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Good Vibes Only 12w
Guys I have a very happy story to tell. I am a tennis coach. I have been coaching for nearly 7 years (I am 22). This week I coached some younger courts (age 7-10). On monday, no one from my court was able to hit a tennis ball—let alone ralley—
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Anonymous 11w

This made me so incredibly happy thank you so much for sharing and for what you do for those kids

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Anonymous 12w

That first day, the kids were not focusing at all—half had ZERO desire to play tennis. On Tuesday, the mom of two of the kids told me they were being bullied. I hadn’t noticed because it was other kids from other courts at this big tennis camp. Anyways, I have been bullied before, so I opted against directly confronting them because then they would view the kids as tattletales, so I decided to stand in between the kids every chance I got and make sure that there were no bad interactions—

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Anonymous replying to -> OP 12w

Wednesday comes around, and we start practicing volleys/ overheads. Over time they start to get the hang of it, but some of the kids still have no desire to play. I am still struggling to get the kids to pay attention/ play/ develop their ground strokes. I continue to distance the bullies from the kids and find little ways to get people more engaged.

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Anonymous replying to -> OP 12w

On thursday, they start to figure things out. They are going for volleys, having a few rallies. Today was Friday. I have never seen a turnaround quite like it in my entire time coaching, EVERY SINGLE KID WAS ENGAGED AND HITTING WELL. I am talking perfect placement on some shots, great volleys/ overheads. I saw 2 rallies that were fucking INSANE—20-25 balls each and every shot was strategic/ not luck. Two kids who DID NOT EVEN WANT TO BE THERE were hitting some of the vraziest angles I have

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Anonymous replying to -> OP 12w

Ever seen. This one kid had 6-7 shots in a row that could not have been better placed—perfect volleys/ overheads. Anyways—it gets to the end of the camp, and the parent who originally talked to me about the bullying approached. She looked me in the eyes and told me that they had played other sports and were never much into tennis. She said that they absolutely LOVED me and that they now want to play tennis regularly. She thanked me profusely and BOUGHT ME STARBUCKS.

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Anonymous replying to -> OP 12w

Istg on the way home I was almost crying. I was so fucking happy/ proud of the kids. And that mom brought me starbucks because of what I did. What a fucking turnaround.

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Anonymous replying to -> OP 12w

THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!! Truly, the value of a great coach!! Congratulations dude!! I am so, so proud of you. This story is an inspiration to me as an aspiring teacher. KEEP UP THE AWESOME WORK!!

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