Throughout my life, I have been encouraged to participate in some kind of sport. When I was in elementary school, it was to keep me active and channel the boundless energy of childhood into something productive.
When I was in middle school, it was to get me involved with a community of my peers and develop natural social skills. When I was in high school, it was to boost my resume and chances of being accepted at my dream college.
Now that I'm approaching my second year as a college student, I have started to realize that I am slowly letting go of the one sport that has always played a huge role in my life: tennis.
Living in such a town as Pinehurst, North Carolina, I was bound to end up trying one of two popular sports, tennis or golf. Since golf will always bore me (Apologies to any golf fans, this is just my personal opinion!) and I do not have nearly the connection to the golf world that I do with the tennis world, picking up a tennis racquet seemed to be the most logical option. Starting in the sixth grade, that was exactly what I did.
Like most people in Moore county, I got my start with the local high school coach. He helped the best players in the area get started, he helped my dad get started, and he helped me get started.
From the start, it was obvious that this would not be an easy sport to take on. Playing this sport with a competitive vigor, like any other sport, requires a lot of technical and physical work. The middle school season and the high school women's seasons both fall during the heat of the southern summers, marking them treacherous and undesirable to most.
Despite this, I began to take on weekly clinics. Playing games and running drills to learn the ropes was a process that was both arduous and enjoyable, even in the 100-degree weather. Sure, some days I wanted to go home and jump in a bucket of ice until every inch of my skin turned blue, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I put in 4-6 hours a day, 6-7 days a week, during my high school summers. Tennis taught me that in order to be successful, you had to have drive, passion, and patience. These summers not only developed my skills as a player, but my skills as an athlete, a leader, and a friend. To this day, I use these lessons in my daily life and treasure the friendships I have made through my efforts.
In my senior season, our team made a mission of becoming the Dual Team State Champions. Realizing what this would mean for training off of the court as well as on, I began to encourage my teammates to participate in strength training sessions in the school's weight room. Combined with a sense of determination, on-court effort, and teamwork, we reached the finals and experienced the crushing blow of loss following all of our hard work.
But we learned how to work as a team, how to make one dream happen for a group of people by supporting one another.
Now that I am older, I have let go of my first love. I have let go of tennis.
In the first month or so of my freshman year at High Point, I tried to get involved with the Club Tennis team. After a while, it became clear that it wasn't really my "thing" anymore. I found myself bored and dreaded attending practices. What I wanted to do, more often than not, was channel my energy through strength workouts.
This is how I found a new love in powerlifting.
Joining the powerlifting team came as a shock to the few people back home that I let in on this "secret." Letting people know that I "gave up" on tennis still brings a sense of shame to this day. I don't know why, it's my decision and I am sticking to it, but I sometimes still feel like this comes as a disappointment. After all, I was a part of an "almost championship team."
But, like I said, I don't regret the decision to let go of tennis in college.
It's not that I got burnt out, it's not that I felt the need to "break up" with my high school self. I let go of tennis because I simply didn't want to play anymore.
Making this decision was not an immediate process, either. It took a lot of consideration and several long conversations with my friends and my parents. Ultimately, I decided to make the switch from tennis to powerlifting, and I wouldn't change this decision for the world.
However, letting go of the sport itself does not mean I let go of the things it taught me.
To this day, I remind myself that nothing is accomplished without hard work, dedication, and an undying passion for something you love. I may channel this into my schoolwork and writing, as well as my powerlifting workouts now, but that doesn't make them any less important in my life. Camaraderie, teamwork, and passion still fuel the things I enjoy in my new everyday life.
Sometimes I still feel ashamed to tell people that I haven't stepped foot on a tennis court since October of 2016, but that doesn't change my decision at all. I am glad I have decided to let go of this stage of my life. It was important for my development, but there comes a time to let go and move on from some of life's stages. For me, tennis just so happened to be the first of many.
Who knows what life will bring for me in the upcoming years. Perhaps I'll pick up tennis again. Perhaps I'll break records for powerlifting. Perhaps I'll let go of that too. Nothing in life is ever certain and we can never know if we are making the right decision at the moment.
The best thing we as humans can do is follow our passions and trust that everything will turn out just fine in the end.
