The importance of sports

Although the title might sound like one of those compositions we had to write through classes 6-8 in three different languages with essentially the same content , having gone through the writing and passing the classes stage, i now think its like one of those shakespearean works which are eternal and worth a read at all ages. So, why the sudden interest in sports you may ask..Could nt you spend all that time in something useful.. like research one may wonder. To which I would reply, All work and no play make jack a dull boy. Neither am i jack, nor do i work all the time. Yet i have found the time i spend on the tennis courts pretty interesting for a different reason, besides that i get some good excercise and fun out of playing.. pretty obvious isnt it??

When you play tennis, and like me, when you arent playing for a living, the mind seems to go into this observing mode. You unconcsiously start to think about what you are doing on the court.. Not at the granularity of deciding whether to run left or right, forward or backward, but at a more metaphysical level. You start thinking whether your approach to the game is right.. are you playing to win.. or just to have fun??

Its also the time when all those great quotations that adorn many great walls, and recently my gtalk status mesg, come into live action. I was recently playing with my friend, and it was a tight game. It was hot and sunny, and we were sweating like pigs. He wasnt the kind to give up, and i hadnt the energy to put up. I was going down, and thats when something struck me. You dont lose until you stop trying. I decided to put up a fight, stuck with a pretty painful ankle, and i had the next two games in the bag. But yeah.. he won the match.. he put on a much better fight.

I have found playing tennis quite useful in getting an inner picture of the workings of my mind. If Feynmann could analyse his dreams, i can atleast attempt to analyse my game..