Weekly RyView 005

Things have been good and busy. This week particular was wildly hot - a heat wave through Europe that is hopefully breaking tonight (Saturday). In the true spirit of optimism, I have gotten a lot of work done this - I found a Pret that has A/C so every afternoon has been spent there (hey, I’m writing from there right now!).

FRENCH OPEN

Last week, I had the privilege of going to the French Open, which is the BEST. As a Tennis nerd, I love going to qualifying and getting to see a bunch of random players I would otherwise not see. The highlight was finally seeing Bianca Andreescu play (and win!). She was the last current Canadian that I havent’ seen live, so it was a delight. She ended up playing a young French girl on the big stadium and it was a weird experience to be one of, what felt like, 5 Canadians cheering amongst 10,000 French people.

It’s my second time going to the French, the first being two years ago. I found this year to be wildly busy, I’m not sure why. Two years ago, I could very easily find a seat on outside courts for anyone. There was quite a few rain delays this year and to get through the crowd was a claustrophobics nightmare.

The service and people working were absolutely excellent, truly to the point I thought I was being punked. The stereotype of French people being… unwelcoming… can often be true, and they make fun of fake, American “service”. I found the staff at the French to be of American standards but genuine… wild combination! I was slobbing on a giant soft serve ice cream cone, finding a seat on Court 14 and a random security guard said “Bon Appetit” - I almost fainted soft serve first.

When I went to the French two years, I remember just downing their little Americano’s one after another. Most tournaments I have been to - the Aus Open, the Paris Masters, the French - always have reusable little cups and then when you return them, you usually get a dollar or a euro back. The first thing I saw and sought out this year was the coffee booths, of course. It was sponsored by Lavazza, the Italian coffee machine company, so I thought I was in luck for hopefully a coffee with milk this year. I read the menu at the first Lavazza booth to discover they have lattes, jackpot, but with the world’s most random shit. Two lattes - each with a flavoured syrup (atypical for Europe, but sure) and then each with a flavoured whip cream on top (ok, you’ve lost). Any coffee with milk was 6 euro 50 (steep, about $10CAD) for the glass size up from a reusable shot glass. When I went to return my cup, there wasn’t a recycling fee! So the drinks were genuinely 6.50, no refund. Did I end the two days with 6 reusable cups at my house? Yes, because I paid for them.

But in truth, I love love love going to Tennis events. There is a faction of tennis fans that are truly insufferable (I see myself them in at points, I know!), but the grounds always have something fun and interesting happening, tons of different matches and countries to watch - it is an experience from top to bottom.

TRAINING

Training has overall been going quite well. There is certainly a pressure off knowing the season is over. As part of Workout to Conquer Cancer , I have been really working on my cardio and have noticed how much more power and endurance my legs have had at training. Here are a few clips:

My tolerance in the heat is truly… zero. So this week has been a bit of a struggle.

SAFE SPORT

I wrote a little piece a couple weeks ago about the aftermath of when bad people are banned from sport (I put it into it’s own article HERE ), and this week the public got the final results from an investigation of someone I knew decently well, who I trained and competed with and was around my age.

One additional thing I want to say on this is that our generation/my generation is obviously not the one the where these abuses stop - as proven by several cases in the last few cases, but particularly in this one. The last thing I want to say on this for the time is the need for louder advocacy again. When I was apart of Gymnasts for Change Canada, it felt the pendulum was swinging in the direction of genuinely safer sport. Now the pendulum feels like it’s swinging back - and the antidote to this backsliding, I have always found, is louder advocacy. I have a couple ideas and projects in the works that will hopefully address this, but just a general note to the world - advocacy comes in many shapes, forms, people and voices, and to never underestimate the impact of doing the right thing in the moment, regardless of how inconsequential it might feel.

JOY TOLERANCE

I read the most interesting article the other day, Nothing is more powerful than admitting what you want , that I went back to re-read every day for four days. The part that really stuck out to me is this idea of joy tolerance. I, for one, can say I very much connect or identify with a struggle, and find much more comfort in struggling, in chaos or in crisis - I very much feel like I can handle it. On the other hand, when things are going exceptionally well, I find it hard to stay present and connected then - I often catastrophize. My intention this past week has been trying to find that extra one percent of joy in these moments and work on really staying with that feeling, instead of immediately running through the endless list of things that could, should or might go wrong. It’s been a really interesting exercise.

WORKOUT TO CONQUER CANCER

It’s the last week of Workout to Conquer Cancer. I am very proud of the work I put in this year - it’s been really nice to find some joy in working out outside of training. All of the proceeds go to the wonderful BC Cancer, who were tremendously helpful and support of our friend Tamara. If you would like to learn more or support the cause, HERE is the link.

TTYS,

RS