WELCOME TO TFIM 2013!

Another year of tennis is upon us and everyone is excited!

We have a new player, welcome Diane

We have a new uniform..holy hotness!

And we have a new year to celebrate the ups (with alcohol)

and commiserate the downs (with alcohol) 

But we also have another year to spend together with a group of amazing ladies who support each other and have each others backs.

We are a 

                                 Talented, trustworthy 

                                  Energetic, enthusiastic

                               Admirable, amazing

                                         Memorable and motivated!

And we all have our own energy that we give off on a daily basis.  

Let's make sure that the energy we give off to each other is always positive!

On and off the court!

Teammates and Opponents!

We can all find a way to make a positive impact on those around us, in our emotional atmosphere.

I read this message today and I thought it was the perfect thing for the beginning of a new year with old friends.  

There is an energy balance that is constantly shifting in your life.

Positive energy causes the people around you to experience positive emotions such as fulfillment, joy and excitement. 

These emotions affect your behavior and health, in a positive way.

Negative energy causes people around you to experience negative emotions such as anger, frustration and sadness.
These emotions then affect your behavior and health… especially the health of your stomach lining.

When you add negative energy in the form of angry or sarcastic words, frustrated sighs or dirty looks, that energy has to go somewhere. 

Those around you will absorb and harbor the negative energy, escalate it, throw it right back at you or pass it on to others.

When you add positive energy to your life in the form of kind words, smiles and enthusiasm, that energy has to go somewhere too. 

People will absorb the positive energy, escalate it, throw it right back at you or pass it on to others.

You have the choice of adding positive or negative energy to your life. 

"There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it; 

and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself."        

Henry David Thoreau

Good luck this week and let's cheers to a happy and successful year!

Let's go Team ????

Sportsmanship

Hey Ladies,

I went on the TFIM website this morning and I found this article.  Ann Sophie and I were talking about a positive attitude on and off the court and I thought that this article summed it up pretty well.  I thought it was very relevant, seeing as we are heading into the playoffs.  

Let's remember why we play this game, why we love this game and why we love playing with each other.  We have the best team, with the best group of ladies and we are playing the best tennis we've played, since we became a team in 2011.  Let's also have the best attitude on and off the court too!

Let the games begin!!

BAILEYS, PLAY, PINK SHIMMER, WIN, WINE, LUNCH, WINE, WINE, WINE!! (in that order!)  

It's the playoffs!!!! WOO HOO!!!

Sportsmanship

What Is Sportsmanship?

Sportsmanship is defined as:

• playing fair
• following the rules of the game
• preserving one's dignity
• treating opponents with respect

 Some people define good sportsmanship as the "golden rule" of sports; in other words, treating the people you play with and against as you'd like to be treated yourself. You demonstrate good sportsmanship when you show respect for yourself, your teammates, and your opponents, for the coaches on both sides. Sportsmanship is a style and an attitude, and it can have a positive influence on everyone around you. 

Win or Lose, Sportsmanship Helps You Get Through:

Everyone feels great when they win, but it can be just as hard to be a good sport when you've won a game as when you've lost one. Good sportsmanship takes maturity and courage; when you work really hard at a sport, it's not easy to admit you made a bad play or that someone has more skills than you. In competition, as in life, you may not always win but you can learn something from losing, too.

When you lose, lose with class. When it comes to losing, good sportsmanship means congratulating the winners promptly and willingly. Also, it means accepting the game's outcome without complaint and without excuses, even if you sometimes might suspect the opponents made some questionable calls.

When you win, the trick is to be a gracious and generous winner. Good sportsmanship means acknowledging victories without humiliating opponents, being quietly proud of success, and letting victories speak for themselves. Even if you win by a landslide, good sportsmanship means still finding ways to compliment your opponents.

