I got my husband tickets to a tennis pro series that was coming through town shortly after the new year as part of his Christmas present a few months ago. Matt grew up playing tennis, and it’s a sport that he still loves watching and playing today. Part of the package  included a practice session actually playing with either Blake/Roddick or Courier/McEnroe. After much hemming, hawing, and consulting in-laws and mutual friends, I went with the McEnroe option because he is just an all American classic sports figure, even if he was a little bit before Matt’s era. We watched some McEnroe highlight reels on YouTube, and frankly, I forgot how insane he could come across and how outspoken he was.  I respect it though in a way because I can connect with expressing that much passion in whatever you do, even if sometimes it can come across in an off kilter way to some.  It is just part of who you are, or its not.  If I didn’t have a similar little passion inside me, I would have never made it through law school, decades of dating woes, years of infertility trials in tribulations, and it’s what drives me to be excellent at my job today.
But I digress… sorry about the whole McEnroe is my spirit animal thing…
The tennis event started around 3pm with a hitting clinic.  Each of the participants paired up with a partner and then proceeded to share a 1 hour hitting clinic with about 20 other participants, getting substantial one-on-one time with the pros. Although not ideal, with the clinic starting in the afternoon and the match following soon after, we no option other than to take our little dude with us. Luckily we weren’t the only ones with a toddler in tow, and until he got a bit grumpy from missing most of his afternoon nap, he was a great little spectator and an awesome cheerleader for daddy.  People are really quite accommodating for the most part with babies in tow.
The entire time Matt was hitting (exceptionally well I might add), Max just stooped down to watch all the action and was enthralled watching the balls volley back and forth. In fact, although we were sitting court side watching, he didn’t try to run out on to the court even once.  I loved watching him enjoying it, loving it, and watching his daddy with pride.
This experience did get us thinking about what sports we wanted to start involving Maxwell in, and when. Soccer is an obvious choice, t-ball sure… but tennis and golf are lifetime sports, maybe those are better ideas? When do you start? How young is too young? Oh yeah, and swimming, we’ve got to get going on that right away because this boy loves water as much as I’ve seen anyone take to it, and we have a pool in the back yard and I would love to know that this boy is safe and sound in the event he falls in at some point (which is a when, not an if).
So swimming it is for now, and given his interest in what daddy was up to, I think maybe tennis lessons are next. Â How small do they make those rackets?
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