We woke up to a sunny day. Since Slowpoke n her g/fs decided not to attend the service (of a Bat Mitzvah), so she’s free till 6pm. “How about some tennis?” Sure. Should I call Katie? K is taking her lesson with Martin at 1:30. No, mom, I want to play with you. How flattering! Slowpoke kept up with me, moving me from left to the right; and she knew she was often late for her forehand. I told her to keep a plan in mind, not just moving me, but make it point of moving me to the side she actually intended. She’s hitting really well.
When we begin to play a game, that’s when she showed her frustration: her serve was inadequate. After only two games, she said she’d like to practice serving. By the time she finished a basket (of balls), Kerner’s lesson was over, and as usual, he came over to give Slowpoke some advice. Her grip is all wrong, he said … It brought back some early memory of myself when I started learning to serve. For the first few lessons on serving, I felt totally out of control. But after used to the motion, I was ok with it. After Kerner left for his next lesson, to my surprise, Slowpoke said she’d like to take lesson from him, “I want more discipline.” I felt my jaw was dropping. So she’s serious, or at least she knows what she needs to do to improve. I had wanted her to try Craig too, but never connected with him. I think different coaches would give you some insight that others won’t, and I told her about this.
Martin once said that when he was a kid, he played with Kerner who’s already coaching. But looking at Kerner, I’d guess him as 30ish – Martin laughed, ‘no way … black men don’t age.’ Kerner has a 20 years old daughter who plays tennis. So much for my guessing, lol. Kerner has concession of this local park and he keeps it pretty neat. I didn’t start playing there again till last year with Andy, Alex, etc. The park has a decent size pool and a picnic area. It used to be empty. Last year I realized every weekends the park were packed, which is very annoying and noisy, plus the fumes, and we weren’t invited to the party to boot, lol. Thank god Kerner is around, provides a little authority figure in an otherwise deserted park. He’s always been nice to us, making small chat and giving short brief coaching. But back then the kids didn’t seem to take to him as they took to Martin. Now that Slowpoke asked for Kerner (instead Martin), I am very happy to oblige, in a way I could reciprocate Kerner’s kindness or good salesmanship.
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