Practicing Good Sportsmanship:

So what does it take to demonstrate good sportsmanship in real-life situations? Here are some examples of things you can do:

• Learn as much as you can about your sport. Play by its rules. Show up for practice, work hard, and realize that on a team, everyone deserves a chance to play. 
• Talk politely and act courteously toward everyone before, during, and after games and events. That includes your teammates, your opponents, your coaches and their coaches and even spectators (who can sometimes be loud about their opinions). 
• Stay cool. Even if others are losing their tempers, it doesn't mean you have to. Remind yourself that no matter how hard you've practiced and played, it is, after all, just a game. 
• Cheer your teammates on with positive statements and avoid trash-talking the other team. 
• Acknowledge and applaud good plays, even when someone on the other team makes them. 
• When officials make a call, accept it gracefully even if it goes against you. Remember that referees may not be right every time but they're people who are doing their best, just as you are. 
• Whether you win or lose, congratulate your opponents on a game well played.  

Fair and Fun:

Good sportsmanship means not having a "win at any cost" attitude. Most athletes who don't have a "win at any cost" attitude are more likely to talk about how much they love their sport and how much personal satisfaction and enjoyment they get from participation.

Many forget to have a good time during play because they're so focused on winning. And, unfortunately, coaches sometimes put too much pressure on athletes, emphasizing winning at all costs. So although it's great to be a champion, it's even better to have enjoyed the process of trying to reach the top. It's best to play fair while having fun.

Sportsmanship off the Court:

Learning good sportsmanship means finding that the positive attitude learned on the court carries over into other areas of life. You may enjoy more success at work, because a big part of learning good sportsmanship is learning to be respectful of others, including customers and coworkers.

Sore loser?...I think not!!

Do you believe that "nice" can be used as a weapon?  To lull you into a supposed kinship, or to pour salt on a wound, for example.

I think that there are some women, who consciously use "nice" to piss you off.  Let's take a tennis match.  You arrive at your opponents club, ready to take on the enemy.  Only, the "enemy" comes over to welcome you, which is nice (no quotation marks) and then proceeds to point out what court you'll be warming up on, where you can fill your water bottles, where to find the bathroom and her availability if we should have any more questions.  All with a huge megawatt smile on her face.

Then the match starts.  This same "nice" person turns into a killer on the court.  All business!  No more Mrs. nice guy.  But that's ok because we came for a competition and it's easier to take down the enemy rather than a "friend".  So, in one way,  women use "nice" to lull you into a kind of friendship before and even during a match.  All chit chatty and giggly....until they turn on you and decide that a ball in the face would be more fun than a tete a tete.  No matter!  This is the competition that keeps us coming back for more, right?!

Unfortunately, you can only react to so many balls being shot at your head, and you lose the match.  Damn.  We hate losing!  Everyone hates losing!  Especially a tight match.  You just want to shake hands and get the hell out of dodge, so you can drown your sorrows over a great bottle of wine with your teammates.  But wait, here she comes with the megawatt smile again.  "What a great match!  You played so well.  That was a lot of fun.  Do you want to continue and hit some balls?" WHAT!!!  Doesn't it piss you off when you lose a match and the opponent comes over to say all this crap that you really don't want to hear right now?  It wouldn't be so bad if all the calls were good, there were no arguments during the match and you weren't her favorite smash target.  But when it doesn't go as well as it should (it never does in the S.H.I.T league) the last thing you want to do is have to exchange pleasantries with the winners.  THIS ISN'T SUMMER TENNIS PEOPLE!!!

Oh no, here she comes again, as we are leaving the club "Thanks again for coming to our club (as if we had a choice) we wish you all a great weekend!" Easy for you to say....you're the winner.

Just wait until you get to our home turf.  We'll be so sweet you'll be begging for milk!

Nice, indeed!!!




(FYI you can purchase this print at collectorsprints.com.  It's called the losers revenge.)

2012 - The Year of the Funeral

Is there any way to put a positive spin on funerals?  I've been to 3 in the first 2 weeks of January and we have another one coming up either this week or next.

