Court/Real Tennis

When we have match'd our rackets to these balls,

We will in France, by God's grace, play a set,

Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.

Tell him he hath made a match with such a wrangler

That all the courts in France will be disturb'd with chases!

(Act II: Henry V) - William Shakespeare

The court at the Tennis Hall of Fame, Newport, RI

Last weekend, Gabe came to visit. Having had a superb time in Costa Rica, I felt the need to impress. What better way than with something TOTALLY unique. We've sampled all the restaurants (including the world famous and profoundly overrated Flo's Clam Shack), visited the sites, talked the talk, etc. But -- and I'll admit selfishly -- I've always wanted to try court tennis and thought Gabe, a rackets man himself, would be a great partner. Essentially, court tennis (aka real tennis) is an 800 year old racket sport invented for British royalty. As Henry ? (not sure which one) got older and fatter, he morphed the rules to favor his corpulent physique. What's resulted centuries later was an esoteric sport, played in a polygon, with arcane rules, from which all other more logical -- and should I add prolific -- racket sports blossomed. Looking forward, as I am on my gap year, I've decided to take 2 free lessons per week? After all, this year is about experimentation. Now you may ask, "why are they free?" Coincidentally, Rhode Island court tennis is supremely well endowed. And when I mean well endowed, I mean like full access to world class courts and coaching for 200 dollars per year. The irony for me is that I'm a serious squash player. We have a crappy courts and no real pro; for court tennis, I benefit from one of the world's nicest courts, at no cost, with two top 50 ranked pros. Go figure ...

For a brief history of court tennis, please visit this Wikipedia page. In other news, I made a Marco Pierre White "Belly Pork" recipe; It was absolutely delicious but a little fatty. My dad even took an extra Lipitor to compensate.