Summer school 2006: what tennis taught me.

This summer I decided to get serious about becoming a better tennis player. It was about time. I'd been knocking around the summer USTA leagues for a decade, during which my rating skyrocketed from 2.5 all the way to 3.0 on a 2.5-7.0 scale. Despite taking lessons from every pro at the tennis center, my play was streaky and inconsistent.

Playing more often would improve my game, I reasoned, and mentioned my plan to a tennis fanatic who organizes several leagues. Soon instead of playing with just the team I captain, I found myself playing on four teams. From each, I took away a life lesson.

Lesson from Team # 1: Let it go.

After captaining an adult team for several years, we suddenly had a dramatic loss: seven did not return from last year, due to being ranked higher, forming a suburban league, age and moving away.

While we did win one match, we lost seven, with a league-high 469 lost games and 61 lost sets over the season.

I became convinced that two of the new players had never really played a game of tennis before, just taken lessons and rated themselves at our level. One came in proclaiming herself a singles player, only to discover that she loved doubles once she'd tried it. The other, a former basketball player, remarked to me halfway through the season: "You know Mary Dee, I've never played a game before where I don't know the rules." When nobody would partner with her, I gave her a rule book and assigned her to play singles.

I tried many things to improve the team bonding and skill level, starting the season with a potluck dinner at my condo courts. But weekly practices drew barely enough players to fill a doubles court. Even using a ball machine to practice shots was no fun in the 90-degree weather. I encouraged players to come to team lessons from a pro, which we did twice, and even bought 144 cans of balls with our team name printed on them. Nothing worked.