Learning Through Experience - A Two Hour Match!
Well, I did my first competitive match of the year near the end of June. It turned out well! Although I didn't win, it was a ton of fun, and I actually played a guy I'd competed against in the past (because I played a UTR, or Universal Tennis Rating event, I can play against men or women - or sometimes kids!).
In the time span between when we played each other last time, my Dad noticed that my opponent actually improved in a lot of areas, and so did I! That made the match a very challenging one. Like our last match, we went all the way to the final tiebreak. The match was nearly two hours! I was pretty tired and sore afterwards, but other than that, I actually didn't feel too bad near the end. The endurance work and running I did before competition definitely helped me to keep my strength!
I learned a lot through the experience of playing that tennis match. One of the things I learned was that although I have a great strength in my power (I can make it tough for guys to return the ball out there!), I have to learn how to tame it. Sometimes, especially when I'm excited in a tennis match, I'll blast the ball out of the court. The good part was that as I realized I needed to calm down the pace a bit, I started winning more points and improving my accuracy. I also got some helpful advice from my opponent about including more spin on my shots to help them drop in, and so I'll remember to practice that technique in the future.
Another thing I learned was that I can handle long matches. Although I was pretty tired near the end, I didn't feel completely exhausted or drained. I was able to stay fairly strong, and as I increase my fitness training, this endurance aspect of my tennis will improve even more.
Finally, reminding myself that this is my first match after a winter away from tennis made the experience more fun. I didn't put too much pressure on myself, and I decided to just enjoy the experience. It was a great match to play! My opponent and I had a lot of fun, and we enjoyed playing with each other.
I felt happy with myself after the tennis match was over. It didn't really matter to me too much about whether I won or lost that day. What matters is that I'm doing the right things to develop my tennis and make it a fun challenge for anyone who competes against me. As long as I continue to do this, I'll be on the right path.
Those were the lessons I learned from this tennis match! I'm starting to see I can apply this "learning through experience" kind of mindset to other areas of my life, too. When I'm studying in college or figuring out how to do something new, I can learn from past experiences and not let mistakes or mishaps completely unsettle me. This can help me manage my life and prevent the challenges from upsetting me too much.