Beach Tennis Post #2: Switch Hitting

My birthday blog... done in an hour while drinking a flight of gluten free beer in Portland.  #lifeisrough

"Goals are important.  Forbearance is also important.  But the very process of struggle is equally essential... Without it we cannot know any true meaning in our accomplishments."

-Deng Ming-Dao

This winter I started taking beach tennis lessons.  Thanks to Paulo and Krishna (my teachers/friends) I have had waves of breakthroughs and setbacks as I continue to learn more about this new game.  As with anything in life there is no actual "right way" to play (within a certain set of rules, of course) but there are definitely more effective and better ways to play.  Even more important is self-awareness in your own strengths and those of your partner so that the style of play you lean towards most effectively translates to success.  These lessons have helped me learn much more about the game as a spectator as well as player.  Watching a point now I feel that I am able to analyze and determine chances and percentages of success for certain shots based on player tendencies.  When I started playing, due to my reaction time, quickness, hand-eye coordination, and ability to read the court I developed a very defensive style of play.  If I was ever successful in a point or match it was because I would wear the opponent down and either force them into an unforced error because they grew impatient or put them into a position where they popped a ball too high into the air which allowed my partner to be aggressive/offensive and finish off the point with ease.  Here's an example of what I cannot do with my right hand (Beach Tennis Overheads).  I was/am what you would refer to as a grinder... ain't no shame in the game, as they say (do they?).  This style worked well but I felt my game had reached a plateau with no chance of improving.  Why not, you ask?  Because I was using my right hand to play, the hand I learned to play ping-pong with.  I spike a volleyball and throw footballs with my left hand.  I swing a bat and golf left-handed, play real tennis right-handed so that my backhand ground stroke is on the same side of my body as when I hit a baseball.  So... I'm a very confused racket sport athlete.

Why I picked up a beach tennis paddle with my right hand I'll never know.  I guess at the beginning it was easier to volley with and I had no perspective on how much I would need to use the overhead smash skill as I got to a higher level.  Also, I didn't think through if it would be easier to develop defense, blocking a ball smashed at your midsection, with my left hand (think of it as learning to play ping-pong with your opposite hand) or develop an overhead with my right (think of this skill as learning to throw a ball with your opposite hand).  Which would be easier for you?

Over the winter I trained and trained... and trained my right-handed overhead smash.  No matter how hard I worked I felt completely inadequate with my right hand.  Teams that were familiar with playing against me kept picking on me by lobbing the ball high in the air to force me to take a specific shot that I was not comfortable with and this became frustrating for me as well as my partners, I'm sure.  It was most frustrating to me because I knew how comfortable I was with overhead smashes if I could be using my left hand.

About a month and a half ago I reached a breaking point.  I spent an evening playing singles matches against Matt and as usual I couldn't take a single set from him.  He knows my game best as he is the person I partner with for doubles and also play the most singles matches against.  Over the past year we have played countless singles matches and I'm embarrassed to admit that I've never beat him.  We have played enough times and are at a reasonably similar level of play that it's mind boggling to me that not once have I gotten lucky or caught him on an off day.  I don't even need those things to happen, I really at some point should have beaten him, but it just hasn't happened, okay!?!  Well, anyway, after this last round of losses and a frustrating offensive showing for me in our previous tournament I was up late at night watching TV thinking about my lesson the following day and came to an epiphany... I am going to throw away the last year and half of training and switch to my left hand so that I can change my game from a defensive one to one completely dependent on my ability to be aggressive and smash the ball.  Yes, that's right, I lost sleep over this decision.

When I showed up to my next lesson and broke the news to Paulo and Krishna they didn't seem too excited, and why would they be?  Completely changing hands is crazy.  I think within the first half lesson, though, they saw my natural overhead motion and at least saw the potential to develop a game with my left hand... and they were probably also very happy to be moving beyond the incessant ambidextrous blabber that I was constantly subjecting them to.  Now my weaknesses have become my strengths and my strengths have become my weaknesses.  Once again I feel like a beginner and see a long road ahead of me until I return to the level that I felt like I was at... the exciting thing for me right now, though, is that the level I was at before no longer looks like a ceiling to me.  I am beyond happy right now to be learning, making new goals, and enjoying the process of struggling, opening myself up to failure and the satisfaction of true achievement.

...So yeah, I just posted that random thought publicly... and you read the whole thing!  As I reflect on what I just wrote I am having a hard time dealing with how I actually feel about it... not whether I'm lefty or righty, but that I took the time to sit down and write about it!  Should I be super depressed because I seemingly don't have other "more important" things to worry or waste my mental energy on.  Or, is it extremely awesome that this is what my life looks like at the moment!?!  Either way, it's what's happening with me.  How are you?