Ellen - mother of 4
"To me, sport is friendship."
Ellen - understanding mum
Tennis has given me new perspectives to understand more about my daughters.
I am Ellen, a full-time mum with 4 daughters. In the beginning, tennis was just something I played once a week for maintaining an active lifestyle. When my family moved to Australia, I had the opportunity to meet new friends and get to know the community through participating in local tennis competitions. Now, my whole family often plays tennis together.
Tennis is fun to play, and there are a lot of friendships in the game
Tennis is now our family sport, and we have a lot of fun time together. Occasionally I partner with my daughter to play doubles, which is another great experience. Moreover, I enjoy spending time with other players, talking about everything from our family, kids to grocery shopping.
Tennis has given me new perspectives to understand more about my daughters
Before I participated in local competitions, I encouraged my daughters to engage in tennis for different reasons. As I joined competitions myself, I started to understand the challenges and difficulties of the game. All of a sudden, I seem to understand more about the situations my daughters face, and that enables me to share their thoughts and feelings. Now, tennis is not only our common interest and language but also a channel to strengthen our relationship.
Sports train not only your body but also your mind and build your character
Once my daughter said she did not want to play tennis anymore because her mixed doubles partner was not nice to her on court. I guided her to consider what really upset her and encouraged her to continue. We often face failure or unpleasant experience more than success or satisfaction in sport competitions, same as our everyday life. My goal is to keep participating in tennis competitions and be a role model of positive attitude to my kids.
