Every Tennis Drill In New York Sucks

You know when you know you’re making the wrong decision but you go ahead with it anyway? Like when LC skipped Paris to go to Malibu with Jason? Yeah. I signed up for a second BumbleBee session at Fort Greene Park. When I got to the courts there was a man sleeping slumped over in a metal folding chair. Again, as I approached this person I hoped against hope that he was there by mistake. But the wiry man wearing sweatpants in 90 degree weather was the instructor.

The only other person in this drill was an older gentleman—not my ideal semi-private companion. The drill was not terrible. It wasn’t good either. The pro played scrappy tennis—he played Brad Gilbert Winning Ugly tennis. He said he was self-taught and it showed. If I’m paying money I would like to be taught by someone classically trained. Imagine if you paid for piano lessons then discovered your teacher learned to play from YouTube. Even though the drill was head and shoulders above the Astoria Park one, I certainly wouldn’t make the trip to Brooklyn again. The silver lining of my experience was that I realized I have a fall back career as a pro at BumbleBee.

[Photo via @fortgreenetennis]