During my last semester at UC, I decided to take a tennis basics course. Unfortunately it was a sprint course, so there was limited time, but I tried to cherish it as much as possible. The course focused on teaching me the basics of tennis such as hitting the ball properly using forehands and backhands, keeping track of score, proper stance, stretching, serving, etc. To complete my experience, I focused on doing research, practicing, reflecting, and watching tennis. When it came to reflecting, I worked on thinking about what went well, what was difficult, and what needed more work. For research, I found it useful to watch videos that gave and showed tips on stances, handling the racket, and hitting the ball properly. This research was aimed at being an extension of what I was already learning in my tennis course. Lastly, I used streaming services and youtube to watch matches and tried to focus on how they hit the ball, their stances, and how a normal game of tennis would look overall. This was helpful because I was able to see things in a much faster environment and focus on what looked interesting or what I might want to try/learn. Because I am still learning and getting comfortable playing tennis, I didn't take any personal pictures of me playing, but I included a few of the most important moves to learn in tennis like forehand, backhand, and serve. These moves are consistently being perfected as you practice because you work on control, stance, and movement, so it is what I spent a lot of my time learning and practicing. 

      Beginning to learn tennis was definitely something that was slightly out of my comfort zone because I waited until a lot later to decide to try it, but it has always been an interest that I wanted to pursue and I honestly kind of regretted not trying it in high school. Now that I have actually taken that step to begin learning how to play, it has helped me see that even though it might take time and practice, I can slowly grow my skills. I have also discovered that I do genuinely enjoy playing too even if I may not be that good at it. Being able to understand that learning something new might be scary but totally worth it is an important lesson that I will need to take with me for medical school and beyond because this career is guaranteed to constantly throw new uncertainties my way. Lastly, this experience allowed me to explore how a global citizen scholar is not bound to strictly academics, but is able to explore passions and interests because it continues to teach new skills and keep me eager to learn about myself and the world around me.