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August 25, 2003
For the love of the game
There's no greater curse in life than to be insanely competitive with mediocre skills. And unwilling to move out of your comfort zone for improvement. And mentally soft. So when The Dude inevitably beats Girl-E in tennis, the conversation with her Personal Sportsmanship Fairy invariably goes something like this:
E: It's totally not fair. I took lessons since I was eight and played varsity in high school. He just stepped on the court like 3 years ago with no clue, and still beats the crap out of me.
PSF: Well now, he doesn't have to beat the crap out of you, it's just that as soon as you miss a few points you get pissy and give up, leading to an inflated score gap. Remember you won that tournament in Istanbul, because you were so mentally committed to beating that nasty bitch.
E: Dude, whatever. It's just cuz he's faster and 7 inches taller.
PSF: Speed and height don't matter when you make unforced errors. But anyway, I'm sure your endurance and consistency would improve if you took lessons or found a variety of people to practice with. I mean, The Dude plays with his friend every other day. Your varsity coach always said you'd have had a better record if you practiced more.
E: What, like in my free time?
PSF: I know it takes some level of commitment, but you would enjoy yourself more and gain confidence.
E: Well I mean, I only have limited time, and I already go to the gym sometimes. Plus I'm going to start a Masters' swim team in a week.
PSF: Well that's great! Why have you chosen swimming?
E: Because I swam as a kid, and I love racing people, it's so much more exciting than just plain exercising.
PSF: Why did you stop then?
E: Because I peaked at nine.
PSF: And why is that?
E: Because it's too much work to get good. You have to get real tired, and who needs that.
PSF: So why did you keep doing it until you were 17?
E: Because I like competing.
PSF: But wasn't it frustrating to compete when everyone got better than you at a faster rate?
E: Yeah, it sucked. They were such little assholes, thought they were so hot.
PSF: Well if you had converted your competitive nature into motivation to push yourself to improvement, wouldn't it have sucked less?
E: Psh, whatever.
PSF: So are you just going to use the Masters' team for exercise then?
E: No, I told you, I love racing, I'm gonna get to a point where I can compete.
PSF: So you're committed to going to every practice and working hard?
E: Yeah, sure. I mean unless something comes up. Like if I make plans to go to dinner before karaoke or something. Swim practices are also on Tuesdays.
PSF: Um. Ok.
E: So yeah I can't wait to start. And I'm so gonna kick The Dude's ass next time we play tennis.
Posted by The Twins at August 25, 2003 10:35 PM
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