?? Tennis Taught Me Something Kind of Cool…

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Perhaps some of you know - but for those who do not - I used to be an NCAA tennis player…?

Now, if you told me when I was 14 years old that I was going to be an NCAA tennis player - I would have thought you had lost your mind.?

You see, when I was 14, I was training as a provincial gymnast (trampoline, to be specific). And, I was in the midst of preparing to compete at nationals…

Until a brutal back injury halted my training - immediately.?

I won’t go into too much detail about the injury - but, let’s just say sometimes learning new tricks on a trampoline doesn’t turn out “exactly” the way you want…?

And, I wound up with a spinal injury that took 2 years of rehab to recover from…

During those two years, I was completely lost. Since I was 4 years old, I was in the gym - doing cartwheels and backflips and running around for 4 hrs, 5 days per week. Gymnastics was my life - it’s what I loved, and it’s what I felt I was really good at.?

And, in one moment - it was all taken away…?

The two years went by, and I began to look for another sport. I considered everything from rowing to cycling to running… But, none seemed particularly interesting.

In the summer of 2014, my family and I travelled to watch the US Open (a MAJOR tennis tournament in New York City). It was the first time I had really sat down and watched a game of tennis - and I. LOVED. IT.

The intensity, the variety, the power, the strength - it looked like it would be a BLAST - and, hey, maybe it could be something I was good at…

Maybe…

I’m going to fast track a bit here because Wednesday mornings are not meant for novels - but the message is this…

Learning tennis was a WHOLE new ball game (yes, the pun was intended).?

You see, in gymnastics, everything is expected. You know your routine, you do it a million times, then you perform it in front of a crowd & judges. There’s no one else jumping on the trampoline or trying to throw you off…

In tennis, it’s the complete opposite - depending on who you play, the shots you choose will be different. You need strategies, not a routine. To be successful, you need to adapt - to pay attention to what’s going on, to learn from it, and to build a strategy to beat your opponent.?

And, if you look at it through this lens, it’s actually quite similar to most things in life…?

Success is not routed in a set plan.?

Rather, it’s rooted in one’s ability to maneuver and adapt to various situations in a way that is positive and supportive for their goals.?

• We often want a quick fix. A plan. Something to defer back to.?
• We want a 5 day training split for the gym.
• We want a meal plan to follow day-by-day.
• We want a clear-cut schedule to follow to get us to our end goal.

And, while, yes, these do have their time and place (ie: an elite athlete might have a 5 day training split to follow fairly rigidly), it’s often not the key to success (using the same example, as much as an athlete COULD train, if they cannot adapt during their sport performance, they likely won’t reach their potential)?

This is especially true with nutrition

Now, don’t get me wrong here - i’m not an “anti-plan” person - in fact, I DO think plans can be helpful from time to time.?

But, what I’m saying is that if your ONLY tool in the box is a paper plan - I’m afraid to say you might not have the best success…

Because life WILL get in the way of your plan.?

Just like an opponent WILL get in the way of what shots you want to hit on the tennis court.

To reach your goal, you need strategies that can adapt to various situations - so you STAY IN CONTROL during chaos, feel confident, and can continue to progress forwards, even when sh*t hits the fan.

I COULD give you a plan to follow.?

But so could chat gpt - and chat could probably do it faster than I could anyways…

That’s not what I help with.?

I help with the logistics piece… The accountability piece… You know - all that real life crap that pops up just when you start to feel like you’re “on track again”.

• What do you do when you get home from work at 7 or 8 and are too exhausted to cook anything?
• What do you do when you’re travelling on the road with very little foods to choose from?
• What happens if your life is jam-packed with social events that always feature desserts and “indulgent” foods?
• What happens when your kids come home from school and raid the fridge - eating all the meal prep you just spent hours making?
• What happens when you wake up late and can’t make your normal egg breakfast?
• What if you can’t eat dairy, or gluten, or nuts and seeds??
• What if new health news completely changes what your doctor recommends that you eat?
• What if you have been doing everything “right” but still aren’t making ANY progress towards your goals?
• What if you keep eating really “clean” during the day, but falling WAY off the wagon at nights - even though you know what you’re doing is not helpful?

My hunch is this.

You don’t need another “plan” or another “routine” to follow.

You need strategies - tools that can help you in different situations…

Just like my tennis coach taught me…?

You can practice with a ball machine all you want (predictable…routine…) - but unless you practice playing opponents and learning strategies (variable… adaptability…), you’ll never reach your full potential…?

Did this resonate?

If YES, maybe I could help you with something (or, maybe I know of someone who could help if I can’t) :)?

You can book a complementary consult with me (30-minutes, no cost, no obligation) here - I’d love to meet you:?https://cal.com/kenzieosborne/complementary-consult