Beach tennis is super fun!

There was a Japan Beach Tennis Federation tournament.
Last Saturday, there was a beach tennis match at Chura Sun Beach.
My students were participating, so I went to cheer them on.

At the venue next to the beach tennis court, there was a frescobol tournament.
They were holding a practice session, so I joined in with Kazu until the match started.

Frescobol is a sport where you compete in what would be called volley-to-volley in tennis.
There is no net in between, and you see how many volleys you can keep going in five minutes.
One person hits hard, and the other returns it to an easy-to-hit spot.
When you get tired, you switch roles and repeat.

The country where it is most popular in the world is Brazil, and it seems there are 2 million players.
At the top level, they say the rallies reach speeds of 90 km/h.

It seems they hold weekend practice sessions at Araha Beach in Okinawa as well.
I want to work hard at beach tennis too, without losing to them.

My students' matches started, so I cheered for them.

The women lost, but the men took first and second place.
The Okinawa members did a great job.

The woman who won is Aoi-san, who came to the Okinawa beach tennis practice session last year.
I also met her at a beach tennis venue in Chiba during my cross-Japan tennis trip,
and she won this match too; she's amazing!

I held a Hero beach tennis lesson for the first time in a while,
and it was super fun. The students were happy, and when I let them play a match,
they were completely absorbed and enjoying it.

Beach tennis is the best.
This year, I want to hold the Hero Cup for beach tennis,
and I want to host a mixed-martial-arts-style beach tennis tournament
for people with experience in volleyball, soccer, basketball, badminton, and tennis.
Just thinking about it makes me excited and nervous.