Playing Tennis
Some time ago, Steven and I realized that we weren't in as good shape as we would like to be. We had less energy than we used to: running any distance made us feel as though our lungs were going to burst, and it didn't take much exertion to leave us with sore and aching muscles. We resolved to do something to remedy the situation. Steven began jogging during his lunch break at work and exercising with other members of the Elders' Quorum on Saturday mornings. I started doing Pilates and other exercises in the mornings, as well as counting desserts (much to Hannah's frustration).
In discussions about what else we could do, it occurred to us that it might be fun to start playing tennis. We looked for tennis racquets at thrift stores, and even found one old wooden one, but finally, this last Saturday, we went to Wal-Mart and bought a couple for $10-$15 each, along with a bag of tennis balls. Last night, John chose to play tennis for our FHE activity, so we piled into the car and drove to a park a couple miles away that has two tennis courts completely enclosed by high fences.
We had six people - none of which had much experience or skill playing tennis, three tennis racquets, and a dozen fuzzy green balls. We had a blast! We took turns with the racquets - playing two-on-one, or one-on-one with someone tossing balls for the person with the third racquet to practicing his swing. Those without a racquet retrieved the balls that went flying and rolling all over the courts, occasionally even soaring over the high fences. We laughed as balls flew over our heads, we cheered when a serve was returned. We counted each time the ball crossed the net in a rally - Hannah and John got up to 5, and Steven and I made it to 15 before the ball went wild and landed outside the court. We smiled to watch Peter swing at the balls, holding his racquet like a baseball bat. We were grateful for Josh's willingness to walk around the outside perimeter of the enclosure and even climb fences to retrieve balls that had escaped.
We played for an hour and a half, and even then none of the kids really wanted to go, they were having so much fun. On the drive home, we talked about how we could walk to the tennis courts at the high school to play during the week. This was definitely a fun activity, and I hope that we will continue to play, and improve our skills, and enjoy exercising as a family in the future.
In discussions about what else we could do, it occurred to us that it might be fun to start playing tennis. We looked for tennis racquets at thrift stores, and even found one old wooden one, but finally, this last Saturday, we went to Wal-Mart and bought a couple for $10-$15 each, along with a bag of tennis balls. Last night, John chose to play tennis for our FHE activity, so we piled into the car and drove to a park a couple miles away that has two tennis courts completely enclosed by high fences.
We had six people - none of which had much experience or skill playing tennis, three tennis racquets, and a dozen fuzzy green balls. We had a blast! We took turns with the racquets - playing two-on-one, or one-on-one with someone tossing balls for the person with the third racquet to practicing his swing. Those without a racquet retrieved the balls that went flying and rolling all over the courts, occasionally even soaring over the high fences. We laughed as balls flew over our heads, we cheered when a serve was returned. We counted each time the ball crossed the net in a rally - Hannah and John got up to 5, and Steven and I made it to 15 before the ball went wild and landed outside the court. We smiled to watch Peter swing at the balls, holding his racquet like a baseball bat. We were grateful for Josh's willingness to walk around the outside perimeter of the enclosure and even climb fences to retrieve balls that had escaped.We played for an hour and a half, and even then none of the kids really wanted to go, they were having so much fun. On the drive home, we talked about how we could walk to the tennis courts at the high school to play during the week. This was definitely a fun activity, and I hope that we will continue to play, and improve our skills, and enjoy exercising as a family in the future.
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