TJ's Kaleidoscope

Lessons from Swimming

This year has been a tough one for my feet. It all started with a stress fracture from a hike back in March, and subsequent false starts where in I'd think it'd healed, only to go back and wait it out on bleachers. Just when that seemed to be done with, my other foot ran into some major snags that required more attention, details which at this point are of little consequence. The end result is that it basically threw my entire physical routine in a tizzy. It got bad enough that I had to withdraw from the Long Beach Open, quit any kind of foot-based cardio including ellipticals and steppers.

My workout schedule, for the most part has remained unchanged for a couple of years. Working out three-four times during the week, combined with a weekend's worth of Tennis with the occasional hike and kayaking thrown in the middle. I'll admit that CallFire's had been making that three-four times down to two-to-three. Regardless, I still lead a pretty active schedule and almost everything I indulged in required the strenuous use of my feet. The lack of cardio wasn't doing my health any good, and foot-based options nil.

It was then I decided to retake swimming--the sport to which I never quite warmed up. My experience until then had been limited to neighborhood recreational pools and for reasons other than exercise. It was then no surprise that I was horribly out-of-shape and out-of-form when swimming in a regulation pool. Not only could I not finish one lap in one go, the wake left by my actions would have made a trawler proud. However, with no other sport to turn back to, I was forced keep chugging. I went to doubling my laps per hour in about two months. More importantly, I began to enjoy swimming and love the hour of complete disassociation.

I know what I faced is trivial compared to the things some of the people I know and read about. General Wesley Clark, for instance, loves swimming because he lost major chunks of his foot in the Vietnam war. Yet, the personal nature of these setbacks have taught me lessons that, quite honestly, could only be learned the hard way. If I hadn't the back-to-back foot problems, and used that opportunity to pick up another sport, I'd never have experienced the lesson that learning a new sport brings. When I'm running on the treadmill I use the TV and my ipod to create a chaotic environment that allows me to forget the burn in my lungs and the rote nature of my actions. When I'm playing tennis, my play is influenced significantly by the person on the other side of the net and the point gets close, I stick to plays I know, to what I know will help me win--whether it works or not. Swimming on the other hand, accords none of these distractions. First, I'm thoroughly incompetent in the pool, so unlike Tennis there's not comfort zone. Unlike running there's no induced ADD that allows me to forget that I'm running short on air, or silence that voice in my head that tries to distract me by replaying the events from the day. I just have to focus on completing the lap, one stroke at a time, and whenever I do lose concentration, it's self evident.

I hope to get back on my feet soon, and back to running and playing Tennis, but I don't think I'll ever give up Swimming, not because I've gotten better at it, but because I've come to enjoy it, the fear of coming across as a fool has been long been replaced by the exhilaration of learning. The implicit understanding that yes, I will suck at it but if I can keep at it I will do better today than I did yesterday, that's a good thing and that's life.


Quote of the Day

When you learn a sport, you go through the cycle of humility. You learn about yourself.

  --Wesley Clark

Welcome Back

Who? Me of course!

In the quest for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, I’ve gotten way behind in my efforts to share this pursuit. I was going to keep up this trend until my friend Komal called me out on it. So Komal, thanks for kicking my butt into gear.

I won’t blog about the whole slew of events since my last post, I will say that I ‘downgraded’ to Windows XP and have seen my productivity improve. For example, I can easily publish pictures to my blog without wrestling with Vista’s clunky interface. For this post, I’ll leave you with pictures from my first Angels game to which I was invited to by Tarak & Priya (below). I also took a video of the fireworks, which turned out to be the highlight of the evening given the Angels lost miserably.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little background about Tarak. Tarak and I have known each other for about six years now, we both joined IBM about the same time (via different recruiting pools), and left IBM around the same time (for different reasons). Over the years, we’ve used each other as sounding boards for ideas & issues, both professional and personal. As for Priya, she’s the charming woman who puts up with him and also happens to be his wife.

Here’s the fireworks video

 

Thought of the Day:

Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.

                                                                  --Mark Twain

Take me to the ball game

Angels versus the twins at the Angel stadium.

The Year That Was: Part 1

It's time to start recapping the year much like I did last year. The rules are very simple. Between now and the end of the year, I'll walk through the significant events this year that I happened to share with family and friends.

Let's start with the Pacific Life Open--my first live tennis tournament. I got to see Boris Becker, I should have gotten in line for his autograph, but in the short five minute that I spent deciding whether or not to get in the twenty person line, the line had already become a mile long. Oh well.

 

 

 

Even though, we were in the nose bleed section it was a thrilling experience. To see the crowd react to  Nadal's explosive power in action, and Djokovic's coming out party. That day was also Djokovic's first entry into the top ten. Most experts agree that he has significant grand-slam winning potential, and so it would be cool to say, I saw him in his first major final.

 

 

Of course, I would have to thank Dan & Nora for letting me tag along and being the third wheel. It was a lot of fun, because we got to demo all the top racquets from Tennis Warehouse, and they basically gave me a guided tour. Afterwards we stopped by an outlet mall for a major shopping spree. All in all, a fun trip!

 

 

 

The full album is available here.

US Open Prediction

I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that Novak will meet Federer in the final, and if not win his first grand slam, atleast push Federer to five sets. The guy is on fire, and as much as I want my man Federer to win and continue his march towards being greatest in history, I think Novak's fire to win is bigger right now than Federer's quest for Tennis immortality. I would love to be proven wrong, but I would have to, for now, bet against Federer.

