Tennis, Anyone?

The first time I picked up a tennis racquet I was 10-years old. Like most kids, I hit it to Mars. But eventually, I got the hang of it and became I a weekend hacker, joined the USTA and everything.

In high school, I talked my way onto the tennis team, where I was a part of the top-seeded junior varsity doubles team.  I even played a couple of KSL / Salt Lake Tribune Love 5 tournaments - losing in the first round both years.

Then along came Kelly. And we started playing pretty regularly - sometimes 3-4x a week. And in all the years we played, I won exactly 1 set from him. (I bet he smirks when he reads that!)

We haven't played in several years, but the other day Kelly brought Gus a new racquet home from work. Gus' first racquet was a Christmas gift from his Theia Eleni, Theio Christos and cousin Ikaros in Greece when he was about 3.

So with Gus itching to try out his new racquet, and Niko inheriting his big brother's old one, we hit the courts.

I try to remind the kids something I never learned: this should be about fun, not to be taken too seriously, or you'll end up obsessing about how you've never beaten your partner!