Playing like a CHAMPION

Is it wrong to act macho and play through sports injuries? Are you a pansy to stop playing if you think it will prevent an injury? These are the serious questions concerning one's moral character that I will be discussing today.

I lost to my friend Zack Warren on the tennis courts in straight sets again. He is really good. The only way I won points was if I was lucky enough to hit it fast enough at his feet so didn't have time to adjust and would hit it into the net.

This is the second time we've played. The first time he beat me 6-0 4-1 before one or both of our strings broke. This time, we played most games to deuce but he still won 6-1, 6-2. (You may be wondering why we only played two set when usually singles matches are 3 or 5, 6-game sets. Well, that is what this post is about...)

There were a combination of elements that kept me from going the distance with Zack:

1. Zack tires me out. He is so fast and so accurate that he makes me run for every ball and return it with more force than I'm use to.

2. I'm not in tennis shape yet. It is the beginning of Summer and I've only played three times, including the previous time I hit with Zack.

3. I was getting a blood blister under my skin from gripping my racket too tight.

4. My shoes are old and were also giving me blisters.

5. I had dinner group 20-minutes from the time we ended our second set.

I realize that all of these things are petty reasons for wanting to stop. However, my fear of aggravating the blood blister on my hand was very present in my mind. I had just recovered from a blood blister I sustained from playing some Vietnamese guys over three weeks ago. I knew that if I played any more it would keep me from playing again any time soon.

It is my nature to be overly-cautious. I will bench myself from a competitive basketball game if I feel like my legs are cramping up or if I can tell I'm going to be super sore over the following week. It's just not worth it to me.

Today, after only one-set, I felt the blister acting up and was about to call it quits when I looked over the net at Zack and suddenly felt inspired. Zack played for the BYU men's tennis team a few years ago before he injured his knee playing soccer. And yet, here he is; out on the court, giving it his all like nothing was wrong.

"You wanna play another?" Zack shouted from the other side of the indoor court.

That was when I realized that I had to play through the pain. To wuss out now would be very un-champion-like of me. This was no ordinary match. This is ZACK WARREN we're talking about here. Not to mention, scheduling a time to meet and play had taken three weeks of planning. And another reason to keep playing was because I was the one who challenged Zack. It would have been unfair to him to only play one set -- Bad form, as they say in etiquette.

I agreed to play the second and final set.

After it was done. We both wanted to keep playing but only one of us had the physical stamina to support that desire. Despite loosing, again, I felt like I had played like a champion. I did my best under both mental and physical distress.

What does it mean to play like a champion

This will be the subject of tomorrow's blog post after some further scripture study. In the mean time, here are some pictures of what I think Champions look like:



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Listening to: Foo Fighters - Up in arms