My First Love....Tennis

The prayer by Pedro Arrupe, SJ featured in My First Love Letter to the 2012 San Francisco Giants is one I see everyday at work. It serves as the cover image on the textbook / reader for the course that I teach, Foundations of Ethics: Morality and Justice. I never gave a whole lot of thought to what students might think of it until I overheard an exchange between two of them.  I was completing my faculty obligation of working in the bookstore when an unsuspecting junior yelled out to his friend, “Hey did you get the Religion book?  Yeah, it’s has that “Falling in Love” image on the front. Ha!” I was of course unappreciative of his smug attitude, eye roll and flip remark. But I took a step back and realized this exchange was about to serve as a poignant example.

I’m sure to a 16-year-old male, that image and prayer is overly "touchy/feely." At first glance it’s hard to take a course seriously that features flowers and a calligraphy message “Fall in Love.” But this prayer is on the cover for a reason. 

The theme questions of the course are Who Am I?  Who Am I Becoming?  What Does it Mean to Be Fully Human? The heart of the message speaks to the nature of God and of humanity.  It gave me great insight into what it means to be human and into God--who is love.   

I now ask my students: What person doesn’t want to fall in love? I believe we all want to fall in love.  It could be with someone or something—a place in the world, a sports team, an artist, etc. The experience of “Falling in Love” isn’t limited to those lucky in romance.  No, it’s something that we find and that finds us--in the gym or the garden, upon giving birth or breaking a world record.  It can and does change us forever. 

Running with that analogy, I started to think about all that I had fallen in love with in my life.  For most of us, our “first love” has a special significance; it stays with you. I thought about my first love in sports. That was an easy question to answer.  

Mine was tennis. At 12 years of age, my father told me that he was signing me up for a tennis day camp near our home. He remembered and admired the instructor, a former pro.  My dad played tennis in college and loved the game.  He learned on the public courts in Washington State by family friends. He wanted me to have the wonderful experience he did.

Prior to playing tennis, I had been on a swim team for six years and I played CYO basketball. I had a lot of fun with both sports, but tennis was different. And I fell in love with it pretty quickly and quite hard.  I babysat to pay my way to attend as many summer camps as I could.  I would ride by bike to the tennis club every evening to play with my hitting partner, Joy. I subscribed to not one, but two tennis magazines. I ordered tennis jewelry and had a tennis ball key chain.  I wrote to the NCTA to be a ball girl at professional tournaments in the area.  I had my favorite and least favorite players. Wimbledon was a treasure to watch.

I stopped playing tennis in my early 20s.  My serve frustrated me and I never improved in the way I wanted.  I know now that I had a "fixed mindset".  Yes, a part of me wishes I had never walked away.  First loves are often like that. 

But when I watch tennis matches today, I am taken back to a time and place when my days and dreams were colored by the desire to be on the court.  To this day, I give thanks for the fact that I know some of my closest friends because of tennis.  I still love to watch the game and when I do, I know that my vision and understanding of it is far different than when I watch a sport that I never played or loved—like football.  Falling in love really does change and determine everything.

When God created humanity, God endowed us with many gifts, abilities and experiences.  Falling in love might be the greatest.  Think about all the people, places and even sports you have ever fallen in love with and give thanks to God.

Photo Credits
US Open It Must Be Love

Fan's Love Sharipova

Falling in Love Art is by Holly Campbell

The Best Way to Know God: Sports

The best way to know God is to love many things. 
—Vincent Van Gogh

The faculty and staff of St. Ignatius College Prep reconvened on August 24 for fellowship, professional development, meetings, and mass to commence the 2012-2013 school year. I am grateful we were given time for reflection, prayer and personal sharing before the chaos of the new year unfolds.

In our time together, we were asked to consider three questions:

• What experience—event—image—from the summer gave you a glimpse of God or of love?
• In light out our theme, “loving,” what is one hope you have for this new year?
• What is your reflection on the call to be loving (in this morning’s talks, your experience, or  quotations below)?

