It has been a while since my last post.  Blogs always seem so easy to write in your mind, but putting those thoughts into written words always seems to take longer than expected without proper motivation. Lately, the majority of my motivation has gone into playing tennis and the day job so the blog has kind of taken a back seat.  I have also stabilized my equipment of choice so review material has been a bit lacking as well.   Good for me, bad for the equipment review section.

 

2017 was definitively my best year of playing tennis, ever.  I still just participated in drills 99% of the time with an infrequent friendly doubles match thrown in a couple times a year,  but my consistency and quality of tennis probably peaked over the summer.  I was constantly participating in 4 to 5 drill sessions per week and playing in higher level drills on two of those evenings.  I have since trimmed down the tennis to 3 nights a week to allow a newer nagging injury some healing time between sessions.

 

My body started to complain about my my tennis schedule and the excessive weight I force it to endure.  Early in 2017 I developed jumpers knee in my right knee which caused some discomfort and reduced court mobility until I discovered jumpers knee bands which allowed me to regain most of what I lost and minimalize the pain.  In mid 2017, I experienced plantar fasciitis in my left foot for the first time and eventually found some inserts for my shoes which would allow me to play with minimal pain.  The latest injury is fairly recent with some acute knee pain in my left knee which I believe is also jumpers knee, but with previous cartilage loss in the same knee the pain is a bit more pronounced.  A second jumpers knee band seems to be working,  but there is still some residual pain after the knee cools down after a drill.  I will run my tennis schedule at a reduced rate until we see how the knee reacts.

 

Observations about the ugly side of tennis.  I have avoided joining any league type of activity for several reasons, but one of the biggest hurdles is the way some people behave on and off the court when put in a competitive environment.  From my friends and acquaintances that do participate in leagues I am subjected to weekly stories of unabated cheating, rude behavior, dismissive behavior, political issues inside the teams and leagues, and a host of other behaviors that would make some of these folks top contenders on reality TV shows.  I play tennis to get away from what I have to deal with on the day job, I do not want to spend my free time dealing with the same BS.  Even in drills I have run across some folks who are just too into themselves to enjoy being around.  I have had folks walk out of drill before it was finished because they lost a few points to someone they feel is below their level.  Personally, I had it happen twice to me in one of my higher level drills as I am too fat and out of shape to be losing points to.  I did not know what was going on until one evening one of the regulars at drill had some free time after drill and he filled me in.  He and a few of the other regulars always enjoy it when someone new came to drill and had to go up against me.  They would take one look at me and immediately dismiss me as fat and slow only to find out that I truly can compete at that drill level. Most folks take it in stride after the initial shock and enjoy the drill,  some will hit away from me and at my partner the rest of the drill, a few never come back, and the couple of folks that quit mid drill.  It’s just tennis, why do some folks need to go out of thier way to be such lousy human beings?

 

Even with some negative bumps along the tennis journey, 2017 was a very good year and I am looking forward to an even better 2018.  I still love the game and can not wait to get out on the courts at the next available opportunity.

 

Sky Dog