Halloween Tennis Breakfast: Vanilla Pumpkin Smoothie

The perfect tennis breakfast to celebrate Halloween - the Vanilla Pumpkin Smoothie! A smoothie is a great pre-match breakfast because its very portable and won't make you feel too full when you're starting up your match.

Besides being the vegetable of choice at Halloween, pumpkins are low in calories, high in anti-oxidants and filled with Vitamin A. And, with the approach of the holiday season, you've probably noticed canned pumpkin filling your grocer's shelves. I based this on a recipe I found on the lululemon blog for a pumpkin spice protein smoothie, but I tweaked it a little to make it my own. I put it through the recipe calculator at myfitnesspal.com and came up with a calorie count of only 141 calories! So buy a can of pumpkin and give this delicious smoothie a try:

VANILLA PUMPKIN SMOOTHIE

1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup unsweetened vanilla-flavored almond milk (you can also substitute soy or skim milk)
1/2 frozen banana
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Truvia (or 1 Tablespoon light agave syrup)
cinnamon
nutmeg

In a blender, combine pumpkin, almond milk, banana, vanilla extract and Truvia. Blend until well-combined. Pour into serving glass and top with a light sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg. Enjoy!



Don't forget to enter the Tennis Fixation October giveaway for a super cute pink polo from 4allbyjofit. Click on this link - October's Go Pink 4all Giveaway! - to go to the post with all of the details.




© Kim Selzman 2011 All Rights Reserved

Retro Tennis Fixation: "I HATE My Partner!"

I recently played a HORRIBLE doubles match - my partner and I got creamed. Our opponents were very, very good players. But the real problem for me was my partner. Or at least that was the way I saw it and once I saw it that way, I couldn't let go. I tried to tell myself that getting mad at my partner wasn't helping anything but, after the match, I actually went to my captain to complain. Me! The queen of "support your partner" and "be a team player."

Anyway, I knew I had addressed this problem here sometime in the past so I dug up this "Retro Tennis Fixation" post, from August 2009, called I HATE My Partner! to try and remind myself what to do next time this happens.


First off, I don't HATE any of my partners. There are many, many of them and they are all lovely people with whom I enjoy playing tennis. I wouldn't play if I wasn't having fun, right?

And you probably don't hate your tennis partner either. But, sometimes, on occasion, maybe every once in awhile, you end up with a partner you're not completely compatible with. I call this the "mismatched partner."

Maybe your mismatched partner is someone new you've never played with before. Or never even met before! Maybe your mismatched partner is someone you've been invited to play with for fun. Or maybe your mismatched partner is someone you were assigned to play with by your team captain for a league match. However it happens, we’re all familiar with how difficult it can be to have to play with one of these mismatched partners.

Here are a few tips to make sure you not only get along with your mismatched partner, but that you enjoy playing and maybe win your match!

1. Control your emotions. The worst thing you can do when you're unhappy with your partner is let her know it. It won't help her play any better and it probably won't make you feel any better. So get a grip on yourself and decide that, between the two of you, YOU are going to be the strong and positive leader.
2. Be positive. It doesn't help anyone if you're negative. It makes you feel bad and it makes your partner feel even worse. If you have some helpful criticism, give it in an upbeat way. For example, if your partner won't come up to the net, telling her "I think we can really hurt them if we're both up at the net" is a lot more productive than "Why can't you just get up to the net??!!"
3. Help your partner focus on tennis. Its hard to play with someone who isn't concentrating on your match. Instead of letting them ramble on about the chances of their son getting into a really good college, help them concentrate on your match by talking about what's happening on the court. Just letting them know what you're thinking about and planning, i.e., "I'm trying to serve up the middle to set you up for the poach", may be enough to get them focused on tennis.
4. Communicate. Talking throughout the match can only help. Let your partner know what you're thinking. And if you're worried that this will bother your partner (maybe they'll think you're being hypercritical or don't know what you're talking about or are just talking too much) do what I do and claim you're mostly talking to yourself. Here's my standard disclaimer: "Don't let all of my talking get to you. I'm mostly talking to myself anyway."
5. Don't throw in the towel. Giving up is the best way to lose your match. And once you've let your partner know you've given up, she will probably give up too. So don't quit because you never know what might happen. The match you think you may lose can turn out to be the incredible comeback story you're telling your tennis pals about later!
6. Work on your own game. When all else fails, when you've finally decided the match is unwinnable because you just can't play well with this person, think about playing well for yourself. Play your game and find something you can work on - be more aggressive, hit your spin second serve, poach more, come in more, lob more. Use the match as an opportunity to improve your own game so you can walk away feeling good about tennis.

