A Month of Squash

Over the past few months, a friend and neighbor told me about a gym that's near our house. I like adding actual exercise to my list of recreational activities, so I joined up. In addition to the garden variety weight machines and standard-issue dance studio, there's a squash court. My friend and I played squash, then he looked up the rules online and we played some more. We like to think we are on the way to going pro, but only God knows for sure.

Recently I did some math and figured squash doesn't trump food and shelter. Since none of these are cheap, I had to prioritize. So I'm down to my last month of squash.

I'm sure there was a reason for me to enjoy this game for the time that I did. If nothing else, it's a good healthy activity (minus the sudden bursts of rage when I miss a shot). It gave me time and a chance to reflect, but it also gave me a glimpse of human nature itself. And it was fun. Did I mention that? Well, it was.

I learned first and foremost that you cannot become skilled just by watching skilled players. I can watch the other dudes and dudesses play squash for hours, but that won't help my ability to comprehend or duplicate their actions one bit. More patience and actual effort is needed.

I also learned that a little black ball, when missed by me, can be the cause of great rage. This lead me to a secondary discovery that throwing a rented racket may not be the best outlet of aforementioned rage.

As long as I kick the former week Matt's butt, I'm happy. He's the guy to beat, and to be honest, it's not all that hard.

If I miss the ball with my racket, I can always kick the ball against the wall. This has no educational value, but it's pretty cool.

An audience changes things. When I'm aware a national is watching, my temper snaps into place. More so if it's a Korean child. Many of our neighbors know we are missionaries, and we are therefore representing more than just our countries. I had to keep this in mind when negotiating the price of membership with the gym's managers.

Following from that, I learned how hard negotiations can be when your Korean is at least as limited as their English. This resulted in me repeating "It's too expensive" in Korean, followed by them grinning, "Thank you" in English.

It's often best to leave smiling, and with a handshake. Leave, save some money, and find more creative ways to stay off your rear.