In five years of writing on this Blog I have come to the conclusion that I do it for two reasons, frustration and to let the build up thoughts of a life time of tennis out into the open. I don't really care if no one reads this site. Sometimes I write, I read it, I feel better, I sleep better.
Not sure how or why but some people have found this site and they regularly read it. Someone told me once that certain 'people' are just waiting for an opportunity to sue me as I have apparently pissed 'em off with the content over the years.
Good luck, I don't own any assets, 'bout $25 in my bank account and an old car that still goes, just. Speaking of which, did anyone read my posts on my old coach 'Holmsey' ( Pete ) who I wrote in detail about quite some time ago ? Now there was a man who typified what I wrote just the other day in regards to simply being a good tennis coach and probably an even better tennis player.
Holmsey drove an old Ford that didn't own a working fuel gauge or speedometer, he simply guessed, classic stuff. That's who I learned from. No glossy stuff, Facebook of course was not even thought of back then but Pete's ability to sneak around town in a vehicle that looked like a farm yard knock around wagon yet bring nothing but brilliance to a tennis coaching program was nothing short of humbling.
Was it a deliberate ploy ? I doubt it, it was just who Pete was, he would rock up to the local tennis club in the old beast, start talking tennis and you would be mesmerised by his knowledge.
It wasn't just confined to how to hit a ball but he owned a tactical mind which he was happy to share and he always had a word or two to say about the World game.
Most of the time he would say something that you would digest for a moment then think to yourself, 'This guy really is a genius'.
That's who I learned from, a guy who no one could beat locally, he was simply unbeatable. I didn't beat him in a local competition until I was 28, Pete was 40, let's be realistic here.
I didn't beat him once in doubles. He was a tactician in the two on two, he could win with my Dad and Dad never played tennis.
( Funny story, Dad was a golfer, the town's best, off a 2 handicap. Pete and Dad once won a local Golf Championship together. Pete could win doubles at any sport ).
So I suppose it's fair to say that we learn from the people who teach us things in life, not just how to play a sport but how to act. If Pete was a Facebook Tennis Coach I honestly don't think he would have gained the respect that he commanded.
That's the difference in generations in this sport. As I have explained in great detail in Part 1 of this chapter, the coaches from days gone by could actually play tennis, they weren't scared to lose, they were more frightened of what their students would think if they went missing on game day.
If you coached, you played, simple. That's what I learned from Pete.
I am not sure how many posts that I have published on this site over the last five years however I think it's around 1000, give or take 50 or so. I have many more posts that I have written but put them through as a draft rather than publish them as that Lawyer may just have found a reason to try to take my car off me plus my $25 in loose change.
So has the Blog helped me at all ? A little, though I still find things to write about because tennis keeps dishing up new stories every day and Facebook Tennis Coaches keep offering me entertaining dialogue on a daily and weekly basis that I feel compelled to write about.
Do I consider myself 'normal' ? Well it depends on how you look at it. I have always stated to the ones closest to me that even from a young age I felt I was 'a little different'. Not sure if I was ever dropped on my head as a child but it may explain a lot if I was.
The thing is this, if I hadn't chosen tennis as a kid it would not have shaped me into the person I am today which I can't really describe precisely but tennis gave me a view on life that at one stage I despised, but then I embraced it. Why ? Because tennis is like surfing, a way of life, a search for THAT wave, it's a mind set, a way of looking at life through a sport.
If I became a Real Estate Agent I may not have developed my strange mind. Selling houses to me does not offer much in the way of brain stimulation. That's the thing with tennis, it stimulates the brain because it makes you think.
You can't play or teach tennis without your mind ticking over a hundred miles per hour as to what you can do to fix a problem.
Locally quite a few people don't appreciate either what I do, what I say or the fact that I even breathe, once again, tell someone who gives a shit. I am who I am because tennis made me that way. I am argumentative. Is that not what tennis is ? Always. It has always been an argument, one that will only be resolved with the best answers.
When I write on this site I look for answers, to my past, my present, my future. I still play, I still coach, I will continue to write, I will keep on searching for that 'perfect wave'........
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