Cross training grand slam

The whole point of Kim's New 2 U Cross Training Challenge is to break out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself in ways you didn't think possible.

Since high school I've though of myself as completely uncoordinated when it comes to sports. (That's why I'm a runner! No catching required!)

As a child, I lacked both balance and depth perception. It wasn't until I reached my mid-20s that was I finally diagnosed with astigmatism - an eye condition easily correctable with glasses. Unfortunately, the belief that I'm just "bad" at ball-sports stuck even after my vision improved.

So when Hubby proposed tennis as a new sport, I balked.


Tennis!

The last time I swung a racquet was in the mid 1990s. I launched my tennis ball high over the court's fence and into a thicket of poison ivy. Oops.

I had tried once. That was enough. I needn't play again.

But then our family sent Hubby a set of tennis racquets for his birthday. (Damn their meddling gifts!)


Shiny new tennis racquet and ball

I pleaded to play a few practice rounds in an empty parking lot. I would not embarrass myself by launching my serves into a neigbhoring court on my very first try. I knew that if I had a bad first outing, I really never would try again.

So practice in a parking lot we did.

I had a few doosies of shots that rolled off into the bushes, and I whiffed more than once. (I snorted with laughter over some of my worst misses.) But over time our serves and volleys got cleaner.

Today we stepped up into the big league.

We went to the city courts, which are usually full at all hours of the day, all days of the week.

Ok... ok... I'll admit, I didn't really want to go. I wanted one more parking lot practice run. I could have kept playing "tennis" in a parking lot for the rest of my life and have gone to my deathbed without any regrets. (Tennis is that far outside of my comfort zone.)

Fortunately it's Black Friday, and the courts were mercifully empty.

Completely and totally empty. (Sigh of relief!)


Empty tennis courts

We played for an hour. While plenty of my shots were messy, no balls were lost, no bypassers were struck, and no bones were broken. Grand slam!

My only remaining problem is: if I'm going to play, it seems I'll eventually need to learn the rules, and they're bloody confusing.

A first score is worth 15 points, the second worth 15, and then... 10? What?! Who does this math? Why not 1, 2, and 3? And what's wrong with zero - why do we have to call that "love?" I suppose it's more polite than saying 15-loser, or 15-you-suck. But "love?"

Tennis terms may never make sense to me, but at least I can no longer say "I just can't play."

Are you a tennis player?
Is there a sport you think you "just can't" play?