Quote of the Day

From Tiger's Vogue Feature:

"I am willing to fall, and I understand that it's OK to fall, but I am going to get back up. I may take a step back, but in the end I am going to take a giant leap forward."

The author of the article goes on to say that "indifference to failure, rather than obsession with success—that distinguishes great athletes from good ones."

Something to start your day by....

Roger Federer's Secrets of Success

In my random travails across the Internet, I came across this page that seemed to dissect Roger Federer's secrets of success. If you look past the product pitch, the author has some very valid points that any one wishing to succeed in any field could learn from. It basically boils down to the following:

Be Persistent: A fact that is looked over when talking about Federer is the fact that he lost 5-7 times in the first round of a tournament. Many would have given up, either assuming that they didn't have what it takes, or their ego too bruised to acknowledge they needed to change their game plan. Federer on the other hand, learnt from his mistakes, improvised and moved on. 

Positive Outlook: Another noteworthy point is the fact that he seems positive on the day of the big matches. Most people are nervous on the big day mainly because of the fear of failure. Roger on the other hand seems to play his best on the final. A case in point is the 2006 US Open final. Right up till the final, he was not in full form, in fact he himself acknowledged that he thought he may loose to James Blake. However in in the final we saw some of the finest tennis of the year. 

Unequivocal Focus: The article points this out, and I've seen this myself when watching him play that he doesn't follow the ball's trajectory after hitting it. His head is still for what feels like a couple of seconds after hitting the ball (see picture). Now most players, especially horrible one's like  myself, either don't watch the ball as it is coming into contact with the racquet, or don't freeze their head after hitting the ball. Federer on the other hand, while having a long-term strategy lives entirely in the moment, making sure he gives the point at hand his 100% attention. 

Don't Dwell on Setbacks: I've heard this said many times that while the rest of the audience (especially his opponent) have racing heartbeats, and have a tough time fighting back emotions and bad line calls, Federer seems to be almost emotionless. He doesn't dwell on bad line calls, loud fans, or unforced errors. He acknowledges them and moves on. Nothing comes between him and winning his points.

Now all the above may seem to suggest that Roger Federer is perfect. On the contrary, I've seen times when he's seemed all too human (case in point is the 2006 French Open), and that's the best part! As a human he's managed to master the game so well that people have begun to look at him as an epitome of perfection, the perfect amalgamation of old school sportsmanship and new age style.

Why Sania Mirza and James Blake matter....

One can honestly say that the underdog ruled at this weekend's matches at the US Open. First up was James Blake against that Spanish matador Nadal. This was a match to watch, Nadal played everybit like the fierce, competitive, top fighter he is, but Blake played better. All through the match Nadal looked pissed at the pesky persistence of Blake, and all through the match, Blake slowly chipped away like a woodpecker at Nadal's confidence until Nadal finaly gave in, losing the fourth set 6-1. I am still looking for that video clip where Blake ran to the net, flew up crouching-tiger style (as if he was suspended by wires) to catch a lob from Nadal and smashed it. That shot I feel was the true turning point of the match--the point where Blake realized he could win, and Nadal realized he could lose. Blake--once ranked 22 in the world--is a wild-card entry into the US Open, and has overcome many odds to become a world class tennis player. His progress from not being able to even hit a tennis ball due to a broken neck to go on and defeat the number 2 player is nothing short of amazing. I hope he reaches atleast the quarter-finals of the US Open.

The second underdog ruled match was the one between Shrichaphan and Sanguinetti. This match was a true thriller, a combination of sportsmanship and showmanship that is usually expected from high profile matches like semi-finals and the final. It was also a game of nerves as the match went into 5 sets with the last three sets being tie breakers and at 4 hours and 24 minutes is currently the longest of the 2005 US Open. Now, both Shrichaphan and Sanguinetti have a claim on the underdog tag. Shrichaphan for his rags-to-riches story of becoming a world-class tennis player while coming from a country that has no tennis (his father taught him tennis by showing him old video tapes), and Sanguinetti for his age. I would however say Sanguinetti had a bigger claim on the underdog tag because at 33 is 7 years older than Shrichphan (and only the second oldest player left in the fray after Andre Agassi) and yet has lesser experience than Shrichaphan. Nevertheless, in what was a nail-biting war of wit and stamina, Sanguinetti overcame the talented Shrichaphan.

The best underdog story was one where the underdog didn't even win. The match between Sania Mirza and Maria Sharapova (i.e., the match betweeen SM and MS). This was the clash of the teenagers with attitude. The game started out like a typical service game with the first three games going to the server of that game. Many were surprised by Sania's serve and powerful ground strokes. On paper, her fastest serve (106MPH), and her first and second serve speeds were on par with Maria, and despite her 5' 7" frame, her ground strokes were on par with the top seeded player. What Sania however lacked was the consistency, she had six double faults to Maria's one and had one ace to Maria's six. Still what matters is not that she lost but she made it to the final sixteen despite the odds. Coming from a cricket crazy country with no major tennis infrastructure where clay courts are full of pot holes, and cow dung paste is used to give it a consistent feel (hard to describe, you'll have to see it), she managed to prove to the world that she is a diamond in the rough, and has the potential to be a top 10 player in the world.

As you might have guessed I love rooting for the underdog. I rooted for Maria when she was playing against Serena, for Nadal when he was playing against Federer, Blake when he was playing against Nadal, and Sania when she was playing against Maria. As much as people love the champion, I think a lot more can be learnt from the underdog. Something about beating low expectations, not giving up regardless of what life throws at you shows these underdogs are true optimists for while you cannot control what happens to you, you certainly can control your response. They are everday people displaying uncommon will power.