This past weekend one of my daughters (T., who’s 10 going on 11) participated in her first ever junior tennis tournament. Truth be told, I was probably (no make that definitely!) more nervous than she was! She was the picture of calm serenity both in the lead up to the day and on the day itself. Not that she wasn’t excited, but it seems the prospect of entering competitive play for the first time, not to mention all the other little unknowns that inevitably occur the first time you do something, just didn’t faze her at all.
T. at the Sunshine Hills Junior Challenger
For me, despite having a good number of competitive tennis playing years under my belt both as a junior back in the day and later as a senior at local clubs, accompanying my girl to her first tournament was still quite a bundle of new experiences to be had. What would the other parents be like? Would I have to deal with any “ugly tennis parents”? Would T. be terribly disappointed if she lost early?
As it turns out, T. and I did just fine. She played 2 first round matches (round robin) against girls who were clearly more experienced at tournament play and tennis in general – lost both matches by a large margin if you looked at the scorelines but that didn’t matter to her or to me. I was very proud of the way she played and conducted herself. Tried for every point, tried to reach every ball even if it looked hopelessly out of reach, and even on multiple match points down. She held her own in several long rallies, and won a couple of games, a sign of more things to come in future.
One of the first things she told me as we were leaving the courts was how she couldn’t wait for her next tournament! Make that two of us!
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