Vai, Tennis, And Finding the ‘Right Sport’ for Our Kid.
Here’s a shot of Vai on the tennis court. When he was only TWO years and TEN months old! =)
That was in June 2009!
Both Anya and Vai joined a Tennis Camp at the time, and had their first tennis lessons.
It was at that camp when we noticed how Vai – although still very little and was the youngest in the group – was a determined little guy whose hand-eye coordination was, pretty good for his age.
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Today, Vai is 5 years and 9 months, and he has tennis lessons every Wednesday morning, since April.
He used to have random ‘tennis lessons’ from Daddy just below our apartment block back in Singapore, but now he goes to the tennis court WITH Daddy and spends a good one hour, sometimes more, with a tennis coach.
So far, we can tell how he’s passionate about tennis.
He’d wake up early on Wednesdays for his lessons.
He’d play with tennis balls when he’s at home, bouncing the ball against the wall and trying to catch it.
He’d sometimes ask me what day it is today, so he can count how many more days to Wednesday there are.
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If you ask us, well … we don’t know if he will continue ‘loving tennis’. For now, we’ll encourage and support this little guy, and … we’ll wait and see how it goes.
Here’s one thing to share though :
After he had his first tennis lessons back in 2009, he showed some interest in tennis, BUT, we didn’t feel it’s necessary to send him immediately for tennis lessons.
Other than the fact that tennis lessons are quite pricey in Singapore, Wilson and I also wanted to see if Vai truly was interested in tennis.
To us, ‘time’ is always a great ‘tester’ for situations like this: Is he still interested 6 months after the tennis camp? How about a year later? How’s his attitude and interest during lessons with Daddy?
To us, if a kid is truly into something and needs to wait before he gets it, he’ll most likely appreciate it better when he finally gets to what he’s been waiting for.
On the other hand, if a kid needs to be ‘forced’ to do a sport and doesn’t seem to enjoy doing the sport, then it’s actually pointless to send him/her for paid lessons.
Because, the kid will most likely waste his time during lessons. Or worse, find excuses to NOT be there.
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Finding the ‘right sport’ for our kids, one that our kids truly enjoy, can be challenging.
Sometimes we may even need to start and stop along the way.
What’s your view when it comes to kids and sports?
Any thoughts or tips on spotting / finding the ‘right sport’ for your child?
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I know that when the child has no interest in something, it’s pointless having that particular lesson. The only tuition that JL attends is her chinese class every Saturday. She showed no interest from day 1… up until now. Even though I’m very tempted to withdraw her from her class (which she would be extremely happy with), I persisted. Some friends told me, if she’s like that, there’s no point continuing. But I just somehow feel that this is the one and only thing that I will ‘force’ her to do no matter what. I remember me going thru the same thing in my childhood. My mum forced me to go for chinese tuition. And now I’m grateful for that. Even though my chinese now is very rusty, but I can still read and write basic conversation level. All is due to mum’s persistence.
In terms of sport, our family is not into sport. And so far JL has never asked me to join any sport. even though her school did give out a brochure about tennis lessons, basketball lessons, netball lessons, etc for the students to participate in (not with the school), whenever I asked her if she wants to give it a try. She gave me a firm ‘NO’, just like her chinese class. But for me, it’s okay for her not to join sport, but it’s a MUST for her to still go for her chinese school despite her attitude
i agree – time is a great tester… i also think that children also pick up on what their parents are interested in… Tobias has always wanted to play an instrument, specifically the guitar, cos daddy plays that… but he found it hard & was too motivated… we didn’t force the issue… now he’s interested in the violin, again we didn’t force it – he picked it so we’ll see how it goes… the one thing he has been interested in & still going regularly is Judo… that one he picked all by himself & he loves it… it’s been almost 2 years now… i think if we, the parents, are supportive, then our children will excel in their passions & that is all that matters to me…
My son took rollerblading lessons for a short while. He asked for lessons when he saw other kids skating in the void deck. After a while, I realized that he was more interested in interacting with the kids in the class than picking up the skill.
He can skate fairly well now and has since stopped attending lessons. Well, he didn’t ask for more lessons so that speaks a lot about his passion.
I think team sports will probably be more suitable for him since he’s such a “people” person.
So I think the right sport for a child depends not only on aptitude for the sport but the temperament of the child as well.
Having said that, we are still searching for the right sport before we commit to lessons!
love the pic of little vai! the look of concentration…. priceless!