World Tennis Magazine

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Coronavirus

Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation’s “Six Healthy Habits” Will Serve You Well In This COVID-19 Era

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by Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

 

When the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation was founded in 2007 the main mantra of the non-profit organization helping at-risk children in Indian River Country was Mardy’s “Six Healthy Habits.” With the current heightened focus on personal health in this era of coronavirus / COVID-19, these healthy habits become even more important to children, and people of all ages.

“Fighting disease and viruses starts with having a good immune system and you build that up by having a healthy lifestyle,” said Tom Fish, the President Emeritus of the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation and Mardy’s father. “We want to teach children, early in their life, the importance of starting to live a healthy life. It’s not just good advice for children but for everyone.”

Mardy’s Six Healthy Habits are as follows:

  • Get Sleep
  • Drink Water
  • Eat Healthy
  • Exercise Daily
  • Brush and Floss
  • Make Friends

Sleep

Sleep performs a range of vital functions, including restoring damaged tissues, boosting learning and memory, and flushing toxins from the brain. Sleeping too little can have serious long-term health consequences, increasing the risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

“Sleep is an important behavior and routine because that’s when your body regenerates and cures itself,” said Fish. “If you are sick or injured, one of the best things you can do to get rid of germs and illness is to sleep. It’s important to get about eight hours of sleep a night. Roger Federer recently posted that ideally he likes to get ten hours of sleep each night. That’s 10 pm to eight in the morning. Naps are also good if you can do it. Getting enough sleep keeps you alert, gives you more energy and allows you to learn more.

Drink Water

Being hydrated flushes out your system and gets any bad elements in your system out. It flushes out waste and helps your digestive system. Having properly moisturized skin, nostrils and mouth also prevents viruses and bacteria from infecting you and getting into your body. It also helps you have the proper blood pressure. It is recommended that you drink about two to three liters of water per day and to have at least a swig of a drink every 15 minutes, even when you do not feel thirsty.

“It’s good to have a water bottle with you and certainly drink during and after physical activity,” said Fish. “Water is the best liquid to drink and if you don’t like the taste, squeeze a little lemon in it for some extra flavor. It’s amazing the wonders your body will do when it is properly hydrated.”

Eat Healthy

Your body needs healthy food and a balanced diet to get all the vitamins it needs to grow and maintain strong muscles, bones and fight off sickness. Overeating and eating poorly – especially too much sugar – can cause conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. Studies show that when people, especially children, are well nourished, they perform better in at work and school and they have positive learning experiences. Healthy foods give you energy and keep your body feeling great.

“Food is fuel and you want to put ‘good gasoline’ in your tank and not bad,” said Fish. “Get a good balance of fruits, vegetables, proteins, carbohydrates and don’t eat too late in the evening and give your body a chance to fast and digest. Also make sure you don’t eat too much and avoid junk food and fast food.”

Exercise Daily

Exercise and moving your body is an essential every day activity. Exercise or physical activity is very important because it strengthens your heart, muscles, and bones. Exercise also helps your brain work and puts you in a great mood. It helps keep your mind active and alert throughout the day. When you exercise your body, you are also exercising the mind. It stimulates blood flow and brings oxygen to the brain to enhance its function. You are testing and conditioning your body and your lungs for stressful situations and when an unexpected stressful situation occurs, you are prepared and can endure.

“Your body is full of moving parts and you have to keep them moving to keep them functioning and strong,” said Fish. “Exercising creates a strong body that creates a strong person and a strong immune system. You can do powerful things when you are strong and in shape.”

Brush and Floss

Taking care of your teeth is essential, brushing and flossing your teeth twice daily is recommended. Tooth decay and gum disease can develop when plaque is allowed to build up on and between teeth, thus the need to brush and floss daily. Plaque is full of bacteria that you need to extract from your body. Healthy teeth allow you to chew thoroughly, which is important for digestion and also to allow you to speak clearly and look good when you smile. It also cleans your mouth and prevents you from having bad breath, which can also hurt you socially.

“Brushing and flossing your teeth in the morning and at night before you go to bed should be part of your every-day routine,” said Fish.

Make Friends

Social interaction is a vital part of daily mental health. Friends help you make better lifestyle choices and contribute to an overall state of well-being. Spending time with friends gives you a more positive disposition. You are also using your brain more when you interact with people. By contrast, loneliness is adverse to your health and contributes to a mental and physical decline.

