So last summer I did not go a day without playing tennis. I played from 10 a.m- 1p.m and again in the evening. This summer I've focused more on myself and have reduced tennis to a bare minimum of 4 days a week with about 2 hours of play. However, I have two weeks till pre-season and I just started tennis camp today. I must admit I was terrified at first. The camp is located in Princeton which scared me and after doing a little research I was informed that kids from other countries attend camp and kids from other states join. Now I am not the best player in the entire world, I consider myself at least descent compared to the amazing girls I play. I can serve, hit a forehand, backhand, volley, and overhead, but the only thing I've been missing was confidence. I lacked confidence in myself which strained my performance on the court. I've worked with several people from clinics, private lessons, high school tennis, and drills, but I never gained the ability to believe in myself. During tennis season in high school I always told the girls, "I believe in you." because I believe they will perform their ultimate best on the court. Now as we began to say this before every match the words never sank into my head until today. Last week I had a tournament and I think I played extremely well and began to gain some confidence but today something triggered. I assessed what I learned from my current tennis coach and my two other instructors. Keep your eye on the ball, don't drop my arm too low, follow my swing, and maintain balance. I kept reminding myself these things during drills today and I feel like I really accomplished something.
I strongly believe that one must run towards their fears in order to face the next obstacles in life. If we keep running away, we will continue to build barriers that will prevent us from moving forward. I was so close to not showing up to camp today because I allowed to make myself feel inferior to the other people who may attend camp. This was my first year in Nike Tennis Camp so I did not know what to expect. I was scared out of my mind and could not sleep last night because I believed I was not good enough, but I showed up today and I had a great time and cannot wait for tomorrow.
