For instance, some times they will actually play out points and have to keep score. They don't keep score like real tennis, that would be way too hard! Seriously - love, 15, 30, 40, deuce, ad in, ad out - no wonder people don't get tennis. They just count "your score" to "their score" so 1 to 0, 2 to 1, and so on. Well, these kids all play three times a week and are at least 1 to 2 years older than Mason. They are much better than he is. However, he never gets frustrated when the score is 0 to 8 or 2 to 10. He just keeps on proudly getting back to the ready position and starts again. Many of the other kids lie or argue about the points because they hate to be losing. I have seen a few tears from others already and this is just practice.
I think one great thing about tennis is learning to lose. There are many sports where you can win game after game, week after week, and might even go a whole season undefeated (usually these are team sports). Not in tennis. In tennis everybody except one player looses every single week. You have to learn how to lose and not let it bring you down. It is all about the match-up and how one players strengths may play perfectly to your weakness.
On the way to the courts this morning he told me, I really hope to play King Court again. I was surprised to hear that, because that game is where you play against "the King of the Court" and only get to advance to the King side until you get two points in a row. He has very rarely ever got to be the King. I asked him why he wants to play that one, and he said "because it is really hard to get to be the King, but then when you do it is so fun to run over there." What a great attitude!
Today they were learning about serving, and he actually excelled at this even better than the other kids. I think it is because he has never once tried to serve before this class, so he doesn't have any bad habits. I think I may have even learned something listening to the instruction. She said that your arm should be the motion of throwing a football high, and I have never heard it taught that way before. I am going to try and see if that gets me some more power. Throwing a football is actually very good cross training for tennis. Most of the other kids were trying to serve like a really high forehand. He was making about 75% of his serves today. He really liked to hear that praise today too. I think Coach Vicki was surprised at how well he was doing, so she kept giving him lots of praise, "Good serve Mason, Nice One, etc." Then every time he served a good one, he turned around and gave me a thumbs up.
Another potential attitude scenario is when Coach Vicki will demonstrate whatever it is that she wants to work on next. All the kids scream, "I want to be the demo!" Mason does too, but he has never been picked to be the demo. You can tell that he is disappointed, but he doesn't let it get him down. He usually watches and listens to the demo even though a lot of the kids check out at that time (re: kid in white hat).
Lastly, his positive attitude towards the other kids is remarkable. I coach him on this every morning driving him to the practice, but it really seems sincere. I tell him that he should be kind to everyone even when they might hit a bad shot. He always says, "good try," or "almost" when they don't make it. I like that. Except...there is one girl that has a nasty attitude, and she brings the worst out in Mason too. She is just one of those kids who make people without kids despise all children. Whenever they are teamed up together Mason yells at her and says, "I wasn't ready", or "you hit it too hard"...It is only with her, so I think it is ok that he is allowed to not like everyone.
I don't have unrealistic goals about his tennis future, but I do know that if you don't set big goals, you will certainly not achieve them. If he continues to keep this great mental attitude and I can afford (with time and money) to keep him in lessons, there is no reason he can't go as far as he wants to with this sport.
(Mason was ON MY NERVES this afternoon, and I was so mad at him, but writing this has made me feel much better. Now I am going to go tuck my bug into bed.)
