October 16, 2005
Tennis
Timothee and I hit the tennis ball around for half an hour this morning. The court we used in Barraux has suffered from erosion, but it was good enough for us. Tim has more control than last time we played. There was less time spent chasing the ball. On a few occasions we even managed to get a short volley going.
Nathalie showed up with the girls after stopping by the bakery. Emma and Diane were wearing their long skirts, but still wanted to try. Emma's not quite to the point where she can hit the ball. She did manage to hit it over the net a couple of times. Diane's not quite to the point where she can figure out what she's trying to do.
Nathalie tried a few volleys with Tim. He has been practicing in the garage. It's not clear whether his serve has gotten as much attention as his imagination. He sees himself standing way back, slamming an ace past you as you struggle to keep up. The frustrating part of sports is how it makes so little sense to apply great force until you have great control.
Posted by Mark at October 16, 2005 11:41 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://mcraig.org/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/916
Comments
You are right about that force before control doesn't really work. Tim tried that with the darts also. Maybe needs some zen work. I guess he thinks that Jedi knighthood is all about fighting.
Posted by: Teena at October 16, 2005 12:52 PM
Bashing things to smithereens is what you first want to be able to do when you don't have any power or control, even over your own situation.
I'd try to do better than that with him at tennis, but part of it for him is just letting off steam. He also plays table tennis on Wednesdays. There I think they're teaching him to do it right. Very tiring for him according to Nathalie.
Posted by: Mark at October 16, 2005 01:26 PM
I guess that's why I liked squash: you cannot hit the ball gently. Then again, maybe that's why I never really progressed beyond faux-debutant, but o-so-good for burning off some testosterone.
Posted by: Andy at October 18, 2005 02:27 AM