Personal Narrative: My First Tennis Player

The person who has inspired me the most in my life would have to be my first tennis coach, Katee Sanderson. It is tough to narrow it down to one single person because I have numerous role models, but she would definitely stand out above any of the others.

The reason I admire her is because of her patience and relentless effort towards striving to make me a better athlete. I signed up to play high school tennis my junior year knowing very little about the game. I barely knew how to swing a racket. However, she was very was an excellent teacher and worked very hard with me towards making me a better player. She is the reason I developed the skills I have today. Katee worked with me on every aspect of the game while always being understanding

of my lack of talent throughout the first few practices. She did not only work hard with me, she worked hard to teach every single player on the team. Even though that is her job, she made it more than a job. Tennis is her passion and that carried over to the other eleven members of the team. It is difficult to balance out assisting every player on the team and meeting their individual needs, but she never complained. She simply did an amazing job with all of us. We all had fun playing for her because she made tennis so enjoyable and made it out to be something I looked forward to every single day. I would have never imagined having countless memories in a single year of tennis. I can only credit her for that.

It was no secret that I was a work-in-progress my first year, but because of Katee by the end of practice, I was on the varsity team. Then when my second year came around I was able to move up higher on the varsity team because her and the skills she taught me. I would have never been able to be so successful in my two years of tennis without her. Joining tennis was essentially the equivalent of me opening a pandora's box filled with great times and wonderful experiences. I was able to create those memories and successes because of my coach, Katee.