A game for life

Tennis is the new obsession in our house.  The local courts are situated a few hundred metres from home and we have joined the tennis association to ensure ready access.  The keys of the courts are held at a nearby service station. We have become frequent visitors.  We attend the 'servo' at all hours of the day and night, swinging by and 'booting' a child out of the car to collect a set of keys.

Charlotte is our most eager player and has taken to rising at 6.30am to squeeze in a quick session before school.  She lays out her clothes in the hall before going to bed (or sleeps in them to save time) and creeps out in the morning to wake Tubs and head down to see 'Cole' at the servo.  She runs in to collect the keys which are presented to her without the need for exchange of memberships cards or conversation.  So used to the presence of this curly haired sports fanatic, the staff know exactly what she is there for and appreciate her urgency.

I play in the ladies competition on Wednesday evenings, a welcome reprieve from the nightly duties at home. I am frequently astounded and inspired by the average age of my competitors.  When I went to sign in for my first game several weeks ago I noticed an elderly lady seated in the corner of the club rooms, stooped and harmless looking, she appeared to be chewing the inside of her cheek.  I thought how sweet it was that someone had brought their mother or grandmother along to watch their game.  Next thing I know, this dear old lady, far from knitting and 'spectating', is stepping onto the court for a warm up as my first doubles opponent for the evening! Her serve was unlike any other I have seen, and looked more like an unorthodox shoulder exercise than a genuine attempt to hit a ball.  By the time I realized she had served, the ball had propelled past me at great speed and I was already down a point.

I played three sets against this wily creature and was left in awe of her cunning aim.  Thankfully she tired somewhat over the course of the evening - and I showed no mercy.  I have since been beaten by a pair of 75 year olds, and have learned that a fellow member of my own team is a mother of three and grandmother of nine! What these ladies lack in speed and agility they make up for in skill.  You have to win a point with perfect placement of your shot because if you hit it anywhere near them - they will belt it back every time.  I have also learnt their sly trick of retrieving stray balls at the slowest of paces as a means of recovering their breath between shots.  These ladies do not break a sweat and rarely remove their jumpers.  Their opponents meanwhile have been forced to strip down to the bare essentials during the first game, as a result of running back and forth across the court chasing perfectly placed shots.

Tubs has been recruited into a local team for Saturday mixed competitions.  He had never played competitively until now but is a highly skilled player, having grown up on a grass court with older siblings belting balls at him.  It is a source of constant envy and irritation to me that I cannot beat him, given that he doesn't even view tennis as a sport, whereas I had private coaching on my home tennis court for many years! Tubs is a good coach to the children and me.  He is a valued member of his team who seem to favour the social side of the sport far more than the overall outcome of the competition.

I recently learned that a local family, who have three grown up daughters, always reunite with a game of tennis.   The girls now all live in other parts of the state and when they come home to visit mum and dad, a trip to the local courts is high on the agenda.  I love the idea of a sporting tradition within a family and hope to emulate this model in the future.  The signs are good, as we are already able to have a respectable doubles match with Tubs and Charlotte taking on Abby and myself.  Josie and Lulu also try to get in on the action, between doing laps of the court on the scooter and raiding the plentiful afternoon tea spread in the clubrooms (a bonus of having septuagenarians in your club).

The slogan of the association is 'Tennis....a game for life' and based on what I have seen through my experiences with my family and the club - it most certainly is.