Break pointing

Tennis practice for the Sports Carnival went terribly for me yesterday.

I was and--at the time of writing this post--am out of touch. My touches and strokes deserted me.

After about an hour of playing--my colleague Azmyl had booked the court for three hours--I stopped. My arms felt stiff.

I hope that this is only a temporary thing since my arms are still hurting from the two days of volleyball. I could feel the strain coming on midway through the practice. In all fairness, maybe the poor showing could also be attributed to the long time away from the game. I had not played tennis since early last year during the Mass Comm Club's retreat to PD with the previous college.

So Azmyl came over to where I was sitting to finalise the team. He confirmed I was in the team but up to that point I still wasn't so certain. I said put me as a reserve player. I don't mind playing a supporting role seeing that I was quite rusty while the other guys were better prepared than I was. Until then, I guess I have to give it another shot on Monday to see how. If the team doesn't have any better players until then, I'll stay as a reserve; if the team does, then I'll step aside. Sometimes we gotta be secure enough to learn and know when to step back instead of pushing for our own selfish whims and fancies and then screwing up our medal opportunity and total point tally. Playing to stroke around and to get some exercise is one thing but, with medals and points at stake, it's a totally different ballgame and the rules are different.

On the lighter note, I thought Ms Sophia and Ms Aidora played impressively. It was Ms Aidora's first time playing--so fair play to her. For someone who knows sports like her, I wasn't surprised at her abilities at all, but nonetheless still impressed. As for Ms Sophia, I was told her father was a state player during his heydays and that she was personally coached by him when she was in school. Her strokes are there but probably rusty like me too.

I left early because my arms were starting to hurt and also for a birthday which will be talked about in the next post.

Until then, I am still waiting for my sparks of brilliance.

Hopefully, it'll be around the corner.