I’ll miss you!

Today I am blue. I just won another 10U red level national competition, got “the best player on tournament”, cute shiny medal and all, but… time has come for me to finish red level games. The reason is, I have almost reached the age limit, besides for several last months I train to prepare myself for the green level (which is really hard to combine with reds).
I want to thank all my opponents-n-friends! It was a great pleasure playing with you! Unfortunately, I’ll not have a chance to compete with boys anymore (lucky you are 😜), but… I do hope to meet girls on the orange level and progress together as we did all this time.
So… today I decided to turn this four year page of my tennis journey and move on. Ah… I played these soft fat slow balls for the last four years! F-o-u-r years!!! This is half of my life! They helped me learning all the basics and much more… hundreds of them were turned to scraps after million shots and numerous drills on walls and courts. And now it has to end. This is so sad…
I know that many players and their parents try skipping reds as soon as possible. They find them childish, inglorious and useless, trying to jump to the next “serious” level. Now I can honestly and responsibly tell you this: no one has ever been so wrong. These nice oversized balls are perfect for mastering all the techniques: from basic strokes to spins, power, balance and footwork. Many things that can be learned in 10 hours with red balls would require three-five times as much with orange or greens. This is a great tool that should not be underestimated.
So, it is a farewell… but guess what? I think I’ll still play reds when no one can see me :) but it’s secret! shhh… :)