It’s been a while since we chatted about tennis, right?
My hiatus from posting here (and on social) over the past several years, stemmed from several roots (read: reasons.) But those roots will take on a post of their own. One of these days. Maybe.
I’m pretty sure I’ve never discussed, online, Sydney’s jump from tennis. Just typing that, hurts. But it’s true, post-pandemic, she never fully made a return to the courts. In 2021, we enlisted the help of her coach, to get her tournament ready again. We invested in a sizeable series of lessons, and then … her coach kind of flaked, on us.
Lessons were often cancelled very last minute, and we couldn’t seem to get any consistency or rhythm. Eventually, our texts and calls weren’t returned for months. In the meantime, Sydney’s spirit was breaking. We offered to find her a new coach, but she wasn’t interested. We offered for her to go back to group lessons and that was a HARD PASS (iykyk.)
One day she looked at us and said, “I don’t want to play tennis anymore.”
And the ground shook. And the sky opened …
And …
Just kidding.
But in all honesty, I was devastated. For her. But also for us.
For me, actually.
I LOVED watching her play. She’s a natural born athlete. Yes, she’s my kid, and no I don’t think she’s the greatest athlete to ever walk the planet. But she is absolutely a natural, athletically speaking.
I was an athlete, as a kid. A very average athlete. Who had to work very hard to be very very average. So yes, I got extreme enjoyment out of watching my kid excel, without having to be pushed. But she didn’t love tennis anymore. She told us it wasn’t fun. That the kids she played against in tournaments took it too seriously (they did.) As did their parents (also true.) And their coaches (no lies detected.) And tennis felt like a lot of pressure, with very little fun.
I was disappointed. FOR HER. Not in her.
It was painful to watch her walk away from something she had once enjoyed so much, but we supported her decision.
After several months, I told begged asked her to let me know if there was ever another sport she wanted to try.
And then one day, out of nowhere she said, “I think I’d like to try volleyball.”
Done.
Within a couple hours, I had researched, reached out to, and signed her up for an instructional program with a local volleyball club.
to be continued …