Friday, March 20, 2009

It was mostly tennis and baseball for me.

I was born into a family of tennis players. My mother was the coach, and my three older sisters all played on teams, so when I was about 4, a friend of the family chopped several inches off the handle of a regular size (wooden) tennis racquet, wrapped the remaining stub with a new grip, and thus was created my first tennis racquet. I loved the sport and became pretty good at it, so that by age 8 or 9, I was entering 12-and-under tournaments and usually winning. I also played on our town's team every summer which traveled to other towns in Massachusetts for competitions, a couple of days every week. At age 11 I went to summer camp in Maine for several weeks, and I won the Maine State Campers Tournament for 12-and-unders. When I went away to boarding school in New York starting in 9th grade, I played varsity for all 4 years, and also entered a few mid-Atlantic tournaments. However, by the time I graduated and was ready for college, tennis had become less of a priority for me, and I realized I would probably not care whether I played in college or not. (I didn't play tennis, but was recruited to play varsity squash instead.)
Another sport in which I participated as a young child was competitive swimming. We belonged to a club that had both tennis courts and a swimming pool, and I swam on the club swim team. I'm not sure I was ever the fastest in any stroke, but it was still a lot of fun.
At a very young age - probably 5 or 6, because that's when we got our first t.v. - I discovered the sport of baseball, and I was fascinated. Nobody in my family played or was involved in any way with baseball or softball, but I loved it. I watched all the Red Sox games on t.v., and figured out the rules and strategies on my own, and then I found a local little league team to practice with. (I was the only girl and was never an official part of the team, but they let me pitch batting practice because I could throw really hard.... for a girl.) As you all know, my love of baseball has remained with me all my life, but only as a spectator.
In elementary school I played varsity field hockey in the fall, varsity basketball in the winter, and varsity softball in the spring. Tennis was not a school sport, so I did that separately. When I got to boarding school I was excited to discover that the girls played real baseball competitively, and that it was possible for me to play both tennis and baseball in the same season, with only occasional conflicts! I was a catcher and/or 1st baseman on the varsity baseball team for a couple of years. I played varsity badminton (haha) in the winter - required by the tennis coach!
As you have guessed from reading this, my life was filled with sports throughout my childhood, and I was extremely healthy and carefree. My love of sports, and more particularly my competitive spirit, remain with me today. Being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and giving up such an active lifestyle has been one of my life's disappointments and challenges, but I still love to be an enthusiastic spectator!

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