Posts tagged tennis
Upkeep vs Improvement

For the past couple of years, I have been working on a little project; to restore an old disused Tennis court. The journey has been a bit shaky at times, but tonight I made a giant leap forward when I finally got my surface cleaning equipment up and running and managed to clean about 70% of the surface in a day. The total area is about 600 sqm, so it is quite a big undertaking. It felt so good to fire up the pressure washer with the surface cleaning attachment and see the grime and dirt just flow away, once again revealing the vivid colored playing surface that had been gone for so long.

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Wax on, wax off

When I was a kid, I watched the movie Karate Kid where young Daniel wants to learn Karate and gets old Karate master mr Miyagi to train him. Miyagi lets Daniel clean and polish his cars using the “wax on, wax off” motion. He also lets him clean a terrace and pain a fence, always using special motions with his hands when appying the wax, paint or cleaning water. All in all, Daniel spends lots and lots of time with these activities until he finally snaps and goes furious – “When are you going to teach me Karate?!” It turns out, that is precisely what he has done. The special movements Daniel used in the activities are important Karate moves, and by doing restoration and renovation work, they have just killed two birds with one stone. A lot of works has been done, and Daniel now has the correct movements in his muscle memory.

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Maintenance is about sacrificing the present for the future

When something has been left in disuse for a long time, mother nature will reclaim it and return it to chaos. The longer left unattended, the more energy will be required to restore it. And leave it for too long, it might be beyond salvation and must be rebuilt. To keep something working properly, you must maintain it regularly. This is also the approach that will require the least amount of total time and energy and yield the best result. A complete restoration of something that has decayed, will require a lot more time and energy. Do a little every day is the way to go. Regular maintenance is about sacrificing the present for the future. However, there is also something extremely satisfying with cleaning and restoring disused things to their former glory.

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