Three Crowns

I asked to join the Tennis and Life Camps (TLC) team and USTA Northern for Serving Up Love at the Twin Cities Marathon in order to help create scholarships to TLC. I grew up loving tennis, but I didn't come from a family that could afford one of the big clubs in the Twin Cities area, so I depended on my dad and Saint Paul Urban Tennis (an excellent, low cost tennis program in St. Paul, MN) for my development as a player. At some point in my teens, my dad brought my brother and me to Tennis and Life Camps in St. Peter, MN, and it was an enormous, formative experience in my life. I ended up attending the camp four times and became an instructor for seven years before moving to Europe to work for the Army. 

Tennis has been a great teacher for me. Saint Paul Urban Tennis gave me low-cost entry to a sport that still struggles with elitism. Later in life, the lessons I learned at TLC from Dr. Steve Wilkinson, Dr. Dan McLaughlin, and Neal Hagberg and many others about sports psychology, my self-image on the court, and staying within myself ended up translating to my life off the court. I credit TLC in a major way for my ability to handle stress and focus on what I can control. It has led to what I think is a much more peaceful life, even in the troubled times we see in our country.  As a social worker for the Army, I see the bad side of a lot of situations, but I do not lose heart. This is because I think of, preach, and use TLC's Three Crowns philosophy (attitude, effort, sportsmanship) so often in my daily work life.

I think everyone and anyone deserves this opportunity. TLC was a wonderful experience for my family, but could easily be an expensive experience even for just one person. The TLC scholarships being created through this fundraiser will help lessen the barrier to entry for children from low-income and at-risk situations and potentially give those children an experience they would not otherwise have. If everyone could receive the lessons delivered at TLC, this world would be a lot better off.