Including the Kids

THEY WERE OBVIOUSLY repaving two tennis courts, but they were not repaving them as tennis courts. They were doing something different, but i couldn't tell what. It appeared they were dividing them up into much smaller units; but, for what? I couldn't figure it out. Some kind of handball or paddle ball, some sport much smaller than tennis? But what sport, exactly? Racquet ball and handball and squash, all with smaller courts, are played inside, right?

Then I heard the answer on the radio. Two public tennis courts in city park were being turned into eight mini tennis courts; smaller versions of the game of tennis, intended for kids under the age of ten! The United States Tennis Association, on a nationwide basis, is bringing into existence a new sport: miniture tennis for small children.

Having played tennis all my life, I was instantly fascinated by the idea. I never had, or would have ever thought of it.. no matter how young and how small my students in my many tennis clinics and lessons, i had always given tennis lessons on full sized courts, with never a thought to any alternative. There wasn't any alternative. Now there is. I have often been frustrated, and seen the frustration of some petite eight year old, struggling with the sheer size of the game. My attitude has always been, that there was absolutely nothing that either of us, me or tiny student, can do about it.

Presumably that same frustration has plagued enough people that a whole new inclusive attitude about tennis has come into being. Presumably now americans all over the country will see regular tennis courts being converted, and kid's tennis will probably enjoy a great surge of popularity. Pretty good idea, really. It might change the game of tennis, and improve its foundations among youth, as much as wheel chair ramps and equal opportunites have revolutionized life for disabled people in america over the past three decades.

Bowling leagues and softball teams for the elderly. Womens' softball and soccer. Facilities for the handicapped. And now, tennis for the very young and very small. Can it be that our society has decided once and for all that everyone, regardless of age, gender, size, or ability, is worth of attention and consideration? So it would seem. No more are women relagated to the kitchen, disabled people regalated to the back room, and the elderly to the nursing home. After thousands of years of painfully slow upward struggle, we are arriving where we were meant to be all along; where every human being is considered worthwhile, worthy of inclusion. May the dear lord  bless us.