“Personal relationships are important for mental health and promote your sense of general well-being,” said Fish. “Being with people, especially friends, creates improved mental sharpness. It helps create a more positive outlook on life a creates long, happier and more meaningful lives with the joyful interaction of friends and family.”

For more information on the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation, go to www.MardyFishChildrensFoundation.org

 

Mardy-Fish Children's Foundation Healthy Habits
Mardy-Fish Children’s Foundation Healthy Habits

 

When Wimbledon Was Last Cancelled

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By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

 

For the first time since 1945, The Championships at Wimbledon will not be played. The global coronavirus pandemic caused the All England Club to cancel the tournament for 2020.

Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, starting in 1877, and was only not played due to World I from 1915 to 1918 and from 1940 through 1945 due to World War II.

As documented in my book “On This Day In Tennis History” (for sale and download here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0942257421/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_S0nHEbPXKGW6J), it was on October 11, 1940 when bombs first hit Centre Court during the Battle of Britain. “Bombs cause significant damage to a section of the stadium, blowing a hole in the Centre Court roof and destroying 1,200 seats,” I wrote. During the war, the club was used as a civil defense center as well as farmyard with pigs, hens, geese and rabbits. The parking lots were tilled and used a “Victory Gardens.”

In 1946, a year after the war ended, there was some doubt as to whether the All England Club would be ready to host the event. In his definitive book “The Bud Collins History of Book” (for sale and download here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937559386/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_YhoHEb5HQTRHA), Hall of Fame tennis journalist Bud Collins wrote of the uncertain resumption of The Championships in 1946.

“There had been some reluctance on the part of the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club to stage the Championships at all in 1946,” Collins wrote. “The club had been heavily damaged by German bombs, and a gaping hole in the Centre Court competitors’ stand and adjacent seats had co be cordoned off. The organizing committee did not want to have a tournament if Wimbledon’s prewar standards of preeminence could not be maintained. Colonel Duncan Macaulay, who returned as the club’s full-time secretary after the war, summarized the obstacles in his book Behind the Scenes at Wimbledon: ‘The groundsmen were not back from the war, the mowers wouldn’t work, the rollers wouldn’t roll, nothing would function. We were surrounded by bomb-shelters, improvised buildings and huts of every sort. The back part of the club was covered with broken glass as a result of flying bombs. Britain was under a right wartime economy and nothing could be obtained without a license or a coupon. There was the difficulty of supplies of balls and rackets and the printing of tickets. Paper was very short. Soap, too, was strictly rationed. Clothes were rationed and tennis flannels and costumes were almost non-existent. And of course, food was rationed, too— and there would be hungry thousands to be fed each day. The club’s ration of whiskey was one bottle a month!’” Nevertheless, with customary efficiency and industry, the Championships was staged and again established as a showcase of the tennis world.”

Collins also wrote in “The Bud Collins History of Tennis” of the state of the French Championships during the World War II, writing, “Stade Roland Garros had a shameful wartime chapter as a concentration camp, first run by a frantically insecure French government to intern political dissidents, aliens and other suspect types. Later, with the German occupation, it housed Jews who would be shipped east to their doom. Not up to Nazi standards, Roland Garros was returned to the French Federation in 1941. Regardless of an acute shortage of balls and rackets, national tournaments of sorts were held through 1945. Yvon Petra, recovered from his wounds after a stint as a POW, won the men’s titles in 1943-44-45, and stayed fit for his successful shot at the first post-war Wimbledon title. In 1943, he beat a re-appeared 41-year-old Musketeer, Henri Cochet, in the final. A friend, ex-French Davis Cupper Robert Abdesselam, says that four-time champ Cochet ‘felt it important to play during the war, to show himself so that our dispirited youth would know that a Frenchman had been a world champion.’ Philippe Chatrier, later head of the French Federation and the ITF, an exceptional administrator named to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, was a young player growing up during the war.  He remembered a few cans of new balls – something he and his friends had never seen – arriving at Roland Garros through the Red Cross, a gift from the USLTA. ‘What a wonderful country America must be to do that,’ he thought.”

The Australian Championships was also not played during World War II, after the 1940 event, but the U.S. Championships continued to be played, although with reduced fields of mostly American players.

In the current coronavirus pandemic situation, the indoor tennis courts at the Billie Jean King USTA National Tennis Center, the site of the U.S. Open, is being used as a temporary hospital and Louis Armstrong Stadium, the facility’s No. 2 show court, is being used as a commissary to feed patients and medical personnel.

 

Centre Court at Wimbledon during World War II
Centre Court at Wimbledon during World War II