It's been good that in the short time that has passed since we arrived in Barbados we have found ways to stay involved with tennis. I have started playing with a men's group every Thursday evening at the Barbados Hilton, organized by Syndey Lopez, former Barbados Davis Cup player. We manage to play for a short while before Sydney puts us through a series of drills for about 2 hours. The legs suffer on Friday! Therese has resumed playing, and somehow coaxed me to get up and play at 6am in the mornings twice a week! That is cruel. Even better is that we have managed to get Rhian involved in tennis. There's no formation of a future champion as far as I am concerned, but it's good to get into another social group and one with other kids. Rhian is probably the youngest in the group at the moment but she is not the smallest. She is at least giving some pride to those who helped her to enjoy tennis when we lived in Guinea: our coach Mohamed "Yannick" Sylla, and organizer of a youth tennis program, Araphann Soumah.
Typically, for a child, what makes an activity fun is not what the adult sees that way. So, some children love to collect the balls in between the activities. I guess it's another aspect of "incentives" and "rewards" and children love to do something that earns praise.
At the moment, we try to make two sessions a week, of one hour each. The coaches and some of the kids are there five days a week. The training is organized at the Barbados Hilton by Sydney, who has three young daughters who are all good players, one of whom is internationally ranked in her age group. So, we'll watch how the tennis develops. But the essential would be to enjoy it and have fun.
We're also playing a lot with small and big balls, and also doing a good amount of activity in the pool. Simple doggie paddle is working at the moment, and Rhian tried her first head first dive at the weekend! She does not like having lessons at the school pool, which she complains is cold.
No comments:
Post a Comment