“去！都去写检查，现在马上立刻！”

刚进家门，我就一把扯下温情面纱，气死我了。那天网球课结束，去球场接孩子们，被教练叫到一旁，告状：

“今天上课的内容有6项内容，说好了两个人都通过考试就下课。可是，因为天太热，就可以不好好打球吗？越到最后越糟糕，发过去的球干脆不接。。。。。”

“谁？是谁不接球？”，我要找到靶子给TA点COLOR SEE SEE。

“没一个好的！”，教练气鼓鼓地说，“两个人集体罢课。横！你，你说说看，课堂内容不掌握，我怎么能下课放他们走？热？谁不热？！”

是啊，教练快和我父亲的年纪一样了，满头满脸满脖子的汗珠子，看上去真是于心不忍，如此尽心尽力，这两个小蹄子怎么就这么不懂事不知道好歹呢，看我回家怎么收拾你们。

“明天的课你可以来观摩，看看我是不是故意刁难他们，如果你觉得我的方法不好，我们可以商量改进，可是像今天这个样子。。。。”，老头无可奈何直摇头，“离大赛没有几天了，事实上我觉得我们很LUCKY有这样的热天，想想看，如果每天都很凉爽，到了比赛那天忽然爆热怎么办？我们应付得了吗？”

除了道歉，我保证回去和孩子们好好谈谈，让他们明白事理。

本来是要心平气和晓之以理动之以情的，一张嘴变成了“写检查，现在马上立刻！”

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

明天就是比赛日子了，两人的比赛时间和地点都不同，教练说这是验证这一段教学成果的机会，他会安排好时间，在两个赛场周转，一定要看到他俩的表现。另外，李娜的打法和他的教学方法很像，让我们明天将比赛录像，他会和孩子们一起观看。

加油，小托！加油，小袄！加油，李娜！