As I type this, I am huffing and puffing after a heated battle on the tennis court with my brother, knowing tomorrow I will pay for it all with cramps in my legs, a shoulder that feels as if it is on fire every time I take a breath and a blister that wraps all the way around my thumb. As terrible as that sounds you might think I am wasting my time playing tennis if I feel so terrible the days following.
I am okay with these aches and pains because I know I earned them by being active and not sitting around the house being lazy on a beautiful evening like it was Tuesday.
In my opinion, working out, playing a little too hard with your friends or taking part in some sort of activity that gives you a sense of accomplishment is worth a bit of soreness in the end.
While not near as much fun, it is kind of like working in the yard or painting a room. They are dreaded chores that hardly anyone looks forward to, but those who do enjoy these tasks do so because they can look at their work in the end and realize what a good job they did, despite some throbbing in their back or pain in their knees.
Since I’m sure to be nursing some small tenderness throughout my body from my sporting fun I began to think about a few of the other pains I’ve recently acquired in my life that I didn’t receive through hard work or fun activities.
I am 27 years old and by no means do I think of myself as old. In fact, in today’s day and age a person can be in their golden years and still be as lively as – if not more than – teenagers who play video games all day and live through their computers.
Recently I have noticed my body telling me I did something to hurt it when I don’t recall any such injury. My ankle will feel as if I rolled it and I can hardly walk when all I did for the previous few hours was sit on my couch watching television or working at my desk. When I wake up in the morning, sleeping in the same positions I have slept all my life, my back and neck will crackle as I stretch and move, which is a fresh addition to my list of soreness.
I can never seem to remember doing anything to make my body resent me so much, but I guess I have to expect these sorts of occurrences as I age.
I figured to have at least until my mid-30s before I would have to worry about changing my diet due to high cholesterol or exercising more because of excess pounds gained – not that anybody would ever guess that could happen to my small frame.
Although these aren’t necessarily the problems I’m currently facing, I feel as if I can’t stop the inevitable from occurring, which is that someday I will be using a walker or eventually need one of those motorized chairs to get up and down staircases.
I guess playing tennis, Frisbee, golf or recreational softball is a step in the right direction to keeping my body in tip-top shape, but it would be nice to not have to deal with living in temporary pain now to know I won’t live in constant pain in the future.
Showing posts with label tennis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tennis. Show all posts
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Not quite the most wonderful time of year – but it sure is close
When I first got into football two years ago – my gateway sport into all things sports related – I found at the end of the season as the Super Bowl approached my friends groaning about what a terrible life they would lead once football wasn’t there every week.
Following the first season I bought into this mentality that football reigned and everything else was filler until the preseason came around. My sports brain went into a comatose state until August when fantasy football talk started up again and the gridiron game was back in full swing. It’s funny how the people you call friends and rely on most for pertinent information regarding your personal life can be so horribly wrong.
There is so much to look forward to following the post-season of football, which I have fully taken advantage of this year.
The Super Bowl came and went on February 3 but that was not the end of sports as we know it for early 2008. By this time, basketball and hockey are in full swing with many fans starting to get an idea of what the playoffs will hold and a few teams wondering whether a post-season will present itself depending on how close the competition is in their conference – which has been compelling for the Western Conference.
March continues basketball and hockey action but sprinkles in college athletics as the NCAA Tournament – more appropriately known as March Madness – begins. Although it isn’t until the middle of the month when the tournament starts, there are plenty of conference tournaments deciding the fate of several teams on the cusp of receiving a ranking high enough to be selected. Even teams not making March Madness still find their way into the less popular event – the National Invitation Tournament.
The end of March and beginning of April is the time when sports fans are bombarded with action as March Madness is in full swing, professional basketball and hockey are still going strong and the baseball season starts up.
I’ve always found baseball to be a slow sport, especially when watching it on television, but I now appreciate it as a thinking game. The players in the infield and outfield and the runners on base are sort of pawns in a chess game between the pitcher and batter.
It is quite enthralling to see a runner in scoring position with two out and sweating it out as the pitcher has to either strike out the batter or force him to put the ball in play where a defenseman can get an easy out.
Another joy of April is that’s when the playoffs for basketball and hockey start. The Dallas Stars have shown they will be a force to be reckoned with and we can only hope the same for the Dallas Mavericks as they take us on a rollercoaster of emotions since losing the 2005-2006 NBA finals to Miami.
