WOMEN'S TENNIS BLOG FOR MAY 2, 2012
BY JUNIOR EGZONA MORINA
FIRST DAY OF A LONG JOURNEY
Today our coaches organized an indoor practice for us at Haworth Tennis Club since the weather here in Teaneck was everything but nice and sunny. Practice started at 2:30 p.m. for both the men and women. As always we started off our practice with a few laps around the courts and some warm-up exercises. Then we hit a few balls in the "little squares" or in the tennis world, called service boxes. We eventually moved back to the baseline and started our actual practice.
I could go into detail and explain what exercises we did, but I think this blog might lose a bit of its non-tennis playing fans out there. What I can tell you about today is that the intensity, motivation and adrenaline in every player was running high. We were no longer playing each other; we were playing University of Virginia players. Every ball, every shot, every detail of today’s practice mattered. There was no space for moaning, no space for missing and certainly no space for having the slightest doubt in our capacities. Needless to say, our coaches were pleased with our practice.
After tennis, we also had a conditioning session. We all drove back to the Rothman, warmed up again and started our conditioning. We had six different stands which were different exercises (with cones and ladders) and we had to pair up and do each one twice, for thirty seconds. Even though each and every one of us was tired and breathing heavy, we kept on going. We had our coaches telling us to push through it and do even better tomorrow. At the end, we came together, put our hands together and yelled out “TEAM,” because that is exactly what we are.
