Not So Humblebrag (Wait for It)
While I'm really proud of my son Alex-- he's in 9th grade and he's not so big (I think he's just starting to hit puberty) and he really scrapped his way up the tennis ladder this season (despite chipping his thumb playing goalie for his travel team) and-- because of injuries and school trips-- he got to play in a number of varsity matches; Highland Park is a tiny school but we have an exceptional tennis squad, so in the county we play in the highest division (Red) against the biggest and best schools and this prepared us for the state tournament, where we play schools our size-- and for the first time in eight years they won the entire state in their group (Group 1) and while Alex traveled to those matches, he didn't play-- but this enabled the team to play in the Tournament of Champions against the winners of all the groups and because of an injury, Alex got to play second doubles-- and while the entire team got beaten soundly, they played well and Alex learned a great deal-- but I'm most proud of myself, because I trained both my kids-- despite the fact that I'm not a tennis instructor and I didn't even play high school tennis (although my brother played in college, which has helped) and over the weekend, I analyzed Alex's serve and fixed it, and he said he served really well today and the only time they won was when he was serving . . . so while I can't figure out if I'm more proud of Alex for his skill and tenacity or myself for my patience, accurate practice hitting, and ability to glean tennis information from YouTube, this is a good problem to have (I just wish I could give myself a lesson and smooth out my own two-handed backhand).
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5 comments:
I’m sure you will give yourself a smooth two-handed backhand as reward for your greatness.
someone should . . .
and i wish i inspired my kids academically as much as i do athletically (although it's way more fun to have kids you can play tennis with later in life . . . if they get too smart then they won't talk to you).
Pull the racket all the way back turning your right shoulder to your chin. The racket head can be at, below, or above the level of your wrists on the backswing but you need to get it below your wrists before you make contact to help generate topspin--mess around with that and see what is most comfortable for you. Once you get the racket head below your wrists I think it's also helpful to try and visualize pointing the butt of the racket at the ball. Then as you swing forward, accelerate the racket head up and through the ball. Follow through all the way with the racket head ending up behind your right shoulder.
that's some nice advice! you should give lessons. i always see good players get that racket head below their wrists. i will work on that.
my racket has a butt?
also, when should i grunt loudly during this process?
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