45 ball Tennis Rally - Hewitt & Federer

Now this is a rally.

Roger Federer backhand

How to hit a one-handed backhand. By Roger Federer

Roger Federer forehand

How to hit a forehand. By Roger Federer

Supermann

Well, when one sets out to do great things, he is met with much criticism. A quote I came up with earlier today while eating a big fat burrito from Chipotle goes something like this: "Life has mixed reviews. Our will power tells us which to listen to." With everything great comes a great price, yet I am willing to pay that great price. It may seem silly for me to ramble on about this, but I believe, and have always believed, that I was destined by God to do great things. At this point in my life, the vision of what those things are is still faint, yet I do have the ingredient needed to see this vision come to pass - faith.

In nearly one month I will be travelling the United States with Danny, playing Pro tennis tournaments, bagpiping on streets and in pubs, hiking vast mountains, meeting good, bad, and just plain ugly people, running on beaches, swimming in the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific Oceans, and the list goes on. All-the-while Danny and I will be living very simply, carrying only what we need, and making a difference in this world - and ourselves - one step at a time. What a beautiful thing it will be.

Goodnight,

Nate

Back home...

What a crazy, yet exciting month it has been. Danny and I have been living around Charlotte for a few weeks and now I am back in my hometown of Groveport, Ohio and Danny is back in Ocean City, Maryland. We hauled all of our stuff (mostly my junk) up to Ohio, pulling a U-Haul trailor behind our van. Beyond the horrible gas mileage and the "I think I can" power up the mountain hills of the Virginias, everything was okay.

This was the first time in three years my whole family was together for Thanksgiving - that includes all four brothers. We have had an absolute blast together, playing tons of table tennis at Grammy & Grampy's house, Thanksgiving morning Ultimate Frisbee with the cousins and friends, and of course, lots of food and old stories. Now it is all through, Luke and his family are back in Arizona, and training and sponsorship obtainment is in full swing.

I apologize I haven't posted any pics lately, as my new digicam already broke and needs to be sent back for repair. Gotta love that sweet technology!

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all and to all a good weekend.

Nathan

In the key of b

To start out, let's explore the realm of music and its part in Dan and Nate Journey America. Essentially, music is our end before the beginning and beginning after the end. I have come to realize that all has a beginning and an end, each one oscillating back and fourth like that of any note played on an instrument.
The bagpipes play in the key of b. I am learning that there are certain chords or notes that I can play on my guitar that harmonize with the bagpipes. No matter how well I play the guitar, it will not sound right with the pipes played in any other key than b.
I am in the early stages of learning about the finer points of playing in harmony with multiple instruments, mostly through paracticing with Nate at the Queens University auditorium and music hall. During our paractices at night we find many young advocate musicians practicing late nights. One memorable girl wondered in to our practice in the lower stage after hearing the guitar and bagpipes and was very curious. Since we just jam during our practice, which means we freestyle play to mix our instruments, this girl wanted to play her oboe with us. Wow, what a beautiful instrument. So, being a avid music therapy major, she shed light on playing in key with other instruments. We proceeded to play together in the key of c, without the bagpipes that is, just because we all wanted to stay in the same room together!
So, these are some of the basics we 're learning to our music, but where does this fit into the journey? Perhaps it has already become therapy for both Nate and myself. No doubt Nate and myself are good friends just based on music itself. The accomplishment of creating our own music and molding it into a catchy tune seems uplifting in all areas of our life, and just as the journey isn't just one person, Nate's way to success on the tennis tour seems to lie hand in hand with his other passion.
It seems as I look around, the things I see are consistent, but how they come across to me changes as I change. I think it is going to be difficult as we tour the country in that some of the people we meet we are going to grow close to, but none the less we have to keep moving on.

- Danny

Comfortably Numb

Blog Entry from 11-11-06

Well, it’s been a week and a half now since Danny and I have been out of Flowerfield and living nomadically around Charlotte. Last weekend I played in a Pro-Am Tennis Tournament in New Bern. It had been a while since I had played competitively and it showed in my singles play, but I did all right in doubles, making it to the semi-finals before losing in a 3-setter to some twin brothers. Much behind-the-scenes work has been done this past week. This coming week will be the first all-out training week since maybe mid-summer or so for me, so it will be a wake-up call.

The name of this blog comes from the Pink Floyd song and something I’ve been feeling and seeing a lot of lately. People seem to be numb to all the junk that they see on TV, in movies, around town, even listening to in music. Have we all heard and seen so much junk that we no longer care? I even feel like I have slowly become numb to it all, and this is something I am changing by acknowledging what I have been numb to and not submitting myself to anything which is unnecessary and could stand in the way of success.

“Trash in trash out.”

Signing off.

Nathan