Online Reporter
Fadzayi Maposah-Correspondent
I played tennis a lot when I was in primary school. I still remember the first racquet that I ever owned.
This was a milestone that happened in the two last years of primary school. It was blue, with a touch of green. Before that, I had used tennis bats and racquets at school.
My basic skills were honed using the school equipment. Since I had a tennis racquet, I did not have to queue for the ones that the school had.
There were some favourites among the school ones, and there was always a rush for these ones.
At times someone would be handing in their work and by the time they got to the tennis courts, they would see someone holding the one that they wanted.
It meant that they had to look for another one.
As one who had once been part of the queue for the tennis racquets, I knew the feeling. It was a road that I had travelled. Some of the tennis racquets had been donated, and that was why they were different. The different ones were for practice, but when we played against other schools, different racquets were provided. These were the same.
Our teachers, who would double as our coaches, would observe us until they knew who could play together in the doubles teams. One had to work well with the player that the coach gave them.
We connected. One knew when to step in and when to allow the partner to take the hit. In high school, I remember that one of our teachers was also our coach, but we also had a coach who would come on sports days and assist us.
As tennis players, we had a language that we all understood. We could talk to one another freely in that language without having to explain much. While other sports teams like netball, volleyball (which I also played in high school), basketball had bigger balls, we never attempted to use their balls during our tennis games. Neither did we ask for the rounders’ bat and ball for tennis; we played with our racquets and balls and were happy that way. We practiced led by our coach.
We hit the tennis ball. We hit it hard. At times, it needed a gentle hit. We bounced our tennis balls as we prepared to hit them. At practice, at times our teachers and coaches threw balls and we ran in single file hitting back the ball.
At times some hit the ball while others on the sides picked the balls and took them back to the coach so that the routine could continue. At times, the coach would assign a team member to throw the balls. The routines were different, but we were guided by the coach.
We always had great respect for the coaches. They were our guides. They built our teams. When they talked, we listened and did our very best to follow their instructions.
We disappointed them at times. We even surprised them. We made them proud. We were basically a family. We celebrated wins. We calmed each other in moments of anxiety. Some days, as we travelled back from matches, we sang. On some days, when the match had not gone in our favour, we were quiet, each one of us in deep thought, wishing the game had gone differently. Eyes misted on some occasions.
On other occasions, the tears fell. We hugged each other in good and bad times. We walked together onto the stage when the whole school celebrated our wins. On some days we sat in the audience as other teams that had performed well got on to the stage to be celebrated.
There has been a lot of information on breast cancer awareness this month. Others have committed themselves to wearing something pink during Pinktober.
There are many organisations that are offering services that vary from information dissemination to actual screening. Some organisations are providing free screening services, while others require a nominal fee.
I have noted that there are some people who do not take kindly to free services.
They would rather be charged a high fee to feel that the service is genuine. As part of their social responsibility, organisations may offer free services.
They are not free as someone is contributing so that it becomes available. The school racquets that we used had been donated, but that did not stop us from learning how to play tennis.
How much would I have lost if I had refused to use the donated racquets, waiting until I had my own? It would have taken longer for me to be on the team and actually play well.
When I played tennis back then, and even if I was to play today, who would know which skill had been sharpened by the racquet my parents had bought, and which skill was lacking because of the donated racquet?
Join the queue for breast cancer screening. You might have delayed in joining the queue attending to other issues, the important part is to join. When the health professions speak, listen and allow them to guide you because, like my tennis coaches, they know more about the game.
Health professionals, like coaches, do not abandon team players when the game is still to be played. Understand too that the health professional depends on you so that their work can be done.
Allow them to determine which routine to follow for the sessions.
Do not apply what the basketball coach wants when you are on the tennis team.
Refuse to listen to people who say that free services are inferior because they are not. Health services are guided by standard operating procedures, and the ones providing the services have a reputation to protect.
#October Breast Awareness Month