I consider myself to be a pretty positive person, but I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to be upbeat with so much death surrounding our family and friends this year.

I planned to have a party this weekend and I invited my girlfriend, who has been at the same funerals as me, to join me in trying to drown our sorrows together.  She had the added stress of a botched kitchen reno and a father who has been diagnosed with brain cancer.  We really needed a drink, or two, or three. We were all set to tie one on and move on from all the negative vibes, when her grandmother and Matriarch of her family, arrived home by emergency transport from Florida yesterday and she is now breathing her last breaths at the Jewish.  WTF!!!

One of my friends joked that she's not going to hang with me this year because of all the death surrounding me.  I appreciate the joke, any joke, because I need to laugh to replace all the crying I've been doing.  I'm starting to look as old as I actually am...that's not good!  The bags under my eyes are packing bags and moving out of the flood zone.  The grocery store has run out of cucumbers and tea bags!

Depression doesn't suit me so I need you to cheer me up while I struggle to make sense of 2012 - The year of the Funeral.

(Even my first post of 2012 is depressing!  Somebody save me!)

November 11th Results

I wish I could say that I knew what happened on court 2 & 3 this week, but the balls on court 1 were whizzing by me so fast, that I barely had time to breath, let alone look at other courts.  But I did get a chance to talk to all our wonderful winners at lunch, and this is what I heard:

Court 3 had Heather and Concepcion together again and they battled from a 5-0 deficit in the first set, to win the match in a third set Super Stupid Tie breaker. These girls are so steady and calculated.  When most people would admit defeat being down 5-0, these ladies held it together, knew they were better and kept pushing until they conquered their opponents.  Way to go Ladies!

Court 2 had the super successful team of Nayla and Diana, once again trouncing their opponents easily.  I heard the ladies say that their match was easy, but that is an understatement because they were playing a court 1 player.  I think it's easy for them because they have a winning formula of a soft and hard game, they figure out their opponents weaknesses and they capitalize on every opportunity.  Its easy because these two are so good together.  (I remember those days!)  Keep up the great tennis girls!

Court 1 had myself and Allana in one of our least shining moments.  We were up against what felt like a pro.  She was forehanding that ball so hard and fast and accurate, that we were lucky to get a racket on it, let alone do anything with it.  Her partner would stand there and either put the ball back into play, or place it just out of reach.  We figured out to keep it away from her forehand, but her backhand would fire the ball directly at the net person, at 100 miles/hour.  We were just trying to save ourselves by getting our racket on it.  We did figure out not to serve and volley her, because she was using us as targets.  The minute we opened the court up, she would hit it out quite often.  We held in as much as we could, but they won in two sets.

The great news is that we won 2 courts again!  If we keep this up, we will be in the top ten for sure.  Big difference from last year.  We have a great team, great ladies with great spirit and of course, the best fans ever.

We're movin' on up!!

NOVEMBER 4TH RESULTS

What a match!  I forgot how exciting it is to watch tennis.  I was literally on the edge of my seat from the beginning of the match, anticipating a great match and the fans were not disappointed.

Court 1 had Allana and Ana smashing down lobs all day.  I couldn't figure out why their opponents didn't change strategies because our girls had a smash fest going on.  They lost a big lead in the second set but pulled it together in the SS tie breaker to win.  Way to go for the second court 1win in 2 weeks.  The court 1 curse has been officially broken!

Court 2 had Nayla and Diana slicing, chopping, smashing and driving their opponents into the ground.  They were both solid and on fire!  Their smiles from ear to ear during the game, showed that they were having a great time out there.  Congratulations Ladies!

