Forestwood Park – A Tennis Lesson
Stan was a little busy this past week working on his 20 Villa lots(make offer) in Ferguson, a quaint little town in NOCO. So a match was scheduled with Barry Storms to be played at Forestwood Park/Ferguson Recreation Complex. Scott arrived about fifteen minutes early and a young boy approached and asked if he could hit with him. Scott explained that he was meeting someone to play but if the kid was still around he would hit with him at the end. Barry showed up unaware of this conversation and the match was on. Scott and Barry have played twice before and each has won a match. Barry is quick and has a good forehand and backhand and a unique weapon which is a slice forehand.
Our young friend volunteered to ballboy. The courts look freshly redone and seemed a little fast as we started to play. It was a battle right out of the box. Back and forth until 5-5 in the first. At that point Barry was able to break Scott’s serve and close out the set. Second set was more of the same 3-3 a serve break and Barry closed it out 6-3. Courts were decent with no bad bounces.
As the match ended our young friend reminded Scott he wanted to hit. Barry not realizing what Scott had promised started packing up. As Scott began to hit with the young boy it was clearly evident Scott had no teaching skills. Barry who has worked with kids a lot in the past couldn’t stand it and before you know it he was on the court teaching the kid basic tennis skills while Scott shagged balls and fed balls to them. After about 25 minutes the kid received a solid lesson on basic forehand and backhand skills! We also made him aware of the Net Rushers a tennis charity that provides some lessons on these courts. Time did not allow but if it had we would have certainly retired to Ferguson Brewing for an ice cold beverage.
The greatest part of playing on forgotten courts is inspiring folks to play tennis. Since most of the tennis “elite” in St. Louis play on the same few courts, good tennis is rarely seen at many of these facilities. Location for these courts is an 8 and the surface is also an 8 for a total rating of 8.