Throughout middle school and high school, I was a tennis player.  I took would take lessons twice a week during my off-season and was very in to the sport.  Winning was the only thing I ever thought about, and although I did win my share of matches, I was never satisfied with my game.  I always found fault with how I played, whether I didn’t toss my ball high enough on my serve or consistently hit my backhand cross court instead of down the line.  Oh and losing… I didn’t take that very well, at all.  Mentally, I was so tough on myself and by the time high school ended, I was growing sick of playing an individual sport.

When I got to college, I wanted to give a team sport a try – one that I thought I had a chance at just “picking up”.  For me that sport was field hockey.  To all the field hockey players out there, I eat back those words.  Field hockey is very difficult to play.  What made it really difficult was the transition from an individual setting, one where I had control of the game and had the only impact on my win or loss.  A team sport is completely different.

I didn’t even know how to cheer on my teammates while they scored goals and defended shots on our own goal.  I was frustrated that I wasn’t as good as the other girls and I just wasn’t able to be happy for them when I knew I had not contributed to the win.  I wonder if other people who tried to transition from individual to team sports felt the same sort of culture shock as I did.