This is How I Started.

“Sports always seemed like a far off dream for me. The first time I played tennis in my life was when I was in the eighth grade. I was called over to play (I don’t really know what they were thinking when they called me), but yes, I went. Happiness and a little excitement peeping in my heart, I went. In a large flared, flowing, billowy, long skirt I went. The fact that I was playing tennis was an achievement for me. You see girls are not supposed to hold tennis rackets.

I wielded the racket as if it was a sword. Each time I swung it, I missed the ball which just whizzed past my nose by a millimeter. Each time I swished my sword, my skirt swung around, the huge undulating mass of cotton swayed bringing along the entire entourage of cottony mass like a surge. It made movement difficult for me. My hands, my eyes, and my legs were out of co-ordination.

That day I didn’t play tennis, my skirt played me.

A few minutes of this circus made it clear that tennis and me were poles apart. In fact, I realized that the only sport I had in me was a spoilsport.

I was asked to take a break. I took a break.

I broke down.

That is my story. That is how I started.”

Looking at everyone, she smiled a wry smile.