Monday, March 16, 2015

15. Take Tennis Lessons - An Update

Tonight I take my second tennis lesson. I am really excited.

I was ill-prepared for how nervous, self-conscious, and anxious I would be during my first lesson. I was having an out-of-body experience. There was me watching my teacher explain what we were going to do and practicing to emulate his techniques and then there was this other part of me with a running commentary about what I would write on my blog, noting the level of nervousness I was experiencing, and how my generally dormant-perfectionism was rearing its ugly head. There was a lot going on!

Chris, my teacher was warm, encouraging, and in no way invoked these reactions. I asked a lot of questions like, "Why are you able to hit the ball repeatedly standing in one place while I'm running all over?" With each question, the next set of instructions came with kindness and encouragement.

I spent one-on-one time with my teacher and then joined the larger class for drills. It was during the drills that I had an epiphany completely unrelated to tennis.

Once I got the hang of the drills, I really began to enjoy myself no matter how much ball chasing I did. At the end of class I managed a great backhand, and Chris saw it and congratulated me. It was a great way to end my first lesson. As I walked out of the Steel Shop Tennis Club, I couldn't help but wonder what I will learn and how much more confident I will feel by the end of five classes. That kind of uncertainty is exciting. I'm so excited I added this random thing to my list.

My takeaways from class #1:

*Tennis is hard. Really hard. There are so many things to take in all at once.

*It's mostly foot work. Figuring out where your feet should be before you ever think about swinging at a ball.

*I'm grateful for my dance background. It will help with the foot work.

Looking forward to what new takeaways I glean from tonight's class!

1 comment:

  1. I love the irony of it being at the Steel Shop Tennis Club. It's like it was calling your name....sort of. :)

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