One of the quotes was from a surprising source, the impressionist artist, Vincent Van Gogh.  He wrote, “The best way to know God is to love many things.” I thought what a beautiful insight; its truth spoke to me.

I have always believed that creation is a reflection of the creator.  God’s goodness is reflected in God’s awesome creation—the Badlands, Yosemite Valley, a new born child, my friend’s dog—Lucky Dog—a Labrador and Border Collie mix.  Indeed, many people and tragedies challenge this belief, I am sure the good Lord agrees.

However, I write today because my immediate response to Van Gogh’s insight relates to Sports and Spirituality.  I thought “that’s right.  So many sports, so little time.”  Sports reveal creativity, joy and even a glimpse at immortality.  Different sports speak to different people—cultures and ages, personalities and mindsets.  To love sports can reflect a love of God, because I believe sports can build community—relationships and friendships like no other.

First and foremost, sports are a form of leisure.  Leisure implies freedom or choice; it is not obligatory (even though work or effort may be involved).  When we are at leisure, we are at play.  I have worked with young people long enough to realize that when they are at play, more often than not, they reveal their true self.  Am I honest? Considerate? Grateful? Competitive?

Sports put us in contact with people and places we might not otherwise know.  I think of basketball and its CYO programs.  The sport draws a wide demographic of boys and girls of all ages.  For example, St Vincent de Paul in an affluent neighborhood of San Francisco (Cow Hollow) plays the same game against the inner city's St Paul of the Shipwreck in the Bayview.  Neither child may have been to the other’s neighborhood had it not been required league competition.

Indeed, sports teams hold stereotypes.  Tennis, lacrosse and golf have often attracted “people of privilege” because of the access and pricey equipment that facilitiates the development of skill and mastery.  However, I am proud that our country has a commitment to public recreational programs and facilities, that many of us may take for granted.  Great athletes like the Billy Jean King and Arthur Ashe benefitted from public courts.  The Williams Sisters career began on the courts of Compton; today they sponsor tennis academies in the inner city.  And thank God they do, as we know the commitment and upkeep to our cities “park and rec” is under siege.  Other creative programs like “First Tee” and “Lacrosse for LIFE” are not state/federally funded, they are nevertheless responding to those needs in different ways.

At SI we encourage first year students to cast a wide net and try out for several sports for a reason. We know that our teams are places where new students can easily build and hopefully build confidence in a new community.  I was approached by one student who when cut from volleyball decided she was going to try out for girls water polo.  When she didn’t make that team she asked if she could run with the cross country team.   That young woman found a home with the team and loves the sport.  

Sports also reveal the unique talents of the human person. I have no “hops,” I could never hit a curve ball, and I can’t dribble a ball in either soccer or basketball to save my life, but flip turns in swimming, running 26.2 miles without stopping or crushing a tennis ball with my forehand cross court shot has been almost second nature.  I heard the renown swimmer Haley Scott DeMaria tell an audience at Notre Dame’s Play Like a Champion conference that she grew up in a home that didn’t ask “if you would play sports” but "what sport would you not play?"  The world was their athletic oyster! 

This summer I took six students to Camden, NJ on an urban challenge to learn about poverty through Romero Center Ministries.  The entire week gave me “glimpses of God and of God’s love,” but one image has stayed with me I am reminded of Van Gogh’s quote.  

Coming from the San Francisco Bay Area, the concept of a warm rain in the summer was foreign these young people. A typical east coast summer storm one early evening became an invitation for play for these six teenagers. While most of the larger group stayed inside to keep dry, my students played Frisbee for nearly an hour in the pouring rain. Whether they knew it or not, they were basking in the glory of God’s creation: the day, the warm rain, the ability to run and laugh, to jump and throw, to be with one another. To love God is to love many things—Frisbee, rain, summer and each other. Sports are often the vehicle that gets us there. 

Thanks be to God.

Photo Credits
Van Gogh: Self Portrait

Badlands
Mo Farah

CYO Hoops

First Tee