I DID IT! I officially crossed off one item from my turning 50 Bucket List.
Back in August, I wrote about the 4 things I wanted to accomplish before I turned 50!
(you can read the original article here).
I grew up in Florida in a community where everyone either played golf or tennis. I hated golf — so I dabbled in tennis with youth camps and fun stuff that my parents signed me up for. I never played for high school or anything like that. Just for fun.
My younger brother, Shane, on the other hand, was a tennis genius and at one time was ranked in the state as a pre-teen. My only experience with a tennis tournament was my living room TV or watching my brother from the sidelines.
Jump ahead 30 years and I decided to pick up a racquet again – this came after a visit to Florida to see my sister, Trista. She is a member of a Tennis club and has been playing as an adult for several years.
My bucket list item was to jump into the sport of tennis and to compete in a tennis tournament. So – in August I started taking regular lessons from a tennis pro and I started meeting new tennis friends.
After four months of being “serious” with my game — I signed up for a USTA tennis tournament here in Corpus Christi.
It was super scary and I literally cried on the drive to the courts. Why was I so nervous?
Well, many reasons – but the main one being I knew that I was going into this tournament to lose. I am not telling you this because I am phishing for compliments. I am being honest — I am very new to the sport, I have never played competitively in any sport, and before the tournament, I had only played 2 official tennis matches with points. But I needed this first tournament to help me gain the experience for more future competitions.
I did – in fact – lose the tournament. But, I learned a lot about myself and the sport. My game improved from just the first match to the second match of the tournament. I know what I need to work on before signing up for another tournament. And YES, there will be more — I am definitely hooked.
My biggest accomplishment from this brief tennis experience is the ladies I have met. There is a beautiful group of ladies that have taken me into their small circle. They not only let me learn from them — but they are full of encouragement and advice. Some of the ladies literally met me a month ago — and yet they are treating me like an original member of their tennis tribe.
You are never too old to start something new — no matter how scary it feels. And you might just make some cool new friends!
Stay tuned (yup, I’m that old – I still say tuned LOL) to the blog – for more check-offs from the turning 50 bucket list.
