Carrying A Sharpie

Here I was, heading to the Manchester Athletic Club in Manchester, MA for a USPTA (United States Professional Tennis Association) continuing education certification on Developing Junior Tennis Players. Right before I left I pocketed a black sharpie marker because it was going to be the first time I met Nick Bollettieri. Now for those of you who don't follow tennis, Nick has trained 10 professional tennis players who have reached the pinnacle of #1 in the world (Maria Sharapova, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Venus and Serena Williams for example). He has been awarded his honorary doctorate and Arthur Ashe humanitarian award, two accomplishments he is most proud of.

Ironically, right before Nick gave his presentation they introduced a "special guest" in the audience......me! I recently broke the world record for the longest tennis rally back in August. My twin brother Ettore and I rallied a tennis ball for 25,944 strokes over 14 hours and 31 minutes without missing. I brought the ball that we used since the felt is worn off and it is much smaller than a normal ball (it looks more like a racquetball than a tennis ball) to show tennis friends of mine. Little did I know that they wanted me to make a presentation to the group of USPTA pros, parents and junior tennis players alike.

Luckily, I don't mind impromptu public speaking and I did my thing. Right after my presentation, when I went to go find my spot to listen to Nick, I put my sharpie to use. Not how I had intended to, which was to have Nick sign a book I had that he wrote, My Aces, My Faults, but they wanted my autograph! One boy even had me sign twice for him - on his tennis bag and on his tennis shirt along his belly. I asked him, 'are you sure that's what you want because this is a permanent marker and it might leak through.' Needless to say he didn't care.

To see the joy of the children when I signed autographs for them made me put things into perspective. I realize that the sacrifices that my brother and I made to capture the world record pale in comparison to the sacrifices of the children and adults globally who suffer from starvation, brain cancer, breast cancer and ALS.

If my small accomplishment can help shine a light of awareness onto the four charities (ALS Association, Tim & Tom Gullikson Foundation, Save the Children and Rally for the Cure) that our rally supported and add joy to a child's life then it was well worth the effort.