2011

My new year's post is a little late...



After such an amazing, whirlwind 2010, I found myself in a "waiting room" of sorts when thinking about my future tennis plans. Sometimes, we make the mistake of stepping in the wrong direction when we are unsure of which direction to take. There's nothing wrong with standing still, taking a breath and waiting for a path to illuminate itself.



If you're like me, somewhat of a control-freak, this is difficult to do.



First I was bumped to 4.5, inevitable after my 2010, but in the same sense, it was like winning a championship and a week later, knowing that the process of becoming a champion; the work, the repetition, the long hours, all of that begins again.



Second, all of my friends are 3.5 and 4.0. The camaraderie, the support and the comfort that I found with teammates has pretty much been the same core of people for the entire decade that I've been playing. Pushing myself to be better now no longer simply means me calling my pals and playing until someone gets to hungry to continue. I will have to do more. I will have to play more. And I will have to broaden my circle of practice partners.



And though it makes sense that things would evolve, I never thought about it. I never thought about what that next step would be. One by one, my long time pals were pointing it out to me and I have to say, I felt like I was being pushed out of the nest.



One of my favorite quotes likens us to dinosaurs. Their failure to change and adapt led to their extinction and humans in their daily endeavors are no different.



But who wants to change really? Why? When habits and routines can be so comfortable, so predictable and so reliable and change can be scary and uncertain.



There was a time when everything I did in tennis was new. The first month I went to clinics at Peachtree Tennis Club, I didn't know anyone. I sucked at courtesy feeding the ball and EVERYONE knew it. I could hear the quiet groans, forced patience at the newbie whose wild and errant forehands would often leave 'WILSON' tattooed on your chest, but couldn't keep more than two consecutive balls in play.



Somewhere along the line, that became less knew and I sought other challenges.



And I started playing tournaments.



Again, the newness, the change.



There were years when ninety percent of my match scores were double bagels, 0-6, 0-6. For some reason, I hung in there, hoping to push through to that point where the newness dissipated.



This January when I began to look forward to the new year, I realized, the dust of newness had settled and the wrong turn could easily send me down the path toward "rut". And since I don't want to end up like our dear old friends, the dinosaurs, I chose the path for change, for improvement, for setting goals and achieving them.



This year, I am again, going to push myself beyond my comfort level.



My first goal is to win a main draw match in a National Open level tournament.



Stay tuned,

KS.