LUCKY

As you may know, we've been traveling throughout the Southern Section to help junior tennis players achieve their recruiting & training goals for the past 11 years... While often exhausting, this is important work & we are proud to be making a difference... 

We meet soo many people! Of course some of them are difficult (O-M-G!!!) but most of them are nice. 

This past August, we got lucky when we met Lakshya, whose dad calls her 'LUCKY'.

Lucky was at the G12 National Hard Courts with her dad & for some reason, I totally connected with this very cute child from Virginia. It could have been because I consoled her as she sobbed following her 1st-round loss since I observed that she was at the tourney with her dad & no mom. For whatever reason, we became special friends & we spent a ton of time together over the 5 days(?) that she competed in the 6-day tourney. 

As we prepared to say goodbye on her final day, I finally asked about her mom... That's when she shared with me that her mom was sick with cancer. Some kind of stomach cancer which means she can't eat normally or leave her bed. When I asked her how long she'd been sick, Lucky said it had been a long time. :( I'm no doctor but even I know that this sounds REALLY, REALLY BAD. How heartbreaking for a child!!

Shortly after that, I was chatting with her incredibly nice father & I told him how sorry I was to hear about his wife. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN!?!?!?!?" Turns out Lucky had never told A SINGLE SOUL about her mom's condition... but for some reason, this tiny 12yo confided in me!! 

I sure hope I'm wrong but I may never see her again... However, I know I'll never forget her & that's why I decided to surprise her with a cute tennis candle... in her favorite color... with her nickname. Can't believe I forgot to take a picture of it (!!!) but it looks similar to the cute tennis candles I've prepared for breast cancer fundraisers except instead of a ribbon, it says 'LUCKY' on the front & August 2016 on the back.

I'd kinda forgotten all about the candle & the cute kid but NOT LUCKY!! Look at the sweet letter that touched my heart at just the right time. It was waiting for us when we returned from a recent trip to FL to deal with a very painful family emergency situation:

At HIGH-TECH TENNIS, we are definitely committed to helping junior tennis players achieve their goals but very often, it's about soooo much #MoreThanTennis!