Parent of the Month - March 2007
Carol Northcutt

 

1. Can you give your philosophy on being a good tennis parent?
a. Make sure she is well hydrated and fed(not easy with Jess as she eats as much as a big fat man)
b. Make sure she gets plenty of rest and stays focused during tournaments
c. Getting to matches with lots of room to spare so she is stressfree.
d. Supporting her emotionally and financially(need a second job to pay your rates) if this is what she wants to do.
e. Realize that she will have good days and bad days, and just go with the flow.
f. Keep crazy to a minimum
g. Admire and respect the competition as there are so many great competitors.
h. Make sure there is balance in her life, other interests, friends and trips outside of tournaments.
i. Did I mention trying to keep her fed.

2. Jessica competed nationally in equestrian, has that influenced your outlook to her tennis?-Jess showed on a national level for 5 years. In the early years she was not very successful, and she would get a bit frustrated. We assured her it would come if she worked hard. With that she was able to achieve success at the highest level of her sport, with 2 Reserve World Championships and 1 World Championship. The same thing happened when she started with the tennis, not a lot of success. With that she learned to handle defeat and be gracious about it. Again we told her if you put the time and effort in she would see the fruits of her labor. She is just now starting to have a bit of success, and this motivates her to continue to work and train hard.

3. Jessica has improved very rapidly, to what do you attribute her success? –Prior to 12 months ago, tennis was a second sport for Jess. Her real passion was riding and showing, which kept us out of playing tournaments. She made the decision to retire her horse and focus on tennis. She has really enjoyed tennis, and the improvements she has experienced. She then decided she wanted to try the homeschool program with lots of urging from Allie Robbins. This was when she really improved very quickly. She enjoys her lessons with Dr. Wright, and really enjoys the kids in the homeschool tennis program. The conditioning that is included in the program has really made a difference in her mobility on the court. She does not miss school one bit, and loves spending her days on the courts.

4. Is there anything you would change if you could do things over?-I don’t think so. Jess was the one who let us know that she was ready to focus on tennis, so we just made that possible by returning to Windward and letting her try the homeschool program to see if this level of training was what she really wanted. So far she is loving it, and wants to stay with the program. I guess my only real concern is keeping her body healthy, as this is a lot of wear and tear on the kids.

5. What does Jessica’s tennis mean to you and your family?-I guess I did not realize how much it has meant to us, until she was hurt and out of tournaments for the last 3 months. It got to the point where we were playing 2 tournaments a month, and always looking forward to the trip, the competition and meeting up with all of her new tennis friends and their parents. When we did not have that to look forward to we sort of went stir crazy, anxious for her to heal, so we could get back on it. Thank goodness we have the horses to occupy our non tennis time. We look forward to seeing how far she can go with this great sport, and we look forward to participating in some of the bigger National tournaments in the upcoming year.