Do what you love. Have racquets….will travel!
At my 10-year-old daughter’s back to school night (she is 25 years old now), her teacher asked the parents to go around the room and share with the other parents, their hobby. I sat there, dreading my turn. I didn’t have a hobby. I had three children, and all my time was focused on their schedules from sports to Scouts. When it was my turn, I said I love to sew. It was a skill I had learned when I was young; however, I had not sewn any projects in a while. That moment made me realize that something was missing in my life.
A few months later, we joined the country club. My husband loved to play golf, and he wanted to share his love for golf with our children. Our club had golf, tennis and swimming. I immediately signed my children up for all three activities. Shortly after we joined the club, my husband said to me, why don’t you try tennis? You might like it. I thought about it. I didn’t own a tennis racquet, tennis clothes, or tennis shoes. At swim team, one of the mothers asked me if I would like to join them in playing social tennis at the end of the week. Although I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, I agreed. I bought a generic tennis racquet at the local sporting goods store, and found some tennis shoes. I showed up to the court. I was horrible. The ladies were patient. They told me, you can have first ball in, for the entire game. I needed it.
Long story short, our club had a wonderful Tennis Pro, Mike Watson. I started taking lessons from him, and I was hooked on tennis. 15 years later, I became a PTR – Professional Teaching Instructor (working for my first Pro, Mike Watson). I’m very fortunate to have been able to play tennis, socially and competitively, as well as teach tennis.
My husband passed away in 2007. Two years later, I met William. He did not play tennis. William spent his time working and focused on his teenagers’ activities. William started out going to my tennis matches and tournaments. He finally decided to try tennis! William was my first student!
Like me, William fell in love with the sport. That is when our tennis travel began. He lived in California and I lived in New Jersey. We would play tennis whenever we saw each other. It became a hobby to find memorable places to visit, and play tennis. It was fun to plan our vacations. A memorable moment on a cruise ship, the cruise director pointed to us in line, getting off the ship and said, “where are you going with tennis racquets on a ship?” Little did he know, we were getting off that ship and playing tennis at the Sandals resort in Jamaica.
That was the beginning of our love story. Tennis begins at love.
So, “have racquets…will travel!”