As far back as I can remember, I’ve always been athletic. I started with soccer in kindergarten, added football in elementary school, and eventually rotated through track and field and wrestling. By fourth and fifth grade, playing just one sport wasn’t really an option. Weekends meant switching cleats instead of resting, and weeknights were a constant shuffle of practices, homework, and recovery.
At first glance, I didn’t look like a football player. I was lanky, lean, and not exactly intimidating. But I was fast. I played running back on both varsity and junior varsity, and my coaches nicknamed me “Rocket.” I loved the adrenaline, the split-second decisions, the feeling of hitting a gap at full speed and trusting my instincts. Eventually, after a mild concussion, my football career came to an end. My parents made the call, which at the time felt abrupt. Looking back, it was a turning point.
During COVID, in middle school, I found myself studying from home and adjusting to a slower rhythm, but I missed team sports more than I expected. Soccer had been a constant throughout my childhood at the travel and club levels, and when it stopped, something felt off. One afternoon, a family friend noticed my boredom and offered me a free tennis lesson. I was thirteen, skeptical, and not particularly interested in starting over.
TENNIS
I went anyway, and that single lesson changed everything.
Within an hour, I was hooked.
I quickly knew that Tennis was different. There were no teammates to rely on, no one to sub in. Every point was a problem to solve alone. I embraced that responsibility and loved that improvement was measurable and personal.
Tennis quickly became my primary focus. A year later, my family moved to Bradenton, Florida, so I could train more seriously at IMG Academy. It was a leap, a new environment, higher expectations, bigger goals; but it felt right.
Today tennis has become a defining part of who I am today. It’s taught me how to handle pressure without panic, how to lose without excuses, and how to pursue incremental progress every day. There’s something deeply satisfying about the idea that small adjustments such as a grip change, a footwork tweak, a shift in mindset, compound over time.
If you’ve explored the rest of this site, you’ll probably notice a pattern: I’m drawn to systems, feedback loops, and steady improvement. Tennis just happens to be the court where I learned many of those lessons first.
And I’m still chasing better.
