Shoulder Woes Hit Dowbrigade

For the
first time in a singularly unspectacular 40-year althletic career I
have been suffering the past week from shoulder problems.  My doc
says it’s tendonitis, inflamtion of the shoulder tendons from overuse. First
felt it last Sunday after tennis, and on Wednesday I tried to play thorough
the
discomfort (almost always a mistake) and Thursday couldn’t lift my right
arm higher than parallel to the ground.

Treatment is ice after use (which I have always hated) and rest (which
I also hate, if it means no tennis). Every weekend morning for the past
7 or 8 years a bunch of 40 and 50 something duffers get together at the Riverside Park
public courts in Cambridge, along the Charles river between Harvard and MIT,
and convene the “Just Don’t Suck Tennis Club’, a group with only one goal
– not to suck, on the tennis courts at least.

It is a mixed crowd, mostly men but a few women, Americans, mad Russians,
Phillipinos, academics, writers, health care workers, rock musicians, who
have in common only a rough parity in age and ability, and a love of the
sport.

We usually play outdoors throughout the winter, as
long as the courts are clear of snow, (the City of Cambridge has somehow
neglected to take
down the nets at all the past few winters) moving a bit stiffly bundled
up in
sweats and down vests on the freezing windy
winter
days,
but enjoying
being
outside
and
moving,
stretching and hitting.

Of course, the main attraction of tennis to folks like us is the opportunity
to hit something as hard as we can without getting sued or arrested.  Personally,
although a seemingly mild-mannered teacher in real life, on the court I
often imagine myself striking blows in defense of enlightenment and intellectual
competence,
against the hard, numb skulls of slipshod or obstinant students. Lord knows
what the other JDS members are imagining, but I suspect something similar.

WE go as much for the camadarie as for the gamesmanship. When I can’t
play for an extended period, like a couple of seasons ago when I tore several
tendons in my right thumb skiing (skiers thumb, they call it for some reason)
and
had
to have
an operation to graft a tendon from my forearm to replace the torn onse,
I literally go stir crazy. Once or twice I would drive by the courts during
my extended recuperation, but it was too painful to watch without being
able to take the court. As a result of this experience I quit skiing.

So despite the pain in my shoulder I am off for the courts, looking forward
to this weeks session of the JDS Tennis League. I know I need to give it
a rest, but hell, BloggerCon is in two weeks, and I can rest it then.