root cause

the other day i went to hit a few green fuzzy balls again after an enforced break of 6 weeks.

same gear, same strokes, same player, same opponents but all i got were just disastrous results: weak forehand, tentative backhand and practically no serve. it was all too familiar yet all too foreign.

in my mind i was trying to recollect all the shots i had hit in the past, trying to remember how to approach different shots, and how to basically not suck. but it was futile, though things improved a bit at the end.

i think that when you stop doing something for some time, the brain connections for that particular activity also freeze; they might even regress if you completely stop for a too long period of time! you see, the brain builds knowledge by growing neural-connections. think of it as a tree root: the stronger the root, the deeper the knowledge. and the greater the cluster of roots, the wider the knowledge.

so i guess i need to start working on rebuilding up my tennis roots again, and probably swim bike and run as well if i want to start participating in races again in 2011.