Steph Austin
February 23, 2019
February 23, 2019 “I am not a pro athlete. I am a school administrator who works long hours and somewhat maintains an orderly household. I am also a mom who had to ‘earn’ the title of tennis player. Throughout my life I was fairly successful in anything sport related. One day I got on my daughter’s case for a less than great effort, during a tennis match. My kid told me that I didn’t understand, and I was immediately offended. I mean, I was the parent, I was an ‘athlete’, don’t tell me that I don’t understand. I felt that it was my job to guide her, and she was supposed to listen. However, the look in my daughter’s eyes spoke loudly. I mean she truly didn’t believe I understood her. Destined to never have the ‘mom you don’t understand’ conversation again, I needed to prove her wrong. I got a USTA number, entered an adult tournament and learned how to serve through youtube videos. The tournament was a magnificent failure and so began my education. Bottom line, I really didn’t know. Solely observing tennis didn’t make me an expert. What did happen, at the age of 40, was that
February 23, 2019 “I am not a pro athlete. I am a school administrator who works long hours and somewhat maintains an orderly household. I am also a mom who had to ‘earn’ the title of tennis player. Throughout my life I was fairly successful in anything sport related. One day I got on my daughter’s case for a less than great effort, during a tennis match. My kid told me that I didn’t understand, and I was immediately offended. I mean, I was the parent, I was an ‘athlete’, don’t tell me that I don’t understand. I felt that it was my job to guide her, and she was supposed to listen. However, the look in my daughter’s eyes spoke loudly. I mean she truly didn’t believe I understood her. Destined to never have the ‘mom you don’t understand’ conversation again, I needed to prove her wrong. I got a USTA number, entered an adult tournament and learned how to serve through youtube videos. The tournament was a magnificent failure and so began my education. Bottom line, I really didn’t know. Solely observing tennis didn’t make me an expert. What did happen, at the age of 40, was that