Editors Note: This piece was written by PlayYourCourt customer Andrea L. from Los Angeles, CA. A group of PYC customers were selected at random and asked to write an editorial about their experience with PYC, and this one was too good not to share! Thanks Andrea! We hope you all enjoy her story 🙂 

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Tennis changed my life. It didn’t change my life in the sense that I got really good and started winning tournaments. I am no Serena Williams, but tennis gave me something that nothing else could.

I was overweight. I used to blame everything other than myself for it, too. It was my parents fault. Bad genetics. Slow metabolism. Maybe I was just lazy, maybe I was just hungry. Maybe all those things were true. But that’s not the point. The point is, I am healthy now, and I have tennis to thank for that.

I was never an outsider growing up, my weight struggle was more of an internal issue, but I never made it an external one. I had friends. I was the funny kid, and was even moderately athletic. I played basketball in high school, and my weight actually helped me, especially guarding more petite girls. Secretly, I hated it. I had no confidence, but I faked it, so nobody knew what I was going through. It was more of the same in college, but it really came to a head post-grad.

Graduating college and moving to Los Angeles to start my career was a real eye-opener for me. I wasn’t surrounded by people my age and struggled to go out and try and meet people. I joined a gym, but lacked the motivation to keep up with it to a point where I would really start to see the weight drop off. I gave up on that. I tried running every morning, but I wouldn’t make it a mile. I gave up on that, too. Rec league basketball, spin classes, even cross fit. I didn’t stick with anything. I hated it all and I hated the fact that I wasn’t sticking with any of it. It didn’t help my weight problem and it didn’t help my confidence.

I was asked one day, about a year ago, by an old friend to play tennis. I had never played, and quite honestly, never given the sport a second thought. I said yes, though, and it is a day I will never forget.

I was awful. I was athletic enough to at least hit the strings on most shots, but I learned very quickly how hard the game was, and that excited me. I hit a few good shots, and had an absolute blast running around the court. My shirt was drenched, my lungs were screaming, my heart was pumping out of my chest, and I realized I was happy for the first time in a long time. I had always hated being bad at things, and sports especially, but this was different.

That day on court sparked something in me. After just an hour on court, I was hooked. I knew I wanted to get great at tennis, and knew that in order to do so I would need to get fit. Losing the weight became an inevitable byproduct of my primary goal: to become a good tennis player. If I wanted to take it seriously, I had to take my health and fitness seriously.

I have not looked back.

I took lessons, and have made a great network of friends through the game. I play 3 days a week, and am now playing in a 3.5 USTA league. I work out for an hour every morning. I go for runs, and I ride the stationary bike at home. I have lost fifty-five pounds in just over a year, and more important than my newfound love for tennis, I have confidence again. I now weigh less than I weighed in eighth grade, I’m dating, and I have a mean first serve. My quest to improve my tennis game is linked directly to my desire to improve as a person mentally, physically and emotionally.

Two years ago I would never have believed someone if they told me I would eat, sleep and breathe tennis. I also never would have believed that I would now weigh what I do and carry myself with the confidence that I had feigned for so long.

Yes, tennis has changed my life, and I am so thankful for it.

 

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Hopefully my tennis weight loss story can inspire others to get into tennis, too! I found PlayYourCourt early on in my quest to become a better player. They linked me up with a great coach and made everything super easy. I picked a local court near my apartment, and my coach is very accommodating of my schedule. Not only did they make tennis easy, but my coach made it even more fun. I have improved in every area of the game and get an awesome workout every time we step on the court.

PlayYourCourt can work for you, too! They are nationwide and have fabulous, certified instructors standing by waiting to help you take your game to the next level. Click HERE to find the perfect instructor for you, and get $25 off your first lesson!