Good-bye to March of 2019

Day 158, " Every picture has a story"

Oh my but time does fly.  The history of this picture. 

My end of the tennis season party is this afternoon so perhaps it is fitting that I look back at tennis and my team.  Not sure it is interesting to anybody but me but regardless this is today!

• Tennis has kind of been a rebirth for me.  In high school I was part of football, basketball, baseball and track.  Baseball was short lived as the program was discontinued after my freshman year.  Track was only in the picture my senior year as I thought Dad wanted me home after school in the spring for field work.  I lettered all 4 years in football and basketball.  The highlights were a conference crown in my junior year and serving as captain of both sports in my senior year.  My thought is this, I lived for activity and sports.
• In college I put in 20-30 hours of work each week and my activity consisted of pick up things and golfing.
• The end of my junior year of college I married and my sports activities came to a halt.   Golfing was too time consuming and costly and earning extra money to supplement my teaching salary was more important than playing ball for the night Owl lounge!  
• From 1968 to 2011 I remained VERY active but sports were out of the picture.  I am not sure that was the best but it was what it was and I have no regrets.  
• 2011 came and after Terry and I married she introduced me to tennis.  I played to the point of hurting my arm as I had NO idea HOW to play.  I also hurt my calf in my right leg.
• Finally in the fall of 2014 I had become tired of trying to get on one of the tennis teams.  It seemed to me that they were just so closed and perhaps a bit cliquish.  So in December I suggested to Myke, one of our pros, that I start my own team of 2.5.  She supported that and it was a go.
• I have my notes of that first 2.5 team in the winter of 2015.  Today, as my team gathers for the party, nobody from that team will be here!  Three of the guys are still playing at the 2.5 level, Three of them have moved to other places, two of them are unable to play because of health and one has passed away.  
• I remember back about our first season.  It was not really a blood bath but it was VERY few victories that winter.  Then in 2016 I added a couple of players and we finished in the middle of the pack.  In 2017 I added one more player and we won every match (that means we won at least 2 of the 3 courts each week) to finish in first place. 
• Well when you are the best of the bunch you need to move on to new challenges so in 2018 it was moving to 3.0 competition.  
• Now for kind of the good part!  In 2018 we won 5 of 30 courts.  That is 17%.  In the first half of this year we won 5 of 15 matches for 33%.  In the second half of this year we won 9 of 15 for 60% so I feel the trend is GOOD.  I also have added another good player for 2020 and maybe a second one as we will see.
• So the tennis story moves on and on.  It has been a lot of fun to feel the competition again and get the "on the field juices' flowing once again.  
• Now it is just a matter of time to see how long this goes.  In a second league that I played in my partner, we won 4 of 4 matches, was 82 so perhaps the end is not in sight yet!
• This has been the first year I have been able to play the entire season injury free.  I would say after a broken wrist and a torn hammy it was about time.  Maybe, just maybe, I have learned to play smarter!

The day will be taken up in preparation for the party at 4:30.  Everyone gets a door prize.  They range from 1/3 of a $5 bill to a free half hour lesson from the pros.  Whoever gets the third of the $5 will get the other 2/3s IF they agree to be on the team for 2020!!!

FP is gone.