Trimming out the new roof windows

 We had some new roof windows fitted and I decided I wanted to trim them out rather than have the window fitters do it. There were moments when I began to regret the idea, but in the end we got it done and it doesn't look to bad. 

The problem was that whoever did the original windows didn't seem to like the idea of perpendicular and square. In fact one is so far out of square that in the end it wasn't worth the effort to try to put that right. 

The decision now is whether to leave them as they are, maybe applying a clear wax or varnish, or whether to paint them. I think paint, Anne thinks leave. Time will tell.

How much of sport is played in the head?

 I played tennis a few months ago. Just a practice hit with another player followed by some points. We played a game we call "21". Each player serves 5 points and then the serve changes. The winner is whoever gets to 21 first or if it's 21-21 then you play a tie-break to 2 points clear.

Unlike traditional scoring you're never really out of the game until it's over, which keeps it competitive to the end unless one player gets way ahead and the other can't claw it back. It makes for an interesting mental challenge. Every 5 points of serving or receiving feels like a mini-game within the game. Can you make inroads on your opponents serve? Can you be secure on your own serve? If you can win the 5 point battles you will win the game.

So here's the breakdown of the game in 5 point groups. The first numbers reflect the cumulative score, the numbers in brackets are each 5 point exchange. As the game progresses it's not just about wining and losing points but about strategies, patterns and a mind set that gets you through the game.

2-3 (2-3); 4-6 (2-3); 6-9 (2-3); 9-11 (3-2); 12-13 (3-2); 16-14 (4-1); 19-16 (3-2); 21-18 (2-2)

I served first but didn't make the best of starts and after three rounds was 3 points down. But it was close and I won the next two exchanges to get to within a point. Then I won 4-1 in what looks like a decisive moment in the game to go 16-14 up. 

But the crucial point actually came next when my opponent made a great return and a mishit to take the next two points and now we're 16-16. For me this was a significant moment. Having got myself back into the game and then in front the next point could undo all that work. I won the point and the next one to make it 18-16. Now I had one more serve left in this set of 5 points and I knew that if I lost it that would mean a single point difference but if I win it I'd be 3 points up and possibly more importantly my opponent would need to win all 5 of his service points to win the game. Keeping your mind clear and focussed in these situations is hard and even at the level at which I play it's important to keep your head in the game and have a plan. 

At 19-16 I know all I need is a single point to take it to a tie-break, but I also only need 2 points to win and anything less than 4-1 for my opponent isn't going to keep him in the game. So all the pressure is on him to win points and my strategy is to make sure he has to win the point rather than me giving it away. 

At this point both of us have to trust our technique. If I become defensive and cautious I could easily give up points and the same is true for my opponent. We exchanged points and I managed to win the match.

What's interesting in all this is how much of the game is played in your head. When you're as evenly matched as we were it might come down to a lucky mishit or a great serve, but even at our level being able to execute a plan under pressure is vital. Hit and hope will only get you so far, you have to have a strategy. 

Let me give you a simple example. From the Ad-court my typical serve is to swing it out wide (I'm left-handed) with as much work on the ball as I can get. Everyone who plays me regularly knows it's coming. I know that if I execute it well then 95% of the time I'll win the point. I know they know it's coming, so the only thing I'm thinking about when I step up to serve is get the process right, execute the plan. If they get a good return, fair enough. I can't afford to worry about what they do with ball and start second guessing where to serve, I just need to focus all my attention on what I'm doing. If I get it right the outcome takes care of itself. 

But here's the thing, and I don't think I'm alone in this. For a moment, as you walk towards the baseline, ball in hand or bouncing it nervously as you walk, every scenario runs through your head.  That's the point at which you make a choice. You either rehearse everything that could go wrong and focus upon that, or you choose to rehearse everything that you've practised. 

As we chatted after the game I asked my opponent what he was thinking at the crucial stages. His reply was interesting. His thought was that he was going to lose. Having been in front and having lost the lead, his overriding thought was about losing. Having caught up and gone in front, my thought was that I could go on and win this now. 

I suspect that had the roles been reversed I might also have thought more about losing than winning, but I've tried to learn to put those thoughts away because they interfere with my process. In fact thinking of either winning or losing, although it happens all the time, can disrupt your ability to play. You must focus on the next task.

So did I win because I had better technique, better mental focus, more matchplay experience, more self-belief (I hadn't lost to him before) or a combination of al these factors? Who knows. But the more I play the more I understand that when you'r evenly matched what goes on in your head can make a difference to the way you play and ultimately to the outcome.

Why do I keep practising?

The simple answer is that I want to get better. I want to be more competitive. Yes, I want to win, but there is more. I like learning. I like trying to improve. I don’t like settling. I could just play social tennis at an achievable level, but that’s not enough. I need to push a bit harder. 

Take the other Tuesday for example. At Club Night I could have settled for playing doubles all evening. I’d worked quite hard in the morning squad session and playing singles is tough, especially when you’re the oldest there by maybe two decades! But the doubles was frustrating because the challenge wasn’t there. It’s fun, but the way I want to try and play doubles is, well, more aggressive, get to the net, attack the ball doubles and having my partner standing in the back half of the court and backing off volleys doesn’t work for me. 

So I ended up opting for a singles match against someone who is probably 20 years younger than me, a lot fitter than me and very fast around the court. I would not be able to out run him so I would need a strategy if I was going to use my superior technical ability against his ability to keep the ball in play. In the end it doesn't matter how technically correct or pretty your strokes are if you don't win the points. Sometimes you have to win ugly as they say!

 The plan was simple. Start well. Apply early pressure and build a lead so that if I ran out of energy after long rallies I had room to recover and a margin of error. Keep the points short and if we got into an extended rally control it if I could by keeping him in one corner. If he started to run then I would probably have to run too because the ball would not be under control. His ability to keep the ball alive would have put me under pressure, but if I controlled the rally, he would have to rally the ball and not make errors.

This is why I practise. I practise so that I can trust my ability to play the shot when I most need to. If you look at the statistics for top level tennis you discover one simple fact: most points are not won by hitting glorious winners, they're won by errors made from the other side of the net. In fact even on the professional tour about 66% of points come from errors. At my level I think it's possibly higher, although our lack of movement and ability to read the game may mean we make space for winners from the other side. I don't know. I do know that if you average more than 1.5 errors a game you are probably going to lose the match.

So practice is important if it enables you to reduce your error count in match play. 

Back to the match. My plan worked well to start with and made a good start, keeping the error count low and building a lead. I did begin to run out of steam but I stayed focussed and won in the end. It could have gone the other way and plenty have, but this one went to plan and that makes all the effort on the practice court worthwhile