Hello! Welcome to Tennis Life Lessons, a blog about my tennis journey and the lessons I have learned from the sport. In this blog, you will learn about the v...
A few days ago, I was researching about ways I could put some of my tennis experience to use as a coach. I'm starting to see that even if I don't make it as a tennis professional, I could take other paths and create new goals. It turns out there's a lot of free coaching knowledge out there! There are many sites that offer tennis coaching education to people who are interested in learning, and the…
I didn't realize it, but people actually missed me and my family a lot when we were away from the tennis courts. While I was taking a walk a few weeks ago, and we walked by the courts, one of the coaches recognized me when I waved hello. He said we ought to come back out more often and play! It was great to see the tennis folks again. Last week, we practiced again for the first time in a while,…
I haven't written here in a while, mainly because I haven't been playing as much tennis. I do want to get outside again, and the weather is finally getting better. But as I mentioned before, I won't be competing as much this year, because I have so many other interests and things I like to do. This year will be different for my tennis: I'm less focused on rankings and where I stand, and more…
Now we're in the new year! In winter, it's usually quiet where I am, because tennis is not really possible to do when it's too cold outside (I would like to go to indoor courts in winter, but they're too expensive right now). But I have some ideas for what I'd like to do as it warms up again, and I can start playing outside. My experience with ITF tournaments showed me how much effort is involved…
During my trip down south, I learned a lot from completing the tournaments and taking a chance to try something new. Throughout the journey, I dealt with my fears and doubts, including some sadness about past mistakes and challenges I've endured. But I realized that it's best to do what you can to overcome those setbacks, even if that means going out of your comfort zone and heading to a new…
Once we had to leave Hilton Head Island, I was rather sad. I knew I would miss it a lot. But I was also very curious about how Sumter would turn out. What was it like? I'd never been there before. Hilton Head was a pleasant and wonderful surprise, but I still wondered what Sumter would bring. It turned out that the area of Sumter we visited was very quiet. It wasn't as active as Hilton Head, which…
While I was at Hilton Head Island, I noticed a lot of things stood out about it. The first was that it is such a peaceful, relaxing place. Because you could be right by the ocean and beaches, it reminded me of the time I spent in Florida, where I was in a very quiet and serene spot. I found that being close to nature again was really helpful in quieting my mind and relaxing my spirit. There were…
Along the journey, I enjoyed gathering up brochures and little souvenirs to remind me of each place we went. Because we were traveling by car, we made a lot of stops to rest areas along the way. I always like going to rest areas, because they are full of so many trinkets! Some of the brochures I gathered showed different activities happening in each state. Pennsylvania has some beautiful…
Because the journey was a long and eventful one, I'm going to write about this experience in parts and tell you how I felt. I'll be honest about my observations, emotions, and what I've learned through it all. At first, I must admit I was nervous about heading down south to play in the ITF tournaments. I didn't know what could happen, and I knew it would be difficult for me to adjust to the sudden…
In the tennis world, one common theme is the challenge of tennis parents. By tennis parents, we're usually referring to parents who devote their whole lives to tennis, and who hope to train their children to become future champions. I myself have gone through some challenging experiences with my parents in the tennis world, and I wanted to write about this today, because it's a very common…