Connor's junior tennis match at the Plantation

Connor had his third match of the season with his tennis team this past week. Connor's team has played 4 matches, but Connor missed one. The match was at the Plantation, and we liked the setup since I was able to find a spot to take some videos without having to do too much panning with the camera. Unfortunately, Connor got annoyed that I was video-recording and signaled me to stop after he lost a couple of points in a row. We talked to him afterwards, and he hopefully he won't be as sensitive about it in the future.

Connor won his singles match in two sets 4-0, 4-0. Connor played his doubles match with Liam and they won their match 8-3.

Private tennis lessons with Andrew and JB

Connor and Paige have been doing private lessons with Andrew for a while at the club and recently we decided to have Paige start doing her lesson with the new pro JB. It's a little more convenient this way so the kids can be doing the lessons at the same time. Paige has enjoyed the lessons with JB and JB has been very impressed with Paige's athleticism and tennis technique.

Connor at Robert's 11th Birthday Party

Connor went to Robert's house today for his 11th birthday party. They played laser tag, some kids swam, but Connor mostly played ping pong with his buddy Noah. It was a cool day, Andrea went along and hung out by the fire outside and chatted with some of the other parents.

Paige goes to Sarah's 7th birthday party

Paige went to our neighbor Sarah's birthday party today 4/8/2018. The party was at TNT Gymnastics and Paige enjoyed all of the gym equipment and especially swinging in to the foam block pit. Paige did have one fall where her leg got tangled in the rope and got all twisted up. She jumped up quickly and said she was OK, but I could tell it hurt so I cuddled her for a little while. She got over it pretty fast, and in a few minutes, she was up and jumping around again.

Connor Wins Marsh Landing Grand Prix Tennis Tournament

On Saturday, April 7th, Connor participated in the Marsh Landing Grand Prix tournament at the 12U level. We didn't realize when we'd signed him up, but the 12U was green dot balls, which Connor hasn't hit in quite a while. It was on a full court, but the balls were much less pressurized and didn't bounce as high and as quickly as the typically yellow ball. Connor did a good job adjusting to the situation though, and played really well throughout the day.

Connor won his the first three matches with scores of 6-1, 6-1, 6-0. He went to the final match confident, but the boy he played was fairly consistent and hit some tough balls to Connor. It was quite a match, and Connor got down on himself quite a bit at times. I didn't film it at all since he got irritated with me earlier in the day when he noticed me filming. Early on in the match, Connor had two games that got to deuce and to a deciding point and unfortunately lost both of them. He was down in the score late in the match and through sheer force of will he tied it up at 5-5. The kids played to 6 games for the set, so the next game was the deciding game. Connor got down in the game at 15-40. He dug in and played the match points against him heroically. He tied the game up at deuce, which meant the next point was not only the deciding point in the game, but also for the set, match, and tournament. On the final point of the day, both boys exchanged a few shots and then Connor hit a heavy high top spin ball to his opponents backhand. I was sitting on the sideline and was so thrilled to see it drop in to his opponent's corner and the boy swung at it futilely. I saw that it was at least 2 inches inside the sideline and baseline. Connor had won the match. But then, very late, his opponent called the ball out. I stood up, completely shocked. I was certain it was in. There were multiple adults near us that also saw it bounce in, and they were all irritated as well, even more so when I told them that it was the deciding point of the entire tournament. Connor asked to see a ball mark, and his opponent pointed to a random mark well outside the court. Unfortunately, the rules state that it's the kid's call, and it comes down to his word. Connor was understandably devastated, and we talked to the tournament director, but I knew that it would be futile since only other parents had been present and they can't overturn the call after the fact.

Connor begrudgingly accepted his "Runner Up" Trophy, and we left. At lunch, we talked about it with him. I think Andrea and I were actually more upset about it than he was. He said he hadn't actually seen the ball bounce in, but I told him I'd seen it, that two men next to me saw it, as well as his tennis teammate Robert. We found out the next day that Robert and Noah had played the same boy and had the same problems with cheating and ball calls in their matches with him. It was a very frustrating day for us, especially after Connor's heroic stands against multiple match points, and after hitting a winning shot.

We took Connor's trophy and glued a "WINNER!!!" mark over it. He is a winner in our book, and if he'd had an instant replay system available, or a person monitoring the match, I'm sure he'd have been the official winner.

Connor's A honor roll

Connor has been such an amazing student this year. He has adjusted well to having different teachers and is getting himself ready for middle school. Lately when I get up at 7am, I find Connor already awake. He has been setting his alarm at 6:30 and gets dressed, eats breakfast, brushes his teeth, gets his backpack and snack together, does his homework, and is all done by the time anyone else wakes up. Right when he gets up he wants me to fix his hair so he's all done and ready for the day. We've told him to relax and enjoy his rest this year, since next year he'll have to get up so early and he may as well enjoy his elementary school schedule while he can.

This past quarter Connor got A honor roll and he had 97% in Science and 100% in Language Arts, Social Studies and Math. He takes every opportunity to get extra credit, which helps, and he's such a motivated and hard working guy. We got him an LA Clippers Jersey to celebrate his success, we are so proud of Connor.

Easter 2018

 

We got back from Wild Dunes on Saturday, and Sunday we celebrated Easter together as a family. In the morning the kids discovered all the goodies that the Easter Bunny brought for them and then went on an Easter Egg hunt around the house and even out on the lanai. In the afternoon we went to Barbara Jeans for lunch and we talked about the meaning of Easter and all the things we were thankful for.