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| Seth is becoming quite a tennis player. |
Seth played in the Utah Tennis League again, this year as a fifth grader in the 4-6 grade division. He had a new coach that was quite a bit older this year, and though the coach was sure that the 6-foot-tall sixth grader was going to be his star player, he learned to love Seth. Seth beat the big kid in multiple challenge matches and played #1 Singles throughout the entire season. By the end, the coach said, "I love that kid; Seth works hard, and is always a good citizen on the court! Seth is the first to help me clean-up and is so fun."
Seth breezed through the season really well. He is an excellent tennis player, but mostly, he's smart on the court. He often played even until the score was 2-2. By then, he'd discovered his opponents weakness. He'd expose that weakness, working the backhand, or hitting dropshots or lobs. He'd finish with a 6-2 win. He only lost one match during season play to a kid named Ethan. This kid hit the ball a lot harder than anyone in the league and didn't seem to have a weakness. Though Seth stayed in it, he ended up losing 6-4 in a tight match. Of course, this led to one of Dad's Mental Toughness speeches, which became a running joke throughout the season. But we watched match after match where Seth's opponents fell apart as he kept his head in the game and scored the victory.
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| Seth's serve improved a lot this year. |
On tournament day, this lesson would come in handy. The weather was in the 40's, but it felt like the low 30's with the 15 mph wind gusting to 25 mph. Seth breezed through the first match easily 6-2. Then he had Ethan in the second match. Luckily, Seth had learned to play the wind in that first match. He'd smash the ball into the wind, and dink it softly when hitting with the wind. Ethan only knew how to smash the ball, and Seth quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead. From there, the match see-sawed to 4-2. At 40-40 (with no deuces), Seth won the biggest point of the match. He took a 5-2 lead and closed it out 6-3. "It was definitely his mental toughness," said Dad.
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| It was seriously freezing for the tournament! |
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Seth played so well despite the weather.
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The Championship was much easier than the semifinal. Seth only lost two games, and both times were shady. He lost both those games at 40-40. He hit both balls in, and the other kid called them out, taking the games. The big drama came at the second match point, though. Seth led 5-2 and 15-40 with the other kid serving, and the snow started. It was packed iceballs somewhere between snow and hail, and it came suddenly. The other kid asked, "Do you want to call it?"
Seth didn't. Instead, he won the next point and took the 1st Singles Championship. It was a pretty great day! (for mental toughness)
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| Can you see the hail in the background? |
