The Omaha Special Analysis

Tennis-“The Omaha Special” Former grand slam champion Billie Jean King was once quoted that, “Tennis taught me so many lessons in life. One of the things it has taught me is that every ball that comes to me, I have to make a decision. I have to accept responsibility for the consequences every time I hit the ball.” Similar to a competitive tennis match, life is full of calculated yet complicated choices. Every decision that one makes has a consequence. Whether this consequence is examined within a positive or negative manner is dependent on the reaction of those in positions of authority and control. As a young and maturing tennis player being raised in Omaha, Nebraska, I made several foolish choices that caused negative reactions and influenced …show more content…
However, what many in the tennis community failed to comprehend is that my reputation as an angry unstable child did not translate outside of tennis. Off the court I considered myself to be a tempered and even shy person whom was friendly with all I happened to acquaintance myself with. Nonetheless, authority figures in the tennis community did not concern themselves with my off the court personality but only focused on my on the court actions. Due to my on court reputation, several leading tennis pros within the Omaha tennis community did not grant me access to practice and train at the facilities that they controlled, placing a direct constraint on my growth as a training tennis player but also as a maturing teenager. For six years, I fought the uphill battle of attempting to improve my tarnished …show more content…
Located in downtown Omaha and led by tennis professionals Rick Faust and Ed Hubbs, the Hanscom Brandeis Tennis Center is the leading institute of competitive tennis in Omaha, being best known for as the starting training center for former professional tennis player Andy Roddick and several collegiate tennis players. As the leading hierarchy within the Omaha tennis community, this is where I first began my training as an upcoming tennis player. Soon after however, both Faust and Hubbs soon began to realize that my volatile anger was a problem that neither of them wanted to address. After about six months of training at this tennis center, Faust and Hubbs promptly eliminated me from their program. Their inability of concern and lack of motivation as the top tennis professionals in the area in failing to help me find solutions in controlling my anger, caused them to blackball me within the entire tennis community. Although I am partially at fault for this blackball, I have learned by reflecting on the past that Faust, Hubbs, and I should have done more to find a solution to my anger problem. This effective blackball not only caused me to have the detrimental reputation of being a problem student for any tennis professional, its direct negative consequence in constraining my freedom was having the ability to practice at any formal tennis