The mismatched partner - you have a hard time playing with them, but you can't back out. And you shouldn't! Because, I think this is a common tennis saying - tennis with a mismatched partner is always better than no tennis at all.

If you want to make sure YOU'RE not the mismatched partner, click on the following post and get my tips on How To Be A Great Tennis Partner!


© Kim Selzman 2011 All Rights Reserved

October's Go Pink 4all Giveaway!

I'm always so excited when it's time to do a Tennis Fixation giveaway - and it's time!

The fabulous team at 4allbyjofit has once again given me a super cute piece to try out AND to give away to one of my Tennis Fixation followers. This time its the Windsor Jo-Polo in go-with-everything Blush Pink. So far, I've worn this piece with black yoga pants, gray yoga capris, my "Raisin"-colored 4all fitness pants (a dark maroon color), white tennis shorts and, my favorite look so far, a brown tennis skirt. That's what I'm wearing today for my upcoming Line 1 Open-level match. Yes, Line 1, Open. No typos there. At least I'm excited about my outfit.

Are you noticing the cute pink color of this top and thinking, "Hey, isn't October when all that cute pink stuff appears?" Well, you're right. And, in honor of October being Breast Cancer Awareness month, the team at 4all is donating 10% of the proceeds from its October sales of both the short-sleeved and sleeveless Blush Pink Jo-Polo to the well-known breast cancer cure advocates at Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.

Interested in winning one of these? There are lots of ways to get entries into this particular giveaway so do one, a few or all of these.

• For your first mandatory entry, leave a comment here and let me know what your favorite tennis team colors are - this info will be used in an upcoming fashion post!

 For BONUS entries, go to your favorite social networking sites and -

• Like Tennis Fixation on Facebook - www.facebook.com/TennisFixation - then come back and leave me a comment telling me you did (or that you already do).
• Like 4allbyjofit on Facebook - www.facebook.com/4allbyjofit - then come back and leave me a comment telling me you did (or that you already do).
• Follow Tennis Fixation on Twitter - @TennisFixation - then come back and leave me a comment telling me you did (or that you already do).
• Follow 4allbyjofit on Twitter - @4allbyjofit - then come back and leave me a comment telling me you did (or that you already do).

So you can easily get 5 entries for this giveaway just by doing those few things! Be sure and enter before midnight on Saturday, October 29, 2011. leave your comments using the comment form found at the bottom of this post (just click where it says "0 comments" or "23 comments" or whatever number of comments). Be sure to leave separate comments for each entry - each comment is one entry.

Please note: Winners will be announced on this site. Winners must respond to me with their e-mail address within 3 days of being named. If I don't hear from the first winner within the 3 days, another winner will be selected. This giveaway is only open to U.S. residents age 18 and older.

Good luck!




Image via www.4allbyjofit.com.



© Kim Selzman 2011 All Rights Reserved

It's October And Holiday Shopping Starts Now!

I hate to do this. I know it's not even Halloween yet. But . . . I'm already giving a Tennis Fixation Holiday Gift Guide pick. I wouldn't do this if I wasn't really happy with this particular item. But I am so I am.

First, just to be clear, I never recommend anything to my Tennis Fixation followers unless (1) it's tennis-related and (2) I've tried it out myself. While my definition of "tennis-related" is pretty loose (remember when I recommended Stella McCartney flip flops for post-tennis relaxation?), even I wasn't quite sure how I could tie tennis into an offer I received from Easy Canvas Prints to try out their product.

What Easy Canvas Prints does is turn your photos to canvas. They offered me a chance to get an 11" x 14" canvas print with whatever I wanted on it. I really couldn't see what this had to do with tennis. I certainly didn't want a large canvas print of myself playing tennis (Yikes!). And I wasn't too sure what my friends and family would think of a large canvas print of someone like Roger Federer or the Bryan Brothers hanging in my house ("She may be taking this tennis thing just a little too far.").

But then I came up with the brilliant idea of getting a canvas print made of my 11-year-old baby, who has taken up tennis in the last few months. And here are the fabulous results! First, the full-on shot. Please do not look too closely at his backhand grip (although it really seems to be highlighted in this photo):

This is just a regular old digital photo that my husband took. I downloaded it and edited it a little bit with on-line photo editor Picnik (very, very easy to use), cropping it, softening it and making the optic yellow of his shirt and the tennis balls a little brighter. I then put it through the Easy Canvas Prints site and got a great preview of just what it was going to look like before I ordered it. Just so you know - their site is very easy to navigate and they offer all kinds of options and upgrades to make your canvas print look incredible.

