Tennis lessons follow up

Mary has many wonderful qualities. She is warm, kind, thoughtful, smart, silly, loving and sweet. But athletically gifted she is not. So I was a bit worried when she started tennis lessons last night.

Before she recieved any instructions from the coach she was told to drop a ball, let it bounce and hit it over the net. This was not an easy task for Mary, although she kept at it.

Rather than hover over her I decided to take John to the adjacent playground. He and I returned to the courts about 25 minutes later. By this time Mary had clearly gotten some direcion from the coach. She was standing with feet apart, two hands on her racquet and eyes on the ball. She wasn't able to hit the ball every time. But her form was generally correct and she looked like a little tennis player.

I realized that whatever Mary may lack in physical coordination she can make up for it with her good listening skills and willingness to learn. She said she liked tennis and can't wait for next week.

Meanwhile, while waiting for Mary's lesson to conclude John decided to return a stray tennis ball to the courts. The fence in front of him was about 15 feet tall but he was determined to lob the ball over it.

He tried overhand, underhand, running starts, standing close to the fence and standing back. He probably threw the ball 25 times.

But he finally got it over and turned to me flashing the biggest, most satisfied smile I'd ever seen on his little face.