There's an athlete under here. It's neat to see her again. I'm starting to understand why my crazy flailing attempts to hit balls that are out of reach often succeed. It's interesting to find myself stopping short when I want to say "Oh, I can't do that" and instead think, Can I figure out how to do that? My coach was super excited today about what I picked up. There are some days where you can't miss, and this wasn't one of those, but with his individual focus and immediate corrections, I was able to incorporate his instructions a lot better. He'd teach, I'd hit, he'd call out corrections, and then I could hit the same shot over and over. He'd stop to celebrate and make me acknowledge it. He said he taught six lessons today, and mine... then he just shook his head and said I did awesome.
Tomorrow I'll go to the drill with another coach, and he's good for different reasons. They have different ways of explaining it, and my Tuesday coach has these funny reminders, like "Stand your ground! Don't you let that 1 ounce ball intimidate you!" or calling somebody a dolphin because they ran up too far and got caught in the net.
In a year, I've worn through my shoes. That's not impressive for a pro, but it is for me, taking classes and practicing just a few hours a week. As my Tuesday coach said when commending my decision to favor my knee instead racing for a really short ball, "I know you wanted to go for it. Thats not something you can teach people."
Someone said to me recently that they feel this point happens when people start something new, especially some kind of exercise. Things are fun and great for a while, then your body starts protesting. My right side is, in the words of my massage therapist, "jacked up," but she informed me that the orthotics and plantar fasciitis stretches are working, as my feet no longer feel like bricks. I am feeling better. I hurt, but I feel like I'm just challenging the way my body has adapted to move, and I'm working on getting it in the direction of how it's supposed to move. I'm still carrying weight, and I think I still look the same, but I am suddenly feeling a lot less apologetic about my body. I'm gonna go ahead and be a giraffe now and trust that I can both reach the tall branches and outrun the lions.
