Doubles

It's my favorite way to play tennis; it forces you to adapt to not only the opponent's style of play, but also to someone who is on your side. Today was a reminder of the reward in earnestly observing to understand the style and adapting to that.

Stubbornly, I constantly attempted to lob the ball over their heads at the start of the match. Everytime it went just over the line; I was messing up the match for Prout and going nowhere fast. Kyle B, my doubles partner, was keeping us in the game by communicating with me during the match.

Communication is very important in doubles tennis. If you're playing at net, you can't see what yor partner is doing behind you, and your partner in the back has to hit back everything you can't get. Without communication, neither player really knows what the other will do, and you run a great risk of leaning your court wide open.

So I let Kyle do the talking before I started to speak up. I wasn't feeling particularly talkitive today, but once I was reminded of the importance of letting him know my intentions on the court, the reward was immediate.

"Back up!" "Get up front!" "I got it!"

I stopped lobbing, started playing aggressively, and moved with the constant flow of strategy and situational decisions. Our newly found understanding of each other brought us game, set, and match.

Tommorow, I shall work to make two victories in a row with the same mindset.