Staying Active With Tennis

Starting on Wednesday, November 11^th, Alex and I signed up for tennis lessons. Our friend Asli told us about this opportunity, and encouraged us to join her and a few of our other colleagues. Given that we both wanted to stay active and get some exercise into our routines, not to mention how stressful our teaching lives can become, it didn’t take long for us to make our decision. For one month, at a fairly low cost of 130TL, we will be receiving tennis lessons twice a week. Every Monday and Wednesday, for one hour each, we learn the techniques of skillfully playing tennis. So far, we’ve learned the forward and backhand throw. Before beginning practice, we always warm up by jogging, stretches, and playing a tossing game. My tennis Hocam, Orhan, says I am the fastest runner; for those of you who don’t know, I ran track in high school. I’m also a very competitive athlete, so I don’t know which of those two things is at play when I run. The tennis lessons are taught in Turkish, but by gestures and bits and pieces of English such as “very, very good” and “try again,” I am able to make out Orhan Teacher’s directions and encouragement. I can’t wait to become professional, very, very soon!