THE ARMANDO CONNECTION

As you may know, we travel all the time to junior tourneys in the Southern Section. And when I say all the time, I mean almost like gypsies, lol. So we obviously meet loads of people. Many are forgotten immediately but occasionally we meet someone who just stands out & a connection is made. That's exactly what happened the one & ONLY time we crossed paths with Armando Gray, Jr. of Riverdale, GA.

We met this impressive young man at the North Georgia Open in May of 2014 @ the Rome-Floyd Tennis Center. I can't tell you why but I know that Armando & I connected...BIG TIME. We recorded his match for him, which I think he lost - badly :( & I felt bad for him, encouraging him to take it for what it was & to learn from it. I'm assuming he did both but more on that later.

As usual, I was snapping cute pics of cute tennis kids @ the tournament & when Armando asked if he could take a picture with me, of course my answer was yes because I knew we were connected.

As we chatted with Armando & his mom, I realized that I really liked this kid so I gave him a wristband & wished him well. We didn't see him again - ever - but I was so happy to see that he graduated with the Class of 2015. While researching for our Alumni Corner <players we've supported through junior tennis who have transitioned to college tennis>, I learned that he was in college & it didn't surprise me at all. Remember he impressed me when we connected.

So that brings me today... While I was prepping for backtoback national tournaments in March <you have no idea how much hard work goes into making this video stuff look easy, lol>, Armando made my day by sending me this pic w/ the message that he was still moving his feet!

He told me he's @ Alabama A&M & that he's doing well, majoring in Computer Science & playing for the tennis team.

Something made him reach out today <completely out of the blue> & I think it was the connection we made @ a tennis facility almost two years ago. That's how I know that CONNECTIONS COUNT & that it has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with winning or losing a tennis match. GO ARMANDO GO!