Court 3 had the virgin and the veteran, pussy footing their way around the court trying to return the soft balls that were constantly coming their way.  Ann Sophie had a vision of being in level 4 again only to come to the realization that she was in level 2 against some smart opponents who figured out what would win them the match.  They held it together to win the first set but couldn't close it down due to the super retrieval skills of their adversaries.  No matter what they shot at them, that ball kept coming back.  It was a valiant effort for the first match in level 2, and with a winning set under her belt, she can hold her head high and move on to the next.  Great effort girls!  One set is way better than no set!

Last week was such a busy birthday week for me, that I didn't write a review of the matches so here's a quick re-cap.

Ana and Allana broke the court 1 curse for the first time with another smash fest.  Every time I peeked over at court 1, one of our girls was smashing down a lob.  They were switching sides, playing up and down and doing whatever they needed to do to take down those lobs.  They were solid!

Conception and I were playing a deuce game, every game.  We were up against a wall and every game was won or lost by an AD.  We were very evenly matched and every game was extremely close, but in the end, they pulled the last two games out, to win 7-5,7-5.

Diana and Suzanne had the game on their racket but lost focus in the SS tie breaker to lose the match.  They were playing so well together with lots of grunting and line driving.  However, the opponents didn't give up, even when they were down in the SS tie breaker.  They held it together, fought for every point and took the match away from our girls.  Tough one!!

But, as usual, the party after the match is always a great success.  We definitely know how to celebrate.  The wine and baileys was flowing and the girls were laughing and posing and planning our party in Barbados after this wonderful year comes to an end.  Win or lose, this team is a wonderful group of great girls who celebrate everything and anything.  And, as we learned today, you never know when your party  may come to an end.  So celebrate all of life's moments no matter how small.  Celebrate being with great friends.  Celebrate the fact that we get to play tennis every week, win or lose.  Just celebrate!

OCTOBER 21st RESULTS

WE DID IT!  Our First 2 court win against very tough opponents, with all our supporters there to cheer us on.  (There was even reserved seating for our VIP guests!) Way to go girls!

Court three started off very strong on Wednesday, when the fabulous team of Anne Sophie and Nayla were chosen to play on Friday.   But something happened on the road to Friday that put a glitch in our plans.  Anne Sophie injured herself while practicing on enemy territory.  Her first game in level 2 would have to wait!  But our spare Di, was chomping at the bit to get a game under her belt and she capitalized on the opportunity.  She was on fire and her and Nayla smashed and sliced their way to a 3 set victory.

Court two had the dynamic duo of Ana and Allana back together again, to knock the socks off some very challenging opponents.  They were both excited and ready to go out and show their power and strength as a team.  They did just that, coming back from being down in the first set to never letting the opponents back in the door.  They won handily in 2 sets.

Now for court 1.  I'm tempted to not write anything about court 1 because I didn't do anything on court 1 that's worth writing about.  Poor Conception was playing by herself the whole match and so it was inevitable that we wouldn't win.  After a lousy week of tennis on my part, my forehand weapon decided to pack it in on Friday and take the day off.  From that moment on, I was in my head trying to convince it to wait until the weekend but it was already lying poolside with Heather, enjoying some adult beverages.  I must say that I have never been so in my own head during a match.  I've seen it happen to Sharapova, where the only person she's playing against is herself.  That was me on Friday.  I was completely by myself, talking to myself, trying to psyche myself up for each and every shot but to no avail.  Even this paragraph is all about me so as you can see, I'm still not over it!

What I learned is that I have to have a plan B.  If something's not working, try something else.  Such a simple statement yet very difficult to put into play when you're not thinking clearly and critically.  If I was out of my head and acting like a partner to Conception, I could have suggested to switch sides in the second set.  That may have relieved some of the pressure I was putting on myself to perform at the level of play that I'm used to playing at.

But after completely defeating myself on the court (half of me won, I guess!),  I decided to celebrate our 2 court victory with the girls.  There's nothing like swimming around in someone else's joy to take your mind off of drowning in your own misery.  So Conception and I had a great time dancing our loss away and celebrating a great win with our teammates.

On to the next!!