When the opportunity to coach high school tennis was presented to me, I have to admit, I was a little hesitant. I knew what I wanted to do for tennis in the city and I had reservations about being tied to a school, trying to work in a system where I personally knew people who had thrown up their hands and walked away and trying to establish a program where I knew I would not have the level of support that was needed to run a successful program. But I accepted.
Days after I accepted my husband asked me, how are you going to deal with coaching in the city? You know how you are.
My plan was to relax and remind myself of my goal; to expose kids to quality tennis instruction and experiences that they may not have otherwise.
Nothing else mattered.
More than a handful of times this school year, my husband asked, how is that plan working out for you?
I got through it.
There were some successes.
I think the biggest is that I feel the coaches in the city are a little more unified now. I think we realize that if we work together, we can help the league succeed. And that is important to all of us.
The all-city preseason tune-up was the start of something great for the city. It exposed 25 kids to Wayne State's indoor facility, the coaching staff and the varsity team.
And there were some failures.
For me, the hardest failure to swallow was my inability to get my team to "buy into" the program, to see the potential I saw, to believe what others believed, to understand the hard work would lead somewhere.
I don't like failing, especially at something I expect to succeed at.
It's been more than twenty-four hours since I could officially close the book on chapter one of high school coaching and I can't shake the malaise.
But malaise I know how to deal with! It's back to the gym for me. A.M. workouts, P.M. workouts, match play, tennis lessons, tennis tournaments...
Stay tuned,
KS
