Tennis Values
Your value system is the most important thing about you as a person. If you value money, you will work hard and make a lot of money. But you might also take shortcuts in your life, which can lead you to jail. You might also work your entire life away and miss out on attending your child’s Thanksgiving play at school.
What you value will ultimately lead to what you do.
The value system is like a core philosophy, and your actions derive from what you value.
As I continue down my tennis journey, I am starting to form a tennis value system. I started playing because I needed a spark in my life and wanted a new adventure to embark upon. I wanted it to be skill-based and something I could improve upon over a long period of time. So I bought a racket, took a couple of tennis lessons, and the story began.
In the beginning, my value system was still being developed internally. I wanted to play tennis all the time, but the purpose was vague. I’d hit with anyone who wanted to try and hit the ball back over the net. I’d even hit with people who didn’t know how to hit the ball back, which resulted in a session mostly filled with picking up balls.
As I progressed, I met a bunch of different tennis players.
There are the casual players who just want to play for fun, the USTA heroes who only care about ranking, the cranky old guys who play so they can use their knee braces, and the juniors who play for passion or because their parents were late to sign them up for soccer.
There are about a million other types of tennis players, too. Like people, tennis players come in different forms and have unique value systems.
Some players only value winning, and as a result, they will do anything to win. This might seem reasonable because the goal of a match is to win, but some players will take this too far and limit their own game for short-term gains. These players may never move up a level, only play opponents they know they can beat, and never take the time to grow their game beyond the skills it takes to win against the same old players.
On the flip side, some players only value looking good on the court and will never learn what it feels like to put their ego on the line. These players will avoid playing matches and will only try to perfect an aesthetic without substance, like a piece of art missing a back story.
So, what do I value? I ask this question because this will be the compass of my tennis journey.
I want to become the best tennis player I can be. I am not worried about comparing my skillset to anyone else’s, and my success metric is simply: Am I becoming the best version of myself as a tennis player?
Everyone has a personal best version of themselves, and we either live up to our potential, fail miserably, or end up somewhere in between. My goal is to live up to my potential as a tennis player and stretch the limits of my body, mind, and soul.
As a 34-year-old, I will not be playing in Wimbledon, but what is the best possible version of myself? I would like to explore that.
So, my tennis value system is personal growth.
The keywords are personal, a journey for myself.
And growth. Improvement over time.