I started playing tennis in the 70’s (fell in love with it right away) and had
wood as my first racket. I was born in the Philippines and grow up in
Manila. Tennis is more like a luxury game in the Philippines. We are poor;
hence, I cannot afford to play on a tennis court or hire a trainer for that
matter. So, I ended up playing against a wall. I cannot find any formal
backboard where you can hit so, I hit against the wall of any building that
was available.
When I moved to the USA in the 90’s that’s when I started playing formal
tennis. I joined a club, played singles in small leagues, and had a group of
friends that played together or played at WTT, etc. But then my tennis
never moves to a higher level that I want them to be. Partly because my
family is growing, had two jobs at times, play sporadically (would play
straight for one year then would stop playing for 2-3 years then play again).
Some of my tennis buddies moved on their rankings and became solid
players while I remained stagnant.
Tennis was my passion. I worked with people with substance/gambling and
mental health disorders. I worked for many years at San Diego County
Psychiatric Hospital (our agency has contract with them) and it was quite a
stressful job. But tennis helps me overcome all those burnout feelings.
I am now 71 years old, semi-retired but I continue to play tennis at a higher
level and am still working to improve my game. For many months now I
have been training with Jesus Osuna (one of the pros at
Mountain View Tennis Club) and it has been an incredibly positive
experience. I am a self-taught tennis afficionado and training with Jesus
has improved my game and confidence tremendously. My goal is to continue
to play tennis, play in the league/tournaments up to the point where my
body would say, “okay Edgar time for you stop.” Other than that, I will
Written By: Edgar Capacio
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