Having a Ball

Izzy Ready for Tennis, a photo by Justin and Kelly Webb on Flickr.

It's really no secret that I absolutely love tennis. I love playing it and I really enjoy watching it...not only the professionals, but I'll even stop to watch random kids on the court and I have fun picking their game apart. I just LOVE the game. Fortunately for me, I have a husband that really wants to learn the game and 3 kids that so far claim to love playing. I really don't want to be the parent that pushes them into the sport (I see those parents every week and it's so annoying) but if just ONE of my kids grows to enjoy the game as much as I do, I'll be thrilled.

So the Sports Core starts lessons for kids at the age of 4. I remember how hard it was for Sam to wait...but he did, and he is so fun to watch on the court now. The pro seriously laughs at him during every lesson. He has some crazy shots and he is constantly moving. CONSTANTLY. Caleb is turning into a good little player as well...naturally, he is my thinker on the court. I think he performs calculations in his head before he even hits the ball. And although he takes the sport a little more seriously than Sam, he loves being out there.

And then there is Izzy. As you can see, she was in her tennis outfit the other day and she had her first opportunity to hit the tennis courts. She was thrilled. The problem was that she thought she was getting a lesson from Art (the pro that gives the boys & me lessons). The truth was that she was really on the court b/c they needed to take pictures of kids/adults playing tennis. They just renovated the courts and the lobby of our club and they needed updated pictures. And although I told her a dozen times that she was going to play tennis with me & daddy (boys were in school) and have her picture taken, she kept asking about her tennis lesson with Art. Regardless, she LOVED being on the court, she played for about 45 minutes and she could actually make contact with the ball. The only problem: she didn't want my help. I would try to teach her and she would flat out say "I don't want YOU to teach me." sigh. After playing, she told everyone that worked there that she was very good at tennis, especially serving, and that she was going to start taking lessons and was going to play every day, like mom. Oh boy...I think I have created a monster. For the record, I don't play every day. I wish.

And although the boys weren't able to get extra court time in on Friday, they had a super cool thing to do at the Sports Core Friday night. They went to a "Kids Night Out" with about 6 other kids their age and enjoyed swimming, pizza and a movie. They LOVED it. While they had a fun night out, Justin & I took Izzy out to a great restaurant and then over to my parents house.

Today's nice weather had the kids outside quite a bit. Although I saw their racquets out, I ended up playing baseball with them for a long time. Sam is definitely my home run hitter, Caleb has the good throwing arm and Izzy has more patience than anyone in our family. After swinging and missing about 20 times in a row (with a smile on her face), she learned to hit a pitched ball. She hit like 6 or 7 in a row and Sam said "wow Izzy, I don't even hit that many in a row. Mom, I think Izzy is going to be a baseball player when she grows up." She still thinks she is going to be an ice skater..... or a storm trooper.