Just Try It

Chapter 24- I Did It. I Really Did It

Tuesday, February 14th 6:10am

Swisher Park Tennis Courts

Sondra stretched up, and felt her racket connect with the tennis ball again. She looked around and smiled at how empty the park was at this time of day. She could see Jamie and Korbin playing a couple of courts down, but most people were still in bed sleeping.

So far, she had used up almost the full bucket of balls she had borrowed from her grandmother, and she still didn't think her serve was any better. She did another serve and tried to put some more power in it. She frowned and rolled her eyes as it did exactly the same thing as the last one. She glanced over at Moe watching her silently, and wondered if he had any ideas.

He hadn't spoken during the run here at all, but she didn't think he was angry. He had been listening to her story, and she had been yawning for the first few blocks anyway. The morning run had woken her up, but even when they had arrived he had only stopped long enough to tell her to serve until he told her to stop.

When Moe turned off the MP3 player and walked forward, she was more than ready to do something new.

"What's wrong?" she asked anxiously.

He said, "Nothing, I just finished the story. This time I managed to hear the end of it. It was great, but we can talk about that later. Right now, let's talk about your serve."

"What's wrong with it? I managed to get my accuracy down, but I can't get any power," Sondra complained.

Moe came closer as he explained that she had been setting up her body correctly, but wasn't using the muscle groups together. That just let her use her arm muscles instead, and they couldn't give her the power she wanted.

Sondra frowned and thought to what Jamie had drilled into her with martial arts training. "That sounds like what Jamie said about doing throws."

Moe nodded and agreed. "Jamie is great at combining muscle groups. That helped her develop her power serves so quickly. She has a real gift for figuring out how to get the most power out of her small size. I think that she would have been good at any sport she went out for, but you know how to use muscle groups together too. I've seen you do it for your martial arts classes, so I know you can learn how to do it for tennis."

Sondra nodded as she thought about what he said. Her throws had really improved when she had learned how to put her whole body into it. She looked over at Moe and asked, "Can you show me some again, now that I know what to look for? This time I will pay more attention to the muscles."

Moe nodded and served a half-dozen more times Sondra said, "I think that I'm beginning to see what you mean."

When Moe said, "Good, then you show me," she gave a little sigh. She would have rather kept watching him, but she joined him in gathering all the tennis balls instead.

If she kept picturing Moe, she was sure that she would end up hitting herself in the head. So, when she was ready to serve, she stopped picturing Moe, and tried to visualize her muscles as a complex machine. She bounced the ball a couple of times as she put it all together. Finally, she tossed the tennis ball up and tried the serve the way she pictured it. Sondra's jaw dropped as she saw the difference.

"That's it!" Moe exclaimed proudly as he rushed over and swept her up in a fast hug that swung her in a wide circle. The only problem was that he let her go much too soon. He stepped back, and smiled down into her shocked face as he said, "Now keep serving with the rest of the bucket until it becomes second nature." Moe paused and reluctantly admitted, "When you are ready to work on spin we should watch Korbin and Jamie. They can put spin on the ball better than I can."