Sidelines

I’ve always said that I’d only let my boys do one thing at a time.  Who wants to be driving all over the place and spending all afternoon at sports practices?  Not me, that’s who!
This Fall Jackson has been playing Soccer and Tennis.
Good thing I didn’t say that previous statement too many times!
I justified a little since I assumed that Miller would be starting Soccer this Fall.  He surprised me when I asked him if he wanted to start playing soccer and  he said, “No fank you.”  All of a sudden we had a free afternoon!
As you may recall Soccer here is practically a religion. Every boy we know plays. They have practice twice a week and then games start in November. It too is a great sport, but I don’t really have any deep love to make those long practices worth it.
Tennis is such a fantastic lifetime sport I really want Jackson to catch the bug while he is young-- and still thinks that what we do is not lame.  Is saying the word lame, lame?
It was a tough choice because Jackson likes soccer mainly because it is what boys around here do.  It’s just a given.  Tennis is so good at developing different aspects of sportsmanship and coordination. 

I gave in (to myself) and decided we could do both for the Fall and see how it goes.
So 7 weeks into the school year, how is it going?

Great! he still loves them both and we are getting plenty of time to do homework and play outside before dinner most days.
Miller likes being on the sidelines.  And running around like a crazy boy during those practices!

So far the sidelines are treating us just fine.

Tennis

Nope I couldn’t think of a more clever title for this post.  Tennis it is a game of “LOVE”.  I think Michele and I gave something like that to our mom one time.  Sorry mom

Jackson has been very eager to start tennis lessons and he began taking group lessons in April.  He loves it.  His coach is the same one that I take lessons from, so he feels very grown up!

The lessons are at another school on the island, so he gets to meet some other children as well. 
He loves his tennis and I love that I don’t have to sit on a bug filled soccer field all stinking day!  Yes, I might still hold some soccer season animosity.
Most of the lesson is working on hand/eye coordination and ball control, but he doesn’t care what they do, he thinks it is fun!  His skills are really improving and I am looking forward to the day when we can really rally.


Hopefully he can continue this sport for a lifetime!

Legends of Tennis

Way back in January some friends invited me to play tennis with them.  Even though I have not played since my college days, I went.  Oh my gosh, I LOVE IT!  If you know me, you know I don’t like to sweat and I don’t like being hot.  That pretty much rules out most sports as well as exercise in general.  When I play tennis, I don’t even mind the sweating and the heat. 

So here is where you may think there are some pictures of me playing tennis, right.  That’s where you would be wrong.  Can’t play tennis and take pictures at the same time, right?

Our group of tennis players is just my friends.  Most of us are moms, but one is a retired NYPD detective.  One or two of us have had lessons at some time in our life.  We quickly became addicted to our games.  We play on Mondays and Fridays and then have group lessons on Wednesdays.  I need many more lessons, but I can already feel a big improvement.

Jackson has decided that tennis is going to be his new sport too.  Hopefully he can get some lessons started soon too.  He’s  getting much better.

When my friend asked me if I wanted to go to a tennis tournament with her I said yes. On the day of the tournament, there was an extra ticket so Allen got to go. 

I didn’t fully understand what I was going to see.  It was billed as Martina Navratilova, Monica Seles, Mary Joe Fernandez and Zina Garrison.  As it turns out, due to injury, it was Martina Navratilova and Zina Garrison and they did not disappoint one bit!  They played mixed doubles with two Bahamian pros.

Before the “legends” match we watched some maps from other world ranked tennis players.  Their strength and control was incredible.  We had VIP tickets so we were seated a bit above the front court.  My friend and I were surprised at how casual it was.  When we needed a restroom break we headed into the players area.  It wasn’t really a players area as much as it was a  room with tables.  Not all that glamorous.  Surprisingly, we saw Martina Navratilova coming down the stairs as we were going up.  Later we saw her just sitting at a table waiting to play.  Exciting, to say the least!

When it was time for the legends match we were surprised to get front row seats.  All in all there were probably less than 200 people there to watch.  Too bad more people didn’t come out, but it was great for us because we had awesome seats.

Our friends Beth and Meg.

So this is as they entered the court.  Notice all the empty seats!?!

Notice Martina's bodyguard. He had on some spiffy duds.

 

I’m not even sure what to say about Zina Garrison.  Amazing player!!  My mom taught me if you don’t have anything nice to say…. so I’ll let this picture explain it for me.

I didn’t even know that Martina was going to be on this season’s Dancing With the Stars.  I did see this handsome guy come in with a bodyguard.    I told Meg that he had to be famous since he had a body guard and some VERY white teeth.  I used her zoom to take this picture.

Turns out I was right.  He is famous.

After the match Martina signed autographs while Zina  pretty much stood around (kinda felt sorry for her).    So I went up and asked her bodyguard if we could get a picture with Martina.  He said we could.  Allen decided he would feel more comfortable behind the camera.  Thanks sweetie!

A minute later the sky opened up and it poured rain.  Thank goodness it waited until it was all over.  See the rainbow we saw as we left the stadium?

A terrific day in a wonderful place.