My Special Moment In Life

I’ve played tennis since I was 7 years old, not by choice but out convenience. Being dragged to the courts was a daily childhood occurrence. Hitting backhands and forehands my dad would stand behind me. I would rarely see him, only hear him, yelling. “Hit harder. Hit Harder. More topspin. Not in the net. Never in the net.” Nothing made him more upset than hitting the ball in the net. Hitting it long he tolerated, hitting it wide he disliked, but there was nothing he hated more than hitting it in the net. I hate tennis, hate it with everything inside me, and still I keep playing, keep hitting all morning, and all afternoon, because I have no choice. No matter how much I want to stop, I don’t. This contradiction between what I want to do and

While my athleticism developed, I neglected honing my mental strength, leading me to not achieve my potential during matches. Allowing my mind to dictate my emotions rather than produce strategies led to frequent defeats. However, with motivational tales recounted by my coach and plenty of work on my part, I gained the ability to focus and rise up to become a nationally competitive tennis player.

I started playing tennis when I was about 12, not knowing much about the sport or how it would affect me. However, Tennis taught me how to succeed in everything else. Tennis forces me to accept responsibility for my actions and manage my mistakes. Tennis forces me to cope with pressure and adversity. I am forced to make thousands of crucial decisions in a small amount of time. Through high school varsity, I learned sportsmanship and the meaning of teamwork. Through coaching tennis over the summer, I have learned to advertise my skills and how to communicate better with kids and adults. I have enhanced my discipline, developed a work ethic and learned to compete.

Noreen was inspired to start playing herself, by watching her brother from the sidelines. Although she discovered tennis at a very young age, she did not start playing, until she was ten. Noreen was preoccupied with dance and other activities, and never got around to actually playing herself. Noreen began training recreationally but soon started playing at some academies. This year, she entered into high school and joined the Piedmont High varsity tennis team. From being a part of a supportive team, with amazing coaches, Noreen has learned a lot from her teammates along with exposure to many remarkable experiences. With an abundance of wonderful role models from her team surrounding her, she is inspired to constantly try her best and to appreciate tennis. She aspires to be more competitive when it comes to playing, and to progress in improving her playing overall. Her hope is to never lose her passion for the sport and to continue playing it throughout her

“Stay focused, just pretend that it’s practice.” I calmly whispered to myself as I became set to receive my opponents fist serve of the match. I could feel the warm perspiration dripping off my nose onto the scorching tennis court. My opponents’ moral showed signs of distress as I smashed a strong cross-court forehand, sending him deep to the far left corner of the court as he lethargically swung and missed the ball, ending the point. The match had just begun, ending in my favor (1-0). It was the first round of the men’s semifinals, and perhaps the warmest day in November. I stood on center court battling for the number one men’s singles title. My competition for the tournament was the most daunting task to ever encounter throughout my high school endeavor. Moreover, this match served as a pivotal moment, perhaps sending me to play at a higher level, or ending my final season perpetually.

From time to time, I feel that everything I do is worthless if I don’t make it to college, or win my tennis tournament, or get straight A’s. I get overwhelmed thinking that I will let down people who believed in me when the world thought I should fail. A stop light is flashing. It’s a sign. No one will be mad or disappointed with me. My family, friends, and God love me for the way I am. I am doing my best and that is all I should be focused on. I am smiling as we are passing tennis courts and pulling up at the school’s parking lot. I can see courageous little girl swinging with her pink racket and missing bright green balls. That reminded me of the times I dove, fell, cried, and tore my skin in order to finally hit that ball where I want it and when I want it. So much passion and focus was put in every practice and match I have ever had. Yes, I hoped for the rain, occasionally, so I can skip my practice. But,I have never said it out loud. I was always there to protect my dream and give all I have for tennis. This girl is doing the same, even though her dad is getting inpatient and she is stumbling by the racket's weight. It’s about overcoming inner fears and what others think of me. This is so clear to me now as I am looking at countless misses that this young hero makes.

In 2010 I started taking tennis more serious. I played 5 days a week at my neighborhood tennis courts. It was really hard at first, I'm not gonna lie, I hated running a four-court suicide and playing a tennis match where the sun was blocking my view. But as I had more understanding of the game. My coaches encouraged me to improve and as I progressed, my coaches spoke of my potential. I advanced to the top class.

