I became a tennis instructor not because of impressive skill in the sport, but because of my work ethic.
I started playing tennis casually when I was in the 12-13 age range. I wasn’t especially motivated or talented at the time. Since I’d moved so much I’d participated in dozens of sports based on what was easiest to access in each location. I expected to play for a few years, then move again and either find a new sport or return to an old one.
However, my family didn’t move again and I found myself enjoying the sport more and more. I played year round and eventually started to take it more and more seriously.
One spring my mom told me the Yacht Club, where I spent my summers playing tennis and sailing, was getting a new tennis director, who happened to be my coach. She was looking for someone to be an apprentice and had asked if I was interested.
I would be helping out with younger kids for a couple hours a day. My pay would be lunch and the option to join a clinic with kids more skilled than I for free.
At first I was uncertain. Working meant giving up a certain amount of my freedom. If I worked at all that summer, wouldn’t I want a job where I got a paycheck?
One day I went with my mom to drop my brothers off for a lesson with our coach and my future boss. On a whim, I rolled down my window, stuck my head out, and yelled: “I accept the position of tennis apprentice!”
So I became a tennis apprentice. I worked almost every week that summer, taking just a couple off to sail. I had a ton of fun, I got to be in the sun all day, and teaching little kids actually helped me get better at tennis.
A few weeks into it, my coach/boss started dropping hints suggesting she wanted me to work full-time next year. At the end of the summer, she invited me to lunch and offered me the job, which I immediately accepted.
I got certified and the next summer I started the best job I’d ever had. I got to work in the sun, I got to play games with the kids, and I got to see the impact my coaching had.
I think about the moment I accepted the apprenticeship a lot. That choice literally changed my life. It’s what led to me getting the first job I really enjoyed, moving out for the first time, meeting new people, and probably a dozen other things.
You never know what choices will impact your life when you’re making them, but sometimes you can look back and see them.
What choice has changed your life, for better or worse?