During the spring, school seems to take an eternity. The looming summer seems to drag on. But at 3:00 after school, I have a new sense of joy: The arrival of tennis practice with Coach Schlitt.
At about 6 feet tall, with jet black hair, wearing a sweatshirt and sweats, he is like player on the team. During drills, he will join in making repetitive drills more fun and creating more competition. One time I was playing poorly and was mishitting many shots. When he joined I hit two screaming shots barely clearing the net for winners. Whenever he joins in, our competitive edge rises because we always want to beat the coach.
Even though sometimes it feels like he is one of the players, we respect his authority. If he tells us to pick up the tennis balls, everyone quickly moves as if they were bees collecting pollen. I have never heard a player question his authority or complain about him.
Coach Schlitt is a positive and outstanding teacher of tennis. Before I joined the tennis team in high school, I had little knowledge of tennis. But he helped me develop and improve the many facets of my game. When I first joined tennis, all I could do was tap my serve into the box. He showed me how to get more velocity on my serve and how to place it better. Coach Schlitt showed me how to hold the racquet correctly when hitting different types of shots, which I had never known before.
A major quality of Coach Schlitt is his patience. If you are not doing something correctly, he will not get impatient and instead will help you correct your mistake. Also, his first instinct is not to yell at people when they messing around, instead asking them to stop. This tactic of handling the problem works and resolves the problem in a simple matter. Sometimes, somebody will be talking while he is explaining a drill. All he has to say is, “Guys,” and the person will stop talking.
Coach Schlitt truly cares about his players and wants to help them improve. Everyday when I first see him at practice he always says, “How are you doing today, Josh?” I always enjoy how he asks me that because it shows he cares about me and is not just doing the coaching job because he had to or for extra money.
I feel like I would not be playing varsity tennis without Coach Schlitt’s guidance. I appreciate his efforts and the time he gives up to help us become better tennis players, and also better people.