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From “Swinging Volleys” while keeping “eyes on ball” to “Shaping Forehands”...
Connecting the dots from “Swinging Volleys” while keeping “eyes on ball” to “Shaping Forehands”...all the while watching John Yandell's work of art of Roger Federer playing tennis or rather dancing with the tennis ball to the tune of Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On) by Alison Krauss.
"Some sunny day when everything seems ok...baby...!"
Life is a game in which we try to connect the dots. We try to give meaning to something that seems to be largely an accident...in the end. Life is a game where the object of the game is to learn the rules. Ferdinand Celine was a French writer in the early part of the last century. A couple of the books that he wrote were "Death on the Installment Plan" and "Journey to the End of the Night". It is dark humor that doesn't leave a lot of hope or wiggle room for mankind. Part of my fascination with Ferdinand is that our paths seem to cross now and again, metaphorically and literally speaking...much as his did with another character whom he named "Robinson" in his fictitious autobiographical novels. He developed a writing style where he used the three dot’s to express something of this nature of the human experience in his writing. Human’s don’t really think or express themselves with period’s and comma’s...much of the time their thoughts and expressions tend to run together as they make up their minds about how to connect the dot’s. Celine is my favorite author...of all time. He connected the dots in his journey to the end of the night...and gave us a map. Of sorts. To nowhere.
But anyways...as usual it was an amalgamation of things that got me to thinking more and more about tennis. How it is taught. How it is played. How it is written about. How it is perceived. About my experiences in the game. About others experiences with the game. These three current threads made me think...about the three dots. Everyone has their opinions and some are more definitive than others. Some are more adamant about their being right or correct. Some are more biased than others...as it was stevenmilla who suggested to me that my bias was getting the better of me in my perception of the "Gold Medal Match" between Roger Federer and Andy Murray. But in the end we are all trying to connect the dots...whether we know it or not. Whether we like it or not. To which I say...show me a man whose bias does not “get the better” of him and I will show you a man...who is not a man.
Connecting the dots. After every shot that is played by a tennis player or a golfer for that matter...the ball leaves the racquet or the club and is given a trajectory through the air. The components of this trajectory are basically altitude, speed and spin. Oops, there it is again...the three dots. See what I mean? The path of the ball is governed by the the manipulations of the racquet that are made up of specific synchronistic movements of the hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, body, hips, legs and feet. I will leave out the conceptualization of the shot in the mind for now. All of the movements are transmitted into the face of the racquet which in turn communicates all of the information into the ball.
For every shot big and small...I tell my students the path of the ball is 365 balls consecutive balls in a row and I ask them to imagine the path of the ball after it leaves the racquet. To demonstrate this I might hit three balls...one high and slow, one medium height and medium speed and one low and hard. I hit all three at the same target to demonstrate the uniqueness to every shot and the need to commit ones self to the trajectory or the path of the ball. 365 balls in a row for every shot. 365 days in a year. 365 days for the earth to make one trip around the sun. One year of following through on any given shot in order to master it. Metaphysics. Mystery abounds in the concept of the “shot”. Challenging human beings to their very core to gain control of their shots...and of their lives for that matter. The path of their existence.
"Some sunny day when everything seems ok...baby...!"
Life is a game in which we try to connect the dots. We try to give meaning to something that seems to be largely an accident...in the end. Life is a game where the object of the game is to learn the rules. Ferdinand Celine was a French writer in the early part of the last century. A couple of the books that he wrote were "Death on the Installment Plan" and "Journey to the End of the Night". It is dark humor that doesn't leave a lot of hope or wiggle room for mankind. Part of my fascination with Ferdinand is that our paths seem to cross now and again, metaphorically and literally speaking...much as his did with another character whom he named "Robinson" in his fictitious autobiographical novels. He developed a writing style where he used the three dot’s to express something of this nature of the human experience in his writing. Human’s don’t really think or express themselves with period’s and comma’s...much of the time their thoughts and expressions tend to run together as they make up their minds about how to connect the dot’s. Celine is my favorite author...of all time. He connected the dots in his journey to the end of the night...and gave us a map. Of sorts. To nowhere.
But anyways...as usual it was an amalgamation of things that got me to thinking more and more about tennis. How it is taught. How it is played. How it is written about. How it is perceived. About my experiences in the game. About others experiences with the game. These three current threads made me think...about the three dots. Everyone has their opinions and some are more definitive than others. Some are more adamant about their being right or correct. Some are more biased than others...as it was stevenmilla who suggested to me that my bias was getting the better of me in my perception of the "Gold Medal Match" between Roger Federer and Andy Murray. But in the end we are all trying to connect the dots...whether we know it or not. Whether we like it or not. To which I say...show me a man whose bias does not “get the better” of him and I will show you a man...who is not a man.
Connecting the dots. After every shot that is played by a tennis player or a golfer for that matter...the ball leaves the racquet or the club and is given a trajectory through the air. The components of this trajectory are basically altitude, speed and spin. Oops, there it is again...the three dots. See what I mean? The path of the ball is governed by the the manipulations of the racquet that are made up of specific synchronistic movements of the hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, body, hips, legs and feet. I will leave out the conceptualization of the shot in the mind for now. All of the movements are transmitted into the face of the racquet which in turn communicates all of the information into the ball.
For every shot big and small...I tell my students the path of the ball is 365 balls consecutive balls in a row and I ask them to imagine the path of the ball after it leaves the racquet. To demonstrate this I might hit three balls...one high and slow, one medium height and medium speed and one low and hard. I hit all three at the same target to demonstrate the uniqueness to every shot and the need to commit ones self to the trajectory or the path of the ball. 365 balls in a row for every shot. 365 days in a year. 365 days for the earth to make one trip around the sun. One year of following through on any given shot in order to master it. Metaphysics. Mystery abounds in the concept of the “shot”. Challenging human beings to their very core to gain control of their shots...and of their lives for that matter. The path of their existence.
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