courage to grab the new stick by the handle and give it a test drive. Cool, comfortable, exciting. The first three balls you strike feel unmatched. You are in love for a half hour hit session. The last thing on your mind are the countless trophies, titles, ranking points, and man cards your old faithfuls have won for you. You easily forget what they have done of your in the past and how they have always been there. You decide to pretend none of the positives ever happened and splurge on a couple of the new, dreamy racquets. Sure, at first, things are fantastic. You keep that awe struck mood with your new babies for the better part of a month, maybe two if you’re really good at believing your own lies. Eventually, you come to a big match. A familiar stage. A setting in which you live for, strive for. You love the pressure, and you always prevail. It is completely and entirely comfortable for you. Or is it? This particular afternoon, something is different. That lucky scrape on the throat of your racquet isn’t there to help comfort you while waiting to return a serve. You can’t glance down and say with confidence, “Look, we’ve been here done this. One more time, baby.” Even if just for a moment, you panic. In this moment, as a true tennis player knows, you have lost the battle. It doesn’t take long after shaking hands at the net to realize what a huge mistake you have made. Sometimes you have to lose something before you realize it’s truly gone.

There is nothing else in life I have ever done that can teach me so much about myself. Tennis holistically boasts the best and worst character traits of me. The ultra competitive, never give up athlete in me is completely exposed and utilized. My quick thinking and problem solving skills are better put to use in an intense tennis match than a tough mathematics problem. On the converse, the perfectionist and overanalytical side of me hurts me more often than not. Like in most real life situations, I need to learn how to trust my instincts and take more risks. I’m very protective and stubborn, both on the court and off. If I come into a match with a gameplan, I’ll be damned if I don’t execute it! It’s not uncommon for me to lose a whole set trying to make that strategy work, even though it should be fairly obvious I need a new gameplan. Similarly, I’m not exactly known among my friends to give up on an idea or opinion. Though I think I’ve come a long way with that, there is still plenty of work to be done on that front! Undoubtedly, I am a better person in part due to tennis.

I am lucky to have been exposed to some of the most incredible tennis programmers in the Southwest Section. Chris Howard (Roughrider Tennis Center/Prescott Racquet Club) and the Prudhomme family (Paseo Racquet Center) are the pinnacle of this. Though completely different in operation and even teaching styles, they both understand their responsibility to their customers, regulars, and community. Whatever it takes to help promote and grow tennis, it gets done. Whether it’s raising funds and resurfacing courts (and by resurfacing, I mean just that. I do NOT mean hiring some company to do it for you), revamping a D2 tennis program, or giving scholarships to talented and aspiring juniors who can’t afford the financial strain of being a tennis player, Howard and the Prudhommes have taught me it’s not all about business, but about accountibility and responsibility. Being personable, reachable, and desirable help make these two programmers very successful.

In closing, it is important to note that like life, tennis is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get on the other side of the net. Pusher, hacker, counter-puncher, baseline basher, serve and volleyer, etc.etc. You must learn to deal with each of these playing styles, much like you must learn to deal with the various personalities of peers and coworkers. You don’t get to choose your coworkers, and you most certainly don’t get to choose your opponents in competitive play! A little patience can go a long way with both of these issues. Stay calm, don’t overreact, and keep yourself together (or at least do a great job of pretending to do so!) and things will work out.

Go play tennis. Go live your life.