First Place!
Another trivial anniversary. :) 50 years ago today, I won First Place in the West Covina novice tennis tournament! It was the only time in my life that I won an individual sports competition.
Here's a photo of me taken the morning of my match, and another showing my First Place trophy, which I still keep in a place of honor today.
Unfortunately, I also made an enemy that day. I slaughtered a kid named Brian Shapiro in our opening round set. I mean I really humiliated him. (I remember I won the first game with four straight aces; he never even got the racket on the ball.) He apparently thought he'd make mincemeat out of the skinny kid, but it was the other way around. Anyway, I'd never met him before that, but less than a month later, we were both freshmen at South Hills, and he got back at me by becoming a real bully. I could never avoid him, either, because through all 4 years at SHHS, he had the locker directly below mine. In his own way, he made me regret that I ever entered that tennis tournament.
I hated being bullied, of course (not just by Brian, but by a bunch of guys, all through junior and senior high), but it was just verbal harassment, nothing physical. No one ever beat me up or anything. And I did learn to take it, so it kind of made me stronger. Life isn't a bowl of cherries, after all. People are going to come after you no matter what, so you better deal with it, and I did. :)
Here's a photo of me taken the morning of my match, and another showing my First Place trophy, which I still keep in a place of honor today.
Unfortunately, I also made an enemy that day. I slaughtered a kid named Brian Shapiro in our opening round set. I mean I really humiliated him. (I remember I won the first game with four straight aces; he never even got the racket on the ball.) He apparently thought he'd make mincemeat out of the skinny kid, but it was the other way around. Anyway, I'd never met him before that, but less than a month later, we were both freshmen at South Hills, and he got back at me by becoming a real bully. I could never avoid him, either, because through all 4 years at SHHS, he had the locker directly below mine. In his own way, he made me regret that I ever entered that tennis tournament.
I hated being bullied, of course (not just by Brian, but by a bunch of guys, all through junior and senior high), but it was just verbal harassment, nothing physical. No one ever beat me up or anything. And I did learn to take it, so it kind of made me stronger. Life isn't a bowl of cherries, after all. People are going to come after you no matter what, so you better deal with it, and I did. :)