Thanks for the honesty!

I just got back from tennis tonight at Vancouver Tennis Center, and had an absolutely great time for a number of reasons. First and foremost I played a couple of sets against a very good player. After the match we talked for a while and he spent a great deal of time diagnosing my game. He watched my set before I played him, so he got a good share of points to base his thoughts on. He was so brutally honest I had no choice but to respect his word. I truly hate coming off a court and hearing people throw compliment after compliment out. In this world we all know what we are good at, however we often are not aware of the flip side. Most tennis players don't seem to receptive to the mentioning of their weaknesses, however we are very quick to jump all over and exploit them while on the court. One of my major weaknesses in doubles is the backhand return on the deuce side. If you serve it 90mph or higher I have no problem at all, however if you take a good deal of speed off it and have a good volleyer at the net it gives me fits. I have a problem with to much time to choose how to play the point. It is easy to compensate for in singles, but you have too many factors in doubles. I am working on this every time I play. The absolute worst part of tennis is when someone figures out your weakness and proceeds to walk all over you because of it. Often in life you can dodge your weaknesses by simply going around it. How many times have you walked a little farther because you didn't want to attempt a parallel park, or by taking a different class instead of speech, just so you wouldn't have to speak in front of a class. The problem in tennis is there are no easy outs to hide a weakness. Good players will exploit it and if you are not careful they will take your confidence with them. He didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, however it was great hearing it from someone else. It turns out he is a elementary school principal, so I'm sure he is use to being blunt. Anyway I always appreciate it. The other highlight was getting to play mixed doubles with a lady who is an absolute sweetheart, but has zero intensity on the court. It is all about fun for her and it's nice to take a step back every once in a while and just play the game for what it is. However I detest doing so with any other partner in the world. To make the night even better I stopped off and got a burrito from my favorite 24hour shack in Vancouver and they even left the salsa fresca off it. I ask every time, but I am really only going through the motions because I know it will be in there anyways. And finally when I got home I cracked open a new beer and it is really good. Naughty Nellies Ale by Pike Brewing Co. in Seattle. The night could not be any better unless I could get this clock to slow down a bit. I have to be up early, but I don't want the night to end.