My early 20’s with Tennis
Do you play tennis or played it before? Even if you don’t know how to do it, you might know what it is. Tennis is a sport usually played between two players (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles).
Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt past a net into the opponent’s court.
When I was admitted to my university, I tried to find club something unusual and challenging for me. And tennis was my choice with soaring popularity in Korea by Lee Hyung-taek, who advanced to final 16 in US open 2000. He was really popular at that time.
Unlike other sports, tennis needs much longer time to learn even for the physically talented. Furthermore, it needs great stamina and mentality to play whole sets. So many students, especially pretty girls, stopped to learn in a few months. But I kept practicing. Playing and winning game needs patient and endurance. So even though opponents are much better in sports, you can beat them and vice versa. That point charmed me. But actually our club members and I don’t care about the results. We just enjoyed the games.
In every summer vacation, we had a special training in the scorching heat of summer. We learned skills and played games for about 7~8 hours a day. After playing we used to have shower and drink beer. After coming back home, I usually watched tennis match or played tennis game by PC. During semesters, I played every day even on the day before term exam. At that time I seem to have been crazy.
The Essay on Fair Play Means Using Sport to Make a Better World
To be successful in sport, you need to have the right attitude. Honesty, dignity, fair play, respect, teamwork, commitment and courage are essential to lead a memorable sporting performance. All of these indispensible values can be summed up in the term ‘fair play’. Through various sporting events, the values of fair play can be put into practice in order to help make the world a better place. ...
As the time goes, a lot of members left the club because of military, study, or their lovers. But there are always guys like me though not many. At last, my turn to leave came in. While serving for military, I couldn’t play it anymore. So I decided to spend a lot of time on tennis after my discharge. But when I came back to civilian, I have too many problems to solve in my life. Tennis was no longer my concern.
Finally, I withdrew from my club. I haven’t stopped playing, but have played it less than 10 times in the last 7 years. I can’t enjoy it anymore because of my busy schedule. Our company makes staffs have their own nick name for contacting colleagues overseas. So I choose Pete, which comes from Pete Sampras, the best tennis player ever. I hope time to play again would come sooner. But I’m worried that chance may not come before my retirement.
If you have enough free time and can stand heating sun, why don’t you play tennis?
