Once I told a few that I play tennis, word got to him as everything said in the camp gets around fast
Fast forward to me on the court….. Chants of “Jer-ry, Jer-ry, Jer-ry” rang out everytime I won a point. Chants were coming anytime I made a good play or showed emotion. People kept asking, “what’s the score? what’s the score?”
Fast forward, we are winning 5-4, and we had the match even with the best player serving on the other side. They prevailed to tie it 5-5. But that was all she wrote because my serve was consistent the entire match, and we WON 7-5. This was a win for the ages. My partner and I were so proud of ourselves. Lots of pressure guys!
I heard someone say “The stress I felt for this match was over the top”.
The next day I was up early by 6:20am and started with a morning shower to take care of my aches from the grueling 2 tennis matches won the day previous.
One of the fun parts of my job is I get to drive the cars, vans, SUV’s and some trucks that the officers, guards and CO’s drive, and this time I was driving a car with a large spot light on the driver’s side, so it looks like a typical cop car. My job is to drive it from the garage directly to the parking lot and park it about 1/2 mile away. As I approach the lot, I stop to give 2 campers wheeling a garbage bin the opportunity to cross in front of me. As they cross me I have my side window down, and ask “Hey guys, need a ride?” and one guy says “Nice car” and the other guy goes “Jer-ry, Jer-ry” which tells me he was watching the match from the sidelines yesterday. Again, you can’t make this stuff up!
After dinner I am walking outside to watch other guys play tennis. A fellow camper who I’ve become friends with starts to chat with me. He took the time to share how impressed he was with me and my tennis game. He could hear all of it, and thought I was going to run over the net, but I joked that “nah, I would never do it”. Just goes to show people are watching not just the sports, but they are watching period. Another friend complimented me when he saw how when a high deep lob was hit, I waited patiently and moved beyond the baseline to hit it perfectly.
I’m realizing that by doing time everyone gets to do it their way. Some want to play sports and others don’t. Others walk a lot, others read a lot. For now, I will take part in it all until I feel otherwise.
