Hanging with Kristina

Hello and welcome back for another post! I’m so happy you are able to join us today! If you haven’t guessed already, today’s topic is tennis. Tennis is my favorite sport. I love playing tennis. I enjoy watching it too, but sometimes it can be frustrating. It’s frustrating to watch tennis sometimes, because in my head I’m playing the game along with the players on the court. I’m seeing the court and deciding where I would hit the ball, and most of the time they are hitting it in a different spot. Of course, their strategy is most likely different from mine, but they’re the professionals… not me.

I was 4 years old, just shy of turning 5, the first time I held a tennis racket. There is a home video of my first-time playing. My family and I had gone on a trip. At the end of the trip, we stopped to visit some of my relatives. The ladies went shopping while the guys went to the local tennis court to play night tennis. At 4 years old, I decided I wanted to go play tennis with the guys. I was 4, I didn’t really want to go shopping.

One of my uncles, and I, had the video camera and recorded some of the tennis game the guys were playing. I got a chance to hold the video camera and record too. Not exactly sure what I was recording, I was 4, so I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just glad and grateful I got to be a part of it. Looking back at the home video, I cringe at watching myself… but at the same time it’s a little cute. While the camera was on me, watching me play, you can hear my uncles and my dad off camera cheering me on, and coaching me from the sidelines. Even now, when watching that video, I want to coach myself. But I can’t criticize myself too much. I was just a little kid, learning something new.

Sometime after that trip, I started tennis lessons. To be honest, I don’t remember how long I took lessons for. However long it was, it seemed to fly right by. After I was no longer taking lessons, I went out and played every once in a while. I would actually go to the park and play with my grandpa. We would bring a bucket of tennis balls and we would just hit. We basically did our own little training camp. I can’t remember how long we would spend out on the court, but we would be there for a while. I think we went through the bucket about 2 or 3 times. Afterwards, we would just see how long we could hit the ball back and forth.

I don’t remember when it was, but I stepped away from tennis for a while. I can’t remember when I stopped playing and I don’t remember how long I was away for. I do remember when I got back into it. It was my first day of high school. I came home from school and told my parents that I was going to be trying out for the tennis team. I made the team! I spent all 4 years of high school with the team and made some great friends along the way. When I was a Junior, I made it onto the Varsity squad. It was a lot of fun. I miss the days when I got to play every day with the girls on the team.

While I was on the Varsity team, I played doubles. I actually prefer it, over playing singles, although playing singles is fun too. My high school coach paired me up with a great partner. We complimented each other. She and I were a great team. Wherever my weaknesses were, they were her strengths. My strengths were her weaknesses. We even had great communication. Whenever I was having an off day/moment she would find something that would be of comfort to me. I did the same for her. That whole team was great! I love that whole team and that whole experience during my years in high school. All those girls that I came across, being on that team, was incredible. They were like my sisters for 4 years. Some came and some went, but never were they forgotten.

After graduating from high school, I continued to play tennis… although not every day. I would try to play any chance I got. It has been a while since I have been able to get out on the court to play again. I think it’s been at least 3 years, maybe more, since I’ve been able to be out on the tennis courts. I might be a little rusty after all these years, but I think once I get out onto the court and hit a bucket of balls again, it will be like I was never away.

Just to take a quick trip down memory lane, when I was about 7 or 8 years old, maybe a little bit older or younger, I decided I wanted to be a professional tennis player. I wanted to win at Wimbledon. But I also wanted to play mixed doubles. I wanted my mixed doubles partner to be Andre Agassi. I don’t remember how old I was when I stopped wanting to become a tennis pro. You know how kids are. One minute they want to be a prince/princess, the next they want to be a pilot, then a doctor, etc. It took me until becoming an adult when I finally decided what I really want to do… be a writer. I still love tennis of course, but it’s mostly just for the fun of it. I have a different dream, now, when it comes to tennis. I would love to attend at least one major tennis tournament. I want to go, not only to say that I’ve been to one, but for the whole experience of it.

Thank you, Lady Sixers Tennis, for 4 wonderful years! I will cherish those years and memories for the rest of my life.

Game… Set… Match!