Through experiences of playing sports and pursuing academics for the past three years, I found it always difficult to balance school and athletics. Coming home from practice or matches, eating dinner, showering, and doing homework until three in the morning seemed like a constant, repeating cycle. I always caught myself drowsing during class, but still having the capacity to pay attention, take notes, and complete tasks. Despite the struggle of stabilizing schoolwork and sports, I was aware of the fact that I aspired to play tennis, especially since I enjoyed playing with my father every weekend. Playing tennis for many years, my dad was a main reason why I took interest in enduring the sport. Although my father and I played for fun, I witnessed his motivation, perseverance, and dedication to the sport while playing, whether it was playing against amatuer me, or competing with others who ranged from adequate to professional. In addition, my team has been a major motivational factor throughout the years that I have played tennis. From singing to High School Musical during practice to cheering each other on during games, they have always been a fun and supportive aspect of my

The new rules of tennis for children has achieved one of its goals by intriguing and introducing the sport of tennis to more kids. The participation growth of tennis was shown by a study done by the Taylor Research Group in 2012 commissioned by the United States Tennis Association and the Tennis Industry Association. This study’s results showed a thirteen percent increase of tennis participation in children six to eleven years old (Bartram 74-75). The different stages have been set in order for children to gradually enhance their tennis skills and athletic skills so they can eventually progress to the standard size court. Tennis has been downsized for children in order for them to find joy in tennis, not to be overwhelmed by trying to play out of their physical capabilities. Children can now be successful in tennis, if the coaches and parents can work in unison to choose what is best for the young athlete (“Coach Youth Tennis” video 4). The overall goal of the newly tailored youth tennis rules and regulations is for children to develop a lifelong passion

When I was younger, I wanted to experience as many sports as I could before I settled on “just” cheerleading. Being my biggest fan and supporter, my mom went all out (as she does with everything) and signed me up for swim team, gymnastics, dance, and tennis. I stuck with tennis the longest because I found that it was the most enjoyable – besides my beloved cheerleading. My family and I would agree that I was fairly good at tennis for a girl at the young age of only six. My coach complimented me by saying that I was talented and performed well; however, (ready for the zinger?) my coach also said tennis was NOT the sport for me. You read that correctly…he said I was good but that I should NOT play tennis. Wait…there’s more! He continued

May 5th, 2015 was a day that made my my mood and emotions swap from good to bad to good. This was the day of the first round of the postseason for our high school golf season.The schools participating on this day were the best teams in the state.Two of the teams were almost unbeatable in a sense. As a team, we were not going to proceed forward to the next round of the postseason. I knew that I would have to move forward in the postseason as an individual golfer. I had confidence in what my goal was for the day. The goal was to keep moving forward in the postseason. The first golf tournament of the postseason displayed my feelings towards the game of golf in ways that a person feels once or twice in their lifetime.

In the seventh grade I joined the Ector Junior High tennis team. I was not expecting fall so deeply in love with the sport itself though. Tennis has turned into that one thing that I look forward to doing every day. It relieves me when I’m stressed, it helps calm my anger, and when I have a lot of energy or need to wake up, then the tennis courts are my place to go. Tennis is the place I can go and feel like myself and be myself. Yes, I may get called gay, girl, loser, and other things for playing

I’ve played tennis for four years, and I’m awful at it. I can’t run fast, I can’t slam the ball, and I have no sense of balance whatsoever, but I do know that if I really tried, I could be less mediocre. I’m naturally a perfectionist. There’s always a more perfect version to strive towards, but with tennis, I never felt any motivation to become better. I would never be good enough to play college tennis, I reasoned, so there was no reason for me to try so hard on something for which there is no reward to reap. Satisfied with my logic, I pleaded with my parents to let me drop tennis, and they absolutely refused, and instead putting me in more tournaments. Their backward way of thinking – a sort of “fear conditioning”, if you will – struck a

It was the first day of practice, August 10th, and I was waiting at the courts with the others at 7:55 waiting for to start. I started to talk to others and realized that there were a lot of other new bees to the sport. The coaches split us into new and returning players. Rachel and about 20 other people went with Coach Sullivan to the back courts. She went through the basics of what tennis is, the scoring and rules. We then hit around and I realized that I wasn’t the worst person on the courts and that I did actually like the sport. That day I went home and hit the tennis balls against the wall in my garage all

All year, I had thought about hearing these words, walking down the halls, being high-fived. All year, I had imagined the title. “Varsity tennis player.” That day, though, walking down that hall, I wasn’t being congratulated. I wasn’t being high-fived, called out, or clapped for. We were being clapped for. I realized that it wasn’t about walking down the hall, it was being a part of the Northern Tennis Team that was special. Surrounding me were the men, the brothers, the family that was our tennis team. These were the same men that played through years of tennis camps with me, had lost blood, sweat and tears on these same courts, and had taught each other