Sunday, April 6, 2008

Tennis-ass

My right butt-cheek aches. So do my shoulders, biceps, forearms, and hands. My good friend Matel has become my accomplice in the tennis mission, and I think she'll agree that it is quite the undertaking. We had our first lesson yesterday and though I didn't really even break a sweat during the 1 hour lesson, I began to hurt pretty much 25 minutes into it (which isn't really a good sign...day after aches are always expected, same day aching? Surprised to say the least).

The first embarrassment of the lesson was that I had a child's racket. HA, I had thought it seemed small. Dave (our instructor) let me use an adult's for the day. My ego was bruised, but at least I hadn't claimed to be anything more than a beginner.

When you're a beginner they have these foam balls the size of softballs that you volley around to better practice your swing and form (moves much slower). They also have tennis balls that have a little less air in them, mostly for the same reason as the foam balls, but they bounce. We learned our forehands, backhands, lobs, and serves with those. When Dave gave us a couple shots with real tennis balls they felt super heavy and our serves suffered (well, mine did--Matel's actually something of a natural I think...I thought I'd be good since I watch so much tennis on t.v, but my osmosis-learning theory is stupid). Dave said I'm very "wrist-y, like a raquetball player" and I'd find myself self-correcting, but unable to remember to keep my wrist firm while also focusing on my follow-through.

After the lesson, we went to Target to get me a real racket. We'd gone earlier that morning to get Matel one (she chose a Wilson Slope racket--mostly because it was pink and supports the breast cancer society...we both bought the matching pink tennis balls too because they're cute), and now it was my turn to choose a racket. I bought a Wilson racket too (brand recognition in action), but I chose the one I did because it had a picture of Roger Federer (my celebrity man-crush) on it and it reads "Federer" on the side.



No one hate on that.
I haven't played with the racket yet because of aforementioned uber-pain, but I'm sure it's perfectly adequate for me. I've read a lot about Prince brand rackets in a couple magazines, and it Tennis really holds my attention and passion, maybe I'll make an investment. *shrug*

That's all for Tennis. The only real step I've taken toward my garden is that I'm ditching the "ride-to-Denton-every-morning" plan, and I'm going to take control of Matel's garden. It's a good-sized space for a starter garden, and she's already laid down some pigeon poop on it. Excellent. I still need to tell Marty and Rachel I'm ditching out on them...but if I want to be realistic, I might enjoy biking 40 miles a day for 3 days but then I think it'd become a real time-sucker considering I work at noon everyday. If I had a car, it'd be doable. But, then I'd have a car.

Matel and I have practice Tuesday night, I'll let you know how that goes.
thanks for reading,
Han

7 comments:

Günter said...

Probably the soreness will only be worse tomorrow. I'll make sure Beca brings some Advil to Ruby's.

Lily said...

Where do you take your lessons?
I think you are very right by picking a closer garden spot. I'm not sure if it would totally relate to what your intentions are, but awhile back I took Organic Gardening through the SCC Continuing Education program. It was taught by Evrett Lunquist. The most exciting part of the class was the first night when he took off his shirt (he was wearing an undershirt of course) because he was all sweaty and nervous. At the time I had a mad crush on him so it was thrilling. But really the class was very informative in terms of composting. We have plans of composting to help cut out our food waste, but right now that is just a plan.
Sorry I skipped out on girls night yesterday. I realized that I would have nothing to wear today if I didn't go home and remedy that.
I got a new sewing machine so we should get together and I can hem up that dress for you and whatever other alterations you need done.

Hannah said...

Gunt- Yeah, still sore today but after my hour-long advanced spinning class and a 20 minute steam I'm feeling a lot better. Mostly, the pain is in my wrist/forearm. Hopefully I'll be strong enough and healed to play tomorrow.

Lily- I remember farmer Everett (meow) I worked on their farm for a summer/fall. I would love to hear any of your composting ideas! Also, I would love to get together for sewing stuff!

Anonymous said...

erm..if i had a garden i'd put hannah-beans in it to grow the most beautiful trees.
hehe

Lily said...

Hannah- I am in incredible pain today from playing a sport! It's a very good feeling, although it makes for a diffucult time picking things up and holding them. I think golf and tennis use similar muscles. Or at least I would think so. Yep. I played golf yesterday and it was wickedly awesome. Sometimes I hit the ball very far, even if it took 5 or 6 swings to even make contact. I played at the Seward Country Club but I hope to play some here in town. Hooray for trying new things!

Mose said...

So what happened when you played again, with your new Federer? Don't let your blog go, niece! Some of us who live boring lives yearn to know what you're up to.

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