Letters: Edition 6

Dear Landon Weldy,
I know it's been an unfortunate summer for you, hurting your knee and all, but you are a player who we are going to count on this season. And guess what, your perseverance, your work, your continual lesson taking - they'll pay off this season and you will succeed. I can see you already, booming serves, scissoring overheads, making the big return, cutting the ball off at the net. I can't wait for practice to begin to watch it in living color.


Dear Tennis on TV,
I've been watching A LOT of you this summer (thank you watchESPN app :-) And in watching the not-unbelievably-awesome players (like Jack Sock, Stefan Kozlov, Gregor Dmitrov, Lacko, Davydenko, and others) I have found so many of my assumptions about how to play good, competitive, consistent tennis are RIGHT! Attitude and body language matter, I saw again and again, especially from the younger players. Smaggressive tennis matters, you can't play safe all the time but you better not take risks from stupid positions. Errors still decide most tennis matches. Footwork is basically the reason for every single missed shot (a bit of exaggeration, but...) Thank you. I feel validated as a tennis coach.

Dear Yahoo! Screen,
Last year my favorite TV show was dying. Despite amazing twitter support (#sixseasonsandamovie), it looked like Landon and I would be saying goodbye to our beloved community of "Community." What a crazy crew of people that show has. And though Landon may not be quite as well versed in modern and classic TV as Abed, I think we have a similar cast of quirky characters on our tennis team. I liked to think that quirky casts of brothers and sisters will be able to come together and "Save Greendale," or Bethany, or just make it through together. But no, NBC didn't revew "Community." And then you, a little-used and unknown app hidden at the bottom of my AppleTV screen, you announced that you were keeping the show going. And if that quirky community can thrive, so can our tennis team.

Dear Conditioning Week,
So... you start tonight. but what really starts to night is pursuit right. When we are following your schedule, split-stepping and imaginary tennis-ing our way to virtual tennis victories, we actually doing something far more important. That's your hidden secret. These aren't just steps across the court to get faster, they are the first quick steps toward team unity and success. Only if we can suffer together can we win together. And also we get to see each other doing really awkward movements, like Wacky Jacks or Clap-Claps :-)

Dear God,
The season creeps closer every day. And so my prayer gets stronger every day. Let us rejoice! Drive away fear, shame, anger, sadness and deceit - anything that keeps us from the sheer and savage delight of brothers in pursuit of common goals. Let Your Spirit draw us forward into Your way, Lord Jesus, the way of joy and peace.