Tennis wrap up

So the month of March has come and gone.  It was a very busy one on the tennis front.  Caleb played in tournaments every weekend but this last one because we went camping instead.  Sometimes you have to take a break.  And Spring Break for our local friends was a good excuse to cut back on tennis this last week.  So I thought I would pull together a little post to wrap up all the tennis Caleb played this past month.

He played in a local Grand Prix event here against mostly 9 and 10 year olds.  He took first place easily, as he has outgrown this level of competition.  Still he enjoys seeing his friends and playing against them.  Everyone still laughs and smiles and cheers each other on.

Then the courts where Caleb trains happens to be the same courts (new for this season) where the local college plays their own matches.  So we have hung around before and after practices to watch the college kids play.  

The head coach is really taken with Caleb.  He recognized Caleb from a little junior clinic his teams ran.  He was impressed with Caleb's footwork and still remembered him.

Earlier in the month, when Michele and Lydia were visiting for Madeline's birthday, Caleb had an advanced USTA tournament to play in.  It was a bit of a drive, but the weather was lovely.  Caleb played 3 matches in a round robin format for boys Under10 and won all three.

The tall boy on the left was really sweet, as was his grandmother.  We had a nice time chatting.  Too bad he's turning 11 soon.  So he and Caleb can't play doubles together.  They really hit it off after playing against each other in the first round.  They spent all their down time hanging out and chatting.  It was so sweet to watch.

One time Patrick hung out with the girls and me during one of Caleb's long tennis practice days.

Then last weekend, Caleb had another big USTA tournament for boys Under10.  Again it was round robin,and they all played 3 matches.  I snapped a photo of Caleb reporting the score for his last match, which sealed first place for him and made it another sweep.  

He actually played this same boy in his last USTA tournament.  In fact, he had played all 3 opponents at least once before.  He had beaten two of them at their last meeting but had previously lost to the third boy.  Well, the father of the third boy couldn't get over that Caleb was the same player that had played his son back in January. He was so impressed with Caleb's progress, particularly his serve.  It was so nice to hear. We had such a nice time talking with his family again.  Their boy has such great sportsmanship.  The whole family was so sweet.  

I love it when that happens.  Unfortunately, the first boy Caleb played was steamed he was getting beat and started calling the lines wrong.  Oh man.  I normally keep my mouth shut, but I couldn't stand it any longer and got an official.  He had the nerve to even call the lines wrong right in front of her!  And the boy was only 8 years old!  Needless to say, he has some learning to do, and it has nothing to do with his strokes.  Now that's the yucky part of tennis.  Anyway, Caleb stuck around a while to watch his friend play against the boy who needs to learn to call the lines better. Then he picked up his trophy.

This little girl is always trying to get her hands on his trophies. lol.  

Well, Caleb has another tournament this weekend in which he will only play other 9 year old boys.  He's never played in one like this before. So it will be a new experience for him.  He's looking forward to getting back on the courts this week.

So now that we're back from our camping trip and I have tackled the laundry, it's time to get busy editing some photos from our camping adventure.  We sure do love camping.  And if this week isn't busy enough with getting back to all of Caleb's tennis, Havi has started swim lessons...which are E.V.E.R.Y day!  Fun!