time spent as a junior....

I started playing tennis when I was very young... probably 5 or 6... with my parents and at the Park District summer program goofing around whacking home runs over the fence and getting some instruction along the way.  This progressed to the older classes, and even indoor lessons at the 'Courts' in Elmhurst IL.   At some point, my older brother showed potential and taking more formal lessons from area coach Milt Newman. We played outdoors in the summer and a couple days each week in the winter.   I've probably forgotten more from those lessons than I remember, but there was a lot of repetition, lots of games like 'around the world', drilling on one stroke, running back for overheads from the net and on and on. I"m now thankful for most of what I learned and the strokes we worked on over and over to prepare for.

  I guess I probably didn't appreciate this much as a kid, it was just something we did... sometimes I liked it, sometimes not so much but I believe the experience was good for me not only for my tennis game now, but because the lessons learned on the tennis court - good sportsmanship, competitiveness, strategy, hand eye coordination and more - are life lessons as well.

  Part of this junior experience was the competition.  We travelled to tournaments around Illinois and the mid-west.. 10 and under/12& under and even 14& under tennis with as many as 128 kids in a draw.  We played in Quincy IL, Rockford, Indianapolis, Ft Wayne and even the Western Open (and western closed if you could qualify).  Granted, I lost most of the time, fed into the consolation bracket for another match or two.  But Joe, and some of the other kids we played with did well, won a lot of trophies and made it to national tournaments along the way.  I had fun.  Also I had a good doubles partner,  Jim Hurt.  We played at all of the tournaments together and were great friends.

He was 'cool'  on the court where I was a bit of a hot head... I don't remember winning much but we always had a good time. He got much better in high school, and ended up playing college tennis on a scholarship out east.   I looked him up this year and we hit the ball around for an hour and talked about old times and the kids from those days... kids I'd see twice a week or just at tournaments but never kept in touch with...life is short and moves too quickly.

I played high school too, mostly doubles and won some lost some in a pretty competitive conference.   Maybe my coach realized the pressure of singles got to me, or maybe my skills and temperament were better suited to the net game.  Sometimes a calm partner keeps my brain in the game..and frankly I like doubles better.    I'm not sure if I could have played college tennis or not.  Maybe at a smaller school, but certainly not at UofI.. I remember a guy from junior tennis (who would beat me 0&0 or 1&1) making the UofI team and playing one of the bottom spots.  I didn't have the interest in playing anyhow. I played Lacrosse through college and it was a blast, and I still believe that my tennis helped me be successful in lacrosse... speed, agility, hand eye coordination, aggression... good skills for both sports.