The better version of me
I went to visit my sister in Washington. She lives just south of Seattle in a town call Puyallup – famous for the WA State Fair. It’s a sleepy suburb – just perfect for my sister.
She’s an amazing person. Smart, high energy, focused, upbeat, easy going and keeps a pretty simple lifestyle. As a Derm PA she makes a TON of money working 4 days a week. She’s very active in her career – giving lectures, writing articles for derm magazines and is a committee chair for the PA association. In addition to all her great qualities – she is *very* good at saving money. She’ll be able to retire at a very young age. I’m very proud of her and she’s accomplished so much – don’t get me wrong – she’s worked her @$$ off to get to where she is and is now seeing the fruits of her labor.
Her hobby is playing tennis. She approaches tennis the way she does everything else in life – with much gusto and focus. I guess she’s been playing about 6 years now and has been progressively getting better. During this visit I got to watch her play tennis for the 1st time. It was wonderful watching her and learning about tennis. Here’s a blurry action shot.
She’s rated 3.5 but plays on a 4.0 team. The first match I watched was against a solid 4.0 player. Now I was a bit surprised on how many hefty women play. From what I see on TV all the tennis players look very trim and athletic. Several of the players I saw didn’t look to be in very good shape – but man – could they play.
My sister’s opponent looked to be at least 50 pounds over weight. My first thought was “jeesh – Trisha is so fit she’ll have NO trouble beating this woman”.
Then the opponent proceeded to control the first set and ran my sister all over the court like a dog on a leash. I was shocked. I mean the opponent was controlling the set – but she wasn’t winning. I don’t think she was counting on Trisha to be able to response so quickly and keep the ball in play. To my very untrained eye– the opponent was the more technically advanced player – but Trisha’s fitness, focus and determined style of play won the match. It ended up being 6-3 4-6 10-3(tie break)
It was very nerve racking watching the match. They had some long volleys and someone had to coach me on tennis watching etiquette. For example 1 – don’t comment on the point until it’s over 2- don’t walk up and down the court while a point is in play 3 – don’t take pictures with a flash. I hope I didn’t embarrass her too badly as I made some etiquette mistakes – but if I did her win distracted from that.
Tennis is full of people watching other people and some general gossip. For example I was sitting there (minding my own business) and I had this conversation with this lady:
Lady: Is that Pat Ferrer playing?
Me: yes
Lady: Didn’t she used to have shorter hair?
Me: heck I don’t know
Lady: is she a 3.5 player?
Me: yes
Lady: boy – I’d be pissed if I was Dee (the opponent)
[this conversation was after Trisha had won the 1st set - the Lady meant that she’d be mad if she was getting beat by a lower ranked player]
Me: uhhh…Pat is my sister
Lady(cringing a bit): OH!!! Well she’s fun to watch
I figured I should stop the direction of the conversation before the lady *really* stuck her foot in her mouth. Hee-hee.
She’s an amazing person. Smart, high energy, focused, upbeat, easy going and keeps a pretty simple lifestyle. As a Derm PA she makes a TON of money working 4 days a week. She’s very active in her career – giving lectures, writing articles for derm magazines and is a committee chair for the PA association. In addition to all her great qualities – she is *very* good at saving money. She’ll be able to retire at a very young age. I’m very proud of her and she’s accomplished so much – don’t get me wrong – she’s worked her @$$ off to get to where she is and is now seeing the fruits of her labor.
Her hobby is playing tennis. She approaches tennis the way she does everything else in life – with much gusto and focus. I guess she’s been playing about 6 years now and has been progressively getting better. During this visit I got to watch her play tennis for the 1st time. It was wonderful watching her and learning about tennis. Here’s a blurry action shot.
She’s rated 3.5 but plays on a 4.0 team. The first match I watched was against a solid 4.0 player. Now I was a bit surprised on how many hefty women play. From what I see on TV all the tennis players look very trim and athletic. Several of the players I saw didn’t look to be in very good shape – but man – could they play.
My sister’s opponent looked to be at least 50 pounds over weight. My first thought was “jeesh – Trisha is so fit she’ll have NO trouble beating this woman”.
Then the opponent proceeded to control the first set and ran my sister all over the court like a dog on a leash. I was shocked. I mean the opponent was controlling the set – but she wasn’t winning. I don’t think she was counting on Trisha to be able to response so quickly and keep the ball in play. To my very untrained eye– the opponent was the more technically advanced player – but Trisha’s fitness, focus and determined style of play won the match. It ended up being 6-3 4-6 10-3(tie break)
It was very nerve racking watching the match. They had some long volleys and someone had to coach me on tennis watching etiquette. For example 1 – don’t comment on the point until it’s over 2- don’t walk up and down the court while a point is in play 3 – don’t take pictures with a flash. I hope I didn’t embarrass her too badly as I made some etiquette mistakes – but if I did her win distracted from that.
Tennis is full of people watching other people and some general gossip. For example I was sitting there (minding my own business) and I had this conversation with this lady:
Lady: Is that Pat Ferrer playing?
Me: yes
Lady: Didn’t she used to have shorter hair?
Me: heck I don’t know
Lady: is she a 3.5 player?
Me: yes
Lady: boy – I’d be pissed if I was Dee (the opponent)
[this conversation was after Trisha had won the 1st set - the Lady meant that she’d be mad if she was getting beat by a lower ranked player]
Me: uhhh…Pat is my sister
Lady(cringing a bit): OH!!! Well she’s fun to watch
I figured I should stop the direction of the conversation before the lady *really* stuck her foot in her mouth. Hee-hee.
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