Posted by Commander Heathcliff Rinker (Counselor) in Gym

“A vid,” Rinker raised an eyebrow. “Of you playing tennis… that is a little narcissistic. I have much better things I’m not allowed to make videos of than you.”

Rinker

Mardusk heard the comment and laughed hard enough he missed the next two balls that came his way. “I do not even want to know, Doc.” and then he set himself on the base line and said “Okay. Let’s get this over with. You serve. It’s ‘serve’, right?”

Mardusk, CoS

Rinker shook his head. He held two balls in one hand and smoothly threw up one in the sky, before striking it with an over the top spin. It allowed him to hit it with a slightly higher arc over the net, but not with nearly the speed of a typical serve. It would be easier to return if Mardusk could recognize the action of the ball. If not immediately, it wouldn’t take him long to figure out that as the racket cut across the ball the ball would spin in the opposite direction.

“Don’t hurt yourself,” Rinker called as the ball left his racket.

Rinker

Mardusk’s eyes focused on the ball and as it came down and bounced up in front of him, he swung at it with a decent forehand… and the ball bounced off the racket and flew in a straight line across the net, past the court markings, and slammed into the wall behind Rinker.

Mardusk scowled at the offending ball, offending racket, and then the Counselor. “Why do I get the feeling I have been set up here, Doc?” he said with a slight grin before motioning for another serve.

Mardusk, CoS

Rinker continued to smirk. “No, not really, I just picked a game where the strongest doesn’t have a significant advantage… finesse, technique, control… all things you have or can learn… but you just can’t crush the ball and think you’re going to win.” He bounced the ball a few times.

“Keep the racket parallel to the net, and when you follow through bring your racket upward… it will put topspin on the ball why taking some power off. It should help keep the ball down, you just have to aim just over the net.” Rinker’s smirk returned… it might take a couple of serves before he got it right.

Rinker

“Take a look at me. ‘Finesse’ isn’t exactly a strong point for me.” he said with a laugh. But he took the instruction, made a few practice swings and then said “Ok. I think I got it. Let’s do this.” He set his feet apart, and held the racket with both hands so if he needed to switch hands he was ready.

Mardusk, CoS