This is why…

I am a senior man. As in life, not school.

I play tennis. Both singles and doubles. Serious singles and serious doubles.

I often ask myself why I still play tennis.

My wife poses that same question to me… (well, on my tennis days).

The stock reply, “Because I can” is too simple, too mundane; it doesn’t capture the essence of what drives mature men to often face unreasonable humidity and wind, sometimes sweltering Texas heat (or blistering cold) plus non-compliant bones and joints to play a very difficult game.

The question is simple; the answer is complex.

It strikes at the very heart of why we do anything with our allotted time on this fine earth: after all, we have many choices in life.

Beer or wine; boxers or briefs; laugh or cry — we are defined by our choices, our options. Regardless of the opponent, you strive to excel, to achieve, to be heroic. To surpass any expectation.

However, we are not young men.

And yet…

And yet, there are those brief, flashing, brilliant, shining moments when we grasp onto something we never want to lose — that feeling of self-satisfaction, that touching of a rare and hard-to-define feeling when we understand the true nature of sports, the success of the doubles tennis team that springs from the success of the individual.

A great service game, an amazing volley, a solid rally, a fine overhead — when you pull one of those off you are momentarily in touch with something that can never be lost as long as you still have the drive and energy to step on the court.

And…

Of course we want to win, but it is not merely a question of winning or losing; it is simply about tapping into the spirit, the driving force in the human psyche that desires to compete.

You may run out of energy, you may falter, you may have some bad luck and you may actually lose — but you are never give up on your own accord.

Never.

Just remember that in tennis, the same guy that was a hero in one set can be a goat the next. However, we are not defined by mere moments or snapshots of our play, but by the long spread of our efforts, by our actions and decisions.

On court, and in life.

There are remarkable comebacks and valiant efforts which may fall so tantalizing short (or may succeed) — but no matter what we continue to compete in life, and on the court, because in our hearts and minds the struggle is what gives us meaning.

Sports, as Vince Lombardi so eloquently noted, does not build character, it reveals it.

Every time I play tennis, it is revealed what a fine bunch of fellow competitors and comrades are out on the courts and allow me to play.

Even with my bad attitude sometimes…

Mel