Tennis

Most Wednesday mornings in the summer, I play tennis with Mike. As the days got longer, and the sun hotter, we started playing pretty early. I am not a true morning person, though I have trained myself in that direction in recent years. Mike, however, is self-employed with no fixed work schedule, and a confirmed night owl. So when he committed to playing tennis at 7:30am one Wednesday, I knew he was having fun.

This summer was a bit of a break-through for my mental game. My hands stopped shaking when I served, and my toss straightened itself out. I started thinking a few hits ahead- strategizing- instead of reflexively and defensively whapping at the ball. I started to want to win.

And I did. But then the next week, Mike raised the level of HIS game, and came right back at me. We just kept topping each other, raising both of our games to new levels. It was a fun tennis season this summer in NYC.