Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Remember That Tennis Tournament?

The one that I was on the organizing committee for, where I was like, "How 'bout Tervis Tumblers for the winners," and the other girl was all, "No, let's give the winners crystal tennis balls"? The tournament was held last Monday. It was a storybook-gorgeous October morning. I had on a new tennis skirt. There were no crystal tennis balls.

At the Sharon Tennis Open
This is like Where's Waldo--can you see me?

Don't know what happened to that girl's Irish crystal hookup. But it was a lovely event. The idea of my entering a tennis tournament, a tournament where the main criterion for success is skill in playing tennis, is faintly hilarious, but we wound up needing all the committee members to enter the tournament to fill out the numbers for the round robin. And I was so glad I played! I only won one of my four rounds, but they fed me breakfast and lunch. A free lunch, I find, salves the sting of defeat somethin' considerable. Plus I got a gift bag and a t-shirt. HAPPINESS.

And I enjoyed my new skirt and got lots of compliments on it. MAIN THING.

One cool thing was that some of the matches were played on clay courts. I'd never stepped foot on a clay court before, and it's great. It's soft and crunchy, and it made me feel like I could slide into a full split if I needed to. A full split from which I'd never emerge.

You see, our poor podunk neighborhood has only four hard court tennis courts. Fancy Land, our neighboring 'hood, where the tournament was held, has eight hard courts and four clay courts. I must admit, I felt a twinge of tennis envy. More than a twinge. Wah! I want all those courts and I want a real on-staff tennis pro! I need these things to get my game to the next level! NEED.

I'm holding off on telling Matt that I want to move to a neighborhood with bigger and better tennis facilities. I don't think he will understand. But when I do bring it up, I'll be sure to tell you what he says.

Basically, I've caught the fever, and now a lot of my mental energy is spent scheming about how I can play more tennis and when I can play next. Our ALTA ladies doubles season is over. But did I tell you the awesome news? Matt agreed to play on the mixed doubles team with me. It is going to be so excellent! Actually we had practice tonight and it was really fun. Nighttime mixed doubles practice, I'm finding, requires more beer and lipstick than Thursday morning ladies' practice. It's a nice time, and most everyone is great. I will say, some people's husbands are kind of d-bags, you know? Just a few. But maybe that's ungenerous, I have a very, very low d-bag threshold.

I will keep you updated as our Season of Victory unfolds.

xoxo
B

7 comments:

Amy said...

I, too, have a very low d-bag threshold.

Way cute skirt!! You have the legs for it too, dang you. Did you ever think, back in your days of living in crunchy Northern California, that'd you be playing in a ladies-who-lunch suburban tennis team?? I love it! And you're right--all those ladies seem lovely.

Go, Beck! Move to Fancy Land so I can come stay in your bonus/media/gift wrapping room.

Elizabeth said...

It's so awesome that you are moving forward in your tennis skills AND posting every day.

It's going to be one hell of a month!

delaine said...

Great picture of all the Ladies Who Play Tennis and Do Lunch. I can barely see you there in the back, but you look great , new skirt and all. Sounds like a whole lot of tennis courts in Fancy Land. Must be a bunch of athletes there, huh? Some day I'd like to see you and Matt play in a tournament. Meanwhile, keep up the good work.

Kelly said...

That's a great color on you! Linc and I already agreed that our next move will be to a neighborhood with amazing tennis facilities. We're not even looking anywhere else. Lets hope that happens sooner than later because my current team disbanded :( We might as well just buy houses next door to each other...

Anonymous said...

lady in white on the left looks like she wanted a crytal ball. lady in hot pink/skort on right looks fun and like she'd prefer a beer.

Beth said...

Let me tell you something. I have discovered that, truly, there are more d-bags in the world than normal, cool guys. Especially amongst the athletic parents world. There's one guy at soccer who volunteers to coach every week (the littlest kids just have practices, there aren't any set teams or coaches). And he is truly a d-bag. He's always wearing this visor and some sort of beer tshirt and has no concept of communicating with 5 year olds. We call him Visor Dude. We're clever like that.

Aimee said...

My d-bag threshold is extremely low, too. I have to remove myself from their presence(s?).

And I hear you on the obsession! I'm that way with rowing now. The season's over, and I'm counting the weeks 'til February, when I can get on the water again. In the rain. And 30-something degree temps. WHAT is wrong with me????