Many of us have Vikings among our ancestors, evidenced by the numerous genetic afflictions, such as 'la maladie du Puytren', in which tendon sheaths of the hands are affected in such a way, that fingers bend over more & more, until an operation is needed to allow you to hold your racquet in an approved fashion. Sufferers of such a disease, include Mrs. Thatcher, Anton Dikken, & myself. My unsubstantiated hypothesis on the origin of this affliction, is that this was the consequence of the rowing efforts over enormous distances, that a multitude of our forbears had to endure......
In recent times, that is since the inauguration of our tennis club around 1976, more & more inhabitants of icy regions of Scandinavia, have chosen this region to amplify, & test their proficiencies in our preferred sport. This has occurred for various reasons: their play back home, is limited to indoors during the many snow-ridden months of the year they have to put up with. The other & consequent reason, is that a much more favoured region, such as ours, engenders higher standards through long hours of training sessions, & of consistently greater possibilities of competition.
So, not only we enjoy summer visits of Scandinavian players with a family relative in residence in the region, but at other times of the year, as just recently, we have young champions needing to test their skills against the more experienced players of the Côte d'Azur. The delightful Norwegian family we met these last weeks includes 2 sisters, Malene (age 11), & Maren (age 13) who have been taking lessons in preparation for later visits to play in local tournaments. Several of you will have been watching with admiration the level of play of these two young girls: I include for the moment, photos showing them taking part in exercises, which are another important part of tennis training. The biggest surprise though, was to see today, the youngest girl, Maria(age 5), of the family, in energetic forehand returns, well into the teacher's court.
We are happy to welcome such able, smiling girls into our international community, & we wish them every joy & success.
After these terribly long periods of rain we've suffered, we are all rather rusty: remember to do some exercises before you go on court, & stretchings exercises afterwards. And enjoy your games once more, without getting injured!
