He called the overhead a psych stroke, when its on you’re golden when its off it’s lead. He told us how BJK hit 300 overheads a day leading up to the Bobby Riggs match. He said she also fine tuned the slice serve because she was working at pulling him off the court and running him…when good players run they lob to get back in the point and that’s how she set the trap; a tired Bobby Riggs lost in three sets. This lecture was an amazing insight into the match. Mr. B’s just as proud of that win as BJK, he told her play to play her game….
Using Mr. B’s service method I got these little 10 year old girls serving beautifully and consistently…instead of having them roll the ball off the finger tips I told them to lift the ball, holding it like a snow cone and eliminating the spin. Once they see the ball in the same place every time the serve is simple and natural, Mr. B’s method worked like a charm.
We have a new CIT counselor Mr. B brought this kid in to replace Liz. I guess he was a good high school player from the Northern N.J. area, he came to Mr. B on the recommendation of one of his friends. Mr. B has a vast tennis network and he knows everyone in NJ NY area. So this guy will get here over the weekend and then we should be back up to staff.
After 4 I hit with Xavier, John Day and Feinburg and we had a career doubles match. We hit volleys down the middle, dinked and lobbed and it frustrated Feinberg because he's a pace player and dominates. Day was hitting good and didn’t miss much but we hung with these guys and won the first set 7-5, we had them at 2-2 in the second but it got dark and the winds came up and with the crack of lightning a huge storm blew in. Sanderson and I ran frantically getting all the balls up before the cloud burst hit. It was a crazy storm for an hour or so, a regular Wizard of Oz class storm. I expected to see the bad witch. By the time we got back to the dorms we were soaked to the bone but the balls were dry and fine.
I got a letter from counselor Chris Russell-Vick, how adorable is that? I’ve just had a couple of letters this month. Mail is everything here, so I sat down and wrote Chris a letter thanking her and telling her what I’ve been up to…even though I see her and talk to her every day!
I work and live in constant fear. The fear is that I will let Mr. B down, I don’t want to do that because I came here on the strong recommendation of Charlie Fenske, I don’t want to let Charlie down. As I mentioned before, everyone comes here on the recommendation of someone in Mr. B’s network. I would only recommend someone that wouldn’t let me down. So the pressure is always on to do a good job and not be a pain in the ass. This is a good gig. I get three meals a day and room and board, all the tennis I can play on clay courts no less with one of the world’s greatest coaches. I should be paying Mr. B! Had I stayed in Idaho I would be in the trenches with my Dad laying pipe. Pipefitting is dirty hard work, I tried it last year and it was incredibly tough, filthy work. I don’t know how my Dad does it day in and day out without complaint.
Mr. B stopped by the net post this afternoon to chat as we watched the campers play their afternoon matches. I told him about our cable access TV show back in Poky, about my filmmaking classes and he thinks I should go to Hollywood, get an agent, make movies and marry a movie star. I’m thinking television where its at... But that’s FXB, nothing is impossible to him or out of reach, anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it.
No comments:
Post a Comment