I started playing tennis again recently.  I didn’t really start playing tennis until around 10 years ago when I lived in the burbs.  Then I moved into the city and took lessons for a while, but the classes I knew about were pretty easy and I didn’t have anyone near my level to play so I stopped going.  Then a friend mentioned that she was taking lessons and I was all like “I should do that too!”  So I did.

We joined a level three class which went only for a month and the first two classes were embarrassing at how much I had forgotten, but I quickly got back into the groove after that and settled in nicely.  But then, due to the weird vagaries of the park district, there was a month off before the next class started and the next class was two months long.  Despite the fact that I signed up only a day after registration started, the level three class was full so I figured I would just try the level four class.

The level four class is kicking my ass.  Two weeks in and I’ve gotten a blister on my thumb in different places both weeks.  I cannot remember the last time I’ve had a blister on my hand and now I have one two weeks in a row.  Revenge of the programmers hands, I guess.  This is mostly because I am easily the weakest of the players in the class.  My only saving grace is that I have really good reflexes and anticipation.  The class itself is very good for me because I am actually being challenged.  It’s not just an hour lesson, it’s an hour workout.  By the time I’ve stopped playing because I tore open my blister, I am gasping for breath.

The level three class that I would have joined runs at the same time as ours and I look over there every once in a while and it really is amazing at how much of a difference there is between the two levels.  There are a few level three people that are about my skill level, but most are much worse.  It’s like level three is filled with people who want to waste an hour playing tennis and level four is filled with people that want to play tennis.

All that to say, if you know me and you’re decent at tennis, we should play sometime.