This past week-end Lance and I spent late Friday afternoon and all day Saturday watching grand #1 and #2 play tennis in Oxford. I have been either playing or watching tennis for the past 43 years, and in the words of that distinguish philosopher Yogi Berra, the weekend was "Deja vu all over again!" Or as that other philosopher whose name I can't recall said, "The more things change the more they stay the same." The experience got me to thinking . . .
After I married Lance, I realized that if I was going to spend time with him, I would need to take up a sport--golf, tennis, softball, racquet ball; take your pick. The one to pick at the time was tennis. I had started learning to play before we were married, and I figured he could teach me to play even better. Humph! That was a foolish thought because I soon realized I did not have a competitive bone in my body and still don't. As far as tennis goes, my favorite response to players has always been, "Good shot!" I just don't have it in me to run down a shot. Too much effort and energy expended, especially when I didn't have a backhand and my forehand wasn't much better. The shot was going to go into the net or stop when it hit the fence. And, we won't go there about my serve. Many years later, my daughter use to marvel how I could get so much motion out of a simple serve. It didn't take me long to realize Lance didn't think much of my playing ability when he would draw a circle in the rubico and say, "Don't get out of the circle and hit the ball if it comes to you. I have the rest of the court covered." Well, I don't have to be hit in the head with a brick to realize I was not the partner he needed or probably wanted. Young married love only goes so far. I realized my time spent with Lance would watching him play tennis, not playing with him. I have been all over the south watching him play tennis with some of the nicest guys and gals. We had a great time. But as happens with many of us, age and aches catch up with us, and so it was with Lance. His hip got to hurting so much that he had to lay down his racket. But never fear; his trusty golf clubs were nearby, and he transitioned from one sport to the other without a hitch. It didn't take long for him to become an accomplished golfer. Fifteen years later, I experienced watching tennis transition from Lance to Laura. She has always been a "daddy's girl" and a tomboy. They for sure have a bond of which I will never be a part. So, tennis was the sport of choice for them to share. We soon discovered the Nick Bolettieri School of Tennis right in Indianola--Fred Myles' Summer Tennis Program. Most kids around Laura's age who played tennis at IA or later in college or league tennis when they got older have Fred to thank for their skills. They loved Fred. He was a fun teacher and good coach. Just ask his protégés about running to the tater patch!
As a result of taking tennis from Fred, Laura and Lance and I became involved in junior tennis. I include all the parents of the players we met along the way, and most were great parents who found a way to spend time with their kids, while spending lots of money and sweating both physically and emotionally at the same time through matches all around the state and the south. Some of those friendship still exist for Lance and I and Laura, and we share a lot of, "Do you remember when . . . ." when we see them.
Laura and Melissa Tribble Pillow Academy
MPSA #2 Doubles Champs Sophomore year
#1 Doubles Champs Junior and Senior years
During this time we came across some players who for a lack of a better term were "tennis brats." I knew that kids couldn't be this mean and snotty and stuck-up on their own. I soon learned the reason for their behavior--their parents. Gosh, there were some doosies, and some were a real piece of work. We often kept our fingers crossed that particular players wouldn't sign up for the same tournament Laura was playing. But, they kept showing up, and Laura kept playing them. She would win some and she would loose some. But she was never a brat! Her daddy and I made sure of that. She was stubborn at times about her opponent's line calls but never mean, and she didn't cheat on line calls. We had a code of honor we expected her to follow. I did sometimes wondered why she won the serve so many times and later found out about the goofy way a player could determine the spin of the racquet. Thanks Rachel for the info on that one! Laura had a great junior high, high school, and two years of college playing tennis, and we had a great time watching her play.
Time has moved on and seventeen years later here we are again watching our grands play the game. It is in their genes. I had told myself that watching them play tennis would not be as excruciating as watching Laura play; that I would enjoy sitting there watching them play kids that were as sweet as they are; that the parents would be so nice, and we would all sing Kumbaya at the end of the match; that the grands and their parents and Lance and I would go to get ice cream after the match and talk about how much fun they had playing tennis. In the words of Laura, "What were you smoking?!"
Saturday morning #1 came up against a tennis brat his second match. Yes, they still take the court in this day and age of junior tennis. And yes, they have a parent who is bent on her child winning, no matter what even if she has to pull out a rule from the book and tell it to her sulking son during a bathroom break, a break when the kid is not suppose to get any coaching. #1 in his own world didn't let it bother him and went on to win the tie breaker. The week-end was worth the time, the suspense, and the nail biting just to see him win that match. Wes, on the other hand, was lucky to have nice opponents. But come on. I have been there and done that, and I don't intend to do it again. So, I am preparing myself for the next tournament. CALM is the word. The grands have parents who will coach them, who will support them, who will teach them, who will get exasperated with them, and who will be on pins and needles.
I made up my mind on the way home my part in junior tennis this time around will be to love them no matter win or lose.
Laura and Lance warming up the guys
#2
#1 and his cousin from New Albany, not to be confused with the brat.
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