The morning light, more like afternoon light, crept up under my eyelids. I wiped my face with my hands lazily and attempted to get out of bed, only to find myself tangled in my blanket and falling out onto the floor. My room was in disarray, the same way it was for the past month and despite my mother’s constant nagging to clean it up, it still remained this way. With three weeks of summer vacation left, the thoughts of having to go back to school hammered inside my head, taunting me.

Noticing my suitcase knocked over onto the floor with clothes falling out of it I decided that perhaps I should bring about some order to this room of mine. Sprawled out onto the floor, I realized something; I had a pretty damn good summer. I mean really, how many kids get the chance to go to Britain on vacation and then a few weeks later in California find out that they have the potential to become a professional athlete in a few years!? Not to mention getting coached by a nationally renowned tennis coach for free.

Often times I found myself turning down any offers to go out and nothing motivated me beyond my fervor for tennis to stay home or go to the park to practice. It was a shame some people said, that such a bright girl was wasting away her summer and life preparing for something that has such a small possibility of even happening. Brushing them aside, their callous comments of disbelief did the antithesis of what they wished, motivated me.

Today was no different. I put on my training clothes and game face heading for the park. Positive reinforcement, I told myself. You will be rewarded in due time for your hard work and with this thought I put a smirk on my face and began to stretch. With my practice partner on the other side of the net, I tossed the ball up, and swung at it as hard as I could. Ace! The point of contact against my new strings sounded crisp. One ball at a time, my shadow grew larger as my basket of tennis balls emptied.

“You’ve got nice form there,” commented a regular competitor at the facility.

“Thanks.” I responded with a smile and hit one last ball before I headed off into the darkness.

The morning light, more like afternoon light, crept up under my eyelids. I wiped my face with my hands lazily and attempted to get out of bed, only to find myself tangled in my blanket and falling out onto the floor. My room was in disarray, the same way it was for the past month and despite my mother’s constant nagging to clean it up, it still remained this way. With three weeks of summer vacation left, the thoughts of having to go back to school hammered inside my head, taunting me.

Noticing my suitcase knocked over onto the floor with clothes falling out of it I decided that perhaps I should bring about some order to this room of mine. Sprawled out onto the floor, I realized something; I had a pretty damn good summer. I mean really, how many kids get the chance to go to Britain on vacation and then a few weeks later in California find out that they have the potential to become a professional athlete in a few years!? Not to mention getting coached by a nationally renowned tennis coach for free.

Often times I found myself turning down any offers to go out and nothing motivated me beyond my fervor for tennis to stay home or go to the park to practice. It was a shame some people said, that such a bright girl was wasting away her summer and life preparing for something that has such a small possibility of even happening. Brushing them aside, their callous comments of disbelief did the antithesis of what they wished, motivated me.

Today was no different. I put on my training clothes and game face heading for the park. Positive reinforcement, I told myself. You will be rewarded in due time for your hard work and with this thought I put a smirk on my face and began to stretch. With my practice partner on the other side of the net, I tossed the ball up, and swung at it as hard as I could. Ace! The point of contact against my new strings sounded crisp. One ball at a time, my shadow grew larger as my basket of tennis balls emptied.

“You’ve got nice form there,” commented a regular competitor at the facility.

“Thanks.” I responded with a smile and hit one last ball before I headed off into the darkness.