Beach Tennis Post #1

We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.

-George Bernard Shaw

Let's just get this out of the way... this sport has become an unexpected obsession and I'll probably be referencing it way too much not to explain in detail right off the bat.  I have done a great job of not flooding social media with it but now that I have a private space that people choose to visit I can shove whatever I want to down your throat... so here it is!

First... here is a wonderful description of the basic rules and structure to get you started:

Next let's take a look at some of the best showing us how things SHOULD look:

How did I get into it?
My friend Matt was dragged into it in the summer of 2014.  He played for a bit and would mention that he learned this new cool sport down on the beach.  I honestly didn't think much of it as I was living in Hollywood at the time and was occupied by other activities and thought the only way I was going to be spending more time on the beach would be if I was surfing.  The location of the courts was Hermosa Beach which is not far away from Hollywood by MN standards (18 miles) but by the time one would drive and find a parking spot within reasonable distance it was a 1.5 hour ordeal to and from... on a Sunny Saturday... quite the commitment.  Nonetheless I made my way down some weekend in the fall of 2014 to give it a try.  Initially it was just a way of wasting a nice weekend afternoon drinking beer with my hockey teammates that Matt also convinced to come down.

Matt used to say that he wasn't that into the beach but understood the luxury we had living where we do so he was happy to discover a reason to spend time down on the beach.  I on the other hand have always felt the need to be by water so I'd be down at a beach anyway... I was just glad to have another activity to add to my repertoire when I was spending so much time there.

Over the course of a couple months, though, I really caught the bug and by December I was thinking about moving strictly to get more time on the courts.  February 1, 2015 I moved to Manhattan Beach and was now just a 3 mile bike ride or skateboard down The Strand to arrive at my new favorite pastime.  By May I was playing in my first organized tournament and by June I had already purchased airfare and lodging in Aruba for the much hyped Aruba International Beach Tennis Open.  This relationship was moving at a torrid pace.

How/Where did it originate? 
The how and where we got here as a sport is apparently a contentious subject and the truth is I don't really care about it that much.  It started somewhere in Europe post-WWII and eventually became a favorite sport of the Italians.  There is said to be over 1300 permanent BT courts in Italy which rivals the famous Beach Volleyball scene here in Southern California.  It is also thriving in Brazil and is the national sport of Aruba a small Caribbean island off the coast of South America. The sport apparently worked it's way to the US via a New Yorker following it's discovery while visiting Aruba in 2003.  The sport became officially sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation (ITF... the sanctioning body of tennis' 4 grand-slams) in 2008.  It was originally played in the US with tennis rackets until 2009 when the sport officially transitioned to the use of paddles as we use today in order to unify the world of beach tennis.  If you are interested in the history of the sport beyond these basics you should google it... and get a good laugh at how many differing stories exist.

Hermosa Beach, CA, USA
Thanks to the tireless work by Donny and Ginger Young and the Beach Tennis Association crew over the past number of years we have 10 permanent courts on LA county beaches. 3 in Santa Monica, 3 in Manhattan Beach and 4 in Hermosa Beach.

The busiest courts are by far and away Hermosa Beach, likely due to being the first permanent courts in SoCal.  On any Saturday or Sunday regulars start to straggle onto the courts with their beach chairs and paddles at about 1pm.  Some people show up earlier but most everybody stays until sunset.  The way that the weekend play is set up intrigues me.  Unless there is a tournament going on which is about once a month from May until September the courts are not reserved.  It seems to be a gentleman's rule that no court is to be played on twice by the same 2 teams unless there is nobody waiting.  In the case of people waiting (which is most weekends) the winning team of a set will decide to keep the court (King's court) or to completely switch out.  The types of match-ups are also all over the board.  People tend to know what level they are at and will only volunteer to be a part of match if they feel that they can compete.  Nobody tends to play with the same partner for the day unless they are specifically preparing for a tournament.  By the end of a Saturday I usually play between 4 and 8 sets of tennis with that number of different partners and equal amounts of men's only and mixed doubles matches.  The very serious players and professionals that train out of Hermosa Beach have a routine of showing up on Tuesdays in the afternoon to get more focused games with top level competition without having to feel bad about taking up the courts for too long.

