the supine morning: nothing that isn't tennis
I had never once ridden a snowmobile, skied, or skated: E.T.A. discouraged them. DeLint described winter sports as practically getting down on one knee and begging for an injury.
Context
The regimen guards its asset by subtraction. No skiing, no skating, no snowmobiles — any body-use that isn't tennis is "practically getting down on one knee and begging for an injury." The athletic body isn't just built at E.T.A., it's fenced: its range of motion pruned down to the one motion the institution has a stake in. A whole snowbound childhood of things Hal has never once done, because they might dent the instrument.