The Heinisch children have had a lot of coaches over the years. Most have been wonderful with our children and we have appreciated all of their hard work. As great as many of them have been, no one has stood out like Cameron's tennis coach, Matt. He has impressed us from the early days of middle school tennis and keeps on doing so to this day. He has been a valuable member of Cameron's life on and off of the court and we appreciate him very much. His positive influence on his team, especially our son has never been more apparent than it has been this year and we couldn't thank him enough for all that he has done.
Going back to school without Richard was tough for Cameron. He did everything that he could to get through the days, but it was challenging. On one of those days, he had an intense challenge match after school. Although he won the match, he still walked off the court in tears. Matt talked to him afterward, listening to him talk about his grief, and understanding that all of this weighing heavily on Cameron. He let Cameron know that tennis was a safe place for him to grieve. He then asked the rest of the team to try and understand how Cameron felt and to respect that he was trying to live life with this weight on his shoulders, but that it was hard to do sometimes. When Matt relayed this story to me, I wanted to cry, but instead I was just so thankful for the support he was showing Cameron and the rest of his team.
This past Thursday was extremely hard for Cameron. He felt deflated after a tough loss and just couldn't come to grips with the reality of how hard life could be sometimes. He called from school and asked me to come and get him even though his van was there. My parents drove me over while I talked to him on the phone, listening to his grief. At one point, Cameron said to me, "I've got to go" and hung up immediately. I was pretty sure that I knew why, but not certain until we arrived. Matt had realized that Cameron was still in the parking lot and had come over to talk with him. They spent the next fifteen minutes discussing tennis and most of all, Richard. I was so incredibly impressed when we pulled up and saw them sitting on the tennis bleachers. Matt didn't have to stay. He wanted to do so and that made all of the difference in how the rest of the night went for Cameron.
We found out last night from Cameron that the tennis line-up was being changed for the Bremen tournament today. He would now play #1 singles and Breece would move to #1 doubles. Cameron felt really good about it as he definitely was more comfortable as a singles player. His confidence showed today as he played the best that he had in quite some time. He didn't win his three matches, but he worked hard and kept the games close. He got mad, but handled the frustration well. In the end, he was tired, but happy to have competed as well as he had. He was also very proud of his team for finishing runners-up in the tourney only missing a win by an 8-10 tiebreak in the third set of the last match.
I talked to Matt today about the change in line up. It had worked very well and it was fun to watch the boys' success. He said that he realized that Cameron was dealing with enough right now and didn't need to worry about learning a new position as well. I thanked him for that as well as for being there for Cameron on Thursday night. He looked at me and said, "No problem, that's what makes us a team." I couldn't have been more impressed.
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