Of note for me is that recently a pair of Brazilian beach tennis players moved to Los Angeles.  Paulo and Krishna are attempting to drum up more interest in the sport on the Santa Monica beaches.  I believe that I am very fortunate that they are getting things rolling about the same time that I moved into the West LA/Santa Monica part of town.  My attempt for the foreseeable future is to spend one day in Santa Monica to take lessons and help grow that crew into something that socially rivals Hermosa Beach and then spend at least one day every other weekend in Hermosa playing with that crew.

Aruba... 
From time to time during my first year playing I heard whispers of this tournament in Aruba.  I work in a department in which vacation time is very difficult to come by, especially on short notice, because of a prolonged staffing crisis.  I haven't had a warm weather vacation in years (yes, MN friends, I'm complaining about this) so when I found out that this tournament is during an off week in November and Matt's wife, Ivonne, was going to let us go on a guys trip I jumped all over it.

I had no idea what I was in for and I don't think I could ever do the experience justice by putting words on paper...

We were told to stay as close as possible to the tournament courts/stadium so we booked a condominium who's gates were about 400 ft. from center court.  From sun-up to sun-down we lived at the tournament.  The tournament itself runs from Monday morning through Sunday night.  Each day brings a new event and in each event there are 4 divisions.  In all there were 32 courts fully occupied all day.  Matt and I participated only in the advanced singles (Monday/Tuesday) and the intermediate doubles tournament (Fri/Sat/Sun).  With our time off in the middle of the week due to not knowing any women to play with during the team and mixed doubles tournament we spent a lot of time watching pro matches, walking to the grocery and consuming too many adult beverages.  One thing we did not do was anything touristy.  With over 1000 participating adults (from 25 countries), and barely any kids around except for the few local ones watching and playing in the kids division, the social atmosphere was something that I've never been a part of on that scale and I was happy to be caught up in it.  It's a funny thing to be on vacation for 8 days and not leave a 0.5 mile radius.  I hear Aruba is beautiful.  Maybe next year I'll find out...

What singles play looks like:

Where to next?
Hopefully your back yard.  Looking back at my time growing up in Buffalo I feel as though this would've been an enjoyable sport for the Kuzma and Meyer families to have supported instead of strictly volleyball.  I will forgive them for the sport not having existed at that time but I fully expect the next time I visit my hometown there will be some courts for me to play on!  Seriously, give it a try and then try to convince me it's not an easier sport to pick up and easier on your body than sand volleyball!

photo credit: Yiannis Toumazis

So I'm done writing this post and I have left so much out.  I'd love to talk more about it and probably will later in the year or any time we chat on the phone or in person.  I've discovered through reading ("Flow- the psychology of the optimal experience") and reflection that this new found love is less about the sport itself and more about what it does for my inner well-being.  From the time I was a young child I simply loved to play.  Specifically I loved to play sports.  To feel enjoyment there are aspects of my life that need to be acknowledged and addressed.  I need physical elements and techniques that can be mastered, I need to be able to win or lose, and I need to be exhausted at the end of the activity.  That part of me should never go away.  You, whoever you are, if you are a part of my life should never let me let it go.  Child like enthusiasm only disappears if we allow societal constraints to take hold.  Our inner child requires different elements depending on who we are and what we get enjoyment from.  So, think back to your childhood and the things that you loved and made you feel free.  Is it playing sports? Painting? Pottery?  Playing/learning instruments? Swimming?  Playing cards?  Why aren't you doing them now?  Easy question asked by a single guy living on a beach but I think it is still a very legitimate question to ask anyone of any age.  The happiest people in the world still "play" no matter their circumstances.  Only you know what play means to you.  Make play a priority.  I'll do my best to remind you.