Did you ever want to start playing a sport but never knew what would be right for you? Do you not like being with many people? Do you like solo games? If so, you're not alone. I was the same way when I was younger. I was and still am too short to play on a basketball team, I am scared of getting hit in the face by a soccer ball and I didn't want it to be mandatory to wear contacts during my sport since I can never manage to put them in! So, I went to check out figure skating and ran out because I saw ice hockey players body slam each other into a wall. My mom and I were about to give up.. UNTIL...

I found tennis.

I was given a racket to try it out and I loved it. Yes, I didn't really enjoy playing with many people but after a while of playing, I realized that I was basically one player who needed to focus on my section and what I was doing while playing doubles. Even so, if you don't want to play doubles, you can always do a one-on-one lesson with a coach! Tennis has so many benefits to it and it is extremely fun!

Tennis helps increase aerobic capacities by burning fat and improving your cardiovascular fitness, lowers resting heart rate and blood pressure, increases bone density by strengthening bones of young players and helping prevent osteoporosis in older ones, lowers body fat, improves muscle tone/strength/flexibility due to the constant stretching and maneuvering to return the ball toward your opponent, increases fine and gross motor skills by the use of touch shots like angled volleys, drop shots and lobs and through court movement and ball-striking skills which require control of your large muscle groups. It also helps with nutritional habits and the immune system through its conditioning effects which promote overall health, fitness and resistance to sickness and by eating appropriately before competition to enhance energy as well as after a competition to practice proper recovery methods.

Not only is tennis a healthy sport, it's also psychologically rewarding. It helps you manage mistakes by learning to play within your abilities and realizing that managing and minimizing mistakes in tennis or life is crucial, accommodate stress effectively because the physical, mental and emotional stress of tennis will force you to increase your capacity for dealing with stress, learn to solve problems since tennis is a sport based primarily on angles, geometry, and physics (something I was always terrible at-- OOPS?), develop social skills through interaction and communication before a match, while changing sides of the court and after the match, learn to compete one-on-one because the ability to compete and fight through anything on the courts trains you in the ups and downs of a competitive world, and of course-- HAVING FUN! The healthy feelings of happiness, joy, competitiveness and physical challenge are needed in the sport.

Tennis is truly the sport of a lifetime... So why not give it a shot?!