Journal

In order to get in contact with my potential mentor, Mr. Hawley, I sent him an email asking him if he’d be interested. After I heard back from him, I met with him after school to go over details, such as what he would be doing as mentor, when the tennis clinic would take place, how I would be getting the word out, and a general idea of what I was going to do at the clinic.
 * Journal #1 **

October 20th, I began creating a list of things that I wanted to incorporate into my tennis clinic. Beginning with the basics, I identified, how to stand, how to position yourself, footwork, how to hit different types of shots and what grips to use for each(ie forehand, backhand, lob, volley, overhead smash, and serve), a basic description of how to play, a description of the court and what all the lines meant, an overview of the rules, and basic strategies for doubles and singles play.
 * Journal #2 **

October 24th, I began by researching the things that I wanted to include in my clinic to make sure that I would understand it enough in order to clearly convey it to anyone at the clinic. My research has resulted in identifying the continental grip for forehand, two-hand grip for backhand, hammer grip for serves, and depending on preference, eastern or western continental grip for lobs and volleys. I refreshed myself on the rules of tennis and have found a few diagrams detailing common tennis strategies to coincide with the strategies that I have been taught.
 * Journal #3 **

November 4th: After school I met with Mr. Hawley in order to discuss a few things regarding my project. We decided on a date for the tennis clinic, Wednesday November 16th. Additionally, We agreed that the next school day, Wednesday the 9th, we would go about printing and filling out the required building use form. Lastly, I requested and received permission to use the gym tennis racquets for any one who wishes to participate in the clinic but doesn't own their own tennis racquet.
 * Journal #4**

November 8th: I have begun work on flyers to put around the school to raise awareness of my project. Additionally, I have begun working on a small little summary of my project, including time, date, etc, that I will request to be put on the announcements. Finally, I have begun diagramming an official plan for how the clinic will be run.
 * Journal #5**

November 14th: I have completed the announcement, gave it to, and got it approved my Mr. Meder to play over the morning announcements today through the day of of the clinic. Additionally, I met with Mr. Hawley and had him review that outline that I have created for the clinic. Lastly, I met briefly with Mr. Johnston after school in order to have him call the person in charge of the middle school court lights to make sure they would be on earlier so the clinic wouldn't be hindered by the dark.
 * Journal #6**

November 15th: I did a little more research, primarily upon specific drills and activities that could be used to add more fun to the teaching of the basics which I will be doing, in order to finalize the clinic outline. Additionally, I made sure that I would have all of the additional materials needed to facilitate the clinic, primarily objects (old, empty cans of tennis balls etc.) to use as positions that people should aim for during practice.
 * Journal #7**

November 16th/17th: Due to the large amounts of rain continuing throughout the day in addition to the puddles on the courts, I pushed back the clinic to the 17th in order to have better weather, making sure to ask Mr. Meder to put on my announcement one extra day. On the 17th, the tennis clinic was held, although not a huge hit, approximately ten people showed up, of those people, two had never played tennis before and two had minimal tennis experience and were interested in or going to join the team this year. Although not a huge crowd, the day was still a success, we got through all the practices and drills that I had planned and got to play some full days of tennis before the day was over.
 * Journal #8**

Overall, running my tennis tennis clinic was an interesting experience that gave me a completely different perspective on tennis. Before running the clinic, the majority of my experience with tennis consisted of playing, either with a few friends or while on the school team. Actually having to teach skills instead of just going to a court and just hitting the ball around changed my view on tennis. Although when I first started playing tennis I was at a similar level as most of the people who showed up, since I've been playing for a while and gotten much better, I've begun incorporating a lot more strategy and technique into my game. However, I had forgotten that although those two things can make a huge difference, when you're just starting out, tennis more or less consists of who can get the ball over the net one time more than their opponent. It felt good to be imparting the skills that I have learned throughout my years of playing to others so that they could either get a joy for the game and keep on playing or simply take their game to the next level.
 * Journal #9**

On a different note, you told me to include in this last journal that I have already turned in my final mentor progress report.