Doing My Part

I'm still playing tennis a couple days a week. We were a beginning level, 2.5 is what we were called, and we were going to be playing in a league against other players at that same level. But then the fees came up (tennis can be expensive, I've come to find out), and school started for some, and most of the women admitted that while they still love playing and want to continue with instruction and practice, actually going to a competitive level just wasn't something they wanted to spend the time and the money on. We took a vote and and in the end, my team kind of petered out. I was okay with it - I just love to play.

Now I had to tell Ed that we wouldn't be a team for the league. Ed is my instructor and I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what to think of me. He's very serious about tennis and I know so very little about all the terms and scoring and etiquette, and too often I make a fool out of myself. I imagine that I will grow on him, that he will eventually learn to appreciate and understand me.

For example, he asked me last night what I wanted to work on and I replied confidently, "my longhand". He just looked at me like"huh?"and I knew immediately that there is nothing in tennis called a longhand. So I do a little charade of the stroke I want to practice and he shakes his head and rolls his eyes in dismay.

"Those are called ground strokes."

Crud. I'm just gonna have him tell me what I need to work on. It will surely be faster and less humiliating. I think he secretly enjoys my ignorance.

See, most people who want to play in a league have at least a little bit of a background - watching tennis on TV, lessons in high school, something. Not me though. I pretty much just decided to try it out. And I really really like it.

Anyway, when my team dissolved, I left a message for Ed that the ladies didn't want to play in the league. I assured him that most of us would still be taking lessons, trying to soften the blow - he really had wanted us to play. He calls me back and says,

"Tell you what, the 3.0 team wants a few extra players, so if you come practice and play with them, I'll just move you on up and you can play on their league. They're not that much better than you and you'll improve just being around them."

And he gave me a discount. A big one. Like, my lessons are free.

I jumped on that deal like a bowl of ice cream. My game has improved, if not my use of tennis terms, and Ed seemed to have the confidence that I'd be just fine playing with the 3.0 ladies. I bought a new outfit to wear to practice.

The 3.0 team met on Wednesday night. We made our introductions and then Ed started to explain who the newbies were and why we were there. (There was one other player from my old team with me. )

"Some of you," he said, making a sweeping gesture towards pretty much everyone else, "are 3.0 players and you've played before and you know what you're doing.

"And others of you," his arm sweeping, mmmm, pretty much over me, "are here to help the facility."

As in, they simply needed a warm body to show up and and a name on the roster so they won't ever have to forfeit.

I think it's awesome. I'll admit that I was a bit worried about playing with the more experienced group, but now that everyone's aware of my position, no one will expect anything out of me. If I truly am terrible, it's okay - at least they still got to play. And if I surprise them all with my excellent longhand, I mean ground strokes, then I get to be this amazing, most improved player. Not a bad deal.

I'm having a tee shirt made: I'm here to help the facility.

Ed did pull me aside later and assure me of a few things:

1. He thought I had guts to do this.
2. While the other gal who bumped up to 3.0 with me had more talent, he's never seen anyone with more determination than me.
3. Because I didn't really have any skill when I started, I've shown a greater improvement, comparatively speaking, than the others.

Basically, I'm brave to even attempt this, determined, in spite of my lack of skill, and I don't suck as bad as I used to.

I love Ed. I think he finds me entertaining.

On a final note, the scoring in tennis is messed up. A zero score is called Love, you start counting by fifteens, then you switch and count by tens; if the score is even at 15/15 or 30/30, you say 15/15 or 30/30. If it's 40/40, you say deuce. And then there is a whole mess of ad-in and ad-out and I'm never sure which one refers to my team. It befuddles me. I get so flustered with the strokes and positions and the sheer speed of the game, that I just haven't gotten the scoring down yet. I suppose it will come to me eventually, but until then, I'm just helping the facility, right?