Sports Update

I'm feeling a lot better than I did a few months ago. I am finally doing what I've always done - play sports. The other good news is that I've finally reduced my TV watching time from 10 minutes a day to 10 minutes a week.

I play football twice a week - on Tuesdays with local fellows and on Sundays with desi fellows. I play badminton on Saturdays and table tennis on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Sometimes, like this Sunday, I play football, badminton and table tennis all in the same day. I am dead tired by the end of it but I LOVE that feeling. It keeps the dreadful feeling away - the feeling that I am growing older, getting middle aged and slipping into the mainstream.

Last summer I played cricket and tennis too. Hopefully I shall do so again this summer. I had only played tennis once in my life before last summer and it wasn't a memorable experience then! Last summer, my neighbour proposed we go play tennis and when I said I didn't know anything about it, he said he didn't either. So off we went to the store to buy tennis racquets and tennis balls and then directly to the tennis court. Our other two neighbours joined in and we looked like a set of comedians at the autumn of their careers. It got better by the end of summer though I can only hit about half of my shots where I actually intend to hit them.

In cricket, I realised that playing with pads on is an entirely different game altogether. I looked worse than a number eleven batsman and it would take some getting used to. I also realised that it is easier to bowl with a leather ball though it is difficult to bowl fast. In the three balls that I bowled with my fast bowling run-up, none landed where they should. Again - need more practice. Unfortunately nobody knows I am a very good close-in fielder with good reflexes and speed so every match I played, I was fielding on the boundaries. This was, I assume due to my first throw from the boundary in a match with these guys. I cleared the pitch by a mile and gave away overthrows! Unfortunately they realised I have the strongest arm in the side and should hence be a good boundary fielder. !"£$£%$

In football which is what I probably love the most, I am surprised at how badly I am playing. I can't seem to do anything right. I am assuming I still don't have the pulse of the other players. It was a lot different with my mates in Pune. We knew each other since primary school and so we could almost connect telepathically on a football field. I could pass without needing to look around and I would invariably find my team-mates and vice versa. Well I guess football is a game of mental bonding which is why we see so many teams' fortunes hinge on two or three key players. Even all-star teams like Real Madrid find it difficult to be invincible inspite of possessing players of perhaps the best quality available.

My badminton and table-tennis are nothing to write home about although I enjoy one thing which I have achieved through practice.I can play table tennis with either (or both) hand(s). Cool eh? Oh well, it WOULD be cool if I could play really well with even one but hey, what the heck... atleast I have something different.

With this, folks, I finish this long and probably boring sports update. It feels nice to write again. Oh, and I start taking guitar lessons this Wednesday. I've been stuck at the same level for the last five years.

-PeAcE

--WiTh

---GuNs