Now, here is the cool part. Take a look from the side:

See how the canvas print wraps around the frame? Isn't that cool? It looks like I really made an effort in getting this done. And take a look at the texture:

I hope you can see that there is some real canvas texture here. (Again - ignore the backhand grip. We are working on that.)

I really love how this came out and have hung it right out in the family room for everyone to see. My son is very proud that his picture has such a place of honor (especially since my other two kids have no such honor but that's what they get for not playing tennis).

So here's my thought - it's October so you have plenty of time before the holiday shopping season heats up. Wouldn't this make a great gift to someone special? You've got plenty of time to find that memorable photo and turn it into something really unique and special by visiting Easy Canvas Prints. And, should you actually get a canvas print done with a tennis theme, please, please let me know and send me a photo. I would love to see that.





© Kim Selzman 2011 All Rights Reserved

And The Winner Is . . .

We have a winner for the Tennis Fixation 4all Giveaway! The prize is a very cute Betty Tennis Tank from 4all's Cabo Collection and the winner is . . . lcooper11111 (that is her screen name - I'm sure she has a completely normal other name)! Here is lcooper's winning comment - "love the print and style. would have been perfect to wear outside playing tennis with the girls today."

So, lcooper, to get your Betty Tank, just send your shipping address and the size of tank you would like to me at kimselzman(at)gmail(dot)com. You can visit 4all's website to see exactly what size would be right for you - www.4allbyjofit.com. And be sure to contact me within the next three days or I will have to draw a new winning name from the entries.

Thanks to everyone who commented, visited the Tennis Fixation Facebook page and entered this giveaway. I know I will have a few more coming very, very soon so stay tuned!


© Kim Selzman 2011 All Rights Reserved

Quick Tennis Fix: Don't Look Back

I don't think we've had an actual tennis tip here in quite some time. So, how about a Quick Tennis Fix?

When playing doubles, many players make a common mistake - they look back to see where the ball landed and what their partner is doing. But good doubles players don't look back. Turning to focus on what your partner is doing means you're not focusing on what your opponents are doing. Have faith that your partner will do the right thing or make the right call and keep your eyes ahead - looking at your opponents. You can usually tell what is happening just by watching your opponents (where are they looking? what are they doing?).

The photo here is a great example of that. It is a pic of a doubles team from the University of California Santa Cruz. Notice that the player on the left, in the red hat, is looking ahead at the other side of the net. His partner is taking care of the ball.

So remember - in doubles, don't look back!

Also - don't forget to enter the latest Tennis Fixation giveaway. Just click here - Tennis Fixation 4all Giveaway Time! -  for details on how to enter. And do it today as all entries must be in by Saturday, October 8, 2011.




© Kim Selzman 2011 All Rights Reserved

Tennis Fixation 4all Giveaway Time!

It's time for a Tennis Fixation 4all giveaway!

As you know, I'm one of the Team 4all bloggers, giving me access to many of the latest pieces put out by the fitness fashion team at 4all by Jofit. They've just put out their latest goodies - the Cabo Collection. This collection is very cute as it features "lapis" highlights and a floral print that's not too cutesy. Best of all, many of the pieces are black or trimmed in black so they go with all that black stuff you already own.

And, lucky for you, 4all was nice enough to offer me a piece from the Cabo Collection to give to one of my Tennis Fixation followers. It's the "Betty Tank" shown in the photo here. And it's easy to win one. Here's all you have to do:

• For your FIRST entry, leave me a comment on this post before midnight Central Time on Saturday October 8, 2011. Be sure and use the comment form found at the bottom of each post (just click where it says "0 comments" or "23 comments" or whatever number of comments). You can do this one time for this post. Just go ahead and leave a comment right now so you know you're entered!
• For a BONUS entry, visit the 4allbyjofit website (click here: www.4allbyjofit.com), click on the words "Tennis Apparel" at the top of the page, pick out your favorite piece, and then come back here and leave a comment below, telling me what piece you just love.
• For a second BONUS entry, visit the Tennis Fixation Facebook page (click here: www.facebook.com/TennisFixation) and like or comment on this post.
  

So leave a comment right now to make sure your entered in this giveaway. And then get your bonus entries done so you have a better chance to win the Betty Tank! I will draw the winning entry after midnight on October 8 and announce the winner right after that.

Please note: Winners will be announced on this site. Winners must respond to me with their e-mail address within 3 days of being named. If I don't hear from the first winner within the 3 days, another winner will be selected.

If you are the least bit confused about how to enter this giveaway, just send me an e-mail at this address - kimselzman(at)gmail(dot)com - and I will give you all the help you need to become a Tennis-Fixation-giveaway-enterer!


Image via www.4allbyjofit.com.




© Kim Selzman 2011 All Rights Reserved