“去！都去寫檢查，現在馬上立刻！”

剛進家門，我就一把扯下溫情面紗，氣死我了。那天網球課結束，去球場接孩子們，被教練叫到一旁，告狀：

“今天上課的內容有6項內容，說好了兩個人都通過考試就下課。可是，因為天太熱，就可以不好好打球嗎？越到最後越糟糕，發過去的球乾脆不接。。。。。”

“誰？是誰不接球？”，我要找到靶子給TA點COLOR SEE SEE。

“沒一個好的！”，教練氣鼓鼓地說，“兩個人集體罷課。橫！你，你說說看，課堂內容不掌握，我怎麼能下課放他們走？熱？誰不熱？！”

是啊，教練快和我父親的年紀一樣了，滿頭滿臉滿脖子的汗珠子，看上去真是於心不忍，如此盡心盡力，這兩個小蹄子怎麼就這麼不懂事不知道好歹呢，看我回家怎麼收拾你們。

“明天的課你可以來觀摩，看看我是不是故意刁難他們，如果你覺得我的方法不好，我們可以商量改進，可是像今天這個樣子。。。。”，老頭無可奈何直搖頭，“離大賽沒有幾天了，事實上我覺得我們很LUCKY有這樣的熱天，想想看，如果每天都很涼爽，到了比賽那天忽然爆熱怎麼辦？我們應付得了嗎？”

除了道歉，我保證回去和孩子們好好談談，讓他們明白事理。

本來是要心平氣和曉之以理動之以情的，一張嘴變成了“寫檢查，現在馬上立刻！”

Dear Coach Bill,

     I am deeply sorry for my poor performance on the tennis courts (pick one of the following) yesterday/today/2 days ago/3 days ago. I think you did not realize how hard I was working before I arrived at the park to play. By then i was already tired and sweaty from being out in the sun for a while and I didn't feel like playing but I played anyways despite the fact my arms hurt. I hope that this one day does not affect how you see me as a tennis player and you will kind look at me from the way I've been playing since i started practicing.

     Very sincerely,
            Tony

Thanks for your apology, Tony.  I'm sorry that I had to put you into a position where you felt like you needed to apologize. I enjoy practicing with you and I think you are a very good tennis player. I did know that you were tired today and I made the practice very easy because of that (and the heat). You made the practice much harder and longer than I intended.  

If you would have worked hard and focused on doing well the cross-court and Xbox warmups should have taken about 15 minutes. Once you showed me that you could hit cross-court and down the line we were finished. The volley drill took about 10 minutes. You each showed me that you could hit slice and we moved on. The return of serve drill should have taken about 20 minutes or less. You are going to need slice returns if you face a big serve in the Creason. Then the tiebreaker should have taken about 10 minutes. All you had to do was show me that you understood the strategy in the tiebreaker and we would have been finished. Once you learn to value the time we have together and use it wisely by focusing on doing your best I think you will enjoy it much more. 

Thanks again for your apology, 

Coach Bill

 

Dear Coach Bill,               

I'm extremely sorry about the way I acted during tennis practice today. I came home from six hours of yard work about 10 minutes before practice started, so I was pretty tired and cranky to begin with. To tell you the truth, I really don't like playing tennis in hot weather, even if it is for an important tournament. It makes me get frustrated very easily, and I'm very stubborn when I'm frustrated. Please understand that I didn't mean to disrespect you, I was just worn out, and I wanted to go home. Next time, I'll try to keep my temper under control.

Hey Jennifer,

Thanks for your apology!  I completely understand what you are going through. I will never ask you to do anything that I haven't done myself or that I don't think is the best thing for you.  

I do get really frustrated by your stubbornness. It makes me feel like you don't trust me or that you don't think I'm trying to help you.  

I would like for you to think of us as a team working together to help you to improve. If you don't like something just talk through it with me. I will either change what we are doing or I will help you understand why we are doing it. I am not trying to make you miserable.  

I have certain goals for each practice and I am going to do my best to help you meet those goals.  Once we meet the goals practice will be over. If you will trust me and work hard to do what I ask I think practice will be much more enjoyable for you.  

Because it was so hot today I intended practice to last less than one hour. It ended up being over two hours. That was way too long for such a hot day.  The problem I have is that I cannot bring myself to reward stubborness or lack of effort. I will reward you for trying hard to do what I ask, even if you don't understand why we are doing it.  

Please work together with me and express any concerns you have and consider my concerns so we can progress together. I love working with you and I hope we can get past this stubbornness thing and become a good team. 

Thanks again, 

Coach Bill

明天就是比賽日子了，兩人的比賽時間和地點都不同，教練說這是驗證這一段教學成果的機會，他會安排好時間，在兩個賽場周轉，一定要看到他倆的表現。另外，李娜的打法和他的教學方法很像，讓我們明天將比賽錄像，他會和孩子們一起觀看。

加油，小托！加油，小襖！加油，李娜！