Youth in Sports

I took a lesson at Rock Creek, which is not like the normal lesson you'd expect, the kind where the teacher corrects you on technique, but more of going through drills, so that you get used to moving and hitting. The group is pretty good. Even the women can hit the ball pretty hard. One guy I had never seen before had really good pace, even if he lacked a little consistency.

Afterwards, I decided to go to College Park where I visited a friend. Shortly afterwards, I went to practice serves. A few weeks ago, they had taken down the fences, and looked like they were going to fix that up. I was concerned it might not be fixed yet, but fortunately, it was fine.

One section of the College Park courts is four wide, meaning there are four courts across. There was a group of four playing doubles on one end that were so-so, and these two other guys playing singles on the other end who seemed half-way decent. I decided to pick the side closer to the doubles so I wouldn't have rolling balls bothering them.

As I practiced, it turns out the fence bounces the ball back pretty well, so the balls were still rolling to either side.

Although you don't expect two groups to know each other, it seemed the two guys at one end (who turned out to be brothers) did know the guys at the other end.

Anyway, the two brothers seemed like they might play on the tennis team (though they don't seem that good, but then I think Maryland may not be that good at tennis).

I've noticed something about kids who are good at sports, especially single sports like tennis. There's a kind of arrogance about them. Some might call it self-confidence. It not only affects their personality, but even how they hit, as if how they hit says "I'm so good at tennis".

I'm sure I'm simplifying matters too much. On the one hand, if you lack confidence, you probably won't play that well. Many top players are arrogantly confident. Few people are just genuine nice guys, though I'm sure more women than men are nice. Secondly, I'm only listening to them play for a few minutes, so it doesn't really convey the full story.

When the tennis balls would roll to their court, they were polite about it. They would say things like "Do you have Dunlops, sir?" ("Sir?"). To be fair, I find the user of sir and ma'am one of the politenesses that's drummed in by strict parents, not due to individuals learning politeness on their own.

I wonder how worldwide this arrogance is (I've mostly observed it in Americans) and whether it changes over time, as teens become adults.