Beach Tennis Discovered

I mentioned in one of my previous posts that I need to go back to beach basics, doing things on the beach that actually makes going to the beach more pleasurable than just surfing or kite surfing. This week I had some time to kill on the beach, so I tried the beach tennis for a change. Now as previously mentioned beach tennis used to be very uncool under surfers. This is the stuff the Vaalies (the people from Gauteng that was previously called The Transvaal) did when they came down to Durban for their summer holidays. Fortunately later in my life I dropped this superiority attitiude of me that was merely based on where people decided to spend their lives and adopted the "live and let live" approach. Unfortunately the beach tennis stayed uncool....until this week.

So, first of all you need a beach tennis set. My wife bought this set for my son at The Crazy Store for something like 25 Rands. I am sure you get better quality bats, but this one is OK for beginners. The neon pink ball looks a bit 80's but does the job well. At least it is visible against the blue backdrop of the sea. It does become a problem when your partner, or is it opponent, is using the printed side of the bat when hitting. The ball seems to disappear for a while and it makes it difficult to predict its trajectory once the ball is hit. I guess the only other thing you need is sunblock and a reasonably skilled partner.

I guess this is the second reason why beach tennis never became big in our family. "A reasonably skilled partner". Although I have some ability to hit a squash ball right in the middle of the racquet and place it where I want it, my wife does not possess any of these talents. As a matter of fact, when asked what type of sports she watches on TV she would immediately say "None, I don't have ball sense at all". Like you need ball sense to watch sports on television. But that gives an indication of how skilled she is when their is a ball involved. What she can do however is cook, and after I told her to see the bat in her hand as someone catching pancakes, she immediately showed considerable improvement.

Now I never thought that beach tennis could be so much fun. Not only is it very good exercise, it also helps with concentration and while you are busy doing it, you get a very even suntan all over. I guess the worst injury that anyone can get from this is sunburn and tennis elbow. After a couple of attempts my wife started hitting pancakes back to me left, right and center, and we had rallies up to a 100 hits before one of us dropped a pancake. At a point she did so well she started talking about our son's progression at school while she was progressing in becoming the best beach tennis player I have ever played with. I don't know where this beach tennis is taking her, but next week we both start working again, so I guess the bats will be put away until the next time that we go to the beach....which could be as soon as next weekend. Anyone else interested in some beach tennis...?