The benefits of learning a new sport
Playing a sport requires so much investment not only as it relates to money but time too. Availability, as an adult with responsibilities and dependents, seems to be a foreign concept. Growing up, playing a sport always felt like a thing for those who only wanted to pursue it professionally or for retirees trying to stay engaged socially and physically. For people with lazy bones like myself, training to play a sport always seemed so rigid, possibly because of the discipline involved. Physical education was already enough torture in school why would anyone do this voluntary, I always thought. This year, however, I found myself somewhat forced to start learning tennis after my sister-in-law gifted both me and my husband tennis shoes (see what I mean by expensive?). I wasted a whole thought thinking that regular gym sneakers would suffice; they wouldn’t unless you were aiming for a twisted ankle. All July and August we trained twice a week, starting each of those days around 6 am. I scoffed at my husband every time the alarm went off and sometimes even tried to negotiate my way out of the day’s session. But after every session I felt better and particularly on those two days we both had better days. The mind was always clearer, we were more engaged with each other and needless to say, both a bit fitter from all the running. Here are a few benefits that stuck out for me:
Heightened concentration
Tennis isn’t like any other sport for me. It requires problem solving and demands that you think on your feet. It requires constant concentration, but not in the same way other sports do as you aren’t so dependent on team dynamics, which in the end leaves it all up to you unless you are playing doubles. On these particular days, I always anticipated that I would be more unproductive and tired but they were probably some of my most productive days. According to research done by Dr Charles Hillman, professor of kinesiology and community health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, “When compared to their less fit peers, those who engage in more physical activity have larger brain volumes in the basal ganglia and hippocampus, areas associated with cognitive control and memory. Cognitive control refers to the control of thought, action, behaviour, and decision-making.’’
Relationship bonding
Date nights at a restaurant are fabulous but tennis training together reveals a more vulnerable side, it breaks away from the mundane while neatly fixating you both on a joint goal. It also somehow feels more intentional probably because with tennis you are forced to face each other, observe and study the moves of your partner constantly.
Discipline
Maybe discipline was maintained because we were in a set package, so missing a day felt really bad but now I can safely say if it weren’t so, I would still go willingly. Like with any other sport, practice makes perfect (well in my case almost perfect). However, with tennis it feels somewhat trackable and highly motivating because you can gauge how well you are doing by observing how many balls were out of the court; the different results you get when you don’t complete the hit and the different results you get when you are positioned correctly for backhand as opposed to when you are not. It’s easy to become disciplined with tennis because the results are really dependent on your own individual efforts and seeing results really forces you to become more disciplined.
Perhaps sports is not your thing, but it can be if you are looking to build on the aforementioned point as there is much more to gain besides learning a new sport and if it’s any consolation the outfits are always fun.