After 8 years of coaching kids and adults in the game of tennis, and improving my certification level to PTR Professional, it is time for me to raise my rates.

Effective January 1, 2020, my fees will increase as follows.

Private Lessons

1 hour – 1 student, $50

45 minutes – 1 student, $40

30 minutes – 1 student, $25

Semi-Private Lessons

1 hour – 2 students, $25 each

45 minutes – 2 students, $20 each

Group Lessons

1 hour – 3 or more students, $20 each

45 minutes – 3 or more students, $15 each

Note: Adult private or semi-private lessons cancelled less than 12 hours in advance will be charged at full price.

It is my pleasure to be your tennis instructor. I believe that tennis is a sport for a lifetime. My goal first and foremost is for you to have fun while practicing and learning in every lesson. My secondary goal is to instill all students with a love of the game. My hope is that you will “get the tennis bug” and enjoy it for years to come.

Thank you for your business!

Kids have a knack of making you realize that what you’re saying isn’t what you think you’re saying. There are some common phrases in tennis:

• You “lose the point” when you make an error or when your opponent hits a winner.
• You “win the point” when you hit a winner or when your opponent makes an error.

In the USTA booklet called “Friend at Court,” the rules of tennis are defined. One section is called “Player Loses Point,” and it goes on to list all the ways that your opponent will be awarded a point.

I was explaining winning and losing points to some kids recently. In my example, I said that Player A had 2 points and the Player B had 0 points. Then Player A made an error and lost the point. I asked the kids what the score was. They said the score is now 1-0. I explained that now the score was 2-1. The kids looked positively perplexed. They said, “but you just said he lost the point.” Then it was my turn to look positively perplexed as it sunk in how deeply embedded is the terminology “lose the point” and how completely incorrect it is. You don’t lose a point, your opponent wins the point.

I have trained myself now to say that you win the point or your opponent wins the point, but it’s a hard thing to remember. I remind my students that once you have earned a point, you cannot lose it. (OK, there is an exception when the score is Ad-In or Ad-Out.) Recently, one of my intermediate students said to a beginner student, “you can never lose a point,” and I was glad to hear her reinforce this concept to the newbie.

Tennis Professionals have been saying it wrong for decades. And kids have probably been confused for decades too. Luckily, my students were brave enough to question it and help us all learn something in the process.

11/23/14: After 3 years of coaching kids and adults in the game of tennis, it is time for me to raise my rates.

Effective January 1, 2015, my fees will increase as follows.

Group Lessons

1 hour – 3 or more students, $15 each

1 hour – 2 students, $20 each

45 minutes – 3 or more students, $10 each

45 minutes – 2 students, $15 each

Semi-Private Lessons

1 hour – 2 students, $20 each

Private Lessons

1 hour – 1 student, $40

45 minutes – 1 student, $30

30 minutes – 1 student, $20

Note: Adult private or semi-private lessons cancelled less than 12 hours in advance will be charged at full price.

It is my pleasure to be your tennis instructor. I believe that tennis is a sport for a lifetime. My goal first and foremost is for you to have fun while practicing and learning in every lesson. My secondary goal is to instill all students with a love of the game. My hope is that you will “get the tennis bug” and enjoy it for years to come.

Thank you for your business!

Today, I was rushing to get to my job at the club on time, driving and calculating the time it would take to do all the things I would need to do once I got there. It was a cloudy day and I didn’t need sunglasses, but I usually wear a visor either way. I forgot my visor in the car and rushed around to get the lesson started at 3:40.

My 6-year old student, Emma, arrived and took a look at me with a quizzical look on her face. She hadn’t seen me without a visor and sunglasses probably ever. She said, “Coach Leslie, you look different. <pause> Did you color your hair?”

Ah, this is the modern girl. I smiled and told her I had forgotten my hat. And for the record, no I hadn’t colored my hair. At least not that month.

In 2011, I made the switch from working an intense and extremely detail-oriented desk job in high tech to being a tennis instructor in the service industry. I was ready for the change and I entered each new day and new experience with my eyes wide open, learning from every little thing I experienced.

I do not have children of my own, so a lot of my learning just had to do with working with kids of all ages and sizes every day. Many of the observations I will put into this blog will be things I learn from the kids or things I really get a kick out of.

For example, a couple of weeks ago, one of my red-ball students walked into class and approached the court where a couple of other students were already there getting ready to warm up. Without saying another word, he looked right at me and said, “I got my report card yesterday. I need to work on my focus.” Moments like this I have to keep from laughing out loud. Kids tell you all kinds of things. I don’t think this boy would have told me that if he didn’t like and trust me, though. My style is to get to know each kid a little bit by asking questions, getting them talking about themselves, their days, their school, to help them feel comfortable. They are eager to talk and often blurt out their answers with enthusiasm. One of the unexpected results of my style, though, is the unexpected confession now and then, as happened on that day with that boy. It made me smile.