A sport some find boring but I recently learned to enjoy watching – or I should say re-learned to enjoy watching – is tennis. My friends and I took up the sport recently as a way to get some exercise and enjoy the night air at our local park. This isn’t my first foray into the world of tennis however. My mom used to watch tennis a lot when I was a kid and I remember having to suffer through the sport when all I really wanted was the television so I could watch a cartoon or play a video game.
With the Davis Cup being played out throughout the year, the quarterfinals were held this past weekend. The French Open is scheduled for May and June with Wimbledon following in June and July.
Golf fans can also get excited during the month of April because the Masters gets under way, giving everyone their first chance to see Tiger Woods attempt to dominate the field, which did not happen this year. As a true fan of many sports I spent much of my weekend wondering how Tiger was doing and who the leader was – due to being out of town camping I had no access to this information until Sunday. I spent the final day flipping between the Masters, the Texas Rangers and the Davis Cup Quarterfinals.
By the way, to the guy who says he is a golf fan but would rather go fishing or find something else to do if Tiger isn’t in the hunt on the final day of a tournament, that isn’t a real fan of the sport. That means you are a Tiger Woods fan, not a golf fan.
For those of you who complain about the absence of football this time of year, I say get over it and enjoy the surplus of sports that is offered. You are missing out on some seriously great action.
Following the first season I bought into this mentality that football reigned and everything else was filler until the preseason came around. My sports brain went into a comatose state until August when fantasy football talk started up again and the gridiron game was back in full swing. It’s funny how the people you call friends and rely on most for pertinent information regarding your personal life can be so horribly wrong.
There is so much to look forward to following the post-season of football, which I have fully taken advantage of this year.
The Super Bowl came and went on February 3 but that was not the end of sports as we know it for early 2008. By this time, basketball and hockey are in full swing with many fans starting to get an idea of what the playoffs will hold and a few teams wondering whether a post-season will present itself depending on how close the competition is in their conference – which has been compelling for the Western Conference.
March continues basketball and hockey action but sprinkles in college athletics as the NCAA Tournament – more appropriately known as March Madness – begins. Although it isn’t until the middle of the month when the tournament starts, there are plenty of conference tournaments deciding the fate of several teams on the cusp of receiving a ranking high enough to be selected. Even teams not making March Madness still find their way into the less popular event – the National Invitation Tournament.
The end of March and beginning of April is the time when sports fans are bombarded with action as March Madness is in full swing, professional basketball and hockey are still going strong and the baseball season starts up.
I’ve always found baseball to be a slow sport, especially when watching it on television, but I now appreciate it as a thinking game. The players in the infield and outfield and the runners on base are sort of pawns in a chess game between the pitcher and batter.
It is quite enthralling to see a runner in scoring position with two out and sweating it out as the pitcher has to either strike out the batter or force him to put the ball in play where a defenseman can get an easy out.
Another joy of April is that’s when the playoffs for basketball and hockey start. The Dallas Stars have shown they will be a force to be reckoned with and we can only hope the same for the Dallas Mavericks as they take us on a rollercoaster of emotions since losing the 2005-2006 NBA finals to Miami.
A sport some find boring but I recently learned to enjoy watching – or I should say re-learned to enjoy watching – is tennis. My friends and I took up the sport recently as a way to get some exercise and enjoy the night air at our local park. This isn’t my first foray into the world of tennis however. My mom used to watch tennis a lot when I was a kid and I remember having to suffer through the sport when all I really wanted was the television so I could watch a cartoon or play a video game.
With the Davis Cup being played out throughout the year, the quarterfinals were held this past weekend. The French Open is scheduled for May and June with Wimbledon following in June and July.
Golf fans can also get excited during the month of April because the Masters gets under way, giving everyone their first chance to see Tiger Woods attempt to dominate the field, which did not happen this year. As a true fan of many sports I spent much of my weekend wondering how Tiger was doing and who the leader was – due to being out of town camping I had no access to this information until Sunday. I spent the final day flipping between the Masters, the Texas Rangers and the Davis Cup Quarterfinals.
By the way, to the guy who says he is a golf fan but would rather go fishing or find something else to do if Tiger isn’t in the hunt on the final day of a tournament, that isn’t a real fan of the sport. That means you are a Tiger Woods fan, not a golf fan.
For those of you who complain about the absence of football this time of year, I say get over it and enjoy the surplus of sports that is offered. You are missing out on some seriously great action.
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