Balance

Recently, while on a business trip to the Chicago-land area I experienced a great moment of learning.

My work week was scheduled pretty full. Club visits, contractor dinners, and vendor meetings are par for the course each year; leaving little free time. But this year was different, I found myself with an open afternoon, and knowing I had a USTA league match the Saturday morning of my return, I decided I would find a local tennis club and take a tennis clinic.

So when you are on the road and have no idea where the best or most easily accessible place to go play tennis is, I did what most people would do … I went to the internet and typed “G-O-O-G-L-E.” A simple keyword search for “West Chicago Indoor Tennis Courts” turned up over 1.3 million choices.

Lucky for me, one of the listing was familiar; The Wheaton Sports Center. I had been there on last year’s trip and knew they had both indoor hard and clay courts. So after clicking on their listing and visiting their website, and I was in luck. The club offered daily clinics called “Penn’s Drills.”

Drills? How great I thought. A tennis “drill instructor” working me for an hour … I could only image the teacher … a super fit, middle-aged, ex-marine drill sergeant in a camo t-shirt two sizes too small, yelling instructions at me for an hour. I could almost hear the “jarhead” as I quickly changed in to my tennis clothes. “Bend your knees soldier, follow through on that backhand, my mother used to hit me harder than that for not eating my vegetables…drop and give me 50, fat-boy.”

Sweet I thought, a killer workout and some tough love, just what I needed to jump start my game and breakup a business trip. But what I got was nothing of the sort … except for the killer workout.

I arrived at the club, paid my guest and clinic fee and proceeded to the court to meet Sergeant Penn.

I was the first one on the court, and soon was joined by a quiet, fit gentleman in his mid-60’s. The two of us spoke for a minute or two and then “Penn” entered the court pushing her teaching cart. She was no “jarhead” … she appeared to be in her mid-50’s, walked with confidence, and had a wonderful ease about her.

An hour later, I was drenched in sweat and a better player and person based on her teaching. In no way was she a drill sergeant, but the subtle messages she offered have since been ingrained into my head and in my life.

Her main message – you need to find better balance.

Her game was ultra-smooth, her footwork flawless, always in the right position, and the precision of her ground strokes and crispness of her volleys seamed effortless…she had impeccable balance in her game and in her manor.

After leaving the club that day, I realized that finding balance may be a true key to life...and certainly my tennis game. Whether it be through fitness, footwork, awareness, caring, preparation, learning, repetition…finding balance is ultra critical to our success.

Mrs. Penn was quite profound in her teaching of me that day. Since then, I have committed to finding better balance…balance in my job, with my family, and least importantly, with my tennis game.

Thanks Mrs. Penn!

Randy Futty, the General Manager for Lee Tennis, is an avid player who plays for the 4.0 USTA team at the Boar's Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, VA.