I
joined TennisCleveland.com in the summer of 2011. I had played tennis
on vacation with my wife with a group of retired men and women in Hawaii
in a round-robin mixer type activity. I had played casually with
friends before, mostly just singles, but after this one day, I realized I
wanted to play more. We got home and I did a search for tennis leagues
in the Cleveland area. I signed up and I was hooked. I remember
vividly my first match. I was nervous, mostly afraid of looking
foolish, but the gentleman I met that day made me feel at ease. See, it
was also his first match, too. We had a nice match, despite the
result, a resounding 6-1, 6-2 defeat. Although, in retrospect, the loss
was against the eventual champion, so nothing to hang my head over.
Needless
to say I was hooked. I signed up for Spring, Summer and Fall in 2012
and couldn't play enough. My "lessons" were earned on the court. I am a
competitor, so I struggled with balancing winning with working on some
of the fundamentals. I still do. There are just some matches where you
really feel like you need that win to help your morale, or to overcome a
hard day at work. But that's what keeps us coming back, right?
I've
met some incredible people and had some amazing matches. The highlight
of 2012 was going down to Florida for the year-end tournament and
meeting other enthusiasts from the other networks around the country.
If you have the means and the opportunity to do this, I highly
recommend it. Oh, and winning my first championship trophy (yes,
first....beware TennisCleveland players, there will be more!).
2013
is off to a great start. Match 100 was last night in 93 degree heat.
I lost easily 6-2 6-3, so that is in a way serendipitous to the way I
started almost 2 years ago. 54 wins and 46 losses later and I plug on.
I love meeting and playing new people, so if you are ever coming
through Cleveland, look me up, I'd be happy to play!
