Molli Rae
I'm a Freshman in high school and going out for our school's tennis team. I have taken lessons, but it was almost 3 years ago. During the summer, my sister and I would just mess around with our rackets, and I am REALLY bad.
Due to an inconvenience, we lost our head tennis coach, so the whole thing has been really unorganized lately. Last week they had pre-season practices, but I wasn't able to go because it was at an indoor court located twenty minutes away, and being only 15, I couldn't drive myself or get a ride. Today was the first REAL practice, and of course, I couldn't practice because I don't have my sports physical done. Luckily, I have one tomorrow morning, which means I can practice tomorrow!
The coaches did say there's a chance of cutting people and I don't know when exactly tryouts are or if we're having them.
With that said, I am scared out of my mind. I'm not a good player, had to miss first week of preseason practice, and the first day of real practice. I really want to make the team and play, but I don't know if I even have a chance...
Do you guys have any tips??
(PS: I was signed up for private lessons this last summer, and with my luck, the instructor lost my form and I never got to get help.)
I actually did try to contact the instructor back multiple times. My dad had called the Rec multiple times before we finally got a hold of him, and at that point, he said he was done giving lessons.
Answer
Don't give up the ship too soon. Say, "I have not yet begun to fight" [John Paul Jones].
The skill level at most high schools is NOT the toughest in the country, so stick it out unless you absolutely KNOW you're getting cut and every player you go up against beats you love and love. If that is indeed the case [I doubt it] you might bag out after 2 or 3 days of it.
Hmmmm, tips. OK, lets assume that you have to play some sort of match with other kids in order to either make a cut of construct a team ladder.
Sportsmanship might not be #1, but it's way ahead of whatever is in 2nd place :-)
Therefore, get yourself a rule book from USTA. My favorite is "Friend at Court" because it has an index in the back where you can look things up. It also has *everything* in it, unlike "Rules of Tennis" which only has the rules and The Code.
The "Rules of Tennis" book is a few bucks cheaper, so that's a plus in its favor. The Code is very important for you to know, because it tells you how to conduct yourself in a match that has no officials [99.9% of matches I've seen in person, lol]. So read The Code over and over if you haven't already. available at:
http://www.ustashop.com/ <-- click on "Books" in the lefthand margin
It should get to you in a week or less :-) USTA is very good about shipping these books.
OK, your instructor has stopped teaching or something. Sounds like it's time to "re-load." There are tons of tennis instructors in the world, so if you are looking for a teacher, here are links to three tennis-teaching organizations:
http://www.uspta.com/
http://www.ptrtennis.org/
http://www.tennisteacher.org/MTMCA/Welcome.html
If you live in the USA, you should be able to find an instructor near you in one or more of the web sites above.
Matches with other kids:
You should NOT attack every ball that comes to you. Some balls require you to defend [lobs, slices, get out the kitchen sink and shovel it over somehow. Other balls you just keep it in play without fully attacking the ball, duking it out until a short ball comes along. And finally, if you get an easy "sitter" then go for it with a full swing and win it or lose it! You can also counterattack if the ball isn't too far away from you.
Get your first serve in, even if you have to use an underhand or sidearm serve [perfectly legal, by the way]. Double-faults are not acceptable :-) so avoid them if you possibly can.
Announce the score, and KNOW the score at all times. The score tells you whether you can go for broke or be conservative and just keep it in play. Some points are far more important than others.
Keep your mouth SHUT unless you have to talk. This will keep you out of trouble :-) Not always easy to do, unfortunately.
Be creative: Drop shots, lobs, dinks, moon balls etc are great fun to hit, and people often have trouble with them!
Learn to play the net, practice your punch-volleys and overheads every day. Approach shots are also very important, of course.
Take deep breaths in between points, look down at your shoes or your racket strings. Note how the pro's have a little ritual in between points where they move back and regroup each time. Very smart.
Do NOT think about the result. That will mess you up, because you really don't have direct control over it.
Think about giving it your best effort, sportsmanship, and other concepts, like strategy and tactics within that strategy.
If you get cut, then take lessons from a good teacher and practice at his/her club several days a week. The club's program may be a better one than the school's anyway :-)
best of luck :-)
I was beaten up again at school today.?
Eh
It doesn't matter where I am. They often give me anti-semetic notes in class, or shout abuse at me. They once took my glass off my face and crushed them with their feet.
I have had a knife put to my throat. Dog pilled on. Kicked in the shins. Punched in my eye, back of my head, stomach. I have no buttons on my blazer left and holes in my school bag. Been spat on.
My parents can't help, they are still tyring to afford the cost of leaving Poland. They send me $120 a month for food etc. I can barely afford to buy myself new stationary after mine is either stolen or broken, I just don't know what to do. I feel have let my parents down. I can't afford any of these defense classes either.
When I showed my teacher a note he laughted. I am 16 and just want to study. I am not even safe in the library. I live with my gran as my parents live abroad. I cry as I write this, I have nobody to turn to. Can anyone help me please? I can't live much longer like this, I just want to die away.
My parents have been trying to get together enough money for about 16-17 months.
I had to really learn English from scratch as well.
Please, please can someone help? I have not even one friend here.
Answer
If you are living in the USA, these sort of assaults and bullying are considered a crime. If your teacher refuses to do anything, then speak to the school administration or principal. Tell them that you will call the police, or file a police report against the kids, and teacher if need be.
If this is happening in Poland, that's a different matter. Racism as well as extremism (by immigrants) is a bigger issue there.
And if this is happening in some African country, then you really have to question why your parents would move to such a "dangerous" country. Exposing themselves or their child to danger for the sake of financial greed is not right. If they'd be decent concerned parents then:
(1) they would listen to their child crying out for help
(2) the father would have put his family's safety first and gone to Africa by himself to earn his fortune (if he's the breadwinner).
(3) or they'd bring you back to Poland. It is better to live with less material junk in Poland, than to expose a child to such danger. The "better life" isn't really better if you are constantly endangered by thugs and idiots.
There are many African countries that are not safe for a white, or Jewish person. Any parent that doesn't see this is an idiot.
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