Grunting Really Works!

Today, Coach Lou (I finally got cleared!) taught us (the Varsity girls-- apparently, I'm #3 singles now :D MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!) breathing exercises. We breathe in when we turn, and out when we hit the ball. And today, we were doing backhands. At first, I was focused on hitting the cone-- keeping my shoulders turned and my feet sideways so I wasn't off balance; all that jazz. And then, Coach brought up the breathing exercises again.

"I want to hear you guys grunt!"

Well, incidentally, it was my turn. In my Ralston days, I liked to grunt when I hit, but got a lot of mocking in return, so I stopped. That time, when I hit the ball, I let out a funky "puh!" sound, and laughed. I didn't see how my shot went because I was too busy laughing. Coach called us (the Varsity Singles people) to the net.

"Did you see that shot?" he asked.

"... No," I admitted. "I blinked, and missed it."

He frowned. "Oh, that's a shame. You know, that was a really good shot. Did you see that?" he asked the other two, Priscilla and Melissa. They both nodded. "It was fast, and--" he pointed to the cone he had set up above the net-- "almost hit it. It was off by like, an inch. Now, we've hit about twenty balls, but none of them had gotten that close."

After that, I started grunting. It caught the Doubles girls' attention, and they started laughing. I didn't really care anymore; it gave me good results. Pretty fun ;D

But OH, my GOD. It was so effin' hot out there today. When I came home around 5, the temperatures that I saw on building marquees ranged from 92 to 107. Imagine the temperature at 2:00 PM-- the hottest time of the day. D: And that's when we started practice again.

And in the morning, we ran like, eight bleachers. -sigh- We're probably going to have to do more next week, or maybe tomorrow, while I'm gone.

So tomorrow, I'm taking a blood test. And for some odd reason, I have this inability to tolerate needles, period. I mean, cross stitching and knitting needles are fine, but like, needles that go in your skin. -shudders- I think I might faint tomorrow. And I had shots yesterday, too. D:

OH YEAH. Yesterday, I went to a physical therapist (remember that minor accident I was in a while ago? Apparently, my dad's back is hurting from it), and they told me that my back muscles are kind of weak, so I have to exercise it by standing up straight, with my shoulders back. -sigh- They're getting sore; those muscles....

He (the physical therapist) cracked both my back and neck twice. My neck feels kind of stiff, but my back's fine. :O

Registration is next week! <3>